Drippin (Korean: 드리핀, stylized in all caps) is a South Korean boy band formed by Woollim Entertainment in 2020. The group composed of six members: Hyeop, Yunseong, Changuk, Dongyun, Minseo, and Junho. Originally a seven-member group, Alex departed from the group on July 28, 2023 due to poor health conditions and anxiety concerns. The group officially debuted on October 28, 2020, with the EPBoyager.[4][5]
Name
The group's name, Drippin is based on the new words meaning cool and awesome, and is a cool and awesome group that leads music, fashion, and trends with its diverse charms. It contains the ambition to become a group and write a new history in the music industry.[6]
Career
Pre-debut
Prior to debut, all of the members except for Alex competed in the competition reality show Produce X 101, with Cha Jun-ho finishing ninth in the program and thus becoming a member of the project group X1.[7] The remaining members with an additional trainee named Lee Sung-jun (now a part of the group Blank2y) released the single "1M1S" under the name W Project 4.[8] The single charted at number 81 on Billboard's K-pop Hot 100.[9]
2020–2021: Debut and subsequent releases
In September 2020, Woollim Entertainment announced that would be debuting boy group composed of seven members called Drippin.[7] They released the reality program through KT's Seezn, We are Drippin, documenting the process leading up to their debut.[10][11] The group debuted on October 28 with the release of their first extended play, Boyager, a combination of the word "boy" and "voyager" after the Voyager program.[4]
On March 16, 2021, Drippin released their second EP, A Better Tomorrow, with the lead single "Young Blood".[12]
On June 29, 2021, Drippin released their first single album, "Free Pass", with the lead single of the same name.[13]
2022–2023: Villain trilogy, Japanese debut, Alex’s departure
On January 17, 2022, Their third EP, Villain, was released with the lead single of the same name.[15]
On May 18, 2022, Drippin made their Japanese debut with the single "So Good".[16]
On June 15, 2022, Drippin continue their Villain series with released their second single album, "Villain: Zero".[17] The single consists of three track including the lead single "Zero", "Game" and "Trick and Treat".[18]
On November 15, 2022, Drippin released their first studio album, Villain: The End.[19] The album contains ten track including the lead single "The One" revealed as drum and bass genre.[20] The album originally set to be released on November 1 and later on October 30, it was announced the postponement of the album due to the national mourning period following the Seoul Halloween crowd crush incident on the 29th.[21]
On January 26, 2023, Woollim Entertainment announced that Alex's activities would be temporarily suspended due to his health.[22]
Drippin release their second Japanese single "Hello Goodbye" on March 15 as a six-piece due to Alex's hiatus. They also held a showcase at Tokyo's Ebisu Liquid Room on March 14.[23]
The group's third single album "Seven Sins" was released on April 19.[24][25] The single composed of three tracks including the lead single of the same name, "Stereo" and "Bad Blood".[26] To commence the single promotion, the group released short movie titled EDEN through CGV on May 17.[27]
On July 2, Drippin successfully held their first fanmeeting since debut "Summer Day's Dream" at YES24 LIVE HALL.[28][29]
On July 28, Woollim Entertainment released a statement announcing Alex's departure from Drippin and the termination of his exclusive contract, with the group to reorganize and continue their activities with the remaining six members.[30]
2024–present: Beautiful Maze and Weekend
Ahead of the group's comeback, Changuk was announced to take a break due to poor health and the group would temporarily continue promotions as five-member group.[31] On April 3, 2024, Drippin released their fourth single album "Beautiful Maze" which contains three tracks including the lead single of the same name.[32] The single sold more than 120,000 copies three days after release, breaking their previous record for "Seven Sins" which sold 14,000 copies in the first weeks.[33]
On August 19, their fifth single album "Weekend" was released, with summer fairytale concept.[34] The single surpassed 190,000 copies on the first weeks of release, making the group's new personal record.[35]
^"Vertigo" was released as a promotional single in collaboration with Universe.
^Hosted by the Hong Kong Asia Pacific International Group and Sunway Records, the Asian Pop Music Awards bases its winners on "Asian Pop Music Chart" which opened in September 2019.[76]
^"Universal Music Japan - Artists". universal-music.co.jp (in Japanese). Universal Music LLC, Japan. Archived from the original on July 7, 2023. Retrieved July 7, 2023.
^Jeon, A-ram (September 2, 2019). "황윤성→이협"…'W프로젝트4', 오늘(2일) '1분 1초(돌아와줘)' 발매 ["Hwang Yun-seong → Lee Hyeob"...W Project 4, '1M1S' will be released today (2nd).]. Xports News (in Korean). Archived from the original on July 24, 2022. Retrieved July 24, 2022 – via Naver.
^Ahn, Tae-hyun (October 30, 2022). "드리핀, 이태원 참사 애도 위해 신보 발매 잠정 연기" [Drippin temporarily postpones the release of a new album to mourn the Itaewon disaster]. News1 (in Korean). Archived from the original on October 30, 2022. Retrieved October 30, 2022 – via Naver.
^Seon, Mi-kyung (July 28, 2023). "드리핀 알렉스, 팀 탈퇴⋅전속계약 종료.."6인 체제 개편"(전문)[공식]" [Dripin Alex, leaving the team and ending the exclusive contract..."Reorganization of the 6-member system" (professional)[Official]] (in Korean). Osen. Archived from the original on July 28, 2023. Retrieved July 28, 2023 – via Naver.
"Nostalgia": 2020년 44주차 Download Chart [Week 44 of 2020 Download Chart]. Gaon Chart (in Korean). October 25–31, 2020. Archived from the original on November 5, 2020. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
"Young Blood": 2021년 12주차 Download Chart [Week 12 of 2021 Download Chart]. Gaon Chart (in Korean). March 14–20, 2021. Archived from the original on March 25, 2021. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
"Free Pass": 2021년 27주차 Download Chart [Week 27 of 2021 Download Chart]. Gaon Chart (in Korean). July 3, 2021. Archived from the original on March 25, 2021. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
"Villain": 2022년 04주차 Download Chart [Week 4 of 2022 Download Chart]. Gaon Chart (in Korean). January 16–22, 2022. Archived from the original on January 27, 2022. Retrieved January 27, 2022.
"Zero": 2022년 25주차 Download Chart [Week 25 of 2022 Download Chart]. Gaon Chart (in Korean). June 12–18, 2022. Archived from the original on June 23, 2022. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
^Billboard World Digital Songs:
"Free Pass". Billboard. January 2, 2013. Archived from the original on July 13, 2021. Retrieved July 17, 2021. Retrieved October 31, 2021.
^"2020亚洲流行音乐大奖结果出炉 林俊杰获5奖成最大赢家" [2020 Asian Pop Music Awards results are out JJ Lin won 5 awards as the biggest winner]. VCT News (in Chinese). December 28, 2020. Archived from the original on January 8, 2021. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
^【APMA 2021】亚洲流行音乐大奖2021年度入围名单 [(APMA 2021) Asian Pop Music Awards Shortlisted for 2021]. Sina Weibo (in Chinese). November 30, 2021. Archived from the original on November 30, 2021. Retrieved November 30, 2021.
