Former X1 Member DRIPPIN’s Junho Reveals How X1’s Disbandment Affected Him

Since debuting in October last year, Woollim Entertainment‘s new boy group DRIPPIN has fast become one of the most popular rookie acts on the K-Pop scene. One of the members, however, isn’t in his first rookie era. In a new interview, DRIPPIN’s Junho—formerly a member of X1—revealed how he felt when his original group disbanded.

After ranking 9th in the Produce X 101 finale with over 750,000 votes, Junho made it into the final lineup of X1 as part of the visual and vocal lines. Originally, X1 was intended to promote for five years—half exclusively as a group, and a further two and a half years co-promoting with their original agencies.

| Swing Entertainment

However, after Mnet found itself embroiled in a vote manipulation scandal, X1 was unfortunately forced to disband after just four months and one single release.

| @x1official101/Twitter

In a new interview with KPOP IDOL OLYMPIC, Junho opened up about how X1’s untimely disbandment affected him. When asked if he was sad about X1’s short career and lack of time on stage, Junho replied, “Of course, I was.”

| KPOP IDOL OLYMPIC/YouTube

However, while he was sad about not being able to perform the way he worked for, that wasn’t his biggest regret. Instead, Junho explained, “The fact that we couldn’t repay those who had supported us really hit us hard.” With a reported 9.5 million total votes for the final 11 members in the Produce X 101 finale (and a cumulative count of 33.2 million votes for the members across all episodes), X1 undeniably had a huge fanbase.

| Swing Entertainment

I felt incredibly sad to say goodbye to our fans.

— Junho

Expressing his sadness at parting ways with X1’s fandom, known as ONE IT, Junho explained that the members received “so much support from the fans“. On top of that, the staff who worked with them “put in so much effort“, making the members feel even more sorry about X1’s fate.

| KPOP IDOL OLYMPIC/YouTube

We’d worked hard together and the bandmates were all like, ‘Let’s do our best,’ so I felt sad that we didn’t get to perform and sorry to everyone around me.

— Junho

Thankfully, X1’s disbandment wasn’t the end of the road for Junho, who trained for over a year before the premiere of Produce X 101 in May 2019. After returning to Woollim Entertainment, Junho was able to prepare for his re-debut—and in October 2020, he stepped on stage as a member of DRIPPIN.

While in X1, Junho explained, “I got to meet so many nice people and I learned a lot, so I think that was a part of me that you can’t leave out.” So, when he found out he’d be reigniting that part of himself as a member of DRIPPIN, he found himself feeling happy again and ready to take on new challenges. While practicing for his new debut, he has “so much fun” getting ready.