The eleven-member boy band The Boyz can already look back on 16 successful albums a good five years after their debut! Despite the setback of one member leaving the group in 2019, the boy band continued undeterred. They secured a permanent place in the highly competitive K-pop industry. Would you like to find out more? We'd love to walk you through the story of The Boyz!
- Pre-debut (2016/ 17)
- The members
- Debut with the first mini album “The First”!
- Hwall leaves the boy band.
- Road to Kingdom (2020)
- Kingdom: Legendary War
- 2021 to today:
Pre-debut (2016/ 17)
The first episode of “Flower Snack” aired on August 24, 2017.
This reality show revolved around a new boy band from Cre.ker Entertainment (now IST Entertainment) with 12 members. In 8 funny episodes, fans had the chance to get to know the boys a little better before their debut. Even before the show began, the label announced what the boy band would be called: The Boyz. This name now graces more than 15 albums, tons of trophies and the shelves of countless fans worldwide!
Some of the members have previously appeared on other shows. For example, Kevin took part in the talent show “Kpop Star 6” in 2016 and Sunwoo took part in the survival show “High School Rapper” in 2017. But the best known was probably Ju Haknyeon, because he made it to the finals in the survival show “Produce 101 Season 2”! Unfortunately he missed the chance to debut in the project group Wanna One, but luckily he is now on stage with The Boyz!
The last episode of “Flower Snack” was released on October 12th. It ended with a special clip of the boy band's first song “I'm Your Boy,” which they wrote for their fans.
| Artist name | Real name | Birthday |
|---|---|---|
| Sangyeon | Lee Sangyeon | 04.11.1996 |
| Jacob | Jacob Bae Koreanischer Name: Bae Junyoung |
30.05.1997 |
| Younghoon | Kim Younghoon | 08.08.1997 |
| Hyunjae | Lee Jaehyun | 13.09.1997 |
| Juyeon | Lee Ju-yeon | 15.01.1998 |
| Kevin | Kevin Moon Koreanischer Name: Moon Hyungseo |
23.02.1998 |
| New | Choi Chanhee | 26.04.1998 |
| Q | Ji Changmin | 05.11.1998 |
| Juhaknyeon | Ju Haknyeon | 09.03.1999 |
| Sunwoo | Kim Sunwoo | 12.04.2000 |
| Eric | Son Youngjae | 22.12.2000 |
| Hwall | Heo Hyunjoon | 09.03.2000 |
|---|
On December 6th, 2017, The Boyz finally made their debut with their first mini album “The First”!
The album includes the pre-debut single “I'm Your Boy” and the title song “Boy”. The album reached number 3 in the Korean Gaon Album Chart. The boy group also went full steam ahead in the new year: In January 2018, The Boyz released several episodes of an entertainment show called “Come On! The Boyz”, followed by their second reality show “THE 100” from February to March. So the fans certainly didn't get bored, especially since the second mini album “The Start” was released on April 3, 2018. With the album, the boy group continued to work their way up, as it even reached number 2 in the Gaon Charts.
Anyone who watches performances of the title song “Giddy Up” will only count 11 members because Hwall couldn’t be there for health reasons. But he was back at it again when The Boyz debuted a digital single called “KeePer” on July 12th.
In the second half of the year, the boy group appeared in a few more reality shows such as “Our Happy Home”, “Switch” and “Thumping Travel”. In these shows, they looked for a new home for abandoned dogs, repaid their fans for their support or went on trips. And during this time, they released their first single album “The Sphere” (September 5th) including the title song “Right Here”.
But that wasn't enough for the passionate band. Less than three months later, the third mini album "The Only" was released. Even before the first anniversary on December 6, 2018, the boy group had released four successful albums. The boys were richly rewarded for their efforts this year: They were awarded a Rookie Award in seven different award shows! The prospects for the future were bright and as you will see, expectations were fulfilled.
The second single album “Bloom Bloom” was released on April 29, 2019. There couldn’t have been a better start to 2019, because the title song of the same name brought the boy group their first win in the music show “The Show” and their first win ever!
After previous albums alternately peaked at No. 2-4 on the Korean Gaon Album Charts, both “Bloom Bloom” and the next album, “Dreamlike,” both ranked No. 2. Dreamlike was released on August 19, four months after Bloom Bloom.
On October 23, 2019, Hwall left the boy band.
He had to take a break from the second mini album at the beginning of 2018 due to health problems. He also missed the promotions for the last album Dreamlike due to ankle pain. Eventually he decided, together with the other members, his family and the label, to leave the group. In a letter to his fans he writes, among other things:
“For various health reasons, performing on stage in an imperfect state became a great burden for me, and after long consultations with my family, members and my agency, I expressed the desire to stop my activities.”
Almost a year later, Hwall made his solo debut and in 2021 he starred in a web series called “Color Rush”. He was last seen in the musical “Yeodo” from May to July 2022.
Only about two weeks after Hwall's departure, on November 6, 2019, the boy band debuted with the mini album “Tattoo” in Japan.
And before the year ended, the now 11-member group released a digital single called “White” for their second anniversary on December 6, 2019. The Boyz then set off on their first European tour “Dreamlike”, which took them to Berlin, Paris, London and Amsterdam.
As early as February 10, 2020, fans were able to enjoy a new album called “Reveal” :
It is the first studio album and contains nine songs including the title track, which, like the album, is called “Reveal”. The Boyz topped the Gaon charts for the first time a good two years after their debut! And that shouldn't be the last big success in 2020.
Road to Kingdom (2020)
In the show “Road to Kingdom,” which aired from April to June 2020, seven boy bands competed against each other. It was produced by the broadcaster Mnet. In several rounds the groups performed their own songs and covers and in the finale all groups released a brand new song. Through the show, the groups had the chance to attract the attention of new fans and the winner was allowed to take part again in the second season! Kingdom is considered a male counterpart to the 2019 show Queendom, in which girl groups instead of boy groups competed for first place.
These boy groups took part in Road to Kingdom: Pentagon, ONF, Golden Child, Verivery, Oneus, TOO and of course The Boyz. During the course of the show, two participants were eliminated: Golden Child and TOO. However, The Boyz came first or second in every round and eventually won the show! Like everyone else, they presented a new song at the end: "Checkmate".
On September 21, 2020, three months after the victory in Kingdom, the fifth mini album “Chase” was released, including the title song “The Stealer”.
It didn't top the Gaon charts like the previous album, but it was close behind at number 2. In fact, all Korean albums since Dreamlike (August 2019) had at least made it into the top 2. In one respect, “Chase” surpassed its predecessor by far. The title song “Stealer” won four music show trophies! They were the first music show wins since the boy band's first win with "Bloom Bloom" in 2019.
As in the previous year, The Boyz celebrated their anniversary again on December 6th with a digital single. This is called “Christmassy” and was released on December 7th, 2020, one day after the anniversary.
On March 17, 2021, the second Japanese album “Breaking Dawn” was released and the very next month “Kingdom: Legendary War” began broadcasting.
Kingdom: Legendary War
The second season of Kingdom ran from April to June 2021. This time six boy bands fought for victory: BtoB, iKON, SF9, Ateez, Stray Kids and The Boyz. This time the participants were able to win their own reality show called “Kingdom Week” as well as a special show.
This time too, The Boyz took second place in several rounds, although they also slipped to fourth or sixth place at times. In the final they were able to hold their own against most of the other groups and achieved second place, directly behind the winner “Stray Kids”. As in the first season, all participants presented a brand new song in the finale. The Boyz song is called “Kingdom Come”:
2021 to today:
In 2021, the boy group released two more albums: the sixth mini album “Thrill-ing” on August 9th and the third single album “Maverick” on November 1st. Both albums topped the Gaon Album Charts. In addition, both “Thrill Ride”, the title song of Thrill-ing, and “Maverick” from the boy group’s album of the same name each won five music show wins!
Although The Boyz have consistently enjoyed high chart positions and other successes since their debut, for many fans it certainly felt like the boy band had taken another step up the career ladder this year.
For the third time in a row, the boys celebrated their anniversary with a new digital single. This year’s single is titled “Candles.”
On March 18, 2022, the boy band released a soundtrack album titled “Solo Leveling Webtoon OST Echo”.
The guys recorded a soundtrack called “Echo” for the webtoon “Solo Leveling”. The album was released not only digitally, but also physically. Like most K-Pop albums, it contains a photo book and photo cards with pictures of the members. The photo book also contains illustrations from Solo Leveling.
This was followed two months later by the third Japanese album “She's the Boss” (May 27th) and on August 16th a new Korean album called “Be Aware” was released. It was the third album in a row to top the Gaon Album Charts, not including the soundtrack. The Boyz also won two music show trophies with the title song “Whisper”!
On August 30, IST Entertainment announced that Sunwoo would be suspending his activities for the time being due to health reasons.
In 2021, Cre.ker Entertainment merged with PlayM Entertainment and founded the new label IST Entertainment. So The Boyz didn't change labels.
Sunwoo was fit again in time for the fifth anniversary. Fans were certainly expecting a new single and were not disappointed. The boy band presented the digital single “All About You” on December 6th.
Everyone now agrees that the boy band has become an integral part of the K-pop industry. They have already recorded 15 albums since their debut in December 2017 and have continuously defended their place at the top!
Year after year they have been recognized for their successes not only with high chart positions and music show trophies, but also regularly with several awards in annual award shows such as the Soul Music Awards or Golden Disc Awards.
A new mini album entitled “Be Awake” was released on February 20, 2023. With this, The Boyz will undoubtedly once again showcase their talent and continue their series of successes!
Sources: The Boyz Twitter, The Boyz Youtube, karchives
