Astro - A boy group with charm!
Astro - A boy group with charm!
Author: Helen Bosch / Jan 14, 2022
K-Pop Blog > Artists > Astro
Astro is a refreshing boy band who have released no less than 14 albums since their debut six years ago and have gathered an ever-growing fan base around them!
The group's name refers to the Spanish word “Astro,” which translates to “star.” It represents the members' aspiration to become a rising star. This can also be found in the logo, which resembles a hexagram. Astro's "Hexagram" features two interlocking triangles that represent the "A" in "Astro" and "All Fans" and is intended to symbolize the inseparable connection between the boy band and the fans.
Astro attracted attention several times before her debut: first as part of Fantagio Entertainment's training program “I-Teen”. Among other things, the members uploaded videos to their own YouTube channel in which they sing, dance and repeatedly show other sides of themselves. Moonbin has been there since 2012!
In August 2015, the six members of the new boy band were announced: MJ, Eunwoo, Sanha, Rocky, Moonbin and JinJin. In the same month, its own web drama titled "To Be Continued" aired, in which Astro plays himself. In the series, the boy band suddenly travels two years into the past one day before their debut. Other leading roles are played by actors Kim Sae Ron and Seo Kang Joon as well as the girl group Hello Venus! All of them also belonged to Fantagio Entertainment at the time.
The fans who became aware of Astro through the series were eagerly awaiting her debut since the last episode. Before that happened, the boy band was on the reality show “Astro OK! Ready”, the last episode of which aired on February 18, 2016.
Members
| Stage Name | Real Name | Birthday |
|---|---|---|
| MJ | Kim Myungjun | 05.03.1994 |
| JinJin | Park Jinwoo | 15.03.1996 |
| Cha Eunwoo | Lee Dongmin | 30.03.1997 |
| Moonbin | Moon Bin | 26.01.1998 |
| Rocky | Park Min Hyuk | 25.02.1999 |
| Raging | Yoon Sanha | 21.03.2000 |
Debut: 4 Seasons
On February 23, 2016, Astro finally released their first album “Spring Up” with the title song “Hide&Seek”! The song, the choreo with innovative acrobatic elements and the music video: everything embodies the boys' lively charm, which will continue to be present in the years to come. The album contains, among other things, the two songs “Innocent Love” and “Cat’s Eye”, which Astro already sang in the web drama “To Be Continued”.
“Spring Up” is the first part of a four-part album series that embodies the four seasons. The second album “Summer Vibes” will be released on July 1st, the third album “Autumn Story” on November 10th and the fourth album “Winter Dream” on February 22nd, 2017. This ends the “Seasons series” exactly one day before the boy band’s first anniversary! So Astro fans know what it feels like to experience four seasons in a row with their idols.
The first album “Spring Up” was very successful in the charts. It peaked at number 6 on the Billboard World Albums Chart and number 4 on the Gaon Music Charts. Winter Dream even made it to number 2 on the Gaon Charts! The album was not promoted and the songs were only performed at events, such as the first fan meeting on February 26th.
The “Dream” series
In May 2017, the fifth album “Dream Part.01” was released, with which Astro topped the Gaon album charts for the first time! The boy band then set off on their first tour with dates in Seoul, Osaka and Tokyo! The tour was called “The 1st ASTROAD” and ran from July 15th to August 29th.
A good two months after the end of the tour, the boy band released “Dream Part.02”. In January 2018, a special edition of Part.02 was released, which contains the same songs, but came with, among other things, a new photo book and a poem by Eunwoo.
At the end of 2017, a crisis was brewing for Fantagio Entertainment.
A Chinese partner (JC Group) increased its investments in Fantagio and ended up owning over 50% of the agency's shares. JC Group used the new position to fire “Na Byung Joon”, the founder of Fantagio Entertainment, and replace him with Chinese entrepreneur “Wei Jin”. They also blocked all of the company's credit cards. JC Group said the reason for the action was that they had identified a budget deficit.
In response, the agency's managers and employees convened an emergency response committee and threatened a strike if certain demands were not met. They announced that the activities of Fantagio's artists were their priority and that they therefore wanted to avoid the strike. However, without access to the company cards, they were unable to cover the artists' food or transportation expenses.
The special edition of ASTRO's Dream Part 02 was still released as planned in January 2018, perhaps because no promotions were planned for it.
However, it was announced on January 4th that the new album “Lucky” by the girl group “Weki Meki”, which also belongs to Fantagio, would be postponed due to “internal company matters”.
In addition to the idol singers, the agency's actors, who were filming a series and often had to switch between film sets, were also affected. For example, they had problems financing transport because of the blocked company cards.
Astro released the mini album “Rise Up” on July 24, 2018, which they hardly promoted due to the ongoing problems in the company. But they still gave concerts in Japan in August.
Fantagio's problems continued for a long time. Among other things, the new CEO “Wei Jin” was arrested in 2019 for fraud, the main shareholder changed twice more and the company’s leadership position was replaced at least four more times. Fortunately, these problems no longer had such a strong impact on the artists' activities.
In the meantime, Astro fans feared for the group's future and had to wait longer than ever for the boy band to make a comeback after “Rise Up”.
New albums, first world tour & Japanese debut!
On January 16, 2019, half a year after “Rise Up”, Astro finally returned with a new album! The album “All Light” topped the Gaon Album Charts and the title track “All Night” gave the boy band their long-awaited first win on a music show almost three years after their debut!
From March to April the boys were on tour in South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand and the United States for their first world tour “The 2nd ASTROAD”! In April, Byogroup made its Japanese debut with the album “Venus,” which includes three new Japanese songs as well as Japanese versions of “Baby,” “Always You,” and “All Night.” The album debuted at number 2 on the Japanese Oricon Charts; a strong performance!
On November 12, Fantagio announced that Moon Bin would be taking a break to focus on his health. Of course, he was still involved in the new album “Blue Flame”, which was released on November 20th, and he was also featured in the music video. But he did not take part in the promotions. The others performed as a group of five for so long.
Moonbin ended his break in February and, together with the others, released the single album “One&Only” on March 13, 2020 to mark their fourth anniversary.
This was followed in May by the album “ Gateway ” with the title song “Knock”, which brought them their second win in a music show! The digital single “No, I Don't” was released at the end of June, before the first sub-unit of Astro was confirmed in August!
The first Subunit: Moonbin & Sanha
On September 14, 2020, Astro's first subunit "Moonbin & Sanha" debuted, which, as the name suggests, consists of Moonbin and Sanha.
Eight days later they set a record. With the title song “Bad Idea” they won a music show; faster than any subunit before them. With the album “In-Out” the two not only reached number 2 in the Korean Gaon Charts, but even topped the Japanese Oricon Charts! Moonbin & Sanha are without a doubt a powerful duo!
We Still (Be With You), All Yours, Switch On & Alive
Astro ended 2020 with the release of the digital single “We Still (Be With You” on December 31. The single is a rearranged version of the song “We Still” from their latest album “Gateway”.
In April 2021, their new album “ All Yours ” was released with the title song “One”. This brought them three victories in music shows; a personal record for the boy group! Up until then, Astro could only look back on two music show trophies, which they had won with two different songs. In one fell swoop, they had more than doubled these trophies!
It was as if they had broken a dam and reached a new point in their career, because with “After Midnight”, the title track of the next album “ Switch On ”, which was released in August, they won four trophies!
On September 2nd, Astro presented the advertising single “Alive” for the music platform “Universe”. This is currently their last group project, as a few members then concentrated on their solo activities.
Discography
| Album | Title song | Release date |
|---|---|---|
| Spring Up | Hide & Seek | 23.02.2016 |
| Summer Vibes | Breathless | 01.07.2016 |
| Autumn Story | Confession | 10.11.2016 |
| Winter Dream | You & Me | 22.02.2017 |
| Dream Part.01 | Baby | 29.05.2017 |
| Dream Part.02 | Crazy, Sexy, Cool | 01.11.2017 |
| Rise Up | Always You | 24.07.2018 |
| All Light | All Night | 16.01.2019 |
| Venus | Hanasake Mirai | 03.04.2019 |
| One & Only | One & Only | 13.03.2020 |
| Gateway | Knock | 04.05.2020 |
| All Yours | One | 05.04.2021 |
| Switch On | After Midnight | 02.08.2021 |
MJ’s Solo Debüt
In October, Fantagio Entertainment announced that MJ would be the first of Astro to make his solo debut. On November 3rd he released the digital single “Happy Virus”, which is partly based on “Trot”. (Trot is a traditional Korean music genre known for repetitive rhythms and many changes in pitch.)
In November he competed on “The Trot Show” and emerged victorious at the end. This made him the first idol to win the show!
The second subunit: JinJin & Rocky
Almost a year and a half after the founding of Astro’s first subunit “Moonbin & Sanha”, a second one is in the starting blocks. JinJin and Rocky will present us with their first album “Restore” in a few days, on January 17th!
This makes Eunwoo the only member of Astro who has not yet released music separately from the group. This is mainly because he has a successful acting career!
Astro in the K-Drama World
MJ, JinJin, Moonbin, Rocky and Sanha have often played roles in web dramas - Korean dramas with short, 10-20 minute episodes - over the years. In fact, web dramas often cast idols as lead roles, which is why many people start their acting careers there.
Moonbin also played a supporting role in the K-drama “Moment of Eighteen” in 2019!
However, Eunwoo has made the biggest name for himself as an actor so far. In 2017 he was seen in the series “Hit the Top”. In it he played an idol with the stage name “MJ”. What did his bandmate “MJ” say about it? It was certainly strange for Eunwoo to be called by a name that he usually calls his friend and colleague. ;)
He was apparently very convincing with his performance, because in 2018 he played his first leading role in “My ID is Gangnam Beauty”. Since then, he has shown his acting talent as a lead in the historical series “Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung” and the film adaptation of the popular webtoon “True Beauty”. The latter in particular was so well received that some Astro fans can now say that they got to know and love Eunwoo through True Beauty and that's how they came to Astro!
Eunwoo has already won over 10 acting awards since 2018! A new role in the drama “Island” has already been confirmed for 2022, about which not much is known yet.
We are excited! And who knows, maybe other members of Astro will take on big roles in the future. We definitely wouldn't mind!
Bonus
Did you know that Moonbin appeared in a K-drama as a child?
“Boys Over Flowers” is a massively popular series from 2009 that now has almost cult status among K-drama fans! Moonbin was 11 years old at the time and performed the young version of “So Yi Jung”; one of the male lead's best friends. The adult version was played by the actor "Kim Bum".
So you could say he started his acting career as Astro's first!
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