X1

Fly high, X1. Hello, we are X1!

Fly high, X1! 안녕하세요 엑스원 입니다!

X1 (in hangul: 엑스원) was an eleven-member K-pop boy group made of the 10 highest ranking trainees plus the "X" trainee from the reality survival show PRODUCE X 101, produced and aired by Mnet. On July 19, 2019, the eleven members chosen by the National Producers to be part of X1 were Kim Yo Han, Kim Woo Seok, Han Seung Woo, Song Hyeong Jun, Cho Seung Youn, Son Dong Pyo, Lee Han Gyul, Nam Do Hyon, Cha Jun Ho, Kang Min Hee and Lee Eun Sang.

On August 27, 2019 X1 made its debut with the mini album 비상 : QUANTUM LEAP, alongside the music video for the title track "FLASH". On the same day, X1 performed for the first time as group at the Gocheok Sky Dome. X1 PREMIER SHOW-CON attracted an audience of around 20,000 fans.

On August 30, 2019, 비상 : QUANTUM LEAP surpassed 416,000 copies sold according to the Hanteo Chart, and set a new record for first week sales of a debut album by a K-pop group. On September 2, 2019, 비상 : QUANTUM LEAP surpassed 524,000 copies sold according to Hanteo Chart, and achieved the highest first week sales for a debut album by a K-pop artist in Hanteo Chart's history. The record hasn't been broken yet.

X1's debut song “FLASH” also became the fastest boy droup debut Music Video to hit 100 million views on YouTube, on July 27, 2020.

Despite being set to last for 5 years with a special contract, X1 disbanded on January 6, 2020 after the agencies representing the members could not reach an unanimous agreement following the PRODUCE 101 vote manipulation controversy.

After investigation, it was determined that all the four seasons of PRODUCE 101 had its votes manipulated by the producers, without the trainees contestants being aware of it. Despite this, X1 was the only PRODUCE 101 group to suffer the consequences and disband before the end of the contract.

X1 would have disbanded sometime around 2024.

X1's Fandom

Official Name: One It (원잇)

The first meaning for "One It" is described as “want it X1” as the first syllable of the verb “to want” in Korean (원하다) sounds like “one” in English. The second meaning is “one of it,” with the announcement explaining that fans are one of the people who are important to X1.

Official Colors: Butterfly (PANTONE® 12-0322) + Ethereal Blue (PANTONE® 15-4323) + Sunshine (PANTONE® 12-0727) + Galaxy Blue (PANTONE® 19-4055)

X1's Discography

[2019.08.27] 비상 : QUANTUM LEAP (mini album)

X1's Videography

Music Videos

"FLASH", directed by Rigend Film

Television Shows

PRODUCE X 101
X1 FLASH, debut reality show

Guest Appearances

[under construction]

X1's Awards and Nominations

Music Shows Awards

[2019.09.03] SBS The Show #1 Song Of The Week
[2019.09.04] MBC Show Champion #1 Song Of The Week
[2019.09.05] Mnet M! Countdown #1 Song Of The Week
[2019.09.06] KBS Music Bank #1 Song Of The Week
[2019.09.08] SBS Inkigayo #1 Song Of The Week
[2019.09.10] SBS The Show #1 Song Of The Week
[2019.09.12] Mnet M! Countdown #1 Song Of The Week
[2019.09.13] KBS Music Bank #1 Song Of The Week
[2019.09.15] SBS Inkigayo #1 Song Of The Week
[2019.09.18] MBC Show Champion #1 Song Of The Week
[2019.09.19] Mnet M! Countdown #1 Song Of The Week

Major Awards

[2019.11.16] 2019 V LIVE Awards - V Heartbeat: Top 5 Global Rookies
[2019.12.04] 2019 Mnet Asian Music Awards: Worldwide Fans Choice

Nominations

Melon Music Awards - Best New Artist
Mnet Asian Music Awards - Artist of the Year, Best New Male Artist, Worldwide Icon of the Year
Gaon Chart Music Awards - Song of the Month (August), Album of the Quarter (3rd Quarter)
Seoul Music Awards - New Artist Award, Popularity Award, K-wave Award

X1's Achievements

Prior to debut, X1 made their Billboard chart debut on the charts Social 50 and Emerging Artists at number six and number eleven respective.
비상 : QUANTUM LEAP sold over 500,000 physical copies in the first week of sales, breaking the record of the highest first week sales for a debut album in South Korea.
On July 26, 2020, the group's debut and only music video "FLASH" reached over 100 million views on YouTube. In doing so, "FLASH" became the fastest boy group debut music video to reach 100 million views on YouTube, taking 334 days to reach that number.

Author Notes

It's a fact that X1 lasted only a short period of time.

In historical terms, 5 months would be considered 'nothing'.

Most of time, a lot of people tried to make me believe, in fact, X1 was nothing, and acted like X1 never existed at all.

But X1 existed, and left marks and a legacy in the K-pop's history. Not only the group itself, but also their fandom, One It.

After X1's disbandment, One Its fought to bring back the group they loved. If X1 reboot/rebrandment never come to fruitition, it wasn't because One Its never tried, because One It proved to be the strongest and most dedicated fandom that K-pop ever saw.

Instead of remembering X1 as "the rigged group that disbanded in five months", I'd like X1 to be remembered as a sucessful and talented group, full of sweet members that loved their fans. X1 was the Rookie Of The Year of 2019, even if they never won any official award. They were the most expected group of 2019, and the most succesful that year.

I would like to remember X1 only with good memories, but that's not possible. The sad memories do exist, and they can't be ignored or erased. Through this blog, I'd like to highlight the many joyful and beautiful memories that X1 and One Its did together.

Please, don't let X1 be forgotten. X1 will be able to last forever only because of One Its.