They performed the title track from their album at the China Music Awards in Macau on April 15th, 2016. Other than the full debut album, KNK released another two Extended Plays the same year when they made their stage debut. With all the hard work they did in 2016, they had been listed as one of “10 Best New K-Pop Groups in 2016” by Billboard. After KNK got included in the “10 Best New K-Pop Groups in 2016” list by Billboard, they continued their hard work and even held their first solo concert and tour around Asia in 2017. KNK also made a debut in Japan, and they made an appearance in the show MixNine with all the band members during that same year.
KNK Member You-jin, Left the Group
The sad news hit the KNK fans, Tinker Bell, namely that You-jin has to leave the group. A statement was issued by KNK’s agency, YNB ENtertainment, on April 19th, 2018, saying that KNK’s amazing main vocalist, You-jin, has been diagnosed with a mental health disorder at the hospital, namely he has been diagnosed with panic disorder, which has rendered him unable to continue his career in the music industry, as a member of the band KNK. This is why he had to take leave from participating in KNK’s promotional activities and focus on recovering. In the meantime, the band continued promoting as a four-member band, namely Ji-hun, Seung-jun, In-seong, and Hee-jun. On September 10th, 2018, You-jin reported that he has decided not to join KNK and leave the band by terminating the contract with the agency, YNB Entertainment. On Tinker Bell’s official fan cafe, You-jin wrote a message that he wrote himself that said: “Hello, this is KNK’s Kim You-jin, First of all, I want to say sorry to all the Tinker Bells that have been worried and waited for me. For these two years, I am so glad for my debut as the main vocalist of the band. I have been dreaming about it since I was a kid and I thought I want to do it better than anyone else. While the thought has become burdensome for me, I became more frustrated with myself, and I faced some difficulties that have made me decide to leave the group. I took the time to concentrate on my health’s treatment, however, it became really hard to stand and perform on stage. I would like to sincerely apologize to Tinker Bells and my fellow members of KNK because of this decision. On our first anniversary letter that I wrote, it was a good time. To be with good people, it was a very happy thing. Since the day of my debut, I have always been happy and thankful for having a great time during my activities. I made a lot of promises to the Tinker Bells, and I am really sorry for not being able to fulfill them, I also apologize to the rest of the band members and the company personnel for not keeping my promises. I will never forget your support. To the Tinker Bells who have been supportive and have been cheering me all these times, and also to the KNK members, Seung-jun, In-seong, Ji-hun, Hee-jun, I would like to say sorry once again. I will continue living my life without ever forgetting these incredible two years. I apologize to Tinker Bells that have waited until the end. To the KNK members, who understood and backed my decision, please show some warm support and love for them. I will also support them and pray for them. Until this time, I sincerely want to say thank you.”
KNK Fans’ Reactions
After reading the letter that You-jin himself wrote in his own handwriting, fans didn’t expect him to apologize, since it’s nothing to be sorry about. Of course, with the news of You-jin leaving the group, Tinker Bell, KNK’s fandom, were shocked but couldn’t hope for anything but the best for their main vocalist, You-jin. Even though they all wanted KNK to make the next stage comeback with five members in the band, since it is the best decision for You-jin and his health, all the fans of KNK wished for the best for him.
KNK Left YNB Entertainment
On September 10th, 2018, the same year when YNB Entertainment announced to fans that You-jin couldn’t continue his activity with KNK, it was reported that KNK have terminated their contract with the agency. Although KNK’s contract with YNB Entertainment hadn’t expired yet, they terminated it because YNB Entertainment had an internal problem with their management. So YNB Entertainment had to terminate their contract with KNK. Nevertheless, KNK will still exist as a band and will move to another company. You-jin, however, who has been diagnosed with panic disorder, was unable to join the band and had to leave KNK for good. After several months KNK left their agency, YNB Entertainment, and eventually found a new home under the care of 220 Entertainment. The group joined the company on January 2nd, 2019. Not only the four members of KNK joined 220 Entertainment, but additionally, a new member was introduced on December 19th, 2018, which is Lee Dong-won, who would also join the new agency and would start to promote this year.
Comeback with a New Member
After signing a contract with the new agency, 220 Entertainment, KNK’s official representative said that they will be returning with a new member, which means they will come back with five members. “We would like to ask for everyone’s attention and we would ask them to show some supports for KNK, along with the new member.” said the representative. Ji-hun, the leader, also said that the new member, Lee Dong-won is one of their closest friends and they feel like he is family. This was the letter he wrote on KNK official fan club: “We still keep in touch with You-jin, we do hope that You-jin could live a happy life, and You-jin also always support KNK. I am still very sad about this, but I wish you all don’t have to worry about this so much. If you take a look at our performance, it feels empty if we only perform with four members, since we were a group of five members before. That’s why we thought that we need a new member to feel this emptiness and it was the reason why we got a new member with us. The new member is our close friend that has already been close to us ever since our pre-debut days. He has been close with other members and feels like a family for us. Lastly, we will always work very hard to promote KNK. And since we were on hiatus, we will be more riveting and try to amaze you all.”
KNK’s Latest Song: Lonely Night
On January 7th, 2019, KNK released their restart song after signing with 220 Entertainment, with Lee Dong-won, the new member, with the song titled “Lonely Night”. The song is written by one of the members of KNK, Hee-jun. This song has a hip-hop vibe as Dong-won, the new member, has become the rapper of the group, as well as Hee-jun and Seung-jin that changed his stage name to Seo-ham. The dance choreography is also suitable for the music and their voices. Let’s take a look at KNK’s latest song, “Lonely Night”.
World Tour Plan
After being on a hiatus for a long time, in December 2018, KNK announced a plan to come back with a new single album titled Lonely Night, that consists of “Lonely Night,” “What Do You Think,” and “Day By Day”. Not only they announced that they would be returning on the stage soon, but they also introduced their new member, Lee Dong-won. And at that time, they also shared another piece of good news for fans, especially the International fans. Can you guess what is that? Yeah, KNK is going on a world tour! Unfortunately, the only country that they are going to have concerts in is the USA. They even revealed the tour dates and ticket sales for some cities in the US, such as Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago, and New York. Here are the details for the tour schedule:
Los Angeles Date: February 24th, 2019 Venue: Globe Theatre Dallas Date: February 27th, 2019 Venue: Granada Theater Chicago Date: March 1st, 2019 Venue: Park West New York Date: March 3rd, 2019 Venue: Warsaw
So, for Tinker Bells in the US, did you enjoy the show? It must have been really great to meet and have fun with KNK at the concert. For International fans in other countries, let’s just hope that the world tour will expand to other countries too!
As a group that has been known all over Korea and Internationally, KNK has an official Instagram account to communicate with fans nationwide as well as worldwide. The username is @knk_official_knk. KNK often post their selfies, promotional photos, or other activities from the members, for example when they go to other countries for their tour or events. Let’s take a look at KNK’s Instagram feed! Dong-won shared a selfie with the fans wearing a denim top! https://www.instagram.com/p/Bu_CWDQnU7n/ What happened with Hee-jun and In-seong? Let’s see their cute interaction in the video that they shared on KNK’s Instagram!
A post shared by 크나큰 (@knk_official_knk) on Mar 15, 2019 at 1:12am PDT Hee-jun looks so stylish while taking a selfie in the mirror. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bu7-ddKn6D0/ Seo-ham looks very aesthetic, just like the scenery in the background!
A post shared by 크나큰 (@knk_official_knk) on Mar 12, 2019 at 9:28pm PDT In-seong congratulates KNK’s third anniversary with a cute selfie!
A post shared by 크나큰 (@knk_official_knk) on Mar 2, 2019 at 11:35am PST Ji-hun and Hee-jun got swag in LA!
A post shared by 크나큰 (@knk_official_knk) on Feb 23, 2019 at 5:24pm PST
