NU'EST (acronym for New Establish Style Tempo) is a South Korean boy group formed by Pledis Entertainment in 2012. The group debuted on March 15, 2012, with their digital single "Face". The group consists of JR, Aron, Baekho, Minhyun, and Ren. They have released two studio albums, one Korean and one Japanese, as well as five EPs.
Prior to their debut, NU'EST made appearances in their labelmates music releases; as backup dancers for After School Blue's "Wonder Boy", and featured in their label's Christmas release "Love Letter". They also released their own music video for "Love Letter" as Pledis Boys. JR appeared in Orange Caramel's "Bangkok City" music video, and was also featured in Uee's solo song "Sok Sok Sok". Baekho appeared in After School's "Play Ur Love" music video, and Minhyun starred in Orange Caramel's "Shanghai Romance" music video.
JR, Minhyun, Aron, and Ren were also featured with After School's Lizzy in a commercial for New Balance. JR and Baekho appeared on KBS's television program Hello Counselor and were revealed by After School's Kahi as two of the official members of the group. This drew attention from viewers and they became a topic of interest online. Minhyun and Ren also gained attention modeling for designer Park Yoon-so's F/W 2012–13 Seoul Fashion Week show, titled "Big Park".
NU'EST in September 2012
NU'EST made their debut with their first single, "Face", on 15 March 2012. Their debut stage was on M! Countdown on the same day. The group began airing their own reality show, Making of a Star: NU'EST Landing Operation, during the promotional period.
They returned with their first EP, Action, on 11 July, and became ambassadors for Korea's Scout Association. During their promotional period and the rest of the year, NU'EST began to expand to the global market, holding events in Japan, Australia, other parts of Asia, and the United States, including performances at KCON. During December, NU'EST began endorsements with McDonald’s. In March, NU'EST celebrated their first anniversary through a concert in Japan, NU'EST Debut 1st Anniversary Live Show Time.
2013 - 2014: Hello, Sleep Talking
Baekho and Ren made acting appearances in the drama Jeon Woo-chi alongside label mate Uee in January 2013. The group returned with their second EP, Hello, on 13 February. They held their first exclusive concert, Show Time NU’EST Time the same day to commemorate the release. During the promotional period, they were cast for SBS MTV Diary along with their then-label mate Hello Venus. In March, NU'EST celebrated their first anniversary through a concert in Japan, NU′EST Debut 1st Anniversary Live Show Time. On 8 April, Aron became a DJ for Arirang's Music Access.
In November, they entered the Chinese market with the addition of a new member, Jason. The group promoted in China under the name NU'EST-M, and recorded Chinese versions of their lead singles "Face" and "Sleep Talking". In December, Minhyun made his acting debut and was made a regular on the sitcom Reckless Family 3. To celebrate Music Core's 400th episode in March 2014, Ren performed Girl's Day's "Something" along with BTOB's Minhyuk, A-JAX's Seungjin, and VIXX's Hongbin.
On 9 July 2014, NU'EST released their first full album, Re:BIRTH, with "Good Bye Bye" as the title track. They also officially debuted in Japan on 5 November, with the single "Shalala Ring".
2015 - 2016: Japanese promotions
NU'EST released the digital single "I'm Bad" on 27 February 2015,[23] with a limited edition physical release on 15 March to celebrate their third anniversary. Baekho did not appear on the title track due to him recovering from vocal cord polyps surgery, but he did appear on the B-side track. On 2 April, Minhyun collabrated with Korean indie artist Fromm on the single "The Aftermath". On 19 April, Aron ended his position as a DJ at Arirang's Music Access. The group held their first solo showcase in North America at Dallas, put together by My Music Taste, on 3 May.[24]
NU'EST released their second Japanese single "Na.Na.Na" on 20 May.[25] On 14 August, Aron took up a position as a DJ on SBS PopAsia with his own show Aron's Hangout.[26] NU'EST released their first Japanese studio album, Bridge the World, on 18 November, after pre-releasing the tracks "Bridge the World", "Cherry", "Access To You", and "Eternal Rain".[27]
Their fourth EP Q Is was released on 17 February 2016 with the title track "Overcome". They began promotions for the album the following day.NU'EST released their fifth EP Canvas and the accompanying single "Love Paint (Every Afternoon)" on 29 August 2016.[29] After four years of promotion, the group finally received their first music show nomination on The Show. As of 20 September, they have been nominated for first place three times in a row. On 6 October 2016, the music video for the duet track "Daybreak" from Canvas was released. The unit performing "Daybreak" is made up of Minhyun and JR.[30]
2017: Produce 101 Season 2 and NU'EST
NU'EST W in August 2017
Four members (JR, Minhyun, Baekho and Ren) participated in the reality television series Produce 101 Season 2 during the first half of 2017. During their appearance on the show, previously released albums, including Q Is and Canvas, rose on South Korean music charts as a result of a surge in popularity.[32][33] Produce 101 Season 2 concluded with one of the four competing members, Minhyun, ranking 9th and becoming a member of the temporary boy group Wanna One. On the final episode, Dongho ranked 13th, Jonghyun ranked 14th, and Minki ranked 20th. Due to the nature of the contract between Wanna One members and CJ E&M, Minhyun will promote as a member of Wanna One until December 2018, after which he will return to promote as a regular member of NU'EST again.
Following the conclusion of Produce 101 Season 2, Jonghyun and Minki became models for the cosmetic company Labiotte. Jonghyun also joined the JTBC variety show Night Goblin, of which he is a fixed member.
The remaining four members will be promoting as a subgroup called NU'EST W until Minhyun's return. The "W" stands for "wait", meaning that the group will wait for Minhyun to return.
NU'EST W released their debut EP titled W, Here with the title track "Where You At" on October 10, 2017. The album was well received, and the group earned their first music show win with the title track "Where You At" on October 19, 2017 on M Countdown. The following day, NU'EST W won first place on Music Bank, again with the title track "Where You At." Since its release, sales of the album W, Here have surpassed 200,000 copies, making NU'EST W the fourth group to reach 200,000 copies sold in one week. NU'EST W is also the smallest of the groups to have reached this level of album sales.
- Wikipedia Last Updated 17 March 2021