Pre-Debut ATBO

The first news of a new group from IST Entertainment was announced on the 8th of February 2022. In 2021, IST Entertainment was formed after the two Kakao Music agencies IST Entertainment Cre.ker Entertainment and Play M Entertainment merged. Cre.ker Entertainment is most well known for managing the incredibly popular group THE BOYZ, while Play M Entertainment is known for debuting the popular girl group Weeekly and managing groups like VICTON and APINK, among others.

In addition to announcing their plans to debut a new group, the company teased their new survival program that will air from March through April and will select the members of the debut group.

On the 7th of May, 2022, the top seven OST Entertainment trainees were selected during the live final of the 1theK survival program, “The Origin – A, B, or What?” The members were ranked in the following order: Jeong Seunghwan, Oh Junseok, Seok Rakwon, Ryu Junmin, Bae Hyunjun, Yang Donghwa, and Kim Yeonkyu.

On the 17th of June, IST Entertainment announced the Yang Donghwa would be switched out with Won Bin in the final lineup. Furthermore, the company announced that the group would be releasing their first album on the 27th of July.

Debut ATBO

ATBO debuted with their first EP and title track on the 27th of July, 2022. ATBO’s first album, titled “The Beginning : 開花,” features six unique songs. The tracks include the group’s first title song, “Monochrome (Color),” whose music video was also released on the 27th of July and gained over 1 million views in under 24 hours.