Some bands get people excited with the simple news of new music coming out because they know that whatever they bring to the table will be refreshing either way. That’s what boy band Oneus did when it announced that it would be coming back with a vampire concept for its special album “Dear.M” after pulling off a unique mermen theme with its previous album.

“Dear.M” is Oneus’s first special album, which was released on Tuesday, a year and four months since its 10th EP “La Dolce Vita” came out in September 2023. “Dear.M” is indeed a “special” album, with a whopping 17 songs. It consists of five new tracks and 12 hits from the past that have been re-recorded under the title “Penta Ver.” with the band’s current five members, but without former member Ravn.


The “M” in the album's name refers to Oneus’s fan club, Tomoon.

“We knew that the issue with our former member made some of our fans uncomfortable, and some even told us that they can’t listen to our songs because of it,” Keonhee told reporters during an interview held Tuesday morning in eastern Seoul.

“A lot of our fans were waiting to hear us sing our past songs again, so we wanted to make it as easy as possible for our fans to listen to our music — because we love our songs and we love our fans,” he continued. “So, this whole album is like a gift to the fans who waited for us and our music. The lead track is also part of that plan.”

Recording the tracks again gave the members a pleasant walk down memory lane, according to member Leedo. Some songs were just re-recorded and rearranged for the parts featuring the former member, which wasn't too hard, the members said.

“The thing that I thought the most was, ‘Why was this song so hard for me in the past?’” Leedo said. “I could feel that not only myself, but also all the members had grown over the years. If in the past we just memorized the songs and sang them, this time, we really ‘felt’ the emotions and showed them through our voices. I could hear the change and growth.”

Lead track “IKUK” has been rearranged from the song “I Know You Know” (2024) that the band presented during cable channel Mnet’s competition show “Road to Kingdom: Ace of Ace” last year. Oneus became the runner-up of the show in the last episode, which aired on Nov. 7, 2024. Oneus competed alongside boy bands The New Six, The CrewOne, 8Turn, Younite, Cravity and Tempest.

Oneus took part in the previous edition of “Road to Kingdom” in 2021 along with top-tier boy bands The Boyz, Stray Kids, Ateez, SF9, iKON and BTOB. It was Keonhee’s idea for the band to feature in the show for the second time and fight for a chance to get the members known to the public.

Oneus debuted in January 2019 with the EP “Light Us.” The band's current members are Seoho, Leedo, Keonhee, Hwanwoong and Xion. The band has a stable fan base, but relatively smaller than those of boy bands from larger agencies.

“Our fans and the staff seemed to be more disappointed in the outcome than we were, but that just made us realize how hard we have been working to deserve all this love and support,” Keonhee said. “Yes, it was our goal to win. But we don’t want to think that we didn’t achieve our goal. We got to perform on the stage as much as we wanted, which was another important experience for us. We learned so much and realized what things we value, so it was a meaningful experience in itself.”


Oneus held its “La Dolce Vita” world tour in 2023 and 2024. The band performed in 11 cities around the United States, six cities in Europe and in Tokyo during the tour. The band always tried to give something extra special during each concert by changing the list of songs or including special performances for fans.

“It felt like a dream come true for us to be able to meet with fans from so many different places,” Hwanwoong said. “Listening to everyone sing our songs, even if they don’t completely understand the language, made me feel this sense of ecstasy that just automatically made me want to promise them that we would return and improve ourselves. I want to take this chance to thank them once again and tell them that we will try to visit them again, too.”

Now into its seventh year, Oneus will start discussing contract renewal with its agency RBW, which is customary for K-pop bands whose standard contracts bind them to their agency for the first seven years. Groups can either choose to go their separate ways or renew with the original agency in a bid to keep their original roster and maintain their momentum.


“There isn’t much we can say at this point, but everything we do will be part of our efforts to keep Oneus together,” Keonhee said. “Anything could change tomorrow but we love each other and we love this team. So, it will always be our priority to keep Oneus and walk down that direction.”

“It is my personal goal to make 2025 a year where all our fans are happy,” Keonhee continued. “I realized that I can’t be happy if the fans are unhappy. So, I’ll try to make this year a happy one for both Oneus and Tomoon.”

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]