Talk about "my what a difference a day makes". Since the last entry on February 12th, ZEROBASEONE held their last three concerts on the 13th through 15th of this month. The sheer amount of tears shed by ZB1 and the audience throughout those concert dates was bad. Day 3 however is bittersweet but a lopsided 85 to 15 bitter to sweet ratio. I'm not going into detail much, but any Zerose is at the moment completely fucking angry with the sight of a blue door.
One of the bits of speculation came from early trademark sightings of Yuehua Entertainment and the new boy group that was to be comprised of the presumed YH trainees from ZB1 and EVNNE. We learned since then, the group was at least going to be pronounced like "And Double" but the spelling of that was to be determined. We also learned since then that former EVNNE member Ji Yunseo was then released from Yuehua Entertainment for unclear reasons (which proceeded to piss off fans of EVNNE and also the Boys Planet loyalists that kept up with them.)
As of today, March 17th, we have confirmation of the following, thanks to NAVER: https://m.entertain.naver.com/home/article/241/0003499849
The group is indeed going to be pronounced like "And Double" with the spelling leaning towards "NDOUBLE". In full honesty, this is among the least dumb paths taken by Yuehua "that's saying something" cried fans of previously fumbled groups. Some of the other names Yuehua had in their trademarks were "ANDOUBLE", "AND2BLE", "ANDDOUBLE" and "&DOUBLE".
The other major highlight of the announcement was that all four Yuehua trainees that were in ZEROBASEONE are the first members confirmed for the new group.
Let's review: photographed from left to right, top to bottom, is Hao, Ricky, Gyuvin and Yujin. During the initial "disbandment limbo" from January to March, it was believed that only Gyuvin and Yujin were locks for the upcoming group. Fans could not gauge if Hao was going to remain in the scope of South Korean entertainment or if he would become a soloist in China. None of us knew what lied ahead for Ricky based on his treatment within Wakeone not being good (though to what full extent truly, none of us are ever going to know.)
"AND DOUBLE" or however it's going to be spelled, will make their debut on May 26th, with new members being announced slowly but surely. Boys Planet loyalists and EVNNE fans are hoping that Yoo Seungeon is featured in the group as well, which if that does come to fruition on top of the jebes in the group, "AND DOUBLE" could possibly have five singers in their group.
As for ZEROBASEONE, once OT5 was confirmed/the group was actually continuing, plans of their activities began to be announced. First let's review:
From left to right, top to bottom: Hanbin, Jiwoong, Matthew, Taerae and Gunwook. The five of them were first announced to be appearing at KCON Japan 2026 via that placed that used to be Twitter and such on February 19th. "Wait...why does that date of February 19th sound familiar?" you asked. Well dear, February 18th and 19th were the final concert dates of OT9 for the Japanese audience, in Kanagawa for the "HERE & NOW: ENCORE".
In case you're wondering, yes you read that part correctly: the official KCON Japan social media pages posted about ZB1 appearing at the event for 2026, the day four of the members would be performing for the last time in Japan. Let me quote Random J and say, "Girl. Fire the whole management and marketing team."
That aside, it would then be confirmed on March 16th, that ZB1 would appear at KCON Japan for the May 10th date. It was also reported at the time of writing on March 17th, that ZB1 was making a comeback or releasing new music in May. https://m.joynews24.com/v/1950024
May 26th for "AND DOUBLE's" debut and May of sometime for the ZB1 comeback. Oh...well, it's not like it's the same day or week. For ZB1 because it's the 10th or on a Sunday for the event, and new music is typically released on a Friday, here's my best educated guess as to the new ZB1 comeback date:
At the earliest, anywhere from Friday, May 1st to Thursday, May 7th going into Friday, May 8th or the first day of KCON Japan. At the latest, we're hearing of it by Friday, May 15th. I would not think the group wants to release a comeback right around or on KCON Japan days, but with calendars released ahead of new music, we'll have it spelled out anyway.
Certain questions on subjects touched upon from Part 3 and 4 of the discography series are coming up again, so let me review what I think is happening with ZB1 and "AND DOUBLE".
- "Are ZB1 and 'AND DOUBLE' going to release physical units of their albums in the States at retailers like Barnes & Noble, etc.?"
Probably not. I personally could not name you a single Yuehua Entertainment act with physical releases in a retailer like Barnes & Noble. There's also the fact we don't know if Wakeone's deal with Virgin Music Group is going to be renewed or has a contingency that allows releases to continue despite a member shift in ZB1.
If it doesn't come to that, KPOP stores do exist in my neck of the woods but release day prices would kick my ass if and only if I like new material from either group.
- "Are ZB1 and 'AND DOUBLE' going to tour the U.S.?"
Highly unlikely. As mentioned from Part 4, if ZB1 as the OT9 couldn't get a tour in the U.S., they're not touring with a member change. If anything, KCON LA is a lock and we'd be hoping BuzzFeed Celeb books them for another interview [be it the style video, puppy interview or fangirling podcast thingy they did.]
With regard to "AND DOUBLE", again, I could not name you a single Yuehua act I'm aware of that has toured the U.S. in any capacity.
I will at least give this new fangled boy group from Yuehua a chance musically. ZB1 is my first KPOP group, so I'll probably review new music they have.
- "Are they still gonna be friendly with each other at public events?"
Duh, of course they will honey. They're professional like that from media training and they were literally sobbing over the OT9 departure at the 3rd day in Seoul. They'll see each other at events like ISAC and music shows where if we're lucky, they can announce each other's winning that week's Music Bank or something.
Come "what" May? Gurl, we don't know yet. Stay tuned for more.
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