Fans of Sungchan and Shotaro have been waiting for two and a half years now for the two of them to debut in a new NCT unit. Now there is finally light at the end of the tunnel, but it's not quite what was expected: SM Entertainment surprisingly announced today that Sungchan and Shotaro will be leaving NCT!
The two singers were introduced as new members of NCT back in October 2020. They took part in the second group album NCT 2020 Resonance, which was released in two parts. In December, the two also took part in an NCT concert titled “NCT: Resonance “Global Wave”.
In 2021, Sungchan and Shotaro worked with the other NCT members again: in December, the third group album “Universe” was released. They could even be heard on the SM winter album “SMCU Palace” from 2022!
Last year, there wasn't much to see of the two of them and fans understandably grew more and more impatient. In February of this year, SM Entertainment finally announced that NCT's endless expansion would end this year and that only one last unit would be added: NCT Tokyo. Other previously planned units like NCT Hollywood were cancelled.
NCT Tokyo is set to debut in the second half of the year, and until today fans believed that Sungchan and Shotaro would be part of it. So they finally had a rough date to look forward to!
Today, SM Entertainment announced new plans in a statement:
NCT Tokyo will debut, but without Sungchan and Shotaro. The two are ending their career with NCT before it has even really begun. But that doesn't mean we have to wait again!
The two are supposed to debut this year as planned, but they will be part of a brand-new boy group!
SM Entertainment apologized in the statement to the fans who have been eagerly waiting for Sungchan and Shotaro's debut in NCT and asks them to support the two on their new path. Fans are above all happy that, despite all the back and forth, they will see the two on stage soon!
According to rumors, two SM rookies - Eunseok and Seunghan - are also set to be part of the new boy group. Until now, it was assumed that they would debut in NCT Tokyo. The change could be related to SM Entertainment wanting to increase the number of Japanese members in NCT Tokyo.
What do you think of the news? We are very curious about further details and will let you know as soon as an album is announced!
Sources: NCT social media channels, SMTown Twitter
