Weki Meki Officially Disbands After 7 Years, Leaving WJSN The Only Group With Ex-I.O.I Member
K-pop fans are expressing regrets seeing girl groups with members who used to be active in I.O.I disbanding one after another
I.O.I formed through Mnet’s survival show “Produce 101” and debuted as a group of 11 members on May 4th, 2016. The group included Im Na-young, Kim Chung-ha, Kim Se-jeong, Jung Chae-yeon, Zhou Jieqiong, Kim So-hye, Yoo Yeon-jung, Choi Yoo-jung, Kang Mi-na, Kim Do-yeon and Jeon So-mi.
I.O.I officially debuted with the first mini album “Chrysalis” and released the title song “Dream Girls. In October of the same year, they made a comeback with the second mini album “miss me?” and gained huge love with the title track “Very Very Very”.
With constant support from fans, I.O.I introduced their last single “Downpour” on January 18th, 2017 and ended their activities on the 31st of that month. As soon as it was released, “Downpour” rose to No.1 on music sites and this song was performed for the first time at the group’s last concert “I.O.I Time Slip”, making fans cry so hard.
After I.O.I disbanded, the members returned to their original groups. Since then, they began to promote as DIA’s Jung Chae-yeon, WJSN’s Yoo Yeon-jung, gugudan’s Kim Se-jeong and Kang Mi-na, Pristin’s Lim Na-young and Zhou Jieqiong, as well as Weki Meki’s Choi Yoo-jung and Kim Do-yeon.
Later, Pristin, gugudan and DIA disbanded in 2019, 2020, and 2022, respectively, leaving great regrets. In the meantime, fans voiced complaints about Weki Meki as the group has been on a hiatus for three years since the promotion of “Siesta” in 2021.
Eventually, Weki Meki (Ji Su-yeon, Elly, Choi Yoo-jung, Kim Do-yeon, Sei, Lua, Rina, and Lucy) announced their official disbandment following the upcoming release of the digital single “CoinciDestiny” on June 12th.
WJSN members (Exy, Seola, Bona, Soobin, Eunseo, Yeoreum, Dayoung, and Yeonjung) renewed their contracts in March 2023, making WJSN the only group with members from I.O.I to be active at the moment.
Many fans are still waiting for the reunion of I.O.I. However, it is also very sad to see groups with members deriving from I.O.I disbanding one after another.
