When a company is not quite ready to give its budding K-pop group a full-on media blitz, but it does want to maintain momentum and excitement surrounding the group — the solution is probably to predebut the group. This was seen at least a couple notable times in 2023, with the predebut of VCHA after JYP Entertainment reality competition A2K and, yes, the predebut of Redstart ENM boy group TIOT after the members’ appearance on Mnet survival competition Boys Planet. It is worth examining when the boys made their predebut and when we can expect their full debut, so here is the full answer to when Kim Minseoung, Kum Junhyeon, Hong Keonhee, and Choi Woojin will truly debut as TIOT.
TIOT Will Debut in the First Half of 2024
TIOT made their predebut on August 23, 2023 with the music video for “백전무패” (“Unbeatable”), being a remake of the 2001 Click-B song. This remake song appeared on the TIOT predebut album Frame the Blueprint : Prelude to Possibilities, which was released five days later on August 28, 2023. The tracklist for Frame the Blueprint : Prelude to Possibilities includes five songs in total: “This is our time,” “백전무패,” “BUNGEE,” “Surfing,” and “Starlight.” Notably, Sunwoo of The Boyz co-composed “This is our time.” And admirably, TIOT members Kim Minseoung and Hong Keonhee were co-composers on “BUNGEE,” in addition to contributing lyrics.
On August 23, 2023, TIOT held a predebut showcase, where they performed “백전무패,” “Surfing,” and “Starlight.” Besides then, on the following day, August 24, 2023, they performed live predebut for the first time with “백전무패” on M Countdown. Later, on December 14, 2023, TIOT released another predebut song, the winter track “Find the way,” which received a track video. The group would hold a “fancon” with this same name on December 30, 2023 at Sky Art Hall.
Next, Kum Junhyeon would release a solo digital single as part of TIOT, called “WWW,” on January 9, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. KST.
Prior to announcing their predebut album, TIOT had gone by the tentative moniker of “Redstart Boys,” and they had held fan meetings in South Korea on June 10, 2023 and in Japan on June 24, 2023. TIOT stands for “Time Is Our Turn” or “This Time Is Our Turn.”
Currently, TIOT is scheduled to make their full, official debut in the first half of 2024. At the moment, Redstart ENM has not provided any further information than that, but this space shall be fully updated as it becomes available.
To summarize, TIOT predebuted on August 23, 2023 with “백전무패,” and TIOT will officially debut in the first half of 2024. Check back often for more updates!
For more about the group, check out how old the TIOT members currently are or what we know about their leader. Or for more K-pop boy groups that first emerged in 2023 after Boys Planet aired, check out the debut of Zerobaseone and the debut of EVNNE.