NU'EST

NU'EST (Korean: 뉴이스트; short for New Establish Style Tempo) was a South Korean boy band formed and managed by Pledis Entertainment. The group consisted of five members: JR, Aron, Baekho, Minhyun, and Ren. They debuted on March 15, 2012, with the single titled "Face". The group disbanded on March 15, 2022, after Aron, JR, and Ren left Pledis Entertainment upon the completion of their 10-year contract.

History

Pre-debut

Prior to their debut, NU'EST made appearances in their labelmates' music releases. They were backup dancers for After School Blue's "Wonder Boy", and featured in their label's Christmas release "Love Letter". They also released their own music video for "Love Letter" as Pledis Boys. JR appeared in Orange Caramel's "Bangkok City" music video, and was also featured in Uee's solo song "Sok Sok Sok". Baekho appeared in After School's "Play Ur Love" music video, and Minhyun starred in Orange Caramel's "Shanghai Romance" music video.

JR, Minhyun, Aron, and Ren were also featured with After School's Lizzy in a commercial for New Balance. JR and Baekho appeared on the KBS television program Hello Counselor and were revealed by After School's Kahi as two members of the group. This drew attention from viewers and they became a topic of interest online. Pledis Boys, now dubbed "After School Boys", later performed with After School at the SBS Gayo Daejeon. Minhyun and Ren also gained attention modeling for designer Park Yoon-so's F/W 2012–13 Seoul Fashion Week show, titled 'Big Park'.