INTERVIEW ONEUS sidesteps '7-year curse,' full lineup returns for 12th EP
K-pop boy band ONEUS / Courtesy of B-Wave Entertainment
Members eye Latin America, Europe on upcoming 'FULL MOON' world tour
For K-pop groups, the seventh year is supposedly cursed. Standard exclusive contracts usually are set to expire around that point, and members start weighing solo careers, new agencies or leaving the industry altogether.
For boy band ONEUS, members say that reckoning never really arrived, and agreeing to stay together took far less discussion than deciding where to do it.
The five-member boy group — Seoho, Leedo, Keonhee, Hwanwoong and Xion — will release its 12th EP, "FIRST LIGHT: 井," at 6 p.m., Wednesday. It is the group's first release as a full lineup since Seoho was discharged from mandatory military service in August, and their first album since all five moved together to B-Wave Entertainment earlier this year.
ONEUS debuted under RBW in January 2019 and parted ways with the agency when their contracts ended in February. At the members' request, B-Wave acquired the ONEUS-related intellectual property from RBW, which allowed the five to carry on under the same name.
Members of K-pop boy band ONEUS, from left, Xion, Seoho, Hwanwoong, Keonhee and Leedo pose during an interview with The Korea Times at a cafe in Seongdong District, Monday. Courtesy of B-Wave Entertainment
"There weren't really any difficulties," Keonhee said during an interview with The Korea Times in Seoul, Monday. "Even without much discussion, it was very easy for all of us to agree we'd stay together, because the five of us were sure about ONEUS. It felt like we skipped a lot of the deliberation that other idols go through."
He credited B-Wave CEO Koo Bon-young, who worked with the group from its debut and whom the members call a "father figure."
Hwanwoong said the members had been talking about the so-called "seventh-year curse" for a long time.
"When the time came, nobody disagreed about staying together," he said. "The only real question was what environment we could keep doing it in."
From left are K-pop boy band ONEUS members Seoho, Hwanwoong, Xion, Leedo and Keonhee. Courtesy of B-Wave Entertainment
Water well reunion
The new album, "FIRST LIGHT: 井," was built around that sense of reunion.
The Chinese character "井" — meaning "water well" — is supposed to evoke the moon being reflected in water and stand for a place where the members and their fans meet. The ideogram is evoked even in the group's dance choreography.
Keonhee said the album also frames the group and its fans as lights that shine on each other. It looks back to their 2019 debut album "LIGHT US," which focused on the members receiving their fans' light. This time, he said, they wanted to show they could shine back.
The five-track album is led by "Say Yes!," produced by R.Tee, a B-Wave labelmate known for his work on BLACKPINK hits including "DDU-DU DDU-DU" and "Kill This Love." The album also includes songs "Runaway," "By Chance," "Never Ending Us" and "We run for youth."
Xion said working with R.Tee felt "less like a job than hanging out with an older friend from the neighborhood," as the producer came into the booth to walk them through each part of the title track.
"Say Yes!" song pairs a hard-hitting beat with blunt lyrics, a first for ONEUS, which is better known for its lyrical, wistful concepts .
The song also has a Korean title, which translates to "Don't Look Away." Keonhee admitted he expected using the Korean phrase to feel awkward in interviews.
"But once you see the song and the performance, it won't seem silly at all," he said. "We were more curious than worried about how fans would react to a new color."
Hwanwoong, Leedo and Keonhee are also credited as lyricists and composers on the B-sides.
Members of K-pop boy band ONEUS, from left, Xion, Seoho, Hwanwoong, Keonhee and Leedo pose during an interview with The Korea Times at a cafe in Seongdong District, Monday. Courtesy of B-Wave Entertainment
No gap
Seoho enlisted in the Army in February 2025, and the remaining four kept the team active in his absence, releasing a single in January as a quartet.
"As ONEUS, we never had a hiatus," Keonhee said. "We knew Seoho's absence could look like the team was declining, so we worked even harder, and each of us tried to protect ONEUS in our own way."
Seoho said watching from the barracks moved him. "I could feel them putting the team first," he said. "I also tried hard, so I wouldn't be forgotten as a member of ONEUS."
The official poster for K-pop boy band ONEUS' upcoming world tour "FULL MOON" / Courtesy of B-Wave Entertainment
The group will take the new songs on the road with "2026 ONEUS WORLD TOUR 'FULL MOON,'" which opens in Seoul on Oct. 24 and 25 before heading to Latin America, Europe, North America and Asia.
Leedo said fan culture varies widely from region to region, which is part of the fun.
"In South America, fans dance harder than we do, scream and stomp their feet," he said. "In the U.S., people groove along and sing with us, and some even do cowboy-style 'yee-haw' chants."
Hwanwoong said the album's number carries its own weight.
"Releasing a 12th mini album in our eighth year is rare, and I want to convince people it's a number with a reason behind it," he said.