Just like last year, once again we experience a big wave of Rookies debuting from left to right. So who are they and what have they accomplished so far?
We start off with TS Entertainment’s B.A.P(Best Absolute Perfect) consisting of Leader Bang Yongguk, Himchan, Daehyun, Youngjae, JongUp and Maknae Zelo. Prior to their debut we had already been introduced to Leader Bang Yongguk as he was featured in SECRET’s Ji Eun’s debut solo song “Going Crazy”. On August 11 last year he released his own debut song “I Remember”. After a few months we were introduce to Maknae Zelo who would form a B.A.P sub-unit together with Bang Yongguk known as Bang and Zelo with their debut track “Never Give Up”. Another member is Himchan who was in the Music Video for Ji Eun’s “Going Crazy” as well as the Shy Boy for SECRET’s “Shy Boy” MV. He had also been a host for MTV the Show prior to their debut. The other 3 members, Daehyun, Youngjae and JongUp were then introduced in their pre-debut show “Ta-dah It’s B.A.P!”. On January 26 they had released their debut single “Warrior”. We last saw them promoting their latest single “Power”.
Next up is a fragment of what the former “After School Boys”, Nu’EST(New Established Style Tempo). We first saw them in various Pledis Activites most notably on Happy Pledis’ “Love Letter” Music Video and Performance. Although not everyone of them in the Music Video had made an appearance to the performance and the group. Nu’EST consists of five members led by JR, Aron, Minhyun, Baekhi and Ren. Minhyun had made appearance on the Music Video of Orange Caramel’s Shanghai Romance. They had also been the back up dancers for After School Blue’s Wonder Boy. Leader JR was also featured in After School UEE’s solo track “Sok Sok Sok”. They had debuted on March 15 with their single “Face” and was last seen promoting their follow-up song “I’m Sorry”.
BTOB or BornToBeat is a seven member group of CUBE DC consisting of Eunkwang, Hyunsik, Minhyuk, Ilhoon, Changsub, Peniel and Maknae Sungjae. Minhyuk and Sungjae are currently the MCs for MTV the Show 2. Prior to debut they had starred in their own show entitled “Amazon” from Mnet which will show their competitiveness and survival strategy. Originally a 5 member group, member Minwoo was pulled out due to health problems and was replaced by members Peniel and Sungjae. Tehy debuted on March 22 with their song “Insane” and was recently seen promoting “Irresistible Lips”.
EXO was one of the most anticipated debuts of 2012 coming from SM Entertainment. They had first made a buzz by releasing their first teaser with member Kai. SM had then continued to release teasers having released a total of 23 teasers. 4 of them had then been able to perform on the SBS Gayo Daejun one of the year end Music shows done by the 3 Biggest broadcasting stations in South Korea. Each member starting from Kai down to Chanyeol have been introduced one by one via their official facebook fan page. Exo totals 12 members divided into Exo K for the Korean audience while Exo M for the Chinese Audience. The members are Leaders Suho and Kris, Kai, Sehun, Baekhyun, D.O, Chanyeol, Luhan, Tao, Xiumin, Chen and Lay. Aside from their 23 teasers other members have also made appearances on other SM activities like member Lay who was Jonghyun’s dance replacement in SHINee’s RDD performance in SHINee World Concert in Japan when Jonghyun was injured. Member Chanyeol starred in the MV of Girls’ Generation’s Japanese Version of Genie. Just before their debut they had released two prologue songs “What is Love” and “History” both of which had respective music videos. Exo K and M debuted on April 9 in Korea and China respectively with their debut song “Mama” in their respective languages.
Last but not the least comes JYP’s own JJ Project. JJ Project consists of member JB and Jr.(Junior) who both starred in KBS Dream High Season 2 with JB playing lead as JB and Jr. playing a supporting role as Eui Bong. Both of them had also appeared on label mate San E’s “Tasty San” Music Video. They got entry as JYP trainees by winning in a draw at JYPE’s 5th Open Auditions. They debuted with their digital single “Bounce” on May 24 and is still currently promoting.
Other notable debuts are DSP’s A-JAX, Jellyfish’s VIXX and Amuse Korea’s Cross Gene.Who along with the other Male Rookies are vying to stand out and get the prized Rookie Award at the year end awards.
They’re only able to win the Rookie award within the 1st year of their career, so who shall prevail?
lostboycc 