Here Are 9 K-Pop Comebacks That Sadly Never Happened

Most of the time, a K-Pop artist will tease fans with bits and pieces of content when they’re preparing a new release. While most of the time this is fun and exciting and makes fans anticipate the comeback, other times, less often, it can backfire when the comeback ends up never happening. The following 9 comebacks were rumored, and sometimes even released in part, but sadly never did happen in full.

1. INFINITE’s “7 in 1” Comeback

INFINITE’s company, Woollim Entertainment, released a teaser in March 2015 for the group’s comeback set for May. The teaser was titled “7 in 1”, but when the group had a comeback in July of that year, it was with “Bad”, which was a completely different concept. The speculation is that the company decided to go a different direction with the group than what they’d had planned.

2. 2017 SHINee Comeback

SHINee was rumored to be having a comeback in October of 2017, a year after their last comeback, “Tell Me What To Do”. Unfortunately, however, before this could happen, Onew got caught up in his scandal when he was charged for reportedly touching a woman inappropriately in a club. Even though the charges were dropped after it was revealed to be a misunderstanding, the comeback never happened.

3. 2018 HyunA Solo Comeback

This was supposed to by HyunA’s first solo comeback since “Hip & Lip”. This comeback’s tracks were teased on her Instagram account in July, but during the “Retro Future” promotions with Triple H that year, her relationship with Dawn was revealed. Both of them ended up having their contracts terminated by Cube Entertainment because of it, which meant this comeback never came to be.

4. I.O.I’s 2019 Reunion Comeback

Studio Blu, a company that partially managed I.O.I when the group was together, confirmed in July 2019 that the group would have a reunion comeback in October of that year, the first activity since they disbanded in July 2017. Sadly, however, just a few weeks later was when the scandal around Produce 101‘s voting system being manipulated by bribing occurred. Due to the negativity and even arrests and charges that came afterwards, the reunion was sadly cancelled.

5. Jessica (Girls’ Generation) & Krystal (f(x)) Subunit Debut

The Jung sisters were supposed to have a subunit created after the two were on a successful reality TV show, Jessica & Krystal. It’s rumored that they even got to the point of recording an album and possibly a music video for the debut, but unfortunately Jessica left Girls’ Generation in September 2014, and then SM Entertainment shortly after that. Because of this, unfortunately, this debut never happened.

6. LOONA the Ballad’s “Stay With Me Babe” Release

The subunit LOONA the Ballad’s concept album was teased in May 2018, along with the yyxy’s “One Way” and “Beauty & The Beat”. It was supposed to come out in May 2019, but sadly, the album was cancelled due to conflicts over where the direction of the LOONAVERSE would go, as later revealed by former producer Jaden Jeong. Small snippets of the tracks “Stay With Me Babe” and “Daycream” were released from the scrapped album, but they’ve never been released in full.

7. T-ara’s 6-Member “What’s My Name” Comeback

When T-ara was a 6-member group and close to their contract expiration with MBK Entertainment in May 2017, they were rumored to have a final comeback in the works. However, there were conflicts with Boram and Soyeon‘s contracts with the company, and the comeback was continually delayed (possibly because the company was pressuring them to re-sign their contracts). The two members ended up leaving the company, and the song “What’s My Name”, which people speculate was supposed to be for all 6 members, was released as a 4-member song in June.

8. CL’s “All In” Comeback

CL was preparing to have an all-English album and a solo debut in the U.S. in 2016, including collaborations with will.i.am, Diplo, and Scooter Braun. After releasing “Lifted”, she was supposed to come out with “All In”, and a music video was even filmed for its release. Sadly, the entire comeback was scrapped for an unknown reason, though she later released a minute and a half of the music video on her Instagram, which got her in trouble with YG Entertainment.

9. 2019 iKON 7-Member Comeback

iKON was reportedly preparing to have a comeback in the summer of 2019, with some songs even recorded. Unfortunately, however, before this comeback could happen, B.I. was caught up in a scandal and ended up leaving both the group and the company. Because of this, the group didn’t have a comeback until January 2020, and with just the 6 remaining members.