Photo = YH Entertainment

 

Group AND2BLE recorded No. 1 on Hanteo Chart’s daily album chart and No. 2 on the iTunes Worldwide Albums Chart yesterday (the 26th), immediately upon their debut. It is not common for a rookie group to achieve such results on the first day of debut. Looking into the background, AND2BLE was never a “pure rookie” group from the start.

 

The method of members from audition programs returning to their original agencies and redebuting is no longer unfamiliar in the K-POP industry. Since I.O.I in 2016 and Wanna One in 2017, many teams including PRISTIN, Weki Meki, gugudan, AB6IX, and CIX have followed the same path. However, most were structured around one or two members who gained recognition through auditions, with new faces added to the lineup, and there were limits to carrying over the fandom size from the audition period as it was.

 

After IZ*ONE, who promoted for 2 years and 6 months from October 2018, the pattern began to change. After the group’s activities ended, there were cases where members successfully redebuted in their respective places. SAKURA and KIM CHAE WON redebuted as LE SSERAFIM, while AN YU JIN and JANG WON YOUNG redebuted as IVE, establishing themselves as major K-POP artists, and CHOI YENA is actively promoting as a solo artist. Even in these cases, however, the pattern was similar. Members dispersed and joined different teams or continued individual activities.

 

AND2BLE takes this one step further. ZHANG HAO, RICKY, KIM GYU VIN, and HAN YU JIN promoted together in ZEROBASEONE, the group formed through Mnet’s ‘BOYS PLANET’ in 2023. After ZEROBASEONE’s activities ended, the four returned to their original agency, YH Entertainment, and formed AND2BLE. They were joined by YOO SEUNG EON, who also came from the same audition program and promoted as a member of EVNNE. It is already unusual that all five members have experience from auditions and previous group activities, but the real key lies elsewhere. It is the first time in K-POP audition history that four members from the same team have moved together at once.

 

Why does this matter? In K-POP fandoms, relationships between members, or so-called “chemistry,” are not merely an additional element, but core content consumed by the fandom. The relationships built by passing an audition together and promoting in the same team are already a verified narrative for fans. The fact that four members moved into one team means that narrative has been transplanted into AND2BLE as it is. From the fans’ perspective, they are not getting to know a new team from the beginning, but continuing to watch relationships they already cherished. The Chinese and Southeast Asian fandoms rallying together, reflected in No. 1 on QQ Music on the first day of debut and strong performance on Southeast Asian charts, as well as all B-side tracks entering Melon HOT100, are all direct results of this “prebuilt fandom.”

 

The agency’s strategy was also designed to activate this fandom as much as possible. Even before debut, AND2BLE chose methods different from typical K-POP rookie promotions, including an interactive promotion page, original content in the format of a large-scale mystery web variety show, and pop-up cafes in major downtown areas of Seoul. Holding show-cons in arena-level venues across four Asian cities, starting with Jamsil Indoor Stadium in Seoul and continuing to K-Arena Yokohama in Japan and The Venetian Arena in Macau, immediately upon debut also places them on a different starting line from ordinary rookie groups.

 

Of course, a prebuilt fandom does not guarantee long-term success. There are cases where the fandom from the audition period does not fully carry over to the new team, and some fans may drift away during the process of building a new team color. To turn first-day debut results into sustained growth, they ultimately have to prove themselves through music and performance. That is also why so much effort was put into the quality of the title track ‘Curious,’ with members ZHANG HAO and RICKY directly participating in the lyrics, and choreography being separately arranged for the music video version and stage version.

 

A new formula created by the history of K-POP auditions. AND2BLE has begun its first experiment.