Several boy bands that have been on hiatus are getting ready to stage comebacks this year as their members return from mandatory military service . Positive announcements from the so-called “second generation” idol groups – those that debuted 10 years ago or more – including Shinee, 2PM and Highlight, have raised anticipation among their legions of fans. How IU took on BTS and Blackpink – and won Boy band Shinee has confirmed that its members will appear on a special live show, The Ringtone: Shinee is Back , on YouTube and Naver’s VLive, on January 31. In the show, the quartet reflect on all they’ve done since their debut, as well as discuss and perform one of the tracks from their upcoming album, slated for release this year, according to their agency SM Entertainment. No tattoos, no dates: the unwritten rules K-pop stars live by View this post on Instagram A post shared by 샤이니(SHINee) Official (@shinee) After the release of Shinee’s sixth studio album The Story of Light in 2018 the group’s members Onew, Key and Minho began their mandatory military service, with no new albums coming out for over two years. After Minho became the last member to be discharged in November last year , SM Entertainment announced their comeback during an online concert called SMTown Live at the beginning of January. She uses US$1,500 tableware, so how rich is Red Velvet’s Wendy really? The all-boy K-pop act debuted in 2008 with its first album “Replay” and has enjoyed popularity both locally and overseas with many hits, including Ring Ding Dong (2009), Lucifer (2010) and Sherlock (2012). Can K-pop subunit BtoB 4U get back in the groove after military service? 2PM is another boy band making a highly-anticipated return after being on hiatus since 2017. With members Ok Taecyeon, Jun K, Woo-young and Chan-sung already discharged from the military and Jun-ho returning to civilian life in March, 2PM recently announced its comeback, stating, “Please look forward to the year 2021 filled with us, 2PM.” The sextet, which also debuted in 2008, has had multiple hits including 10 Out of 10 (2008), Heartbeat (2009) and Again & Again (2009). One of its songs, My House , released in 2015, belatedly became a viral sensation last year online and led to a number of cover videos by other K-pop artists. Will these groups survive K-pop’s ‘seven year curse’ in 2021? The group Highlight, which went on hiatus after the album “Outro” released in 2018, hinted at its comeback as well after Son Dong-woon became the last member to finish his military service last month. A sneak peek at the K-pop bands set to debut in 2021 The K-pop act debuted in 2009 under the name Beast and became widely popular for songs such as Mystery (2009), Fiction (2011) and On Rainy Days (2011). After the group left its former agency Cube Entertainment, it returned to the K-pop scene as Highlight. Whether the K-pop megastars BigBang will make a comeback this year is another topic of interest. When will BigBang make a comeback? 6 things we know so far After its former member Seungri was indicted on multiple charges , including enabling prostitution and habitual gambling, and left the group in 2019, the boy band announced it would return to the music scene at Coachella 2020 – which was later cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But hints that the group’s avant garde leader and so-called King of K-pop, G-Dragon , was working on new songs late last year, have raised anticipation over the group’s possible return. Want more stories like this? Sign up here . Follow STYLE on Facebook , Instagram , YouTube and Twitter . This article originally appeared on Korea Times