YG: “Failed to renew the contract with iKON Bobby? False rumor, the contract is still valid”
YG Entertainment (hereinafter referred to as YG) has denied the rumors related to its contract renewal with Bobby, a member of idol group iKON.
On Nov 15th, YG said on Newsen that the article claiming that the agency had failed to renew its contract with Bobby “is groundless“. “The contract is still valid,” it said. However, YG did not say exactly how long the contract period remains and whether discussions with Bobby on renewing the contract are taking place positively.
Earlier, the media K-pop Herald claimed on its official SNS, “According to industry insiders, Bobby has decided not to renew his contract with YG.“
Bobby officially started his career as a singer on September 15, 2015, with the first digital single “MY TYPE” with his group iKON. Prior to his official debut, he appeared on YG’s boy group survival program “WIN”, which was broadcast on Mnet in 2013. At that time, he competed as a member of Team B, but lost to Team A (who later became Winner), and the following year, he was selected as a member of iKON after going through the YG boy group survival show “MIX & MATCH”.
Bobby recently released the fourth mini-album “FLASHBACK” with iKON members Kim Jin Hwan, Kim Dong Hyuk, Koo Jun Hoe, Jung Chan Woo, and Song Yun Hyung in May.
When asked about their contract renewal at a press conference to commemorate the release of “FLASHBACK,” iKON said, “We haven’t talked about that with the company yet. There is nothing specific yet, but of course, we will work hard for our album and for iKON.“
Bobby has been through such an eventful career over the past 7 years. The withdrawal of iKON’s former leader B.I, whom he spent time his trainee days with even before iKON’s debut, due to a drug scandal caused the members to suffer a hard time.
In addition, Bobby shocked fans when he announced his girlfriend’s pregnancy and his marriage at the same time in August last year without releasing dating news in advance. Bobby’s wife then gave birth to his first son in September of the same year.
Appearing on Channel A’s “Dr. Oh’s Golden Clinic”, which aired on June 3rd, Bobby said, “When that friend (B.I), who was the pillar of our team, suddenly disappeared, I wondered, ‘Will iKON end like this?’. I remember telling the members, who were having a hard time, ‘iKON will fail without B.I”, confessing his anxiety at that time.
“Even when ‘LOVE SCENARIO’ gained so much love, I didn’t feel good at all”, Bobby said. He then confessed, “I wanted to rest, but I couldn’t sleep because I had to satisfy people’s interests and expectations. Thinking that I had to keep living even though I was not satisfied with my current life, I was not happy at all. Even when we received Daesang, I just wondered, ‘We really got Daesang?’”.
Regarding his wife’s premarital pregnancy, Bobby said, “I informed my parents and my agency of the news first, then visited the elders in my family to explain the situation. I felt funny about myself after telling them all about the pregnancy. I thought ‘I’m really living a spectacular life. I even speed up like this’. There were many things that I had to find out about, like what to do in the future and how to get married. I had no time to feel my emotions”, adding “I’m doing a job that I should serve as an example for children and teenagers, but premarital pregnancy is not an exemplary thing. I felt so sorry.”
Source: Daum
