Treasure (band)

Junkyu, Ye-dam and Jung-hwan had stints in entertainment during their childhood days. Junkyu started as a child commercial model for prominent Korean brands.[3] Ye-dam recorded songs for commercials, animated shows and soundtracks with his parents. He further appeared on SBS' K-pop Star 2 in 2012, and finished as runner-up behind AKMU.[4][5] Jung-hwan took on minor roles as a child actor and joined one of the world's leading taekwondo demonstration teams, K-Tigers, where he won during a non-combat championship.[6] In January 2017, Mashiho appeared in label-mate AKMU's musical short film, "Spring of Winter".[7] That same year, from October 29 – January 26, 2018, Hyun-suk and Junkyu competed on JTBC's Mix Nine as trainees under the label, finishing in 5th and 35th place respectively.[8] Concurrently, on November 21, 2017 Jihoon, Ye-dam and Doyoung alongside others appeared on Mnet's Stray Kids as representative trainees under YG Entertainment.[9]

On November 17, 2018 YG Entertainment unveiled 29 male trainees through YG Treasure Box as a method to form the label's next boy group since the debut of Big Bang, Winner, and iKon in 2015.[10][11] Through the finale, Haruto, Ye-dam, Jung-hwan and Junkyu were first to join the line-up, followed Jeong-woo, Jae-hyuk and Hyun-suk under the name, Treasure.[12][13] On January 29, 2019 an announcement for a second line-up was released, later disclosed with Yoon-bin, Mashiho, Doyoung, Yoshinori, Jihoon and Asahi under Magnum, while collectively named Treasure 13.[14][15] However, on December 31, 2019 Yoon-bin terminated his exclusive contract with the label to pursue a different musical pathway closer to a solo career. As a result, both groups were permanently merged and are now called Treasure.[16]

In January 2020, Treasure was re-introduced to the public as a group targeting the global market through weekly pictorials, performance videos including single "Going Crazy" (미쳐가네) from YG Treasure Box, where namely label-mate senior Mino of Winner contributed in production, alongside multiple variety programs via YouTube including Treasure Map and T.M.I.[17][18] Treasure Map also aired on broadcasting channels, SBS MTV and SBS FiL from September 23 onward.[19] Ahead of debut, Treasure was recorded as the fastest Korean act to chart on Billboard's Social 50 at number 40 on May 27, and peak at number 12 on August 4.[20][21]

On June 5, Ye-dam became the first member to undergo a solo debut through the release of his digital single, "Wayo" (왜요).[22] Broadcasting promotions for the single were not carried out due to his focus on preparations for debut with Treasure. Notably, label-mate seniors, Kang Seung-yoon of Winner and Lee Chan-hyuk of AKMU partook in the production of the single.[23] "Wayo" peaked at number 10 on the Billboard World Digital Songs chart and entered the top 100 at number 98 on the Billboard Korea K-Pop 100 chart.[24][25]

Treasure officially debuted on August 7 with the lead single, "Boy" from the single album, The First Step: Chapter One, the first installment to The First Step series.[21] The group surpassed 170,000 pre-orders within several days ahead of its physical album release on August 13.[26] "Boy" went on to finding global success in Japan, topping large music streaming platforms including Line Music, Rakuten and AWA rising chart while their music video surpassed 10 million views in 26 hours on YouTube.[27][28] Treasure began promotions on August 9 through their first broadcasting appearance on SBS' Inkigayo.[28]

The second installment to their series was released on September 18, as a single album titled The First Step: Chapter Two with the lead single, "I Love You" (사랑해).[29] Through the release, the group acquired the title, "Half a Million Seller", from the accumulated sales figure of the two single albums, while their lead single topped the monthly chart of Rakuten Music for the month of September with under two weeks of tracking.[30][31] The following day, they subsequently began promotion with MBC music program, Show! Music Core.[32]

The third installment was released on November 6, with the single album titled The First Step: Chapter Three and its lead single, "Mmm" (음).[33] Their B-side single, "Orange" (오렌지) marked the group's first self-produced song among their releases through their group member, Asahi.[34] Treasure cumulatively surpassed 710,000 copies sold through their three single albums within the span of 3 months since their debut.[30] On November 28, the group officially won their first award, "Rookie of the Year", through the Asia Artist Awards.[35]

Treasure lent their voices for TV Tokyo Japanese anime, Black Clover's 13th ending theme song. The soundtrack served as their first original Japanese song and was first revealed on January 5. [36] Concluding The First Step series, Treasure released their first full-length album, The First Step: Treasure Effect and its lead single "My Treasure" on January 11, 2021.[37][2] Overall, The First Step series sold over one million copies, earning the group the title "Million Seller" within the span of 5 months since debut.[38]

On January 21, it was announced that Treasure would be releasing their Japanese debut album on March 31, with the same title of their Korean full-length album.[39] The album will contain Japanese versions of all their previous songs as well as Beautiful. On January 22, Treasure released their first Japanese digital single, from Black Clover’s soundtrack, for the upcoming album, titled Beautiful (Anime Edit).

In August 2020, the group collaborated with Line Friends through the participation of designing new character IPs. The product is scheduled to be unveiled within the second half of the year, and will be presented in various forms including messenger stickers, music sources, shots animation, character products and more.[40]

Treasure was chosen as models for the naturalist cosmetics brand, Manyo Factory in January 2021. A representative from the brand stated: "We expect the image of Treasure with bright and positive energy will lead the brand in a good direction".[41]

Members of Treasure participated in label-mate senior Sean of Jinusean's charity marathon event Miracle 365 in both July, August, and November 2019, where awareness and funds to build a rehabilitation hospital were raised for children who require medical treatment caused by disability.[42][43]

On July 5, 2020 members of Treasure participated in a volunteering program organized by YG Entertainment through "Blue Angel Volunteers" at an animal shelter located within the Gyeonggi Province. A total of 33 YG Family staff members and label-mates contributed in the program including actress Han Seung-yeon. Volunteering acts included creating shelters, cleaning, restocking feed supply and more.[44]

Treasure became advocates for children diagnosed with cancer in September 2020. The group encouraged individuals to help make a difference by donating through the Naver donation platform, Happy Bean, through a partnership with YG Entertainment and Muju YG Foundation.[45]

Through the group's debut press conference, while revealing the difficulty of choosing only one artist that the group has been influenced by, they stated their main role models are their label-mate seniors under YG Entertainment through their various music releases and videos.[26]