Pentagon (South Korean band)


Pentagon is a South Korean multinational boy band formed by Cube Entertainment in 2016. The group consists of nine members: Jinho, Hui, Hongseok, Shinwon, Yeo One, Yan An, Yuto, Kino and Wooseok. Originally composed of ten members, E'Dawn left the group and the record label on November 14, 2018. They were introduced through the Mnet survival show Pentagon Maker. Pentagon released their self-titled debut EP on October 10, 2016.

History

Pre-debut

In 2010, Hui was a trainee at JYP Entertainment after winning first place on Best Male Vocal at JYP 7th Audition Final Round. He also competed in the first season of Chinese Idol but failed to make the cut. Kino was a member of a dance team called Urban Boyz. In December 2013, Hui, E'Dawn, Yeo One, and Kino participated in the special stage dance at the KBS Song Festival. In February 2014, E'Dawn and Kino danced at Jirayu Tangsrisuk's 1st concert "James Ji Monkey King Fan Meeting". Jinho debuted under the stage name Jino as a member of SM the Ballad. Hongseok participated in Mnet and YG Entertainment's reality survival show Mix and Match. However, he failed to become a member of the winning boy group, iKon. He and Jinho joined Cube in 2015. Yan An and Yuto passed "Cube Star World Audition" overseas selection and became a Cube trainee in 2014. In February 2015, Jinho and Hui participated in a vocal project group Seorin-dong Children and released a remake of Lee Won-jin and Ryu Keum-deok's 1994 classic "For All the New Lovers".
On December 31, 2015, Cube Entertainment revealed that they would debut their third boy group after Beast and BtoB named Pentagon.

2016: ''Pentagon Maker'', debut with ''Pentagon'' and ''Five Senses'' and Japanese debut

On April 26, 2016, Cube Entertainment introduced Pentagon with the trailer, "Come into the World". The group's official Twitter, Facebook and Weibo opened on the same day.
The group participated in South Korean television channel Mnet's reality program, Pentagon Maker, which aired online through Mnet's digital content brand M2. The team was based on five categories: vocal or rap, dance, talent, mind, and teamwork. Each member was judged individually or as a unit, to determine to be a member of Pentagon. They were set to debut on July 16, 2016. By the end of the show, Jinho, Hui, Hongseok, Yeo One, Yuto, Kino, and Wooseok were confirmed as the official members of the group.
On July 9, Pentagon released the collaboration songs "Young" and "Find Me". A music video for "Young", featuring members Hui, Yeo One, Kino, Wooseok, and Yuto, was released. The group was originally scheduled to host their debut concert on July 23, 2016 at Jamsil Indoor Stadium, but Cube Entertainment delayed the concert and debut date of the group due to internal issues.
Pentagon made their official debut on October 10, 2016 with 10 members, including the members eliminated from Pentagon Maker, E'Dawn, Shinwon, and Yan An. On the same day, Pentagon released their first Korean EP Pentagon comprising seven tracks including title track "Gorilla", and held their debut showcase. The EP peaked number seven on the Gaon chart and remained top 10 for two consecutive weeks in the Japan's Tower Record Kpop weekly chart. On October 24, Shinwon was not able to participate in the promotions due to knee injury. On November 4, Cube revealed that Pentagon will be making their official debut in Japan on December 10, 2016. On November 7, Pentagon held their first fan signing with an attendance of 100 people. Pentagon received the nickname 'King Kongdol' due to their gorilla dance in their debut song 'Gorilla'.
The group held their first solo concert, "Pentagon Mini Concert Tentastic Vol. 1", on December 6 at the Yes24 Live Hall in Gwangjin District, Seoul. The tickets for the concert were sold out within eight minutes of going on sale. They gave a sneak preview of their new song "Can You Feel It" ahead of their comeback.
In two months after debut, the group released their second EP Five Senses lead single titled "Can You Feel It" with participation from the rapper line, Wooseok, and Yuto in songwriting. The song is released on December 7. It was described as a medium-tempo hip-hop song that combines strong beat with a cheerful guitar riff and an intense brass sound.
On December 10, Pentagon held their first showcase in Japan at Toyosu Pit, Tokyo, Japan with more than 3,000 people attending. On December 11, Pentagon appeared in Abema TV 'Fresh!' Kpopstarz and recorded over 340,000 live viewers. The group recorded at least four times the average live viewers of Beast, VIXX, B.A.P, Boyfriend, and U-Kiss. In particular, it is the second largest viewer in the history of the program. Pentagon sets three 'high speed' records, including the fastest group to debut in Japan, fastest domestic solo concert, and the fastest concert to sold out. Pentagon participated in Cube Entertainment's Christmas season song, with their label mates Hyuna, Jang Hyun-seung, BtoB, Roh Ji-hoon and CLC. The title track, "Special Christmas" was released digitally on December 12, 2016 as a Christmas gift for fans.
Pentagon ranked 9 on Billboard's 10 Best New K-Pop Groups In 2016.

2017: "Pretty Pretty", rise in popularity in Japan, ''Gorilla'', ''Ceremony'', ''Demo_01'' and ''Demo_02''

On January 22, 2017, Pentagon released a special music video for "Pretty Pretty", a track from their second Korean EP Five Senses, featuring IOI's Kim Chung-ha.
On March 29, Pentagon released their first Japanese EP Gorilla, which debuted at number six on the Gaon chart and third on the Oricon Chart. The album contains six tracks, including Japanese versions of previously released tracks "Gorilla", "Can You Feel It", "Pretty Pretty", and "You Are", along with two new Japanese tracks, "Hikari" and "Get Down". Pentagon sold out a reservation for their special mini live & talk concert at Shinagawa Stellaball in Tokyo to commemorate the release of Japan's first mini album on March 24. About more than 5,000 entries applied to attend but due to the capacity limit, only a total of 4000 seats were available. According to Japan's Tower Records, Gorilla was ranked first in the album charts throughout the day and peaked at third place on Oricon's Daily Album Chart with debut sales of 10,292 copies. On March 3, Gorilla took first place in the Japanese Tower Records Monthly Chart and earned their fourth 'high speed' to achieve first place in the Japanese chart.
On May 18, the group released the single "Beautiful", a ballad produced by label-mate Jung Il-hoon. The group held their three-day concert titled "Tentastic Vol. 2 'Trust'" from June 10–12 at the Shinhan Card Fan Live Hall. The concert was divided into "P day", "T day", and "G day" and showcased different concepts and performances. Tickets to the concerts were sold out in ten minutes. On May 31, Cube announced that Yan An was suspended for his right hand injury during practice.
On June 12, the group released their third Korean EP Ceremony that includes the pre-released single "Beautiful" and the lead single "Critical Beauty". The EP became their first U.S. chart entry, arriving on Billboard's world chart at number 14. Member Yan An was unable to participate in the album promotions and activities due to right-hand injury since May 31, 2017. On July 24, they released a surprise music video for their fans, "Precious Promise". On the same day, Pentagon received their first rookie award at Asia Model Awards.
In September, they released a short film "When I Was in Love" starring Gong Seung-yeon ahead of the comeback. On September 6, the group released their fourth Korean EP Demo_01 which includes the lead single "Like This", produced by leader, Hui. The EP marks their first all self-composed songs since debut. They also held their third solo concert, "Pentagon Mini Concert Tentastic Vol. 3, 'Promise'" at the Yes24 Live Hall in Gwangjin District, Seoul. The group made a special appearance on television series, Hello, My Twenties! 2, that was aired on JTBC. Pentagon received their second rookie award at 1st Soribada Best K-Music Awards on September 20, and followed by Rising star Award at Korea Music Festival Special Awards.
On 10 October, a year after debut, Pentagon hit 10,000 likes on MelOn for "Like This".
They released a pre-release song, "Stay" on 14 November. It is a unit song featuring Pentagon's vocal members. On November 22, the group released their fifth Korean EP Demo_02 which includes title track, "Runaway", the second title to have been produced by the group's leader, Hui. The group subsequently held their fourth solo concert, "Pentagon Mini Concert Tentastic Vol. 4, 'Dream'" at Blue Square I-Market Hall in Seoul. The following day, the group released a special music video, "Violet". The song is a sentimental song composed by Kino and co-written by E'dawn, Yuto and Wooseok.
Pentagon's Gorilla EP took third place in the K-pop Japan Top 10 album.

2018: ''Violet'', ''Positive'', ''Shine'', E'Dawn's departure, and ''Thumbs Up!''

On January 17, 2018, Pentagon released their second Japanese EP Violet, which includes the title track lead single. The mini album debuted at number one on Tower Record weekly album chart and ranked fourth in the Oricon Weekly Album Chart. They held their last solo concert, "Pentagon Mini Concert Tentastic Vol. 5, Miracle" on April 1 at Blue Square I-Market Hall, Seoul.
On April 2, Pentagon released their sixth Korean EP Positive which features six tracks including lead single "빛나리 ". The song eventually becoming a sleeper hit by word of mouth from listeners due to its unique melody and powerful choreography. Since its release, the lowest it placed on Melon's daily chart was in the 500s, but it slowly rose to number 186 on April 29. Throughout this time, it never entered the top 100 of the real-time chart. A month after its release, on May 1, the track rose to number 95 at Melon's real-time chart. The single peaked at number 16. "Shine" debuted at number 85 on Gaon Digital Chart and peaked at number 27. Subsequently, the company announced that the promotion period was extended by two weeks. They made their debut on Top 10 Billboard's World Digital Song Sales chart.
On August 18, Pentagon held their first fan meeting in Japan "僕たちの第一歩 ". Shine Japanese version, released on 29 August, was dedicated as TV Asahi's opening song for August episodes of late-night music program series 'Break Out'.
On September 10, Pentagon released their seventh Korean EP Thumbs Up!, which features five tracks including lead single "청개구리 ". E'Dawn and Yan An were absent from the comeback. After Hyuna announced her relationship with E'dawn in August, on September 13, Cube Entertainment announced that they would be terminating their contracts, citing that they could not "maintain trust" with them. On November 14, Cube Entertainment officially confirmed E'Dawn's departure from the group and company.
Pentagon made their first appearance on an episode of on October 6, 2018. The theme for the episode was "Korean Lyric Awards Special", which they performed a rendition of Kim Wan-sun's classic hit "The Pierrot Smiles At Us", a song recorded and released in 1990. The group received 383 points but lost to Jung Dong-ha by one point. On November 25, the group held a fan meeting "PENTAGon MOVINGon" at Nakano Sun Plaza, Tokyo with an attendance of 2,000 people. This is the first activity since E'Dawn's official departure.
In Japan, "Shine" ranks 4, "Violet" ranks 10 on Oricon's 2018 Indie Albums. "Violet" ranks 8 on Tower Record 2018 K-Pop Domestic Album.

2019: ''Cosmo'', ''Genie:us'', ''Sum(me:r)'' and first world tour

Pentagon held their first Japan Zepp tour - Dear Cosmo Tour across Osaka, Nagoya, Tokyo, and Fukuoka. Pentagon had their Japanese debut in February with the single, Cosmo. composed and written by Teru. The song ranked no.1 on the Oricon chart, other than iTunes.
On February 24, they held their second fan club fan meeting 'UNIONE' at Olympic Hall. On March 27, they released their eighth Korean EP with the title track "신토불이 ". Kino was not able to participate in performances due to an injury but participated in all other promotional activities. Pentagon continued promoting with a follow-up song "Spring Snow". He was able to participate in the promotions for a week.
In April, Pentagon appeared again on Immortal Songs 2 as a contestant, performing Kim Yeon-ja's "Nation of Morning" in Japan as part of the show's 400th episode special.
Pentagon held their first solo-concert "Prism" on 27 and 28 April 2019 at Blue Square iMarket Hall. The tickets were sold out in a day. On May 2, Cube entertainment announced Pentagon's first world tour concert, Prism World Tour, with 15 cities worldwide and 16 shows. On June 16, Pentagon represented South Korea in the annual Star of Asia in Almaty, Kazakhstan that gathers more than 20,000 people at the Medeu High-Rink. In July, Pentagon announced an additional eight cities for their Prism world tour, which covers twenty-three cities worldwide. On July 22, Cube Entertainment announced that Yan An will not be able to participate in Pentagon's 2019 world tour, "Prism", due to a medical reason.
They released their ninth extended play Sum on July 17, without Yan An due to health reasons, with lead single "Humph!" being co-produced by Giriboy and Hui.

2020: First studio album and ''Road to Kingdom''

On February 12, Pentagon released their first full album, with the lead single "Dr. Bebe". The group continue to promote as eight as Yan An did not participate in the promotions. Their first studio album features 11 tracks that were co-written or feature lyrics by members Jinho, Hui, Wooseok, Kino, and Yuto. The music video was brought forward to midnight KST on February 12 due to the overwhelming response. Pentagon continue their promotion activities with follow-up song "Shower of Rain" starting March 12, on MCountdown.
On March 5, Pentagon collaborated with Japanese rock music icon Glay in "I'm Loving You" as a part of Glay's 25th anniversary album Review II-Best of Glay. The song was described as a genre-bending song of an upbeat Latin-inspired dance-pop song with a killer electronic breakdown. Pentagon is confirmed to join Mnet's reality television competition Road to Kingdom which consist of groups that are yet to rank number 1 on music shows, but possess big fandom scale and excellent skills. For first performances - Song of King, the group performed Hui's arrangement of Block B's "Very Good" with reimagined Mad Max concept. They were ranked second in the first contest rankings. During the show's airing, Jinho enlisted for his mandatory military service as an active duty soldier on May 11, 2020. The group released a new song "Basquiat" for the program's finale, and finished in third place overall.

Philanthropy

Pentagon undertakes philanthropy work such as giving out coal briquettes and donating 50 million won to Gangnam Severance Hospital's Respiration Rehabilitation Center for patients suffering from rare neuromuscular disease. Pentagon's leader Hui said, “Our agency’s CEO is suffering from ALS, and we’re very aware of it. So we know that the public awareness of these illnesses is very low and that there aren’t many policies or economic support. Starting with our small act, we hope that people become more aware of it.”

Endorsements

Before the official debut of Pentagon, the ten members were chosen as new models to endorse Econeko & Sausando's Organic Ice Cream Bubble Cleanser in 2016. On August 18, 2016, school uniform brand Elite announced their collaboration with Pentagon and I.O.I as their new models. On September 27, 2017, Pentagon has been appointed as an honorary ambassador of the Korea Copyright Protection Service at the 1st anniversary of Korea Copyright Protection Office and Future Vision 2021. In 2017–19, they became the endorsement model for D'Live+ OTT set-top box.

Members

Adapted from their Naver profile.
;Current members
Active
Inactive
Former members

Discography

Variety show

Headlining tours