Lat(t)e

### Official Color(s)

**Latte**, stylized as Lat(t)e, is a four-member girl group under Sprout Creative. They debuted as a five-member group on September 22, 2015 with their first EP, *First Brew*.

## **History**

### **2015: Pre-debut and debut with *First Brew***

On February 12, Sprout Creative announced their upcoming girl group, Lat(t)e, and unveiled the group's official logo, stating the group would make their debut later that year. Later that month on February 23, Leila was the first member to be revealed with Misaki shortly after the same day.

Aurora was revealed on March 5, followed by Eunjung on April 15 and Mina on June 8. The official group photo with all five members was released on June 26 and their SNS accounts were opened the same day.

On August 17, Sprout Creative announced the group's debut EP, *First Brew*, and revealed the first teasers. The group made their debut on September 22, 2015 with *Pumpkin Spice* as the title track. On October 22, the group's fandom name was revealed: Coffee Beans.

### **2016: *Bittersweet Love, Taste of Summer,* first scandal**

On February 14, 2016, Sprout Creative dropped a surprise music video for Lat(t)e's first digital single, *Bittersweet Love*. Unlike their debut, this single had no promotions but swept up the the monthly awards a little over a week later after a sudden fleeting chart peak in South Korea and Japan.

Teaser photos for the group's first comeback began releasing across social media accounts in late May, with an official announcement made on June 1 along with a group concept photo for their second EP, *Taste of Summer*, which would be releasing June 20.

In December 2016, K-Gossip released an article with photos of Misaki in Japan with a male alone at night. This caused much of the fandom to speculate if she was dating despite various sightings of Sprout Creative scouts throughout Asia and rumors of an upcoming new group.

### **January - July 2017: Unconfirmed hiatus, *Drop of Hearts*, *Walking in the Rays***

In January 2017, fans began speculating if the rumors in December had some grain of truth to them. After six months since *Taste of Summer* dropped, the group was already anticipated to make a comeback soon. During a live later that month, Aurora revealed the group wouldn't be making a comeback for awhile but there would be a surprise soon for Coffee Beans. The company and the members did not confirm if the group had gone on hiatus.

On February 15, the group dropped a single album titled, *Drop of Hearts*. Like *Bittersweet Love* in 2016, there were no promotions, but the album topped Japanese charts hours after release and Korean charts two days later. *Drop of Red*, a song on the album, won Best Vocal and Dance at the monthly awards a little over a week later.

During a live in May, Jun of Rainbow Punch revealed the group was currently working on full-length album with an expected release sometime in early 2018. This would be closest confirmation of a hiatus.

On June 6, however, the group dropped another single, *Walking in the Rays*. This song also had no promotions. The release of the song didn't confirm if the group was no longer on hiatus, however, a few of the members were confirmed to be involved in the title track for Rainbow Punch's debut in July.

In the first Rainbow Adventures uploaded to KTube when Q and Jun were visiting Itsuki in France, Q revealed the group would be releasing another song later in the year. Like the other releases earlier in the year, they wouldn't be receiving promotions, but he confirmed they would be on their album next year. The video further confirmed Jun's reveal during a live about the group working on a full-length album, expected to release in late 2017 or early 2018.

### **September - December 2017: *Believe:U*, Eunjung bullying scandal, Misaki dating scandal, full-length album confirmed**

On September 12, Leila and Misaki went live to countdown towards the release of their second single album, *Believe:U*.

In October, a Twitter account under @onceasprout released a thread of tweets about Eunjung being rude and disrespectful. The accusations ranged from her bullying various trainees and staff, and disrespecting her group members with backhanded compliments. Since then there were less group activities as a whole, however, some of the members did individual activities and the group continued to chart well compared to their junior group, Rainbow Punch.

Two months later in December and a year after the first scandal, K-Gossip released an article with photos of Misaki and fellow labelmate Ryuto laughing and enjoying dinner with the two closely hugging as she is dropped off at her apartment. The company made no comment regarding the rumors.

A few days later, Sprout Creative officially confirmed earlier rumors of the group's comeback with their first full-length album, announcing the official album cover for *Bitter Taste* and the expected release to be early 2018. The design of the cover excluding all member names and only having the group name compared to previous releases sparked rumors Eunjung was not going to be involved in the promotions following her controversy.

In late December, the tracklist was released, revealing a total of 18 tracks in the upcoming album.

### **2018: *Bitter Taste*, Eunjung's departure, *Sweet Treat***

On January 6, 2018, a leak revealed the company originally aimed for an early January release but due to unknown reasons, production didn't finish until shortly after the new year and the new tentative date Sprout Creative was aiming for would be January 15-20, 2018. Three days later, the MV teaser (which included Eunjung) for the title track *Fire in Our Hearts* was released, but no official release date was revealed until a few days later.

On January 17, *Bitter Taste* was released. While Eunjung is featured in the album and music video, she did not participate in promotions. Another trainee, later revealed as Cassandra Okamoto, took her place during the comeback stage, which a fancam later went viral. During a live it was revealed she would be taking Eunjung's place for the promotions. It was also confirmed the member had been on hiatus since the initial allegations.

On June 20, Sprout Creative announced they had terminated Eunjung's contract following an investigation and reviewing eyewitness accounts of a fight that broke out between her and the group members, stating they felt she had not fully reflected on her actions during her hiatus and it would be best to part ways. The remaining members would continue to promote as a group, and the company revealed they were currently working on their next release, which had been delayed to later in the year so Mina and Aurora could recover fully.

In late July, concept photos and music video teasers were released for *Sweet Treat*, which was later revealed to be a pre-release track for the since delayed album release. The song was released on August 2, 2018 and like previous digital singles from the group, had no promotions.

## **Members**

The group debuted with no official positions except for the center, visual, and leader until Eunjung's departure in June 2018.

 Misaki | Maknae, Lead Rapper, Lead Dancer
 Aurora | Leader, Main Vocalist, Lead Rapper
 Mina | Main Rapper, Vocalist
 Former

## **Discography**

### **EPs**

* *First Brew* (September 2015)
* *Taste of Summer* (June 2016)

### **Singles**

* *Drop of Hearts* (February 2017)
* *Believe:U* (September 2017)

### **Digital Singles**

* *Bittersweet Love* (February 2016)
* *Walking in the Rays* (June 2017)
* *Sweet Treat* (August 2018)

## **Official SNS**

**Twitter:** @latte\_official

**Instagram:** @latte\_official

**K-Tube:** @latte\_official

**B-Live:** @latte\_official

## **Trivia**

* Eunjung was originally selected to be the leader of the group, but suggested Aurora and Leila instead due to their experience in the industry.
* The name of the group started out as a joke from Eunjung while she was drinking a latte because all the members were in their 20s and debuting later than other idols.
* Aurora's cat, Snowball, is considered a bonus member of the group due to the cat's constant shenanigans.
* Prior to Eunjung's departure from the group, Leila was the official center.