Learn More About the Subunits That Are Popular Worldwide
Some K-Pop groups have subunits, and they are now very popular in the K-Pop world. Subunits are formed from several members of the same group, the purpose of forming the subunits is to give a different concept from the usual, try different color in music, or give opportunities to members who have the same interests and talents.
In the K-Pop industry, there are so many subunits but among them, one is more popular than the others, that is the subunit GD&TOP from BIGBANG. They were formed in 2010. Their album GD&TOP sold over 130,000 copies in one week with the title tracks “Oh Yeah” and “High High” selling over a million each. The subunit reunited for BIGBANG’s comeback in 2015 with the single “Zutter,” which again sold over a million copies.
But besides them, there are still many popular subunits from other boy groups. So, stay tuned!
Super Junior D&E (슈퍼주니어-동해&은혁)
Super Junior D&E is also known as D&E or SJ-D&E. Super Junior D&E is the fifth official subunit of the South Korean boy group Super Junior. This duo is composed of two members of Super Junior, that is Donghae and Eunhyuk, the rapper and dancer of the group. They are formed by SM Entertainment and debuted on December 16th, 2011, with their digital single titled “Oppa, Oppa – 떴다 오빠.” They made their debuted stage on December 16th, 2011, in KBS’ Music Bank.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltTwN-EL85k
Although they released the song on December 16th, 2011, the MV just came out on December 21st, 2011. It is directed by Shindong (another Super Junior member) and starring Amber from f(x), Peter and Youngsky from One Way, and Sungmin and Shindong are also featured in the music video.
They also released a Japanese version of “Oppa, Oppa” on April 4th, 2012. And successfully peaked at #2 on the Oricon single daily and weekly charts, and #1 on the Tower Records single chart.
On February 26th, 2014, they released their first full-length Japanese album Ride Me. They released a short version of the “Motorcycle” promotional video (PV) on February 2nd. The song became the main theme of the Japanese TV show, Sukkiri.
And after D&E 1st Japan Tour, they released their 3rd Japanese single titled “Skeleton” on August 6th, 2014.
On March 6th, 2015, D&E released their first Extended Play, The Beat Goes On. They also held their comeback showcase one day before the release of the song. Donghae participated in this album’s production with producers The Underdogs, Hitchhiker, NoizeBank, and more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM_nyRb-2aY
And they made their comeback performance on Music Bank with the songs “Growing Pains” and “The Beat Goes On” and kept promotions going on Music Core, Inkigayo, and M! Countdown.
On March 24th, 2015, this duo released a special edition album for The Beat Goes On. Including the seven tracks in the original album, “Oppa, Oppa,” “1+1=LOVE,” “Still You,” “Motorcycle,” “Love That I Need,” and “I Wanna Dance” from its previous digital singles and Korean versions of Japanese songs for a total of 13 tracks in the special edition album.
On April 1st, 2015, their first Japanese Extended Play titled Present, which contained a total of eight songs including “Saturday Night” was released. They also held their second Japan tour Super Junior D&E The 2nd Japan Tour “Present” from April 3rd to April 23rd in four cities: Saitama, Osaka, Nagoya, and Fukuoka with 10 performances. The concerts concluded gathering more than 100,000 fans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjaELFiC5q8
On September 30th, 2015, they released their fourth Japanese single titled “Let’s Get It On.”
After they released their fourth Japanese single, Eunhyuk and Donghae enlisted for their mandatory military service on October 13th, 2015, and October 15th, 2015, respectively.
They were discharged from their mandatory military service on July 12th and July 14th, respectively.
The duo will be releasing one Japanese song every month starting November 2017 leading to the release of their full album sometime in 2018. On November 29th, they released the first Japanese single of the series, titled “Here We Are.”
One month later, on December 26th, D&E released the second Japanese single titled “You don’t go.”
On January 31st, 2018, they released their third Japanese monthly single titled “If You,” written and composed by Donghae.
On February 28th, 2018, their fourth Japanese monthly single, “Circus,” was released with the concept film where Donghae and Eunhyuk downsized into video game characters, playing a “Circus” chase game.
On March 28th, 2018, their fifth Japanese monthly single, titled “Lose It” was out. On April 2nd, 2018, the full version of the music video was then released.
On April 25th, 2018, their sixth Japanese monthly single “Can I Stay…” was released.
On May 31st, 2018, the seventh Japanese monthly single “Hot Babe” was released.
In June 2018, D&E announced the release of their second full-length Japanese album titled STYLE, on August 8th, 2018, which contains every monthly song that had been released and also new songs, including the lead single “Sunrise” and “Polygraph.”
D&E released their second Korean Extended Play titled ‘Bout You with the lead single of the same title.
On April 14th, 2019, D&E’s comeback with the title track “Danger” took place. It’s a mixture of trap hip-hop and electronic music, paired with a dynamic and eye-catching performance. Donghae also participated in composing and writing the lyrics for the track.
D&E plan to treat their fans to the full MV for another track from the mini-album titled “Gloomy,” before the full album is released. “Gloomy,” composed by Donghae, is an emotional R&B trap genre.
According to Label SJ, D&E’s upcoming 3rd mini-album Danger contains a total of 7 tracks including a title track of the same title, plus the Korean versions of D&E’s popular Japanese singles “Sunrise” and “If You.”
