For this weeks ‘Thursday 13’ we check out some of the most popular subunits in K-Pop! Keep reading to see who made the list.
1) Orange Caramel
After School ladies Nana, Lizzy and Raina debuted as the first After School subunit in June 2010 with the single “Magic Girl”. Since then they have promoted “A~ing”, “Bangkok City”, “Shanghai Romance” and more recently, “Catallena”. They also debuted in Japan in 2012 with a cover of 1970s pop group Candies song “My Sweet Devil”.
2) Toheart
Recently debuted with “Delicious”, SHINee’s Key and INFINITE’s Woohyun came together to form Toheart. They are the first subunit from two separate labels.
3) TTS
SNSD ladies Taeyeon, Tiffany and Seohyun formed subunit TTS, also know as TaeTiSeo, in 2012. They are SNSD’s first subunit. They released “Twinkle” and promotions began in May 2012, also participating in SMTown Live World Tour III. Tiffany said in an interview that the group would be coming together to release a new album, but as of yet those plans have not yet furthered.
4) GD&TOP
Released in December 2010, this album marked the first collaboration between members G-Dragon and T.O.P away from their group, Big Bang. Three singles were released for promotion: “High High”, “Oh Yeah” and “Knockout”. Other music videos released from the mini album were “Don’t Go Home” and “Baby Goodnight”.
5) 2YOON
Lead singers of 4minute, Gayoon and Jiyoon, came together to form subunit 2YOON. In 2013 they released their debut album “Harvest Moon”with title track “24/7”.
6) CL&Minzy
2NE1’s CL and Minzy teamed up as main rapper and main dancer to release single ‘Please Don’t Go’ in 2009.
7) Infinite H
The first subunit of INFINITE, members Hoya and Dongwoo came together to form Infinite H in 2013. The group debuted with their mini album “Fly High”. The title track was “Special Girl” but they also released music videos for “Victorious Ways” and “Without You”.
8) K.R.Y
Formed in 2006 with Super Junior members Kyuhyun, Ryeowook and Yesung, K.R.Y first official performance was on KBS’s Music Bank performing theme song ‘The One I Love’ from Korean drama ‘Hyena’. They have contributed to various other soundtracks and held their first mini concert tour in Japan in 2010. In 2012, they announced the release of their Japanese single ‘Promise You’ which was quite the success.
9) Troublemaker
The first subunit to have members from different bands, 4minute’s Hyuna and B2ST’s Hyunseung teamed up to promote as a sexy duo. During their promotions for their title track ‘Troublemaker’, they were criticised for their sexually suggestive choreography by the Korean media, which lead to alterations for the rest of the promotions. Despite this, they went onto win the triple crown on M.net’s M! Countdown. Troublemaker made their second comeback in 2013 with ‘Now’ from its EP ‘Chemistry’
10) SISTAR19
Composed of SISTAR members Hyorin and Bora, SISTAR19 is SISTAR’s first subunit. Formed in 2011, they debuted with their title track ‘Ma Boy’ on M! Countdown. After almost 2 years, it was announced SISTAR19 would make a comeback in January 2013 with ‘Gone Not Around Any Longer’, which earned them a nomination at the 2013 World Music Awards.
11) uBEAT
U-KISS’s first subunit uBEAT is composed of members Eli and AJ, with fellow member Kevin also featuring. They debuted in 2013 with their mini album ‘Should Have Treated You Better’.
12) BANG&ZELO
The Hip-Hop subunit composed of B.A.P members Yongguk and Zelo, debuted in 2011 with ‘Never Give Up’. This was almost 2 months before the debut of B.A.P.
13) M&N
Brown Eyed Girls members Miryo and Narsha released their first single ‘Tonight’ in November 2013. The single had both a Korean and an English version.
Can you list some of your favourite subunits? List them in the comments below!
