Road to Kingdom: underdog K-pop boy bands take a second shot at fame in new reality show

After the runaway success of Queendom, a 2019 K-pop reality-TV show in which six girl groups competed for a chance at making a comeback, boy bands are taking to the stage in a sequel.

Road to Kingdom, which premieres on April 30, will see seven bands – Pentagon, ONF, Golden Child, The Boyz, Veryvery, Oneus and Too – battle it out for a spot in the series finale Kingdom, which will air in the second half of the year. If the show lives up to expectations, it’s going to be one of the K-pop events of the year.

Queendom launched on South Korean music TV channel Mnet in August last year and ran for 10 weeks. What started out as a cutthroat competition unexpectedly ended in a triumphant show of determination, camaraderie and sisterhood between the girl groups taking part.

Ahead of the Road to Kingdom premiere this week, here’s what you can expect from the seven participating boy bands.

Pentagon

Formed through the Mnet survival programme Pentagon Maker, this boy band made their debut in October 2016 as a 10-member group under Cube Entertainment. The departure of original member E’Dawn in 2018 took a toll on the group, but they have bounced back.

Despite notching up a series of chart hits (including the sleeper hit Shine and their latest banger, Dr. Bebe), the four-year-old outfit have yet to experience a music show win.

“This is an opportunity for us to put on a perfect performance for our fans … We will try our best to show you everything that we couldn’t on our album promotions. I hope that you will be able to see our hard work,” member Kino said in a recent interview for Singles Korea.

Hui, the leader and resident composer of the group, said: “Instead of laying out a direction, we want to become the direction itself. We want to show everyone what Pentagon’s style is like.”

ONF

ONF, which stands for “On N Off”, are made up of two subunits: the “On” team with Hyojin, E-Tion and MK that focuses more on vocals, and the “Off” team with J-US, Wyatt and U that specialises in dance performances.

Before their debut in August 2017, the boys took part in YG Entertainment’s survival reality programme Mixnine, where Hyojin and Laun placed second and seventh respectively. Laun left the group in August 2019, citing personal reasons.

During a press conference for Road to Kingdom this month, ONF said: “We haven’t had many chances to promote after our debut, so we weren’t able to show our charms very much. We’re happy to have this opportunity to showcase the various sides of ONF.”

Golden Child

Golden Child are Woollim Entertainment’s first all-male act since the debut of Infinite seven years ago. Despite being relatively new, this promising boy group have had their ups and downs.

Originally an 11-member group, in 2018 it was revealed that one member, Jaeseok, had left to focus on his health. This triggered a one-year hiatus for the band, who then made a bold comeback with their first full-length album, “Re-boot”, in November 2019. Observers are expecting a bolder, edgier Golden Child on Road to Kingdom.

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The Boyz

Famed for their pre-debut appearances on various competitions (Ju Haknyeon in Produce 101, Sunwoo in High School Rapper and Kevin in K-pop Star 6), The Boyz have come a long way since their debut in 2017. Along the way they have scooped up numerous awards, and completed a tour of Asia and Europe.

In October 2019, band member Hwall announced his departure on health grounds. The remaining members continued to work towards their first studio album, “Reveal”, which was released in February to much fanfare.

Verivery

Jellyfish Entertainment has always had a knack for coming up with unique concepts for their idol groups, and Verivery are the company’s latest brainchild. Dubbed as part of a new generation of “creative-dols”, these powerhouses can do it all: compose their own songs, create their own choreography and even direct their own music videos.

In January, the septet released their new EP, “Face Me”, the first instalment of their “Face It” trilogy. Fans should get to see what else is to come during their Road to Kingdom performances.

Oneus

Oneus have a lot in common with the other groups. Previously known as the RBW boys (from the same agency that gave us Mamamoo), the Oneus members had humble beginnings on various trainee programmes – Seoho, Keonhee and Hwanwoong appeared on Produce 101, while Ravn, Seoho and Leedo took part in Mixnine. Oneus made their debut on the same day as Verivery, January 9, 2019.

They’ve recently returned with their first album, “In Its Time”, featuring the emotive lead single A Song Written Easily.

Too

The freshest rookies on the list, Too (also known as Ten Oriented Orchestra) are a 10-member boy group formed through the global K-pop survival programme World Klass. Barely a month into their debut, these newly minted boy wonders will be going up against veteran acts such as Pentagon as well as other equally talented rookies.

“It’s an honour to be able to perform on the same stage as our seniors just after we made our debut. There’s a lot that we haven’t been able to show yet, but we will work hard to put on performances that will showcase our passion as rookies,” Too said during the press conference.

Only time will tell if they’ll be able to live up to expectations, but K-pop fans are in for quite a ride on Road to Kingdom.