BtoB Blue () is the first official sub-unit of South Korean
boy band
A boy band is a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their Teenage, teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Many boy bands ...
BtoB
B2B, B to B, or B-to-B may refer to: Sports
* B2B, a controversial and short lived class in the 1979 Sidecar World Championship
* Bay to Breakers, an annual footrace in San Francisco, California on the third Sunday of May
* Budapest-Bamako, now t ...
formed under
Cube Entertainment
Cube Entertainment Inc. () is a South Korean entertainment company. The company operates as a record label, talent agency, music production company, event management and concert production company, and music publishing house. Cube are known for h ...
in 2016. The sub-group consists of the group's vocal line
Eunkwang,
Changsub,
Hyunsik and
Sungjae. The sub-unit debuted with their digital single titled "Stand By Me" on September 19, 2016.
History
Predebut
Prior to their debut as a subgroup, the group had performed on several singing competitions. In 2014, the group appeared on
Mnet
M-Net (an abbreviation of Electronic Media Network) is a South African pay television channel established by Naspers in 1986. The channel broadcasts both local and international programming, including general entertainment, children's series, ...
''The Singer Game'' with the theme of 'A song you want to hear when you want to curse at your boss' to the 100-member judges of stressed office workers, and sang
Urban Zakapa
Urban Zakapa () is a South Korean R&B singer-songwriter group formed in 2009 by Fluxus Music. Originally a 9-member group, in 2012 they became a trio, consisting of Park Yong-in, Jo Hyunah and Kwon Soon-il. The group's name is an abbreviation fo ...
's "I Hate You" (니가 싫어), but lost during the first round with 69 to 31.
In 2016, the group appeared on ''
Immortal Songs: Singing the Legend'' singing "To My Love" (님에게). The group has captivated the audience with its overwhelming performance and quirky charm and emotional performance that shows off their vocal skills. Their vocal performance received a warm reception by the audience, describing "sweet voice, beautiful harmony, and rich sensibility." The senior singers who saw the quartet group's stage gave admiration and praised it, saying, "The harmony was perfect, and the four people sang in harmony with each other's colours."
The quartet scored 427 points, defeating Hong Ji-min,
Homme,
Second Moon and Lim Do-hyeok, winning 4 consecutive wins and won the championship.
2016–2018: Debut and "When It Rains"
On September 12, 2016, a picture captioned, "Coming soon! 2016.09.19. 00:00(KST)." were posted to BtoB's
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
account that formed an image of BtoB members crowded around a director's camera, staring intently into the monitor. Following that, Cube Entertainment announced that they will debut BtoB's first unit, BtoB Blue with digital single "Stand By Me". The song is produced by
Black Eyed Pilseung
Black Eyed Pilseung () is a South Korean music production and songwriting duo made up of Rado (Song Joo-young) and Choi Kyu-sung, formed in 2014. They have produced hit K-pop songs such as Sistar's " Touch My Body"; Miss A's " Only You"; Twi ...
who previously worked on hit songs for
Sistar
Sistar (; stylized in all caps) was a South Korean girl group formed in 2010 by Starship Entertainment. The group consisted of Hyolyn, Yoon Bo-ra, Bora, Soyou and Kim Da-som, Dasom. They made their official debut with the song "Push Push (Sistar ...
,
Twice
Twice (; Japanese language, Japanese: トゥワイス, Hepburn romanization, Hepburn: ''Tuwaisu''; commonly stylized in all caps) is a South Korean girl group formed by JYP Entertainment. The group is composed of nine members: Nayeon, Jeongyeon ...
and more. "Stand By Me" is described as a ballad featuring their matured and sorrowful voices. BtoB member
Peniel directly participated in the music video production. Immediately after the release, the song charted on several Korean music charts, Monkey 3 ranked 1st,
Melon
A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit. It can also specifically refer to ''Cucumis melo'', commonly known as the "true melon" or simply "melon". The term "melon" can apply to both the p ...
ranked 3rd and Mnet ranked 2nd. On September 24, they performed for the first time on
MBC's ''
Show! Music Core
''Show! Music Core'' (), or simply ''Music Core'' is a South Korean music television program broadcast by MBC. It airs live every Saturday at 15:30 (KST). The show features some of the latest and most popular artists who perform live on stage. I ...
'' stage.
On July 8, 2017, BtoB Blue performed
The Blue
The Blue is a central market place in Bermondsey, southeast London. The market is open Monday to Saturday from 9am until 5pm and has about 10 stall holders, selling food and clothes. The area has been known locally as The Blue for more than two ...
's "Under the Sky" (하늘 아래서) on
KBS' program ''Immortal Songs 2''.
Although the group lost to Homme, the original singer
Kim Min-jong
Kim Min-jong (born 23 March 1971) is a South Korean actor and singer who was a matinée idol in the 1990s. His recently notable role was in '' Mrs. Cop'' (2015) and '' Mrs. Cop 2'' (2016).
Career
Kim Min-jong began his career in Korean film ...
of The Blue commented, "I was really impressed with their singing, beautiful melody, thank you." and
Son Ji-chang
Son Ji-chang (born February 20, 1970) is a South Korean actor, singer and songwriter. He starred in television series such as ''Mudong's House'' (1991), '' The Last Match'' (1994), '' Trio'' (2002), and ''Rose Fence'' (2003). He is also member ...
said, "It was a time that seemed to be a great strength for me to live in the future."
Discography
Singles
Music videos
Filmography
Variety shows
Awards and nominations
References
{{Authority control
Musical groups established in 2016
2016 establishments in South Korea
Musical groups from Seoul
South Korean contemporary R&B musical groups
K-pop music groups
South Korean boy bands
Cube Entertainment artists
BtoB (band)