VIXX, which stands for Voice, Visual, Value in Excelsis, is an all-male idol group formed by Jellyfish Entertainment in 2012 through the reality program, MyDOL.

The group consists of six members – N, Leo, Ken, Ravi, Hongbin, and Hyuk. They are known in the industry as a performance group whose concept always tells a story through their music, lyrics, choreography, stage performance.

They officially debuted on May 24, 2012 with the single “Super Hero”.

2012: Formation and official debut

Prior to the group’s official debut, VIXX was originally composed of 6 out of the 10 contestants featured in the Mnet survival reality show, MyDOL.

Some of the members have already made several guest appearances in the music videos of fellow artists under Jellyfish Entertainment, including Brian Joo’s “Let This Die” (N, Leo, Hongbin, and Ravi), and Seo In Guk’s “Shake It Up,” (N, Leo, and Ravi) and “Tease Me” (Hongbin).

The group officially debuted with their first single, “Super Hero,” on May 24, 2012 on Mnet’s M! Countdown.

On July 27, they had their first overseas performance at the Otakon convention in Baltimore, Maryland.

VIXX released their second single album, “Rock Ur Body,” on August 14, featuring their labelmate Dasom of the group Sistar in the music video.

The following month, they took part in Jellyfish Entertainment’s first live concert called Jellyfish Live.

The concert was held at Tokyou’s Zepp Diver City in Japan on September 12. On October 13, VIXX attended KCON 2012, and participated in their agency’s winter project, Jelly Christmas 2012 Heart Project, alongside labelmates Lee Seok hoon, Park Hyo Shin, Seo In Guk, and Sung Si Kyung.

The title track, “Because It’s Christmas” was digitally released on December 5.

2013: Hyde, Jekyll, and first global showcase

On January 6, VIXX pre-released the single “Don’t Want to Be an Idol,” from their third single album, On and On. The title track “On and On,” and the album itself were simultaneously released on January 17.

The group released another album on May 20, their first mini album, Hyde, featuring the title track of the same name. On July 31, a repackaged album called Jekyll was released with the song “G.R.8.U”.

From October to November 2013, VIXX held their first global showcase tour, called The Milky Global Showcase, in South Korea, Japan, Italy, Sweden, Malaysia, and America.

On November 8, they pre-released another single from their upcoming full-length album, Voodoo, as well as the accompanying music video for the song “Only U.” The title track for the album, “Voodoo Doll,” was released on November 20, followed by the official release of the album on November 25.

VIXX took home their first ever music show since debut for “Voodoo Doll” through KBS’ Music Bank on December 6. And on December 10, they released their annual song, “Winter Confession,” along with other artists from Jellyfish Entertainment.

The song took the number 1 spot on the Instiz chart for two straight weeks, as well as the Billboard K-Pop Hot 100 charts and Gaon charts.

2014 to 2015: Rising popularity

VIXX released their fourth single album, Eternity, on May 27, along with the music video for the lead single of the same name.

On May 19, Jellyfish Entertainment announced that the group is preparing for their official debut in Japan with the release of their full-length compilation album, Darkest Angels, set for July 2. The album charted at number 10 for five consecutive weeks on the Oricon chart and sold a total of 12,332 copies.

On June 20, VIXX was announced to be part of the lineup of KCON LA to be held on August 9 and 10. This marks the second time they are attending the festival since their first in 2012.

From July to September, the group held their VIXX Live Fantasia Tour – Hex Sign, including stops in Japan and several European countries.

On October 10, VIXX revealed the title song and track list for their upcoming second mini album through their official website.

The mini album, Error, was released on October 14, along with the music video for the title track. On December 10, VIXX released a Japanese version of “Error” alongside the Japanese version of another song, “Youth Hurts”.

Come February 8, 2015, VIXX was invited to The KKBOX Music Awards held at the Taipei Arena, becoming the first Korean artists to ever be invited to the event.

On February 20, they released the music video teaser for their song “Love Equation” from the album Boys’ Record, which was released four days later along with the full music video of the song.

“Love Equation” was an all-kill on all the music shows immediately after its release. The song also gave VIXX their first triple crown on the music program The Show.

From March to May, VIXX held their second VIXX Live Fantasia Tour – Utopia in South Korea and several Asian countries including Japan, Philippines, and Singapore.

On March 8, the group also made their official entry into the Chinese and Taiwanese music markets with the release of “命中注定 (Destiny Love),” their own rendition of the song by Harlem Yu.

The song, which was also part of the Boys’ Record album, was released in the Chinese markets through Avex Taiwan. A music video for the song was also released through Avex’s YouTube channel.

On July 7, VIXX made another entry into the Chinese and Taiwanese markets with the release of the Chinese language version of “Error” in both countries through QQ and KKBOX, respectively.

Also, in 2015, the group was announced to be debuting their first official subunit – VIXX LR – composed of members Ravi and Leo. The duo released their debut mini album, Beautiful Liar, on August 17. And on August 29, VIXX entered the Billboard Social 50 chart at number 16, then later peaked at number 14.

On September 9, VIXX made their second Japanese comeback with the single “Can’t Say”. The following month, they were revealed to be preparing for a Korean comeback on November 10 with their second full-length studio album.

Jellyfish Entertainment started releasing individual teasers of the members on November 1 through their official Facebook and Twitter, as well as a group image teaser on their official website including the upcoming album’s title, Chained Up.

As originally scheduled, Chained Up was released on November 10, along with the music video for the title track of the same name.

On November 30, Jellyfish Entertainment, in partnership with CJ Victor Entertainment, announced that VIXX will be releasing their first original full-length Japanese studio album in January 2016.

The following month, the group took part in their agency’s annual Christmas release, the single album Jelly Christmas 2015 – 4 , featuring the song “Love in the Air”.

2016: First full-length Japanese album

Jellyfish Entertainment and CJ Victor Entertainment revealed on January 7 the jacket photographs that will be used for the three editions of VIXX’s first Japanese studio album and released a teaser of the music video.

On January 18, the group released the song “Alive,” their contribution to the OST of fantasy action-romance drama, Moorim School: Saga of the Brave. The song was well-received, and the drama earned positive responses for its “refreshingly edgy theme song.”

It was also revealed that the song was the group’s way of showing support to member Hongbin, who was the lead actor in the drama.

That same day, a short version of their lead single for the Japanese studio album, Depend on Me, was released in Japan.

Depend on Me was officially released on January 27, featuring the lead single of the same name, as well as other previously released Japanese singles, “Error” and “can’t Say.” The album charted at number 4 on the Oricon daily album chart on the day of its release.

As part of their album promotions for Depend on Me, VIXX held “Mini Live & High Touch” events in various cities in Japan, including Sapporo, Kobe, Tokyo, Osaka, and Fukuoka from January 13 to 31.

On February 1, the group released another song for the OST of Moorim Schoo: Saga of the Brave, “The King”.

The following month, Jellyfish Entertainment released the Conception Art Film as part of their year-long project for the group called VIXX 2016 Conception. The project aims to show the group’s wide musical and conceptual spectrum and will revolve around the theme of gods from the Greek mythology.

VIXX unveiled the Zelos Concept Film on April 14 and released the track list and highlight medley for their fifth single album, Zelos, which was released five days later. Zelos also features the title track “Dynamite” whose music video was released on April 20.

During album promotions in April and May, VIXX won 1st place five times on music shows for “Dynamite,” and bagged their second triple crown on The Show. Zelos also ranked number 1 on the Gaon album chart after selling a total of 89,910 copies in April alone, while “Dynamite” charted at number 14 on the Gaon Digital Chart and number 4 on Billboard’s World Digital Songs chart.

The group released their third Japanese single, “Hana-Kaze” on June 29, and charted number 3 on the Oricon Albums Chart for selling more than 32,000 copies.

On August 12, VIXX released Hades, the second installment in their VIXX 2016 Conception trilogy project. It features the title track “Fantasy,” whose music video was released on August 14. Compared to their previous release, “Fantasy” carries a darker concept, emphasizing Hades, the God of the Underworld.

VIXX won first place three times on music shows during their promotions for “Fantasy,” with the song charting at number 1 on the Gaon Album Chart, and the title track ranking at number 22 on the Gaon Digital Chart and number 5 on the Billboard World Digital Songs chart. Just for the month of August, Hades sold more than 97,000 copies.

On August 31, the group released the third and final installment of their VIXX 2016 Conception trilogy – Kratos – along with the title track “The Closer.” Kratos is focused on the concept of the god Kratos, “the personification of strength, might, sovereign rule, and authority”.

The album charted at number 2 on the Gaon Album Chart, and at number 5 on Taiwan’s FIVE-MUSIC Korea-Japan Album Chart and Billboard’s World Albums Chart. “The Closer,” meanwhile, charted at number 8 on the Gaon Digital Chart and number 14 on the Billboard World Digital Songs chart. Kratos sold a total of 57,456 copies for the months of October.

BIO:

On November 21, VIXX released a special compilation album – VIXX 2016 Conception Ker – to mark the conclusion of the VIXX 2016 Conception project. The album features the new song “Milky Way,” and charted number 2 on the Gaon Album Chart, selling more than 18,000 units in November.

The group also participated in Jellyfish Entertainment’s winter project, Jelly Christmas 2016, alongside labelmates Seo In Guk, Gugudan, Park Yoon Ha, Park Jung Ah, Kim Gyu Sun, Kim Ye Won, and Jiyul. They released the title track “Falling” digitally on December 13, 2016.

2017 to present: Shangri-La

VIXX returned with their fourth mini album, Shangri-La, on May 15, 2017. The album was part of another project for the group called VIXX V FESTIVAL in celebration of their fifth anniversary since debut.

The three-event festival began on May 12 with the group’s VIXX Live Fantasia Daydream concert, followed by the album release, and concluded with an exhibition titled VIXX 0524.

Shangri-La charted at number 2 on the Gaon Album Chart, number 3 on Taiwan’s FIVE-MUSIC Korea-Kapan Album Chart, and number 4 on Billboard’s World Albums Chart.

The title track of the same name, meanwhile, charted at number 13 on the Gaon Digital Chart and number 6 on the Billboard World Digital Songs Chart.

They promoted the album with live performances on music shows beginning with KBS’ Yoo Hee Yeol’s Sketchbook and followed by stages on Mnet’s M! Countdown, SBS MTV’s The Show, MBC Music’s Show Champion, KBS’ Music Bank, MBC’s Show Music Core, and SBS’ Inkigayo.

On September 27, VIXX released their first Japanese extended play, Lalala ~ Thank you for your love, which charted at number one on the Oricon Daily CD album charts upon release.

In January 2018, a few months shy of the first anniversary of the release of Shangri-La, Jellyfish Entertainment confirmed reports that VIXX was being invited once again to perform the song on Music Core.

The group wrapped up promotions for the song and album in June 2017, but the song experienced a surge in popularity after their performance of a remix version at the 2017 MBC Gayo Daejejun on December 31.

On April 17, 2018 VIXX released their third full-length studio album, Eau de VIXX, which features the song “Scentist”. The album charted at number 1 on the Gaon Weekly Album Chart and at number 3 on Billboard’s US World Albums Chart.

VIXX Member Profiles

N

Leo

Ken

Ravi

Hongbin

Hyuk

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