A look back at the success story of IZ*ONE.

Produce 48 is a survival show in which 96 female trainees from Korea and Japan competed in several rounds for a place in a twelve-member project girl group. The group was to debut after the show and be active together for two and a half years.

Produce 48 is the third of four seasons of the Produce series, which aired annually from 2016 to 2019. In each season, more than 90 candidates - trainees from different agencies - compete for a place in a new project group. The first season produced the girl group I.O.I, the second the boy group Wanna One, the third the girl group IZ*ONE and the fourth the boy group X1.

The Produce series stood out because here, unlike the usual survival shows, the audience decided which trainees would end up debuting in the project group. Each round they could vote for their favorites and those with the most votes advanced.

Produce 48 differed from the other seasons in several ways. Namely, this time not only Korean trainees competed, but also members of the Japanese girl group AKB48.

The AKB48 Group consists of the girl group AKB48, which alone has over 70 members, and currently 11 sister groups that are active throughout Asia. These are called for example SKE48, NMB48, HKT48 and so on. So IZ*ONE was going to be a Korean-Japanese girl group that would be active not only in Korea but also Japan.

Also, in the first episode, Produce 48 surprised everyone by announcing that the new project group would have 12 members this time, instead of 11 as in the previous seasons. There were 11 winners again in the fourth season, so IZ*ONE is the only Produce group with 12 members. Produce 48 consists of 12 episodes that aired from June 2018 to the end of August 2028. In the episodes, the trainees worked together in teams and performed covers as well as original songs towards the end to showcase their skills.

Of course, there were also many emotional moments and tears. Throughout the season, the trainees with the fewest votes were eliminated until only 20 of them were left in the finale.

In the finale, it was announced that the new group would be called IZ*ONE; the name was suggested by viewers on the show's official website. "IZ" symbolizes the number 12 and stands for the number of members. "ONE" is the English word for the number 1, so IZ*ONE means that the 12 members will be one together as a group.

After the final 20 contestants performed three original songs again - two in groups of 10 and one all together - the 12 winners were announced one by one at the end of the finals:

Eight of the members have already attracted attention before Produce 48! The three Japanese girls Honda Hitomi, Miyawaki Sakura and Yabuki Nako were already a part of the AKB48 Group years before. Sakura debuted in HKT48 back in 2011, followed by Nako in 2013, and Hitomi made her debut in AKB48 in 2014. Over the years, the three have naturally been featured in a number of shows and have been involved in a number of singles and albums.

Kwon Eunbi debuted in a girl group called Ye-A in 2014, but the group disbanded shortly after.

Lee Chaeyeon previously competed with her sister Chaeryeong (ITZY) in two other survival shows: K-Pop Star 3 (2013) & Sixteen (2015).

Jo Yuri placed 15th in the survival show Idol School (2017), which formed the nine-member girl group fromis_9.

Minju was featured as an actress in a few music videos and the K-drama Tempted.

An Yujin was also featured in music videos and was particularly known for a contact lens commercial.

In addition to La Vien Rose, the album also features new IZ*ONE versions of the three original songs from the finals of Produce 48 - "We Together," "You're in Love, Right?" & "As We Dream" - and a new version of "Pick Me", the title track from Produce 48.

With their debut, IZ*ONE broke quite a few records, showing right from the start how much potential the group has. La Vien Rose, for example, topped three major Korean charts and earned the girl group its first music show win just ten days after its debut, faster than the debut song of any other K-pop girl group before!

The album itself topped Japan's Oricon chart and ranked #2 on Korea's Gaon album chart. It also sold over 34,000 copies on its first day, more than any debut album by a K-pop girl group before. These and other successes led to IZ*ONE winning the award for "Best New Artists" in several award shows at the end of the year!

In December, Sakura and Nako participated in an HKT48 concert to celebrate their eighth anniversary. For the time being, this was the last activity of the Japanese members as a part of HKT48 or AKB48, because in the following two and a half years they were exclusive with IZ*ONE.

The year 2020 started for IZ*ONE with the official Japan debut. The music video for the First Japanese Single "Suki to Iwasetai" was released on January 25. The single sold over 200,000 copies in the first week!

On April 1, IZ*ONE unveiled their second album Heart*iz, which topped both the Korean Gaon album chart and the Japanese Oricon chart. The girl group also set a new record with this album, selling over 130,000 copies in its first week! No K-pop girl group had ever done that before!

In June, IZ*ONE held several concerts as part of their first tour, "Eyes On Me," where they performed two previously unknown Korean songs called "Ayayaya" and "So Curious." However, it took a while until they were finally officially released on an album. After the tour, two Japanese singles were released: "Buenos Aires" on June 26 and "Vampire" on September 25. Both were very successful like the debut single and topped several Japanese charts!

Then in November, a third Korean album was supposed to have been released, but it was postponed due to the Mnet vote manipulation scandal.

It was no less successful than its predecessors and even broke the record again for the most copies sold by a girl group album in its first week, selling over 350,000 copies!

Subsequently, IZ*ONE did not take a break and released their fourth album "Oneiric Diary" including the title track "Secret Story of the Swan" already in June. In September IZ*ONE organized the first online concert "Oneiric Theater", in April the first and last Japanese album "Twelve" was released and on December 7th the fifth Korean album "One-Reeler / Act IV" with the title track "Panorama". One-Reeler was already the last album of IZ*ONE.

This last album also reached some big milestones once again. IZ*ONE topped the physical album charts with it, and for the first time since the second album Heart*iz, it also topped the Korean Gaon album charts. It also reached the top 10 of Japan's Oricon album chart!

On January 26, 2021, fans could once again enjoy a brand new IZ*ONE song, as the girl group recorded a song called "D-D-Dance" for the mobile app "Universe".

On February 13 & 14, IZ*ONE held their last online concerts titled "One, The Story." During the concert, the members sang "Parallel Universe," an unreleased song.

Fans are saddened to this day that IZ*ONE's second half of their short time together was affected by the global Corona pandemic, and they were only able to say goodbye to the group online. Of course, fans would have loved to cheer on the girl group in person, and IZ*ONE was probably also sad to only be able to perform in front of screens and empty halls for the last few months.

On February 15, IZ*ONE's Eunbi, Sakura, Minju, Yuri, and Wonyoung released a commercial song called "Zero: Attitude" for the Pepsi brand together with Soyou (formerly SISTAR).

On March 26, a remake of the song "Rewind: Blossom" by Roo'a, which all twelve members of IZ*ONE recorded together, was also uploaded. It's not an original song, but fans were certainly grateful for everything the girl group ended up preparing for them.

Although it was clear from the beginning that IZ*ONE would disband, the girl group was so popular that no one could imagine letting them go just like that. The amount of money that hundreds of thousands of fans had raised within a few weeks showed that IZ*ONE had an immense impact on the K-pop scene.

The initiative was so convincing that agencies actually discussed the possibility of renewing IZ*ONE's contract. However, on July 6, 2021, it was confirmed that the discussions failed and IZ*ONE would not debut again.

So, unfortunately, the numerous fans had to say goodbye to the girl group and support the members on their own ways from then on.