X1

“	Fly high! X1! Hello, we are X1! (Fly high! X1! 안녕하세요, 엑스원입니다!)	”
—X1

X1 (엑스원) was an 11-member project boy group under Swing Entertainment and Stone Music Entertainment. They were formed through Mnet's competition reality show Produce X 101 and debuted on August 27, 2019 with their first and only mini album 비상 : Quantum Leap.^[3][4]

The group disbanded on January 6, 2020 after the agencies representing the members could not reach a unanimous agreement following the Produce 101 vote manipulation controversy.^[5]

They were intended to be active for five years on a special contract, where the first semester was intended for them to focus solely on the group, and in the second half, they would have been able to do work within their own companies, such as solo debut, a member of a new group or returning to work with a former group.

Career

2019–2020: Debut, Produce 101 vote-rigging controversy, and disbandment

Following the conclusion of Produce X 101, vote rigging allegations surfaced after viewers noticed irregularities in the number of votes counted, which series PD Ahn Joon Young later admitted were rigged.^[6] Despite of this at the time, their debut moved forward.

A reality show titled X1 Flash, which followed their process to debut, began airing on August 22.^[7] X1 debuted on August 27 with the release of their first mini album 비상 : Quantum Leap and held their debut show-con at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul.^[8]

By November 2019, the group had temporarily halted all activities and went on an indefinite hiatus due to the severity of the event.^[9] It was also revealed that some members had still not yet signed contracts with CJ ENM due to the ongoing investigation.^[10]

On December 30, CJ ENM's CEO Heo Min Heoi held a press conference to make a formal apology regarding the manipulation controversy surrounding the Produce 101 series. He explained that CJ ENM will be compensating everyone harmed due to the incident. Regarding IZ*ONE and X1, he shared that they are working on plans for the groups to resume activities, and Mnet will give up all resulting profits towards a fund.^[11]

On January 6, 2020, CJ ENM, Swing Entertainment and the X1 members' individual agencies held a meeting to determine the future of the group. After deliberating for an hour about whether the group should continue promoting or disband, a secret ballot was held by the members' agencies. The agencies agreed prior to voting that the group would only continue if there was a unanimous agreement or else the group would have to disband. Four agencies voted for X1 to continue activities, four agencies voted for the group's disbandment, and one agency whose vote was undecided was ultimately discarded. As a result, it was decided that the group would disband after only five months of activities.^[5] Meanwhile, their fandom, ONE IT, staged protests on CJ E&M demanding the group's disbandment was unfair and relaunch the group. The fandom also sent LED Trucks to promote their movement, however the protest did not change the outcome.

After the group's disbandment was decided, CJ ENM suggested that a previously recorded winter track be released as a goodbye song, but the idea was rejected by two or three of the members' agencies. Similarly, a suggestion from a member's agency to record a final video was rejected by another agency.^[5]

Aftermath

On January 29, 2020, it was announced that Seungwoo would return to his activities with VICTON.^[12] The group made their comeback with seven members on March 9, 2020 with the mini album Continuous. He made his solo debut on August 10, 2020 with the mini album Fame.

After disbandment, Seungyoun continued his activites as a soloist under the stage name of WOODZ, as his original group UNIQ were still on hiatus. He made his solo comeback with the mini album Equal on June 19, 2020.

On April 23, 2020, it was announced that Wooseok would make his solo debut. On May 25, 2020, his solo mini album 1st Desire [Greed] was released.^[13] As of February 28, 2023, Wooseok left UP10TION after being on hiatus prior to X1's disbandment.^[14]

Yohan made his solo debut on August 25, 2020 with the digital single "No More". He also debuted as a member of WEi on October 5, 2020. He has also had some acting roles in dramas such as A Love So Beautiful.

On February 2, 2020, Hangyul and Dohyon held a fanmeeting. On February 5, the duo released a special digital single for their fans, called "Happy Day". On February 24, it was announced that they would be debuting as a duo on March 26, which was later postponed to April 21, with the release of a mini album.^[15] On March 30, they released a pre-release single titled "Unfamiliar", and on April 21, they officially debuted as H&D with the mini album Soulmate. The two were then confirmed to be members of the new boy group BAE173, the group debuted on November 19, 2020 with their first mini album Intersection : Spark. Dohyon went on hiatus from activities with BAE173 starting on October 8, 2022, due to aftereffects of COVID-19.^[16] On April 28, 2023, an exclusive report by News1 revealed that Dohyon had filed an injunction against PocketDol Studio to suspend his exclusive contract due to differing views with the agency regarding how they fulfilled their obligations of the contract.^[17] Then on June 23 of the same year, Dohyon eventually won his lawsuit to suspend his contract and subsequently left BAE173 altogether.^[18] On September 3, 2024, Dohyon announced that he would be making his solo debut on September 6 with the digital single "19" under the stage name toni rei.^[19]

On September 4, 2020, Woollim Entertainment announced that Junho would be debuting in the new boy group DRIPPIN, scheduled to debut sometime in October.^[20] The group officially debuted on October 28, 2020 with the mini album Boyager. He also participated in Woollim's collaboration single "Relay" as a member of Woollim Rookie.

Dongpyo debuted as a member of the boy group MIRAE on March 17, 2021 with the mini album Killa. After three years of activities, the group disbanded on July 9, 2024 after six out of the seven members had terminated their exclusive contracts with DSP Media.

On February 13, 2020, Starship Entertainment revealed that Minhee and Hyeongjun would be debuting with their new boy group, CRAVITY, in the first half of the year with the two joining as members.^[21] The group debuted on April 14, 2020 with the mini album Hideout: Remember Who We Are - Season1..

On August 13, 2020, Brand New Music announced that Eunsang would be making his solo debut. His debut single album, "Beautiful Scar", was released on August 31.^[22] It was later announced that he would be debuting as a member of YOUNITE with the EP Youni-Birth on April 20, 2022.

Members

Discography

Mini albums

• 비상 : Quantum Leap (2019)

Awards and nominations

Trivia

• Kim Woo Seok is a former member of UP10TION.
• Han Seung Woo is a member of VICTON.
• Cho Seung Youn is a member of UNIQ.
• Lee Han Gyul is a member of IM.

Gallery

Promotional

Miscellaneous

References

Official links

• Facebook
• Fan cafe
• Instagram
• Twitter
  • Official
  • Members
• V Live
• YouTube

v • e X1 Seungwoo  •  Seungyoun  •  Wooseok  •  Yohan  •  Hangyul  •  Junho  •  Dongpyo  •  Minhee  •  Eunsang  •  Hyeongjun  •  Dohyon Discography Mini albums 비상 : Quantum Leap Related topics Swing Entertainment  •  Stone Music Entertainment  •  Produce X 101 Official links Facebook  •  Fancafe  •  Instagram  •  Twitter (Members)  •  V Live  •  YouTube