IST Entertainment Reveals The Official Line-Up And Name Of Its Talented New Boy Group After Intense Finale To “The Origin – A, B, Or What?”

The official line-up for IST Entertainment‘s new boy group was revealed in the intense finale of The Origin – A, B, Or What? on May 7, as well as the name of the new group and its meaning.

This signals a close to the difficult journey the trainees made to reach their debut. The final episode saw 7 out of 10 trainees debut as members of the newly minted group, ABØ.

As explained during the finale, the name ‘ABØ’ stands for ‘At the Beginning of Originality,’ which refers to the group’s “aspiration to tell a new and original story.”

As for the line-up, the 7-member group will consist of now former trainees Jeong Seunghwan, Oh Junseok, Seok Rakwon, Ryu Junmin, Bae Hyunjun, Yang Donghwa, Kim Yeonkyu.

The members were chosen through a voting system that included both the audience’s votes and those of the show’s ‘balancers,’ or celebrity judges. The judges included GOT7‘s Jay B, Infinite‘s Sungkyu, former 2NE1 member Minzy, and dance choreographers Kwak Yoon Young, and Hwang Gyu Hong. The finale, however, also had Apink‘s Bomi and Hayoung weigh in, as well as VICTON‘s Sejun and Subin. Additionally, Jay Park came on to serve on the judging panel.

ABØ is now the first group to debut under IST Entertainment following the merger between THE BOYZ‘s label Crek.Er Entertainment and Play M Entertainment in 2021. Play M was home to acts such as Apink, VICTON, and Weeekly. The new company was renamed IST Entertainment following the merger, and will be starting a new era now with the debut of its first own group.

A big congratulations to the members of the ABØ on their debut! We can’t wait to see the great things they’ll do.

You can watch the reveal of the group’s name and official line-up on the link below!