WayV

Who are WayV?

WayV (웨이션브이) are a group produced by SM Entertainment and run by LABEL V, its Chinese joint-venture label. Star News records that they debuted on 17 January 2019. The members are Kun, Ten, Xiaojun, Yangyang and Hendery, and the fan club is called WayZenNi.

SM Entertainment announced the group in a press release on 31 December 2018, saying it would debut through the Chinese joint-venture label.

Korean stages and a first win

Their first Korean music-show stage came in the autumn of the debut year. The second mini album, Take Over The Moon, six songs in Chinese, came out on 29 October 2019, and the next day the group appeared on MBC MUSIC’s Show Champion as an invited global artist to perform the title track ‘Moonwalk’. At the 2019 MAMA at Nagoya Dome in Japan on 4 December they won Best New Asian Artist, and Kun said: “Thank you to MAMA for giving us the chance to show our song.” On 18 June 2020 they released a Korean version of ‘Turn Back Time’, the title track of the first full-length album, Awaken The World.

The first music-show win came on SBS M and SBS FiL’s The Show on 11 June 2024, with ‘Give Me That’, the title track of the fifth mini album Give Me That. “Fans, we did it,” the members said. “Thank you to all the staff and to every fan. We’ll work even harder.” On 6 December that year ‘FREQUENCY’, the title track of the sixth mini album FREQUENCY, took number one on KBS2’s Music Bank, one of three trophies across that promotion. According to Soompi the album’s first-week sales on Hanteo Chart were 351,951 copies, beating the group’s previous record of 340,744, set by the fifth mini album.

A first tour and a Japan debut

The first solo concert tour, ON THE Way, opened in Nagoya, Japan, on 17 and 18 August 2024. “We’ve waited a long time for a concert and we’re so happy to finally show it,” the members said. “We were moved from the very first song.” It ended at Blue Square Mastercard Hall in Seoul on 22 and 23 February 2025, after 20 shows in 15 regions, and on the last night the group said: “Thank you so much, WayZenNi, for always being beside us. WayV is what it is because of you.”

The six songs first performed in Nagoya came out on 25 September 2024 as the first Japanese mini album, The Highest. Its title track, ‘Go Higher’, is built on West Coast hip-hop, and the album went to number one on Oricon’s weekly album chart. Earlier, releasing the second full-length album On My Youth in November 2023, Yangyang told USA TODAY: “It’s a new start for us.” Kun added: “We want to make sure that our WayZenNi and us, we grow up together as a team.”

Where to start

The eighth mini album, Vision Wings, came out at 6 p.m. KST on 10 August 2026. It has seven tracks, led by ‘鸢 (Vision Wings)’, whose music video is on the SMTOWN channel. SM Entertainment held a listening party in Guangzhou the same day and, from 10 to 30 August, ran pop-up spaces with QQ Music in large shopping malls in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Suzhou and Hangzhou. BizEnter reported that some 85,000 people visited and that the album passed 250,000 yuan in sales to earn QQ Music’s ‘gold album’ certification. What the album sounds like is in the story on the eighth mini album.

The stages of 2026

On 2 August the group played a free show with the China Institute at the 40th SummerStage festival in Central Park, New York. amNewYork wrote that it was the group’s first visit to New York City and its first performance there, and Yangyang said: “Central Park is one of the most famous places in New York, and to be able to perform in the most famous place in New York is such a blessing.”

The third concert tour, 2026 WayV CONCERT TOUR [BORN THIS Way], opened at KBS Arena in Gangseo, Seoul, on 12 and 13 September. At these shows the members gave solo performances for the first time, and the 13 September show was streamed live on Beyond LIVE and Weverse. After the encore the group said: “Having you beside us is the greatest gift. We’ll be together as WayV forever.” The tour continues to Hangzhou, Chengdu, Changsha, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai and Yokohama.

Official music videos and stage clips are on the group’s own YouTube channel and on SMTOWN.