Poised to be one of the most impactful rookies of this year, AB6IX, a newly released act under Brand New Music, successfully showcased its debut single “Breathe” in Seoul on Wednesday.

While the band is fresh to the scene, there’s been a lot riding on it prior to its debut, as AB6IX features familiar faces of sensational project boy band Wanna One -- Park Woo-jin and Lee Dae-whi -- and the members of Brand New’s male duo MXM -- Lim Young-min and Kim Dong-hyun.

All four of them had competed in the popular competition show “Produce 101,” while rounding out the group is Jeon Woong, a newcomer. Equipped with verified songwriting composing skills, AB6IX has already garnered a huge following in and out of Korea. Its group name is an abbreviation of “Above Brandnew Six,” with number six standing for the combined figure of the five-piece act and its fans.

“All five of us have waited and prepared for this moment with the same mindset. What we will show will be beyond your expectations,” said Park during the act’s debut showcase.

“All of us, and our company bet our life and death on our debut. I feel nervous as this is my first official performance in a long time, but we will do our best,” chimed Lee, a highly acclaimed musician for his outstanding producing skill.




Fronting the act’s debut EP “B:Complete” is the lead track “Breathe,” a rhythmical deep house number that holds a dual message -- one about escaping oppression and stress in pursuit of freedom, and of touching on fine dust pollution issue, one of the most grave social problems in Korea. Lee lent his hands in composing and writing the song.

Asked why he chose “Breathe” as the act’s debut song, Lee said, “Actually, many people had expected us to present a hip-hop-tinged song as our company heavily leans toward the genre, but we wanted to go against that expectation. We didn’t want to go on an obvious path.” Sharing why he landed on fine dust, Lee added that he highly appreciates music that contains social messages.

The seven-track EP also features “Absolute,” “Shining Stars,” ‘Friend Zone,” “Light Me Up,” “Dance for Two” and “Hollywood,” all of which feature the members as either composer or lyricist.

“We are very grateful for being able to produce the whole album by yourselves as a rookie. At the same time, it was obviously stressful and burdensome, but as my bandmates and our agency head assisted me, I tried to change that feeling to confidence,” said Lee.




Park also said, “We worked really hard to make sure that all seven tracks are well organized. As all of us have participated in making this album, each lyric contains our stories. Please note that point while listening.”

Having members already familiar with the taste of fame and spotlight, AB6IX looked quite confident and relaxed with its first official stage. And the act admitted that such hands-on experiences in the industry have helped the band gain more insight and confidence in its career.




“Wanna One and MXM are like our other self, through which we received lots of love and recognition. Thanks to it, we don’t feel nervous on stage anymore, and I think it will have positive influence on our future career as well,” said Lee.

“Now we finally got to herald our new start. I know that many of our fans have been waiting for this moment, and we will do our best to present the best of us,” Lim added.

By Hong Dam-young (lotus@heraldcorp.com)