SF9 announce album with 6 members, here's why Rowoon will skip summer comeback
It is comeback season in the K-pop industry with more and more idol groups announcing their June and July releases. Mnet’s ‘Queendom 2’ groups like Loona, Hyolyn, WJSN, and Kep1er are all announcing their new comeback as well as the co-ed group KARD, GOT7’s Youngjae, and many more have announced thier comeback. So is the case for FNC Entertainment’s nine-member boy group, SF9 but with a twist.
On June 4, it was announced that SF9 will be making a comeback this summer as they release an album in July. This time, SF9 will only be making a six-member comeback instead of their usual nine which is irksome to many fans. But this will be the boy group’s first official comeback since they released their last comeback album, ‘Rumination’, in November 2021. This time, six of the nine SF9 will take part in the album, leaving enlisted members Inseong and Youngbin out. Rowoon is also stated to be missing from the comeback.
READ MORE
SF9 Youngbin announces his enlistment on Valentine’s Day, fans call it ‘top 10 anime betrayals’
SF9's Hwiyoung and Chani being probed for breaking Covid quarantine rules
SF9 to make a summer comeback as six members
The announcement from FNC Entertainment announced that SF9 will be making a summer comeback following their pattern from years ago. Over the last couple of years, SF9 has consistently released one summer comeback album after another, be it 2020's ‘9lory’ (Glory) or 2021's ‘Turn Over’. The upcoming album will be their third consecutive summer comeback and is expected to release with a concept that exudes the summer atmosphere.
Since this will be the first comeback from SF9 since the military enlistment of members Youngbin and Inseong, fans are disappointed with the fact that instead of their expected seven-member lineup, the group will make a comeback as just six members. Over the last few comebacks, the boy group SF9 has completed their SF9 universe series that started with ‘9lory’ (Glory) and ended with ‘Turnover’ that was released in July last year.
Following that, SF9 released ‘Rumination’ in November last year which was a prequel to the SF9 worldview of '9lory'. With little to no information about the upcoming comeback, fans are curious about what kind of story will unfold with their upcoming album.
Is Rowoon leaving SF9?
The label reported that along with the enlisted members, Rowoon will be missing from the comeback. The reason for Rowoon’s absence from the album is stated to be because the idol actor was busy with a filming schedule. Rowoon was filming for his recent K-drama, ‘Tomorrow’, when the rest of the SF9 members were recording and preparing for the upcoming comeback.
Rowoon is still very much a part of SF9 but will only be absent from SF9's July 2022 comeback due to scheduling conflicts. Since both his acting and K-pop group schedules overlapped, it was decided that Rowoon would have to inevitably sit out this comeback. The summer comeback from SF9 will see members Jaeyoon, Dawon, Zuho, Taeyang, Hwiyoung, and Chani participating.