IKON

iKON is a boy group under YG ent., who debuted in 2015 after the survival show Mix & Match. They rose to fame in South Korea in 2018 with their hit song, Love Scenario.

As of 2019, B.I, the leader of the group has left due to his drug scandal.

## Pre-debut, survival shows

Prior to the group's formation, group leader B.I featured on MC Mong's 2009 song "Indian Boy". He performed with MC Mong at the 2009 SBS Dream Concert, as well as on *You Hee-yeol's Sketchbook*. Group vocalist Ju-ne also made a pre-debut appearance aged thirteen on the SBS variety show *Star King*. He also competed on SBS's *K-pop Star* in 2011.

On 3 January 2011, B.I and Jinhwan joined YG Entertainment as trainees, as did Bobby a week later. The three trained together for a year and formed the basis of what was to become "Team B". On 18 April 2012, Ju-ne and Yunhyeong joined Team B, followed by Donghyuk as the sixth and final member on 5 November 2012.

The group was first introduced in 2013, through the reality survival program *Who Is Next:WIN* as Team B, consisting of leader B.I, members Bobby, Jinhwan, Junhoe, Yunhyeong and Donghyuk. Team B competed against another group of trainees, known as Team A, for the chance to debut. Through three rounds of public voting, Team B eventually lost to Team A, and continued as YG trainees (Team A debut as Winner.)During the survival show, they released two singles as Team B, "Just Another Boy" and "Climax".

The following year, members Bobby and B.I participated in a rap survival show called 'Show Me The Money 3' while 'Mix&Match' was also being filmed (both shows from Mnet). B.I was eliminated in episode 7, as a top 8 participant, while Bobby eventually became the season's champion. The two members' participation in this program increased public awareness about the rap survival show and gave both a huge popularity boost. Bobby used the money he won to help his family move back to South-Korea.

In June 2014, Team B appeared in the reality survival program *Mix & Match*, a follow-up to *WIN: Who Is Next*. The aim of the show was to determine the final lineup of iKon, According to YG Entertainment CEO Yang Hyun-suk, the group's name derives from the intent to become an 'icon for Korea', hence the 'K'. While Bobby, B.I, and Jinhwan were confirmed members, the remaining members of Team B competed against three new trainees; Jung Jin-hyeong, Yang Hong-seok, and Jung Chan-woo, who had previously appeared on Korean television as a child actor. It was reported that 150,000 fans applied to attend the final performance of the show, and before the announcement of iKon's official lineup, YG Entertainment's blog server crashed. The final lineup contained the three remaining members of Team B, with the addition of Chanwoo.

On 15 December 2014, iKon performed as the opening act at Bigbang's *Japan Dome Tour 2014-2015 X*.

## 2015 Debut and Welcome back

Following several postponements, iKon's official debut was announced on YG Entertainment's website for 15 September 2015. It was revealed that the group would be releasing their debut album *Welcome Back* in two parts, with 6 of the 12 tracks being title tracks. The first half of the album, *Debut Half Album*, was set to be released on 1 October, followed by the *Debut Full Album* on November 2. The track listing for the first half-album was released on 24 September. Group leader B.I was credited as the producer and co-composer for all of the album's tracks, with B.I and Bobby contributing to lyrics for all tracks and vocalist Ju-ne participating in the composition of title track "Rhythm Ta".

iKon debuted with the 'pre-single' "My Type" was released with a music video on 15 September 2015. Within 24 hours of its release, the music video for "My Type" surpassed 1.7 million views on YouTube. The group took their first music show win with the single on 26 September 2015 on MBC's *Music Core*, even though they had yet to make their first official live appearance. On 24 September, "My Type" achieved a 'triple crown' on the Gaon chart, having taken the number one spot on the digital, download, and streaming charts simultaneously for the 39th week of 2015. On 18 September, the single became number one on the music video chart of Chinese music streaming sites QQ Music and Youku. iKon also trended on Weibo, where they were reportedly searched 1.3 billion times.

iKon's *Debut Half Album* was released digitally on 1 October. The group held their first concert, Showtime, on 3 October at the Seoul Olympic Gymnastics Arena. The show sold out 13,000 tickets. The concert's taking place at the largest concert hall in Korea was unprecedented for a new K-pop group. *SHOWTIME* was broadcast live through Naver's V App and streamed by over 500,000 viewers.

On 4 October, a day after their debut concert, the group made their music show debut on SBS's Inkigayo with "Rhythm Ta" and "Airplane", receiving their third music show win for "My Type" in person. On 8 October, they won on Mnet's M!Countdown with "Rhythm Ta". According to the Gaon Music Charts, iKon topped the weekly album sales charts with the first half of *Welcome Back* for 4–10 October.