DIA (/ˈdaɪə/; Korean: 다이아; shortened from DIAMOND and backronym for Do It Amazing) is a South Korean girl group formed by MBK Entertainment in 2015. They made their debut as a seven-member group in September 2015 with their full album Do It Amazing and its title track "Somehow". The group currently consists of nine members: Eunice, Jueun, Huihyeon, Jenny, Yebin, Eunjin, Chaeyeon, Eunchae and Somyi. In June 2016, the group released their first extended play Happy Ending (2016) with the title track "On the Road", which entered the Gaon chart at number forty-eight, their highest position on the chart to date.
2015: Formation and debut
In February 2015, MBK Entertainment announced its plans to debut a new girl group. Originally, the company had decided to have possible candidates for their new group compete on a reality survival program, through which the public could become familiar with the group members. MBK Entertainment revealed the first potential members to be Huihyeon, Eunjin and Kim Minhyun. Minhyun later left the project due to personal reasons, and Moon Seulgi and Chaeyeon were added to replace her. On February 10, Kim Dani was confirmed to be joining the project and announced the program's name "T-ara's Little Sister Girl Group". An additional member, Seunghee was also confirmed to have joined the lineup. Seunghee originally made her debut as member of F-ve Dolls in 2013, however she left two years later when the group disbanded. In June, MBK announced that they had cancelled their plans for a survival program, and decided to select the members internally. The final three members, Yebin, Eunice and Jenny were revealed and the group was set to debut in August under the name "DIA". MBK announced a line-up with six members: Eunice, Huihyeon (originally under the stage name Cathy), Jenny, Yebin, Eunjin and Chaeyeon. Seunghee was added to the line-up before debut.
On September 14, 2015, DIA released their self-titled debut album, Do It Amazing. On the same day, the music video for their lead single, "Somehow", was released. Their first official public appearance was also on September 14 when the group performed a showcase at the Ilchi Art Hall in Seoul. They made their official debut stage on the music program M! Countdown on September 17, 2015. On October 19, DIA released the music video for "My Friend's Boyfriend", another song from their debut album, and they continued their promotions for this new song on music stages. On December 17, Cathy and Chaeyeon were announced to have temporarily withdrawn from DIA to join Mnet's Girl Group Project Produce 101. It was revealed that both Cathy and Chaeyeon auditioned and signed contracts with the show before DIA's official debut. DIA was said to continue to promote as a five-member group for the time being. After being eliminated in episode 11, Cathy resumed her activities with the group. Chaeyeon placed 7th in the final episode which granted her entrance to I.O.I, and she continued her hiatus for ten months to carry out her activities with I.O.I when the project group debuted in May.
2016: Happy Ending, Spell and sub-units
On March 7, MBK Entertainment announced the addition of a new member, Eunchae (introduced with her real name Chaewon) and confirmed they were currently preparing for a comeback. On April 13, MBK Entertainment announced that Seunghee's contract with the company would come to an end on April 30, and she decided not to renew. On April 19, I.O.I's agency stated each girl's contracts allowed for the possibility of activities under their respective companies while under the group, however indicating that "I.O.I will be promoting as a whole or in units for the upcoming 10 months".
DIA on stage, on June 25, 2016.
On May 11, MBK Entertainment later confirmed that Chaeyeon and Cathy will return to the group for upcoming comeback. It was confirmed that Cathy will be using her real name Ki Hui-hyeon and Chaewon will use the stage name Eunchae for future promotions. On May 28, DIA performed at the Youth Dance Festival with Eunchae for first time. DIA's first mini album Happy Ending was released on June 14. The group also released the music video for lead single "On The Road" on the same day, and had their comeback stage on M Countdown on June 16. On August 11, MBK Entertainment released a teaser for their Harry Potter-themed comeback. The group held a showcase for their second mini album Spell at Blue Square Samsung Card Hall on September 12. The title track Mr. Potter and mini album were available for digital purchase on September 13, and physical purchase on September 21.
On December 8, DIA announced that they would hold their first concert, First Miracle on December 24 and 25. On December 27, 2016, MBK Entertainment announced that DIA would release a special digital single album First Miracle DIAID Ⅰ, Ⅱ. The group was separated into two "A" and "B" sub-units. The A sub-unit "BinChaenHyunSeu" consisted of members Yebin, Chaeyeon, Huihyeon, and Eunice, and released the song "You Are the Moon and Earth" on December 29. The B sub-unit "L.U.B." (shortened from "Lovely Unit B"), consisted of members Jenny, Eunjin and Eunchae and released the song "13/32" on December 31. Both sub-units promoted on music shows in January 2017.
2017: YOLO, Love Generation, The Unit
On March 18, DIA was spotted filming their reality show YOLO TRIP in Japan. On March 31, it was confirmed that the reality show would begin airing on April 9 on the TV network Onstyle. On April 5, Jueun and Somyi were announced as members of the group. On April 6, their pre-release single " You Are My Flower" was released, which featured trot singers Kim Yeon Ja and Hong Jin-young. On April 19, DIA's second studio album YOLO was released. The album's contained fourteen tracks, with the lead single titled "Will You Go Out With Me?". The album also include several tracks composed by the members themselves and featuring various artists rapper DinDin, trot singers Kim Yeon-ja and Hong Jin-young, and former I.O.I member Kim Chung-ha. DIA's third mini album Love Generation was released on August 22, 2017.[22]The album contains twelve tracks, with the lead single titled "Can't Stop".
On September 4, 207, MBK Entertainment announced that Yebin and Somyi would be participating in The Unit: Idol Rebooting Project. The group promoted with seven members, with Yebin and Somyi on hiatus. On October 12, a repackaged edition of Love Generation, titled Present, was released. It contained the lead single from Love Generation, along with four new songs, including the single "Good Night" and the duet "Seoraksan in October" by Yebin and Somyi, which was previously released on September 28. Despite the album featuring the participation of Yebin and Somyi, the two remained absent for its promotions due to The Unit. On February 10, 2018, the finale for The Unit was held live at COEX Stadium, with Yebin and Somyi ranking second and twelfth, respectively. Yebin will promote as a member of the show's winning girl group, UNI.T, for 7 months.
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