ATBO ( ko, 에이티비오; an acronym for At The Beginning of Originality) is a South Korean

boy group A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Ma ...

formed in 2022 through

IST Entertainment IST Entertainment (Hangul: 아이에스티엔터테인먼트) is a South Korean entertainment company under Kakao Entertainment. History Plan A Entertainment In 2011, A Cube Entertainment was established as an independent label of Cube Entertai ...

's survival competition '' The Origin – A, B, Or What?''. The group is composed of seven members: Oh Jun-seok, Ryu Jun-min, Bae Hyun-jun, Seok Rak-won, Jeong Seung-hwan, Kim Yeon-kyu and Won Bin. The group officially debuted on July 27, 2022, with the

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

''The Beginning : 開花''.

Name

"ATBO" is an initial of ''At The Beginning of Originality'' which means the start of a dream. The name was originally "ABO", but was changed due to fan concern as the original name is a racial slur in some regions.

History

Pre-debut

Yeonkyu was a

YG Entertainment YG Entertainment Inc. () is a South Korean multinational entertainment agency established in 1996 by Yang Hyun-suk. The company operates as a record label, talent agency, music production company, event management and concert production comp ...

trainee who participated in ''YG Treasure Box'', but did not make it into the show's final debut lineup. On February 6, it was reported that

, home to male idol groups

Victon Victon ( ko, 빅톤; stylized as VICTON, an acronym for Voice to New World) is a South Korean boy group formed in 2016 by IST Entertainment. The group is composed of six members: Han Seung-woo, Kang Seung-sik, Lim Se-jun, Do Han-se, Choi Byu ...

and

The Boyz Boyz or The Boyz may refer to: Music Bands * The Boyz (German band), a German boy band of the 1990s * The Boyz (American band), an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, established in 1975 *The Boyz (South Korean band) The Boyz () ...

as well as female idol group

Apink Apink ( ko, 에이핑크, ja, エーピンク) is a South Korean girl group formed by IST Entertainment (formerly Play M Entertainment, A Cube Entertainment, and Plan A Entertainment). The group debuted on April 19, 2011, with the extended pla ...

and

Weeekly Weeekly ( ko, 위클리) is a South Korean girl group under IST Entertainment (formerly Play M Entertainment). The group is Play M Entertainment's second girl group in 10 years, after Apink. The group consists of six members: Lee Soo-jin, Mond ...

, was planning to debut their first boy group under the new company name in the first half of the year. On February 10, it was announced that the members would be selected from a group of 13 trainees through a survival program jointly produced with

Kakao Entertainment Kakao Entertainment Corp. (), stylized as kakao ENTERTAINMENT, is a South Korean entertainment, mass media, and publishing company founded in 2021. A subsidiary of the internet company Kakao, it was established subsequent to the merger of the la ...

and Sony Music Solutions. On the final episode aired on May 7, 2022, it was announced that the final seven contestants would debut as ATBO. On June 13, 2022, IST Entertainment announced that Yang Donghwa would not be debuting as a member of ATBO after his past misconduct when he was a student surfaced online. On June 17, 2022, IST Entertainment announced that Won Bin, who was originally eliminated in episode 5, would be debuting with ATBO in replacement of Donghwa.

2022–present: Debut with ''The Beginning: 開花''

ATBO made their official debut on July 27, 2022, with the release of their debut EP, ''The Beginning: 開花'', which can be roughly translated to "blooming flower".

Members

* Oh Junseok (오준석) – leader * Ryu Junmin (류준민) * Bae Hyunjun (배현준) * Seok Rakwon (석락원) * Jeong Seunghwan (정승환) * Kim Yeonkyu (김연규) * Won Bin (원빈)

Discography

Extended plays

Singles

Videography

Music videos

Filmography

Television shows

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{Authority control K-pop music groups South Korean boy bands IST Entertainment artists 2022 establishments in South Korea South Korean dance music groups Musical groups established in 2022