[INTERVIEW] ONEUS sidesteps '7-year curse,' full lineup returns for 12th EP

ONEUS will release its 12th EP, FIRST LIGHT: 井, at 6 p.m. Wednesday, marking its first full-lineup comeback since Seoho returned from military service in August. The five members said staying together after their contracts ended in February took little discussion, and B-Wave Entertainment acquired the group-related intellectual property so they could keep the ONEUS name. The album is led by Say Yes!, produced by R.Tee, and the group will launch its 2026 world tour, FULL MOON, in Seoul on Oct. 24 and 25.

ONEUS debuted under RBW in January 2019 and left the agency when its contracts ended in February.

At the members’ request, B-Wave acquired the ONEUS-related intellectual property from RBW, allowing the group to continue under the same name.

Seoho enlisted in February 2025 and was discharged from mandatory military service in August.

The five-track EP includes Say Yes!, Runaway, By Chance, Never Ending Us and We run for youth.

2026 ONEUS WORLD TOUR FULL MOON opens in Seoul on Oct. 24 and 25 before heading to Latin America, Europe, North America and Asia.

Published Sep 23, 2026 6:00 am KST

Members eye Latin America, Europe on upcoming 'FULL MOON' world tour

K-pop boy band ONEUS / Courtesy of B-Wave Entertainment

For K-pop groups, the seventh year is supposedly cursed. Standard exclusive contracts usually are set to expire around that point, and members start weighing solo careers, new agencies or leaving the industry altogether.

For boy band ONEUS, members say that reckoning never really arrived, and agreeing to stay together took far less discussion than deciding where to do it.

The five-member boy group — Seoho, Leedo, Keonhee, Hwanwoong and Xion — will release its 12th EP, "FIRST LIGHT: 井," at 6 p.m., Wednesday. It is the group's first release as a full lineup since Seoho was discharged from mandatory military service in August, and their first album since all five moved together to B-Wave Entertainment earlier this year.

ONEUS debuted under RBW in January 2019 and parted ways with the agency when their contracts ended in February. At the members' request, B-Wave acquired the ONEUS-related intellectual property from RBW, which allowed the five to carry on under the same name.

Members of K-pop boy band ONEUS, from left, Xion, Seoho, Hwanwoong, Keonhee and Leedo pose during an interview with The Korea Times at a cafe in Seongdong District, Monday. Courtesy of B-Wave Entertainment

"There weren't really any difficulties," Keonhee said during an interview with The Korea Times in Seoul, Monday. "Even without much discussion, it was very easy for all of us to agree we'd stay together, because the five of us were sure about ONEUS. It felt like we skipped a lot of the deliberation that other idols go through."

He credited B-Wave CEO Koo Bon-young, who worked with the group from its debut and whom the members call a "father figure."

Hwanwoong said the members had been talking about the so-called "seventh-year curse" for a long time.

"When the time came, nobody disagreed about staying together," he said. "The only real question was what environment we could keep doing it in."

From left are K-pop boy band ONEUS members Seoho, Hwanwoong, Xion, Leedo and Keonhee. Courtesy of B-Wave Entertainment

The new album, "FIRST LIGHT: 井," was built around that sense of reunion.

The Chinese character "井" — meaning "water well" — is supposed to evoke the moon being reflected in water and stand for a place where the members and their fans meet. The ideogram is evoked even in the group's dance choreography.

Keonhee said the album also frames the group and its fans as lights that shine on each other. It looks back to their 2019 debut album "LIGHT US," which focused on the members receiving their fans' light. This time, he said, they wanted to show they could shine back.

The five-track album is led by "Say Yes!," produced by R.Tee, a B-Wave labelmate known for his work on BLACKPINK hits including "DDU-DU DDU-DU" and "Kill This Love." The album also includes songs "Runaway," "By Chance," "Never Ending Us" and "We run for youth."

Xion said working with R.Tee felt "less like a job than hanging out with an older friend from the neighborhood," as the producer came into the booth to walk them through each part of the title track.

"Say Yes!" song pairs a hard-hitting beat with blunt lyrics, a first for ONEUS, which is better known for its lyrical, wistful concepts .

The song also has a Korean title, which translates to "Don't Look Away." Keonhee admitted he expected using the Korean phrase to feel awkward in interviews.

"But once you see the song and the performance, it won't seem silly at all," he said. "We were more curious than worried about how fans would react to a new color."

Hwanwoong, Leedo and Keonhee are also credited as lyricists and composers on the B-sides.

Seoho enlisted in the Army in February 2025, and the remaining four kept the team active in his absence, releasing a single in January as a quartet.

"As ONEUS, we never had a hiatus," Keonhee said. "We knew Seoho's absence could look like the team was declining, so we worked even harder, and each of us tried to protect ONEUS in our own way."

Seoho said watching from the barracks moved him. "I could feel them putting the team first," he said. "I also tried hard, so I wouldn't be forgotten as a member of ONEUS."

The official poster for K-pop boy band ONEUS' upcoming world tour "FULL MOON" / Courtesy of B-Wave Entertainment

The group will take the new songs on the road with "2026 ONEUS WORLD TOUR 'FULL MOON,'" which opens in Seoul on Oct. 24 and 25 before heading to Latin America, Europe, North America and Asia.

Leedo said fan culture varies widely from region to region, which is part of the fun.

"In South America, fans dance harder than we do, scream and stomp their feet," he said. "In the U.S., people groove along and sing with us, and some even do cowboy-style 'yee-haw' chants."

Hwanwoong said the album's number carries its own weight.

"Releasing a 12th mini album in our eighth year is rare, and I want to convince people it's a number with a reason behind it," he said.

ONEUS将于周三下午6点发行第12张迷你专辑《FIRST LIGHT: 井》，这是自徐浩8月退伍以来，五位成员首次以完整阵容回归。五位成员表示，尽管合约已于2月到期，但他们几乎没有商量就决定继续合作，B-Wave娱乐公司也收购了与ONEUS相关的知识产权，因此他们得以保留ONEUS这个名称。这张专辑的主打歌是《Say Yes!》，由R.Tee制作。ONEUS将于10月24日和25日在首尔开启2026世界巡回演唱会“FULL MOON”。

ONEUS 于 2019 年 1 月在 RBW 旗下出道，并于 2 月合约到期后离开该公司。

应成员们的要求，B-Wave 从 RBW 收购了与 ONEUS 相关的知识产权，使该组合得以继续以原名活动。

徐浩于2025年2月入伍，并于同年8月退伍。

这张包含五首歌曲的 EP 包括《Say Yes!》、《Runaway》、《By Chance》、《Never Ending Us》和《We run for youth》。

2026 ONEUS WORLD TOUR FULL MOON 将于 10 月 24 日和 25 日在首尔拉开帷幕，之后将前往拉丁美洲、欧洲、北美和亚洲。

发布于2026年9月23日韩国时间上午6:00

成员们将目光投向了即将到来的“满月”世界巡演中的拉丁美洲和欧洲。

韩国男子组合ONEUS / 图片由B-Wave Entertainment提供

对于韩国流行音乐组合来说，第七年被认为是不吉利的。通常情况下，组合的专属合约会在这个时候到期，成员们会开始考虑单飞、更换经纪公司，或者彻底退出娱乐圈。

对于男子组合 ONEUS 来说，成员们表示，清算从未真正到来，同意继续在一起远比决定在哪里继续在一起要少得多。

由徐浩、李度、建熙、焕雄和Xion五位成员组成的男子组合将于周三下午6点发行第12张迷你专辑《FIRST LIGHT: 井》。这是徐浩8月退伍后，该组合首次以完整阵容发行作品，也是五位成员今年早些时候共同加入B-Wave娱乐公司后的首张专辑。

ONEUS于2019年1月在RBW旗下出道，同年2月合约到期后与该公司解约。应成员要求，B-Wave从RBW收购了ONEUS相关的知识产权，使得五位成员得以继续以ONEUS的名义活动。

韩国男子组合ONEUS成员（从左至右）Xion、徐浩、焕雄、建熙和李度周一在城东区一家咖啡馆接受《韩国时报》采访时合影。图片由B-Wave Entertainment提供。

“其实并没有什么困难，”建熙周一在首尔接受《韩国时报》采访时表示，“即使没有太多讨论，我们五个人也很容易就同意继续在一起，因为我们对ONEUS的未来充满信心。感觉我们省略了其他偶像组合通常会经历的很多深思熟虑。”

他感谢 B-Wave 的 CEO Koo Bon-young，Koo Bon-young 从组合出道起就与他们合作，成员们称他为“父亲般的人物”。

焕雄表示，成员们早就一直在讨论所谓的“七年魔咒”。

“时机成熟时，没有人反对继续在一起，”他说。“唯一真正的问题是，我们还能以怎样的环境继续在一起。”

从左至右依次为韩国男子组合ONEUS成员徐浩、焕雄、Xion、李度、建熙。图片由B-Wave Entertainment提供。

新专辑《FIRST LIGHT: 井》正是围绕着这种重聚的感觉而创作的。

“井”这个汉字——意为“水井”——象征着月亮倒映在水中，代表着成员们与粉丝相聚的地方。这个汉字甚至被运用到了组合的舞蹈编排中。

Keonhee表示，这张专辑也将组合和粉丝比作彼此照亮的光芒。它回顾了他们2019年的出道专辑《LIGHT US》，那张专辑着重展现了成员们接受粉丝光芒的过程。他说，这一次，他们想展现自己也能回馈粉丝的光芒。

这张包含五首歌曲的专辑以《Say Yes!》为主打歌，由B-Wave厂牌的同门师兄R.Tee制作，他曾参与制作BLACKPINK的热门歌曲，包括《DDU-DU DDU-DU》和《Kill This Love》。专辑还收录了《Runaway》、《By Chance》、《Never Ending Us》和《We run for youth》等歌曲。

Xion 表示，与 R.Tee 合作感觉“与其说是工作，不如说是和邻居的老朋友一起玩”，因为这位制作人会走进录音棚，一步步指导他们完成主打歌的每个部分。

《Say Yes!》这首歌将强劲的节奏与直白的歌词相结合，这对于以抒情、伤感概念而闻名的 ONEUS 来说尚属首次。

这首歌还有一个韩文歌名，翻译过来就是“别移开视线”。建熙坦言，他预料到在采访中使用这句韩语会让他感到尴尬。

“但当你看到这首歌和表演后，就不会觉得这很傻了，”他说。“我们更多的是好奇而不是担心粉丝们对新颜色的反应。”

Hwanwoong、Leedo 和 Keonhee 也被列为 B 面歌曲的作词人和作曲人。

徐浩于 2025 年 2 月入伍，在他缺席期间，剩下的四位成员保持了团队的活跃状态，并在 1 月份以四人组合的形式发行了一首单曲。

“作为ONEUS，我们从未有过休团，”建熙说道。“我们知道徐浩的缺席可能会让大家觉得团队在走下坡路，所以我们更加努力，每个人都尽力用自己的方式守护ONEUS。”

徐浩说，在营房里观看比赛让他很感动。“我能感受到他们把团队放在第一位，”他说。“我也努力训练，不想被遗忘，不想成为ONEUS的一员。”

韩国男团ONEUS即将举行的世界巡回演唱会“FULL MOON”官方海报 / 图片由B-Wave Entertainment提供

该组合将带着新歌开启“2026 ONEUS WORLD TOUR 'FULL MOON'”巡回演唱会，该演唱会将于10月24日和25日在首尔拉开帷幕，之后将前往拉丁美洲、欧洲、北美和亚洲。

Leedo表示，粉丝文化因地区而异，这也是乐趣的一部分。

“在南美，歌迷们跳舞比我们更卖力，他们会尖叫、跺脚，”他说。“在美国，人们会跟着我们的音乐摇摆、唱歌，有些人甚至会像牛仔一样喊‘耶哈’。”

焕雄表示，专辑的销量本身就说明了一切。

“在我们出道第八年发行第十二张迷你专辑实属罕见，我想让人们相信这个数字背后是有原因的，”他说。