OnlyOneOf Joins Short List Of K-Pop Groups With Their Maknae As The Leader

On December 13, OnlyOneOf finally announced their new official leader!

OnlyOneOf | 8D Entertainment

Until he left the group in 2021, former member Love acted as leader of OnlyOneOf, and in the past two years, the group hasn’t had an official leader, though oldest member Kyubin has been the stand-in leader during that time.

Kyubin (OnlyOneOf)

However, maknae Nine had told fans on messaging platform Bubble that he’d be taking over leadership responsibilities for the group’s future activities, and it turned out to be true!

Nine (OnlyOneOf)

December 13 also happens to be Nine’s birthday (on which he turned 24), and the following tweet was shared to celebrate both his birthday as well as his official appointment as the group’s leader.

[#Photo/]

231212 온리원오브 YouTube Live

아기여우를 리더로 임명합니다!
나인이의 생일을 함께 축하해주셔서 감사합니다 ????#OnlyOneOf #온리원오브#Nine #나인#천재아기여우_우리더_나인_생일 pic.twitter.com/D8y92DFBYV

— OnlyOneOf official (@OnlyOneOf_twt) December 13, 2023

Caption: We appoint a baby fox as leader!
Thank you for celebrating Nine’s birthday with us

This means that OnlyOneOf joins the very short list of K-Pop groups that have had their maknae also serve as their leader. The most well-known instance of this is WINNER, where their youngest member Yoon also has the leadership position.

Yoon (WINNER)

Some other examples of this are Seo Taiji and Boys (with youngest member Seo Taiji as leader), PLAYBACK (where youngest member Woolim was leader until a younger member, Eunjin, joined two years later), and MyB (where similarly to PLAYBACK, maknae Jookyung served as leader until the younger member Hayoon joined later on).

Here’s how fans are reacting to the news on social media!

Ahhh it’s official ???? pic.twitter.com/Y7cGW7cm7E

— Kamila (@starsandmoon4u) December 13, 2023

When the maknae is the leader now pic.twitter.com/cBTqblpYDl

— kristin ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ honey (@emokingjunji) December 13, 2023

AHHHH THEY OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED HIM AS LEADER (in addition to doing so on the cake lol)

— Emily (@RieOfSunshne) December 13, 2023

happy birthday maknae baby fox sunshine leader nine!!!!! ????????

— (@seh221) December 13, 2023

It’s official now ???? Congratulations, our leader and most precious baby fox ????????????

— Stacy (@redhairwook) December 13, 2023

We’re excited to see what OnlyOneOf has in store for us next!