NU'EST

**NU'EST** (뉴이스트) is a South Korean boy group formed by Pledis Entertainment. Formed in 2012, the quintet's lineup consists of members JR, Aron, Baekho, Minhyun and Ren. They released their debut single "Face" on March 15, 2012 and their Japanese debut single "Shalala Ring" on November 5, 2014.

The group halted their activities in 2017 as four of the members were announced to be participating in the reality survival show *Produce 101*. Minhyun finished in 9th place, making him a member of the project boy group Wanna One. JR, Baekho and Ren finished in 14th, 13th, and 20th place, respectively, hence all of them eliminated and not being able to debut, and, along with Aron, who was the only member of the group who did not participate in the show due to him returning to LA as he suffered a leg ingury, formed the subgroup **NU'EST W** (in which W means to wait) due to Minhyun's participation in Wanna One with the other 10 members who made it to the final lineup.

Their name is an acronym for '**New Establish Style Tempo**'.

## History

### Pre-debut

In March 2011, it was revealed that Pledis Entertainment was looking for the last member of their upcoming boy group, tentatively called After School Boys (애프터스쿨 보이즈), through a public audition. On June 6, 2011, Dongho and Jonghyun were revealed as two of the members. On June 29, 2011, it was revealed that the group would be debuting at the end of the year with 5–6 members while their official name would be decided soon.

On November 21, 2011, a group photo was released for Pledis' charity album "Happy Pledis 2012 'Love Letter'", which was released on December 1, 2011. The album's title track "Love Letter" was performed by Son Dam Bi and After School and featured Pledis Boys' Minhyun and Dongho and female trainees Ara, Hyelim, and Junghyun. The entire group was also featured in the music video for "Love Letter".

On December 29, 2011, the group held a special stage with After School at the SBS Gayo Daejeon.

### 2012-2013: Debut, further releases

On January 17, 2012, a teaser photo was released and revealed that the group would be debuting as a five-member ensemble and under their official name, NU'EST.

The group made their debut on March 15, 2012 with their single "Face". They then held their debut stage on M Countdown the same day. They quickly followed up with their first mini album *Action* in July and were feautred on Orange Caramel's holiday single "Dashing Through the Snow in Highheels" in December.

NU'EST returned with their second and third mini albums *Hello* and *Sleep Talking* on February 13 and August 22, 2013, respectively.

### 2014-2015: Re:BIRTH, Japanese debut, "I'm Bad", Promotions in Japan, Bridge the World

NU'EST issued their debut full length, *Re:BIRTH*, on July 9, 2014. It contains the singles "Face", "Action", "Hello" and "Sleep Talking", and "Good Bye Bye" was used during promotions. They then officially debuted in Japan under Ariola on November 5 with the single "Shalala Ring".

The group released their first special single "I'm Bad" on February 27, 2015 and the physicial limited edition was released on March 15 to celebrate three years since their debut. Baekho was unable to participate in recording the title track as he was recuperating in his surgery to remove fold nodules from his vocal chords, though he did record the B-side track.

Their second Japanese single, "Na.Na.Na.Namida", was released on May 20, 2015.

It was announced in July/August 2015 that NU'EST would be releasing their Japanese debut studio album *Bridge the World* in November. The song of the same name was pre-released on September 13, and on September 23, an English version of the song was released as a seprate single and along with the original version.

The group relased their Japanese debut studio album *Bridge the World* on November 18. The English version of the song "Cherry" was also released as a digital single on the same day under Ariola Japan and was re-released under Sony Music Entertainment Japan on March 15, 2016. The album's bonus tracks on the Limited Edition A are "Cherry (English Ver.)", "Bridge the World (English Ver).", "Boku to Issho ni Ocha wo Nonde" (meaning "Have Some Tea With Me") and "Kōishō" (Fromm feat. Minhyun). The only bonus track on the Limited Edition B is the Minhyun solo "Koisuru Hi" (which in English means "Day of Love").

### 2016-2018: Return to Korea, Produce 101 Season 2, Minhyun's promotions with Wanna One, NU'EST W

NU'EST returned to Korea from Japan to start a new series, "Knight searching for the queen". They started off the series with their fourth mini album *Q Is.* and continued with *Canvas*, both of which were released on February 17 and August 29, 2016, respectively. The song "Overcome" was used as the former's title track, while the latter's title track was "Love Paint (Every Afternoon)" while "Daybreak" was used during follow-up promotions.

The group eventually took a break as four members participated in the second season of *Produce 101* in 2017 while Aron returned to the states due to leg pain. Only Minhyun was able to make it to the final 11 to debut with Wanna One, while the other four members of the group split into the subunit of NU'EST W, releasing three mini albums, W, Here, Who, You and Wake, N between 2017 and 2018 promoting them in the absence of Minhyun. Wanna One debuted in August of the former year and disbanded in December of the latter year.

Before forming the unit, following the end of *Produce 101* on June 16, 2017, JR and Ren became models for the cosmetics company Labiotte, while Baekho and Aron also subsequently joined their groupmates in promoting the brand. Ren joined the JTBC variety show *Learning the Hard Way*, of which he is a fixed member. Aron had previously been the featured artist of the single "Loop" by Raina, which was released on July 31.

### 2019-2020: Minhyun's return, Happily Ever After and The Table, The Nocturne, return to Japan with Drive

Following the end of Wanna One's promotions in December 2018, they officially disbanded on January 27, 2019 following the final day of their last concert, Therefore, a four-day concert that was held between January 24 to January 27. Their final title track was "Spring Breeze", and their final song before disbandment was "Beautiful, Pt. 2". Minhyun, along with the project group's 10 other members, disbanded after the end of the concert.

NU'EST finally made a comeback as five with their first digital single, "A Song For You", on March 15, 2019, in honor of 7 years together since their debut in 2012. This marked their very first comeback as a full group in three years, and the return of Minhyun after Wanna One disbanded in January. Minhyun also released his first digital single "Universe" on April 3 as a pre-relase track of the physical version of the group's sixth mini album *Happily Ever After*. Released on April 29, the song "Bet Bet" was used as the album's main promotional track. The album was the final part of the "Knight searching for the queen" series that began with their fourth EP in 2016.

The group later released another new mini album, *The Table*, in October. "Love Me", the title track, was used during promotions.

They also released the digital singles "Let's Love" and "Best Summer" on February 15 and June 2, 2020, respectively, in collaboration of NCsoft's character brand, Spoonz. Mini album 8, The Nocturne, was released on May 11, featuring the title track "I'm in Trouble".

Their second Japanese studio album, *Drive*, was released on October 7, and was also their first Japanese full length in five years after *Bridge the World* in 2015.

### 2021: Romanticize, Aron's five-month hiatus

In March 2021, it had been announced that NU'EST will be making a comeback with their second studio album *Romanticize* in April. It is their first Korean full length in seven years since *Re:BIRTH* in 2014. The album was released on April 19, containing 10 tracks including the title track "Inside Out". Aron was present in the recording of the album as well as its photoshoot and MV filming, though he was unable to participate in some of the promotions after he revealed on January 2 that he had health issues related to anxiety. Some music shows he was present in, others he wasn't, and therefore he did not participate in the promotions of the album entirely.

On June 29, Aron announced on a special Naver V Live that he had his health fully recovered and that he would be returning from his hiatus. This marks his comeback with the group since he started the year out with psychological anxiety and will be able to promote with the group again.

## Members

* JR (제이알)
	+ Born Kim Jong Hyun (김종현) in Gangneung, Gangwon-do, South Korea on June 8, 1995
	+ Position: Leader, Main Rapper, Main Dancer, Face of the Group, Vocalist

* Aron (아론)
	+ born Aaron Kwak in Los Angeles, California, United States on May 21, 1993
	+ Position: Lead Rapper, Lead Dancer, Vocalist

* Baekho (백호)
	+ born Kang Dong-ho (강동호) in Jeju, South Korea on July 21, 1995
	+ Position: Main Vocalist

* Minhyun (민현)
	+ born Hwang Min-hyun (황민현) in Busan, South Korea on August 9, 1995
	+ Position: Lead Vocalist, Visual

* Ren (렌)
	+ born Choi Min-gi (최민기) in Busan, South Korea on November 3, 1995
	+ Position: Vocalist, Maknae

## Korean discography

### Studio albums

* *Re:BIRTH* (2014)
* *Romanticize* (2021)

### Mini albums

* *Action* (2012)
* *Hello* (2013)
* *Sleep Talking* (2013)
* *Q Is.* (2016)
* *Canvas* (2016)
* *Happily Ever After* (2019)
* *The Table* (2019)
* *The Nocturne* (2020)

### Collaborations

* "Let's Love (with Spoonz)" (2020)
* "Best Summer (with Spoonz)" (2020)

### Features

* Orange Caramel - "Dashing Through the Snow in Highheels" (2012)

## Japanese discography

### Studio albums

* *Bridge the World* (2015)
* *Drive* (2020)

### Singles

* "Shalala Ring" (2014)
* "Na.Na.Na.Namida" (2015)

### Digital singles

* "Bridge the World" (2015)
* "Bridge the World (English Ver.)" (2015)
* "Cherry (English Ver.)" (2015)

## Trivia

* They are the very first boy group to debut under Pledis Entertainment.