SECHSKIES

Considered one of the most seminal groups to ever come out of the K-Pop scene, South Korean boy band Sechs Kies (often stylized as SECHSKIES) played an important role in popularizing idol culture in their native country. While initially conceived as a duet between Eun Ji-won and Kang Sung-hoon, DSP Entertainment finally decided to switch to the boy band format to compete with SM Entertainment’s H.O.T., who were enjoying a great deal of success at the time. The group’s lineup was soon completed with dancers Kim Jae-duck and Lee Jai-jin, plus Jang Su-won and Ko Ji-yong, one of Kang Sung-hoon’s childhood friends. They made their debut in 1997 with the album School Anthem, which is reported to have sold over 1,800,000 copies, and followed up with Welcome to the Sechskies Land, released that same year. Their meteoric rise to fame continued with the full-lengths Road Fighter (1998), Special Album (1998), and Com’Back (1999), winning several awards and accolades along the way. In 2000, the group announced their dissolution and the release of a greatest hits collection titled Blue Note. Sixteen years later, all of the original Sechs Kies members (except for Ko Ji-yong) reunited for a show at the Seoul World Cup Stadium and relaunched their career by signing to YG Entertainment. Preceded by the 2016 Number 1 single “Three Words,” their fifth studio album Another Light arrived in 2017, reaching Number 2 in South Korea and Number 10 on Billboard’s World Albums chart. Following Kang Sung-hoon’s departure in 2019, Sechs Kies dropped the EP All for You (2020) and scored another Number 1 hit with the 2021 single “Don’t Look Back.”

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