"Ikon"
"Ikon"
iKON (Korean: 아이콘) is a South Korean boy band formed by YG Entertainment. The seven members are B.I, Bobby, Kim Jinhwan, Koo Junhoe, Song Yunhyeong, Kim Donghyuk and Jung Chanwoo. According to YG CEO Yang Hyun Suk, the "C" in "ICON" was replaced with a "K" Because he wanted them to become an 'icon' for Korea.
Pre-debut
B.I (Kim Han Bin) made appearance as featuring artist together with MC Mong, "Indian Boy". He also performed at SBS Dream Concert 2009 and guest at KBS Yoo Hee yeol's sketchbook along with MC Mong.
Gu Jun Hwe made appearance as little Michael Jackson at SBS Star King. He also competed in Kpop Star in 2011.
Who is Next: Win
The group was first introduced in 2013 through the reality survival program Who is Next: Win as Team B, consisting of leader B.I, Bobby, Jinhwan, Junhoe, Yunhyeong, and Donghyuk. Team B competed against another group of trainees known as Team A for the chance to debut as the group Winner. Team B eventually lost to Team A and continued as trainees. Through the course of the show they released three singles as "Team B".
Then, Bobby and B.I. went on a rap survival program called Show Me The Money 3 and B.I. Got eliminated in episode 7 as top 10. However, Bobby's rap skills won the program and their group became more popular and known.
Mix & Match
In June 2014, Team B competed in a second reality survival program "Mix & Match". This time, the focus was on forming a new seven member boy group. The program featured the six members of Team B and three new trainees: Jung Chanwoo, Jung Jinhyeong and Yang Hongseok. The winners would debut together under the name iKON. At the press conference, it was announced that B.I, Bobby, and Jinhwan were already confirmed members of iKON, leaving the remaining three members of Team B to battle for one of four places alongside the new trainees. The winners were Junhoe, Yunhyeong, Chanwoo and Donghyuk.
2015: Debut and Welcome Back
On September 4th 2015, it was announced that iKON and Winner would feature in a project film titled 'Dimension', which premiered on September 7th 2015.
On September 8th 2015, iKON's official debut was announced through a teaser posted on YG Entertainment's website. It was lated revealed that iKON would be releasing their debut single on September 15. Additionally, their debut album, Welcome Back, would be split in two parts. The first part, 'Debut Half Album' is set to be released on October 1st, followed by the 'Debut Full Album' on November 2nd.iKON would also hold their debut concert 'SHOWTIME' on October 3rd 2015 at the Seoul Olympic Gymnastics Arena.
On September 15th 2015, 12:00am KST, iKON's debut single "My Type" was released alongside the Music Video. Immediately after release, 'My Type' took over all eight major real-time music charts in Korea, claiming the No.1 spot on Melon, Mnet, Olleh, Bugs, Genie, Naver Music,and Monkey3. They achieved a 'Certified All-Kill' by topping both the real-time and daily charts of the aforementioned music sites.