WayV (威神V; WeiShen V) are a global boy group and the fourth overall sub-unit of the South Korean boy band NCT under Label V, a Chinese localized subsidiary of SM Entertainment. The group is currently composed of six members: Kun, Ten, Winwin, Xiaojun, Hendery and YangYang. Lucas departed the group on May 10, 2023. The group was announced on December 31st, 2018, and their debut EP The Vision was released on January 17, 2019. They made their live stage debut on Chinese show "All For One" on February 14th, 2019 performing their lead single "理所当然 (Regular)" and b-side "噩梦 (Come Back)". Following this, they appeared on Happy Camp, one of China's most watched TV shows, in March to promote themselves as rookie Chinese group. During downtime between album promotions, WayV partook in a self-produced creative project called RainbowV in which the group, broken into sub-units, selected songs to cover and independently produce the arrangements, choreography, cinematic design, and more. Episodes detailing their creative process were released weekly on their Weibo and YouTube pages. TEN and WinWin's project, a dance cover of lovely by Billie Eilish feat. Khalid even received recognition and praise by Khalid on his twitter in April 2019. On May 9th, Take Off was released digitally, with title track "无翼而飞 (Take Off)". The song was described as an urban dance genre track with powerful trap drum sounds and a catchy club bass line. This was paired with a visually powerful music video, shot in the Ukraine. The song was successful, peaking at #1 on QQmusic and iTunes worldwide charts. A physical release of the Take Off album occurred later that month. During October, WayV member TEN made his American debut with SM's "k-pop supergroup" SuperM. He made history becoming the first Chinese & Thai artist to debut at #1 on the Billboard 100. In November, the full group came back with Take Over the Moon. For the first time, WayV promoted in Korea- having their debut special stage for the title track "天选之城 (Moonwalk)" on Show Champion, November 1st. Their physical album also released, with unique presses in China, Korea, and Thailand. On November 5th, SM Entertainment released a special English version of the b-side track Love Talk, accompanied by a music video on QQmusic and Youtube. The single peaked at #1 on the QQmusic best seller daily chart, and has sold over 182,000 digital copies to date. In December, WayV performed a mashup of Take Off and Moonwalk at the 2019 Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) in Japan, where they also won the "Best New Asian Artist" award. They performed the same medley at the Zheijiang New Years Eve Party, broadcasted in China on December 31st, closing out WayV's explosively successful first year as a Chinese idol group. In 2020, WayV was the second group from SM Entertainment to hold a live online concert, jointly organized by SM Entertainment and Naver as part of the world's first online-dedicated live concert series, Beyond LIVE. The live concert, which was WayV first-ever concert and titled WayV – Beyond the Vision, was held on May 3. The group performed songs from their prior albums, as well as a mashup of "Turn Back Time" and "Bad Alive", two tracks on their first studio album Awaken the World that was set for release five weeks later on June 9, 2020. After many months of anticipation, WayV's first full length album Awaken the World was released on June 9th, 2020. The MV for the title track Turn Back Time premiered a few hours later on June 10th. A handful of tracks on the album feature songwriting credits for members Hendery and Yangyang, including Only Human, Electric Hearts, and also Stand By Me (for Hendery only). Upon its release, WayV earned their first top-three entry on Tencent Music's UNI Chart (previously known as Yo! Bang) and the Gaon Album Chart. The album also peaked at number nine on the Billboard World Albums chart, while "Turn Back Time" ranked at number twelve on the World Digital Song Sales chart. Awaken the World became the group's first release to chart on Japanese music charts, appearing on both Billboard Japan Hot Albums and Oricon Weekly Albums Chart. Subsequently, the group released a Korean version of "Turn Back Time" digitally accompanied with a similar music video. On July 29, an English version of the track "Bad Alive" was released as a digital single. The single ranked at number one on QQ Music's Daily Digital Sales chart and earned Gold certification within hours of its release. It peaked at number six on the platform's weekly chart. WayV participated in NCT's project NCT 2020, which included members of WayV, the other NCT subunits, and two new members. The group released their album in two parts, with NCT 2020 Resonance Pt. 1 released in October and NCT 2020 Resonance Pt. 2 in November, marking WayV's first official promotion as an NCT subunit and Xiaojun, Hendery, and Yangyang's official induction as NCT members. For the album, WayV recorded the song "月之迷 (Nectar)", which debuted at number twelve on the UNI Chart. By the end of the year, WayV received international awards from Mnet Asian Music Awards and Asia Artist Awards and ranked third on the UNI Chart Top 10 Groups of 2020 based on their achievements on the local chart. On March 10, 2021, WayV released their third EP, Kick Back, with the lead single of the same name. It would also be the final NCT album to feature Lucas due to his hiatus and eventual departure in 2023. Member Winwin was absent during the promotion of the album given he were undergoing quarantine in China due to solo schedules. The album became the group's first number one album on the Gaon Album Chart and eventually earned the group their first certification for selling more than 250,000 copies in South Korea. On June 23, WayV released a new song "Everytime" as part of the soundtrack album for Chinese drama Falling Into Your Smile. In June 2021, SM Entertainment formed the group's first sub-unit, WayV-KUN&XIAOJUN. The sub-unit debuted by releasing a pop-ballad single album titled "Back to You". In August 17, the second sub-unit, WayV-TEN&YANGYANG, debuted with the hip-hop single "Low Low". A third sub-unit, WayV – Lucas & Hendery, was scheduled to debut with a digital single titled "Jalapeño" on August 25, although the project was canceled due to controversy surrounding Lucas' private life. WayV members participated in the promotion of NCT's third studio album Universe, released on December 14, 2021. The group recorded the English song "Miracle" for the album. Winwin did not participate in the album. Lucas was suspended from any promotional activities due to his cheating and gaslighting controversy, and Winwin had established a personal studio in China. WayV announced the release of their fourth EP, Phantom, on December 9, 2022. The group later delayed the release to December 28 following the passing of former president of China, Jiang Zemin. Released almost two years from their previous EP, Phantom marks the group's first album release as a sextet. To support the album, WayV embarked on a six month long eponymous global fanmeeting tour, starting with two shows in Seoul on February 11, and spanning across various venues in Asia and Europe, ending in Macau on August 13th. WayV also subsequently held their first solo event in Japan titled "The First Vision" at Pia Arena MM in Kanagawa on May 6–7, 2023. Three days later, on May 10, 2023, SM Entertainment announced that Lucas would be departing from NCT and WayV to pursue his individual endeavors after being put on hiatus for nearly two years. On June 14, 2023, WayV were announced to perform at KCON LA for the first time in their career for a performance on August 18th, 2023. It marked the group's first performance in North America. On July 25, 2023, it was announced on KWANGYA Club that WayV leader KUN would be unable to participate in the festival due to an ankle injury earlier in the year. The group performed their widely famous and popular song “Love Talk - English Version” as well as the English version of their song “Phantom” and the KCON official theme song, Poppia, as an opening. On August 26, 2023, WayV participated in NCT's first full group concert, NCT Nation at Incheon Stadium in South Korea. With performances of Take Off, a rock version of Kick Back, Nectar, and an English version of Kun's Phantom remix, WayV members also performed several songs as members of various NCT U groups, including new tracks such as Kangaroo, PADO, The BAT, Call D, Alley Oop, Baggy Jeans, Interlude: Oasis, among other tracks. This marked WayV's first concert performance as a full group. On November 1st, 2023, WayV released their highly anticipated second full album On My Youth in digital formats, with the albums physical release on November 8th. The album features ten songs, including the title track "On My Youth" and "On My Youth - English Version". The album topped iTunes charts in 17 countries across the globe on the day of its release, ranked first on the daily Hanteo Chart on the day of its release, rose to No. 1 on the digital album sales chart of QQ Music, China's largest music platform, within 5 minutes of its release, ranked No. 1 on the digital album sales charts of Kugou Music and Wang Yiwon Music, became a certified Platinum Album on QQ Music, and ranked first on Japan's Line Music real-time album top 100 chart. The album earned the group its highest first day sales with 170,000 copies, surpassing the groups first week sales for any release while also making the group million sellers. Within its first week, the album sold 337,000 copies, doubling that of previous releases Phantom and Kick Back. On My Youth became a Platinum certified album through KMCA Album certification in January 2024 for its sales achievements, making it the second album by the group to do so. To support the album, WayV began an album showcase tour in Mainland China starting on November 1st throughout the month of November. Each of the six stops sold out almost instantly upon going up for sale. In November, WayV won the Global Male Group of the Year Award at the SuperSonic Festival held in Bangkok, Thailand. On June 3, 2024, WayV released their fifth EP Give Me That and the lead single of the same title along its music video both in Chinese and Korean at the same time. Winwin did not participate in the album due to conflicting schedules. The group earned their first music show win on SBS M's The Show eight days after their EP's released. Wayv made their Japanese debut with the release of their first Japanese EP, The Highest, on August 8, 2024. The group also embarked on their first concert tour, titled 2024 WayV Concert "On the Way", beginning in Nagoya on August 17, 2024. The tour is scheduled to visit various cities across Asia. On October 28, SM Entertainment announced that WayV's third release of 2024, an EP entitled Frequency, would be released on November 25. It will be released along with the lead single of the same name, in both Korean and Mandarin. Winwin again did not participate in the release, due to scheduling conflicts. Frequency sold 297,000 albums on its first day, marking WayV's highest album sales as a group, surpassing their previous highest first day sales with On My Youth a year prior.