Singer Bang Ye-dam leaves YG Entertainment (YG) after 9 years.
According to YG on Nov 8th, Bang Ye-dam and Mashiho terminated their exclusive contracts with YG after discussion. They also withdrew from boy group TREASURE.
YG officially announced, “We have reached such an agreement so that Mashiho could have enough time to recover from his health condition, and Bang Ye-dam could pursue his career as a producer.”
Bang Ye-dam and Mashiho leave TREASURE and YG about 6 months after the announcement of the suspension of their activities. On May 27th, through YG, Bang Ye-dam expressed his intention to concentrate on studying music for a certain period of time to strengthen his producing skills.
Mashiho, who was in poor health, left for his hometown Nagoya, Japan on May 15th and spent time with his family to focus on recovery.
Korean and foreign fans, who wanted Bang Ye-dam and Mashiho to resume their activities, are expressing confusion and disappointment at the abrupt withdrawal and contract termination notice. As if conscious of such a reaction, YG said through the notice, “Knowing that all of TREASURE’s fans have been waiting for Mashiho and Bang Ye-dam, we are very sad about their departure as they have been with TREASURE from the beginning. We ask for your continuing support for Mashiho and Bang Ye-dam.”
Hereby, Bang Ye-dam parted ways with YG after 9 years. Bang Ye-dam (born in 2002) made his name known by becoming the runner-up in SBS’ survival program “K-pop Star” season 2, which aired in 2012. Bang Ye-dam, who boasted impressive singing and dancing skills as well as was called “Music Prodigy” and “Genius Boy”, signed a trainee contract with YG in July 2013.
In 2018, he ranked first in the vocal position at the YG’s boy group survival show “YG Treasure Box”, and officially debuted as a member of boy group TREASURE in August 2020.
Meanwhile, with Bang Ye-dam and Mashiho leaving, TREASURE was reorganized from the former 12-member system into a 10-member lineup, including Choi Hyun-suk, Jihoon, Yoshi, Junkyu, Yoon Jae-hyuk, Asahi, Doyoung, Haruto, Park Jeong-woo, and So Jung-hwan. Regarding the change, which was made 2 years after TREASURE’s debut, YG Entertainment promised, “We will continue to communicate with Treasure Maker (fandom of TREASURE) as we do now and do our best for future activities of TREASURE.”
The 10 members of TREASURE released their second mini album “THE SECOND STEP: CHAPTER TWO” in October and carried out various activities. In addition, the music video for the unit song “VolKno” of the rapper line (Choi Hyun-suk, Yoshi, and Haruto), which was included in the album, will be released on November 10th at 00:00 (KST).
Domestic and international concert tours are also in the works. In particular, TREASURE will hold two solo concerts “2022 TREASURE TOUR [HELLO] in SEOUL” on November 12th and 13th at the Olympic Park KSPO Dome in Songpa-gu, Seoul.
Next, on November 26th, the group’s Japan Arena tour will commence at the Hokkaido Sports Center, in Hokkaido. As a Kpop artist who is visiting Japan for the first time since their debut, the group is expected to attract 210,000 people – an extremely large audience.
After successfully completing promotions for their 2nd mini album and filming for the music video of “VolKno”, TREASURE is concentrating on preparing for the upcoming concert, which is four days away. Rumors have it that they are currently focusing on band ensemble and choreography practice to create a high-quality performance.
Through YG, TREASURE said, “Our driving force is Treasure Maker. We are spending each day with a joyful heart, thinking of our fans. We will show you a TREASURE without limits, so please look forward to our upcoming concert.”
Source: daum
