Kep1er renews contract, to continue as 7-member group

Project girl group Kep1er will continue its group activities as seven members.

On May 30, WakeOne and Swing Entertainment said in a statement that seven members of Kep1er have renewed their contract to extend group promotions.

“We are pleased to announce that the company and members of Mnet’s project group ‘Kep1er’—YUJIN, XIAOTING, CHAEHYUN, DAYEON, HIKARU, HUENING BAHIYYIH, and YOUNGEUN—have agreed to renew the contract to extend group promotions,” the labels said.

“Thus, Kep1er will continue promotions as a seven-member group after the project term has expired,” it added.

Members Mashiro and Kang Yeseo will wrap up their activities as Kep1er after the group’s concert in Japan in July.

“As a result of extensive discussion and consensus, Mashiro and Yeseo will conclude their activities as Kep1er after the scheduled upcoming concert,” the statement read.

“We are sincerely grateful to Mashiro and Yeseo for their dedication and hard work over the past two and a half years as Kep1er, and we promise to support their future endeavors invariably,” it added.

The group’s contract with the said labels was set to expire in July 2024 prior to the the seven members’ contract renewal. The length of the new contracts was not disclosed in the labels’ statement.

Kep1er debuted on January 3, 2022 with “Wa Da Da”, the title track of its debut EP “First Impact”, which sold more than 200,000 copies in the first week of its release.

For the past two and a half years, the nonet have released five EPs: “First Impact”, “Doublast”, “Troubleshooter”, “Lovestruck!”, and “Magic Hour.”

Kep1er has also dropped three Japanese singles—”Fly-Up”, “Fly-By”, and “Fly-High”—and one Japanese full-length album “Kep1going.”

The nine-member girl group was formed through the Mnet survival program “Girls Planet 999” on October 22, 2021.

Kep1er will release its first Korean full-length album “Kep1going On” on June 3.  It will consist of 10 songs, including the title track “Shooting Star” and Korean version of “Straight Line.”