Skip to content
Free Shipping from 120€ - We bring K-Pop to Europe
Free Shipping from 120€ - We bring K-Pop to Europe

Kep1er: Challenges, milestones and more!

by Helen Bosch
Kep1er Debut Album 'First Impact' Image Teaser
Kep1er Debut Album 'First Impact' Image Teaser

K-Pop Blog > Artists> Kep1er

In 2021, a survival show called "Girls Planet 999" was broadcast. In October, nine talented female singers emerged as winners. We know them as Kep1er, a girl group that regularly hits the charts with their music and can be both charismatic and adorable.

Find out what obstacles the members overcame before and during their debut and what milestones they have reached so far here!

  • Girls Planet 999
  • The members
  • Debut
  • Queendom
  • The First Comeback with Doublast

Girls Planet 999

Mnet survival show

Of course, if we want to talk about Kep1er's history, we have to start long before the debut:

In January 2021, the channel Mnet announced a new survival show: Girls Planet 999. The channel is known for airing such shows, but still, this one attracted a lot of attention in particular. It was produced by Mnet itself, like the four seasons of the Produce series: Produce 101, Produce 101 Season 2, Produce 48 & Produce X 101.

These were audition shows where trainees competed against each other in multiple rounds. The 11 to 12 winners debuted together and were active as a group for a pre-determined amount of time (2 to 3 years). Successful project groups such as Wanna One and IZ*ONE emerged from the show!

The show aired from 2016 to 2019. However, after the fourth season, it came to light that the viewers' votes were manipulated and the winners were already determined before the finale. As a result of the Produce scandal, the show was officially canceled.

Girls Planet 999 was Mnet's first attempt to produce a new audition show just over a year after Produce was cancelled.

In this show, 33 Chinese trainees (C-Group), 33 Japanese trainees (J-Group), and 33 Korean trainees (K-Group) competed against each other.

Girls Planet 999: 99 trainees perform title song 'O.O.O' - still cut

In July, the different groups were introduced through a performance video of "O.O.O", the title song of the show. After that, another video of all 99 trainees appeared together. Each group had a center who introduced each performance:

The three of them also open the video together with all 99 trainees.

Do the names sound familiar? That wouldn't be surprising, as Dayeon, Xiaoting, and Hikaru all made it into the Top 9 and debuted as members of Kep1er!

Before they could do so, however, they had to prove themselves like the other trainees and survive several rounds. They covered songs, created their own choreographies and rap lyrics, practiced from early in the morning until late at night and finally showed the result of their efforts on stage.

Girls Planet 999 voting results: Kep1er final members

From the very beginning, the audience was allowed to vote for their favorites and after each round, those with the fewest votes were eliminated. In the first elimination 45 trainees, almost half of them, were sent home!

At the beginning of the show, there was still a cell system. The trainees were divided into groups of three, each consisting of a K, a C and a J trainee. In the first two eliminations, the votes of the cells were added up and only the cells that had the most votes together advanced. So whether a trainee was eliminated or advanced also depended on the cellmates. In between, the trainees were allowed to form new cells. By the way, this cell system was the biggest difference between Girls Planet 999 and the Produce seasons. However, it was abolished after two eliminations. So in the second half of the show, everyone was only responsible for themselves.

Already at the beginning of the show it was clear that the project group would consist of nine members. It was also clear early on how long the group would be active together before disbanding like IZ*ONE, Wanna One or I.O.I: two and a half years.

The members

These are the nine trainees who emerged victorious from the show and are now known as Kep1ers:

NameBirthdayNationality
Kim Chaehyun26.04.2002Korea
Huening Bahiyyih27.07.2004Korea & America
Choi Yujin12.08.1996Korea
Kim Dayeon02.03.2003Korea
Seo Youngeun27.12.2004Korea
Kang Yeseo22.08.2005Korea
Ezaki Hikaru12.03.2004Japan
Mashiro Sakamoto16.12.1999Japan
Shen Xiaoting12.11.1999China

Some of the members have been active as idols and actresses before or have participated in other audition shows.

CLC 'Helicopter' image teaser: Choi Yujin

The most famous example is Choi Yujin, who debuted in 2015 as part of the girl group CLC. When she joined Girls Planet 999, CLC's last comeback was almost a year ago, and she assumed that no more would come. In fact, CLC was officially disbanded in May 2022.

Kang Yeseo started an acting career in 2010 at the age of 5 and was part of the children's group CutieL. In 2019, she was also introduced as the new member of the girl group Busters. However, by the time they reorganized in 2020, Yeseo left the group.

Kim Dayeon was previously featured in Produce 48 - season 3 of the Produce series. However, she was eliminated very early on. The same goes for Shen Xiaoting, who competed in Produce Camp 2020, a Chinese version of Produce 48. Xiationg was also a competitive dancer and won a gold medal in a dance competition in Shanghai, for example.

Girls Planet 999 'U+Me=Love' image teaser: Sakamoto Mashiro

Like Xiaoting and Dayeon, Mashiro was already known to some viewers through another survival show: Stray Kids. The show featured a group of female JYP trainees at the beginning, some of whom debuted in ITZY in 2019. Mashiro was also among the trainees, but left the label shortly after.

Before we continue, let's briefly explain the name "Kep1er".

Before the finale, the viewers of Girls Planet 999 could submit suggestions on what the new girl group should be called. The decision fell on "Kep1er". The name is based on the planet "Kepler" and the astronomer Johannes Kepler. This continues the theme of planets and the universe of Girls Planet.

Moreover, "Kep" comes from the English word for "keep". It means that the girl group will keep their dreams. And the 1 symbolizes that the nine members merge into one.

The name was announced in the finale and caused a lot of discussion for fans who had a hard time getting used to it at first. What do you think of "Kep1er"?

Debut

The finale of Girls Planet 999 aired on October 22, 2021, and everything happened very quickly afterwards!

Kep1er debut album 'first impact' preview

Only a little more than four weeks later, fans could already pre-order the debut album "First Impact" . This was supposed to be released on December 14. In addition, Kep1er had already announced a performance at the 2021 Mnet Asian Music Awards on December 11.

But December had just begun when WAKEONE and Swing Entertainment announced that an employee had tested positive for Covid-19.

WAKEONE and Swing Ent. are the two agencies that manage Kep1er.

The worldwide pandemic had accompanied Kep1er even before their debut, as even during the Girls Planet 999 finale, the singers were unfortunately only cheered on by fans online. During the whole show, no spectators were allowed for security reasons.

The members of Kep1er were also tested, of course, because they had contact with the staff, but their results were fortunately negative. Nevertheless, the agencies decided to cancel Kep1er's appearance at the award show and postpone its debut until January 3. This decision was announced on December 8. The agencies stated that their top priority is the safety and health of their artists.

On December 14, despite the precautionary measures, two members of Kep1er - Mashiro and Xiaoting - tested positive for the virus. But fans were soon able to breathe a sigh of relief, as news broke on December 26 that both had made a full recovery.

But on January 3, Kep1er finally released the album "First Impact" and a music video for the title track "Wa Da Da"!

The album topped the Gaon charts and earned the girl group three wins in music shows!

Kep1er didn't take a break and confirmed their participation in the music competition "Queendom" back in February.

Queendom

Mnet battle

In the competition, famous female K-pop artists compete against each other to determine the true number 1. Kep1er participated in season 2, which aired from March to June 2022. Just debuting for the first time, they were the youngest contestants in the competition and had to compete with already established and well-known opponents: Hyolyn, Viviz (formerly G-Friend), WJSN, Loona & Brave Girls.

During the show, Kep1er performed not only their own songs, but also covers. These included a cover of "The Boys" (Girls' Generation) or of "Pool Party" (Brave Girls).

For the finals, all the contestants also released a brand new song. Kep1er's song is called "The Girls (Can't Turn Me Down)". It's included on the 3rd album "Troubleshooter", but we'll get to that in a moment.

In the finals, Kep1er placed 5th (out of 6).

Fans didn't even get to wonder what Kep1er would do next after the show, because the girl group had announced their first comeback even before the finale!

The first comeback with DOUBLAST!

On June 20, the second album DOUBLAST including the title track "Up!" was released!

In contrast to the otherwise charismatic and energetic songs, both Up! and the B-Sides are rather cheerful and soft.

In fact, Loona's new album was released on the same day. Like Kep1er, the girl group had participated in Queendom 2 and announced a comeback shortly after them.

Even after the release of DOUBLAST, the girl group didn't slow down. Hardly a month went by without new music!

On August 3, Kep1er unveiled the first Japanese single album "Fly-Up", which includes Japanese versions of Wa Da Da and Up! as well as the new song "Wing Wing". The album ranked #2 on several major Japanese charts and sold over 100,000 copies!

It was followed by the single "Sugar Rush" for the Korean app "Universe" on September 23.

And on October 13, the girl group also celebrated their second comeback!

The third mini album "Troubleshooter" contains five tracks: the title track "We Fresh" and four B-sides including the Queendom song "The Girls".

With Troubleshooter, Kep1er broke a personal record by selling more than 167,000 copies on the day of release! DOUBLAST sold 153,000 copies on its first day.

The young girl group was of course invited to a number of award shows at the end of 2022 and also took home several prizes. These include:

  • Favorite New Artist (MAMA Awards)
  • New Wave Award (Asia Artist Award)
  • Best Choice Award (Asia Artist Award)
  • Global Hottest Award (The Fact Music Awards)
  • Rookie of the Year (Mnet Japan Fan’s Choice Awards)

and more!

Like this, Kep1er successfully finished the first year. We are already looking forward to another one!

This might also interest you

KEP1ER - FIRST IMPACT (1st Mini Album) Nolae Kpop
KEP1ER - FIRST IMPACT (1st Mini Album) Nolae Kpop
KEP1ER - FIRST IMPACT (1st Mini Album) Nolae Kpop
KEP1ER - FIRST IMPACT (1st Mini Album) Nolae Kpop
KEP1ER - FIRST IMPACT (1st Mini Album) Nolae Kpop
KEP1ER - FIRST IMPACT (1st Mini Album) Nolae Kpop
KEP1ER - FIRST IMPACT (1st Mini Album) Nolae Kpop
KEP1ER - FIRST IMPACT (1st Mini Album) Nolae Kpop
KEP1ER - FIRST IMPACT (1st Mini Album) Nolae Kpop
KEP1ER - FIRST IMPACT (1st Mini Album) Nolae Kpop

KEP1ER - FIRST IMPACT (1st Mini Album)

€26,99
KEP1ER - [DOUBLAST] Nolae Kpop
KEP1ER - [DOUBLAST] Nolae Kpop
KEP1ER - [DOUBLAST] Nolae Kpop
KEP1ER - [DOUBLAST] Nolae Kpop
KEP1ER - [DOUBLAST] Nolae Kpop
KEP1ER - [DOUBLAST] Nolae Kpop
KEP1ER - [DOUBLAST] Nolae Kpop
KEP1ER - [DOUBLAST] Nolae Kpop

KEP1ER - [DOUBLAST]

€26,99
KEP1ER - TROUBLESHOOTER (3RD MINI ALBUM) Nolae Kpop
KEP1ER - TROUBLESHOOTER (3RD MINI ALBUM) Nolae Kpop
KEP1ER - TROUBLESHOOTER (3RD MINI ALBUM) Nolae Kpop
KEP1ER - TROUBLESHOOTER (3RD MINI ALBUM) Nolae Kpop
KEP1ER - TROUBLESHOOTER (3RD MINI ALBUM) Nolae Kpop
KEP1ER - TROUBLESHOOTER (3RD MINI ALBUM) Nolae Kpop
KEP1ER - TROUBLESHOOTER (3RD MINI ALBUM) Nolae Kpop
KEP1ER - TROUBLESHOOTER (3RD MINI ALBUM) Nolae Kpop
KEP1ER - TROUBLESHOOTER (3RD MINI ALBUM) Nolae Kpop
KEP1ER - TROUBLESHOOTER (3RD MINI ALBUM) Nolae Kpop

KEP1ER - TROUBLESHOOTER (3RD MINI ALBUM)

€26,99

5% DISCOUNT ON NEWSLETTER REGISTRATION

The latest products, promotions and news. Straight to your inbox.

Section
Drop element here

Tags:

Leave a comment

Please note, comments must be approved before they are published