Boy Story (Chinese: 男孩的故事; pinyin: Nánhái de Gùshì, Korean보이스토리; RRBoi Seutori, stylized as BOY STORY) is a Chinese boy band launched by JYP Entertainment and Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME). The group is composed of six members: Hanyu, Zihao, Xinlong, Zeyu, Ming Rui, and Shuyang. On September 1, 2017 Boy Story released their first single "How Old R U". On September 21, 2018, Boy Story made an official debut with their first mini album Enough.

Boy Story
Boy Story busking at Starfield COEX Mall, April 2019
Background information
OriginBeijing, China
Genres
Years active2018 (2018)–present
Labels
Members
  • Jia Hanyu
  • Li Zihao
  • He Xin Long
  • Yu Zeyu
  • Gou Ming Rui
  • Ren Shuyang
Websiteboystory.jype.com
Chinese name
Chinese男孩的故事
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinNánhái de Gùshì
Korean name
Hangul보이스토리
Transcriptions
Revised RomanizationBoi Seutori

History

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Pre-debut project

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Boy Story's official logo

Under the JYP Entertainment vision "K-pop 3.0"[1] or "Globalization by Localization",[2] the label announced its plans to produce localized acts aiming at both the Chinese and Japanese markets in early 2018. Boy Story was the first group formed under this strategy, with the group's six members being selected by JYPE founder Park Jin-young as early as 2016 and have trained under the company ever since.[3]

Since September 2017, the "Real Project" pre-debut series was launched with four singles in order to make way for the group's official debut in September 2018. The first release under their pre-debut series was "How Old R U", which was released on September 8, 2017. The second single was "Can't Stop" that was released on December 15, 2017.

In the middle of their "Real Project" pre-debut series, Boy Story made an appearance on the 2018 'Lantern Festival Joy Party (Yuan Xiao Xi Le Hui / 元宵喜乐会)', a special program of channel Hunan Satellite TV that airs annually in celebration of China's Lantern Festival. The group performed their songs "How Old R U" and "Can't Stop" at the event.[4] The group's third single for their pre-debut project was "Jump Up" which was released on March 30, 2018. To conclude the pre-debut project, the song "Handz Up", produced by J.Y.Park himself,[5] was released on June 12, 2018.[6][7]

2018–present: Debut and promotions in China

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Boy Story made their official debut on September 21, 2018 with their first mini album Enough that included all the pre-debut singles and the debut song "Enough".[8] On October 21, 2018, the group released "Stay Magical" (奇妙里). The following month, Boy Story released the song "For U" on November 22, 2018.

Boy Story released "Oh My Gosh" on March 29, 2019, followed by another comeback on July 26, with "Too Busy" featuring Jackson Wang. On September 29, Boy Story performed on the first day of KCON 2019 held at the IMPACT Arena in Bangkok, Thailand.[9]

On January 6, 2020, Boy Story released their second extended play I=U=WE: 序 as the prologue (序) of their "I=U=WE" trilogy series. The members were involved in writing the lyrics and composing the music for the album, which thematically tells about the joys, sorrows and inner changes in growing up and announcing the group's transformation from being boys to being teenagers.[10][11] On May 6, the group held their first online concert in China titled "STAGE: On Air" in collaboration with the short-video mobile platform Tencent Weish. With the theme "The Confession of Birth", the concert recorded over 810,000 concurrent viewers. It was then announced that two more dates for "STAGE: On Air" will be held within the year. The concert was sponsored by the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation and is evaluated to have "opened a new chapter for the Korea-China exchange relationship in the untact time."[12] On July 4, Boy Story held the second date of their "STAGE: On Air" online concert, amassing over 3,380,000 viewers in real-time. This number is a 320% increase compared to the number of audience recorded for the group's last online concert held earlier in May of that year.[13] Boy Story was then invited to perform at the Bilibili World Shanghai Station, an online entertainment festival held by video-sharing website company Bilibili on August 7. The group was reported to have performed to a viewership of over 1 million people who watched the live broadcast for the event.[14] On September 1, Boy Story held the third and final date of their "STAGE: On Air" online concert, recording over 1.35 million concurrent viewers. The cumulative total number of viewers for all three live broadcasts held by the group reached 5 million.[15] In line with their second anniversary, the group held an online fan event titled "FLY 2 U" on September 20. The event garnered over 560,000 concurrent viewers, setting a record at QQ Music.[16] The group then released the song "WAI" on October 28, as part of the official soundtrack for the Chinese web drama Airbenders. The song then topped the Asian New Songs Chart on the day of release.[17] For the first part of their "I=U=WE" trilogy series, Boy Story released their third EP I=U=WE: I on November 27. The album thematically shows the various conflicts and collisions in adolescence, and tells about a person who "has his own ideas and ideas, shows publicity and personality, but is also rebellious, uneasy and confused".[18]

Members

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  • Jia Han Yu (贾涵予)
  • Li Zi Hao (李梓豪)
  • He Xin Long (贺鑫隆)
  • Yu Ze Yu (于泽宇)
  • Gou Ming Rui (苟明睿)
  • Ren Shu Yang (任书漾)

Discography

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Extended plays

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Title Album details Sales
Enough
  • Released: September 21, 2018
  • Label: NCC Entertainment
  • Format: CD, Digital download
I=U=WE : 序
  • Released: January 6, 2020
  • Label: NCC Entertainment
  • Format: CD, Digital download
I=U=WE: 我
  • Released: November 27, 2020
  • Label: NCC Entertainment
  • Format: CD, Digital download
UP
  • Released: July 12, 2024
  • Label: NCC Entertainment
  • Format: CD, Digital download

Single albums

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Title Details Peak positions Sales
KOR
[22]
Alpha (極)
  • Released: March 4, 2024
  • Label: NCC Entertainment
  • Formats: CD, Digital download
67

Singles

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Title Year Peak position Sales Album
CHN
"How Old R U" 2017 8[24] Enough
"Can't Stop" 7[25]
"Jump Up" 2018 2[26]
"Handz Up" 30[27]
"Enough" 8[28]
"奇妙里 (Qí Miào Lǐ) - Stay Magical" Non-album singles
"For U" 15[29]
"Oh My Gosh" 2019
"Too Busy" Too Busy
"Intro: Boy Story" 2020 I=U=WE: 序(Prologue)
"如果 (If..)"
"Energy"
"序;告白 (Only U) "
"Outro: 彼此(Believe Us)"
"Change" Non-album singles
"Wai" Drama OST
"Bitter Sweet" 2021 I=U=WE:I
"ID"
"Cooking For Ya" Non-album singles
"Monster" I=U=WE : U
"Be Urself"
"WW" 2022 We
"What's Poppin'" 2023 What's Poppin'
"Intro: SET OUT" Z.I.P
"Z.I.P (Zero Is The Only Passion)"
"ON THE WAY"
"Alpha" 2024 JI
"Cypher: Overheat"
"Lost"
"Please"
"Alpha (English Version)"
"Pump It Up" Up

Awards and nominations

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Year Ceremony Award Nominated Work Result
2017 Asia Music Festival Best Hip-Hop Boy Story Nominated
2018 2018 FEIA Awards Popular Act Won
2019 2019 FEIA Awards[32] Most Anticipating Act Nominated
TMEA 2019[33] QQ Music New Power Won

Music Shows

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Year Date Producer Tv show name Nominated Work Results
2018 November 18 TME Tencent Music Entertainment Group YO! BANG Enough Won
2018 December 2 TME Tencent Music Entertainment Group YO! BANG For U Nominated

Videography

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Music Videos

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Title Year Director(s) Notes
"How Old R U" 2017 Music video
"Can't Stop" Music video
"Can't Stop" Performance video
"JUMP UP" 2018 Music video
"Handz Up" Music video
"Handz Up" Performance video
"Enough" Music video
"Enough" Performance video
"奇妙里(Qí Miào Lǐ) - Stay Magical" Music video
"For U" Music video
"Oh My Gosh" 2019 Music video
"Too Busy" Music video
"Too Busy" Performance video
"如果(Rú Guǒ) – If" 2020 Track Film Video
"序告白(Xù Gào Bái) - Prologue" Performance video
"Energy" Home video

References

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  1. ^ Seung-joon, Yang (August 21, 2018). “현지인 멤버로만 아이돌 구성” K팝 수출 3.0시대. Hankook Ilbo (in Korean). Archived from the original on October 8, 2020. Retrieved August 22, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  2. ^ "Exporting the template: K-pop agencies' overseas idol projects yield solid results". Yonhap News. July 13, 2020. Archived from the original on July 19, 2020. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  3. ^ "JYP Entertainment-Produced Chinese Group Boy Story Releases First Single 'Enough'". Billboard. Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  4. ^ "BOY STORY 惊艳亮相元宵喜乐会 向前辈何炅任嘉伦刘宪华问候献礼_TOM明星". star.tom.com. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  5. ^ "'JYP 中아이돌' 보이스토리, 첫 KCON 합류 확정". The Korea Times. August 26, 2019. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
  6. ^ "JYP introduces teenage boy band in China". Korea JoongAng Daily. June 4, 2018. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
  7. ^ Dam-young, Hong (June 4, 2018). "JYP's 1st Chinese boy band to debut in September". The Korea Herald. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
  8. ^ Herman, Tamar (September 23, 2018). "JYP Entertainment-Produced Chinese Group Boy Story Releases First Single Enough". Billboard. Archived from the original on September 24, 2018. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
  9. ^ "갓세븐 ITZY→김재환 엑스원 'KCON 태국' 레드카펫 빛낸 ★들". entertain.naver.com (in Korean). Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  10. ^ "BOY STORY《I=U=WE:序》中首支单曲在酷狗释出还将空降翻牌". SinaWeibo. December 30, 2019. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
  11. ^ "BOY STORY全新专辑《I=U=WE: 我》上线酷狗 讲诉青春期成长与感悟_TOM新闻". news.tom.com. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  12. ^ "Boy Story attracts 810,000 viewers in first untact concert in China". OSEN - VLive Channel.
  13. ^ "'JYP 중국 보이그룹' 보이스토리, 온라인 공연 동시 접속자수 338만 기록". entertain.naver.com (in Korean). Retrieved January 15, 2021.
  14. ^ "BOY STORY亮相BW2020,精彩表演燃炸现场_TOM明星". star.tom.com. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  15. ^ "BOY STORY STAGE On Air云舞台完美收官". tom.com. Archived from the original on January 21, 2021. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  16. ^ "BOY STORY出道两周年 少年暴风成长未来可期". tom.com. Archived from the original on January 21, 2021. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  17. ^ "BOY STORY首次演唱OST 荣登亚洲新歌榜1位_TOM娱乐". ent.tom.com. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  18. ^ "BOY STORY全新专辑《I=U=WE: 我》上线酷狗 讲诉青春期成长与感悟". tom.com. Retrieved January 16, 2021.
  19. ^ "I=U=WE:序". y.saoju.net (in Chinese). Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  20. ^ "I=U=WE: I". y.saoju.net. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  21. ^ "Circle Album Chart – Week 33, 2024". Circle Chart (in Korean). Retrieved August 25, 2024.
  22. ^ "Circle Album Chart". Circle Music Chart (in Korean).
  23. ^ Cumulative Sales of Alpha (極):
  24. ^ "How Old RU". Billboard.com. September 16, 2017. Archived from the original on July 9, 2018. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
  25. ^ "Can't Stop". Billboard.com. January 3, 2018. Archived from the original on October 23, 2018. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
  26. ^ "JUMP UP". Billboard.com. April 14, 2018. Archived from the original on October 23, 2018. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
  27. ^ "Handz Up". Billboard.com. July 7, 2018. Archived from the original on October 23, 2018. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
  28. ^ "Enough". Billboard.com. September 29, 2018. Archived from the original on October 23, 2018. Retrieved October 23, 2018.
  29. ^ "For U". Billboard.com. December 1, 2018. Archived from the original on November 27, 2018. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
  30. ^ "Too Busy". y.saoju.net (in Chinese). Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  31. ^ "CHANGE". y.saoju.net (in Chinese). Retrieved March 22, 2022.
  32. ^ "BOY STORY荣获2019 FEIA年度盛典"年度最具期待组合"". Yula. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  33. ^ "2019TMEA腾讯音乐娱乐盛典收官,现场颁发六大类奖项 Japan". Sina. December 9, 2019. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
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