I.O.I (Hangul: 아이오아이; also known as Ideal of Idol) was a South Korean girl … Read Full Bio ↴I.O.I (Hangul: 아이오아이; also known as Ideal of Idol) was a South Korean girl group formed by CJ E&M through the 2016 reality show Produce 101 on Mnet. The group is composed of eleven members chosen from a pool of 101 trainees from various entertainment companies.

The final lineup consists of: JYP Entertainment's Somi (소미), Jellyfish Entertainment's Sejeong (세정), Fantagio Music's Yoojung (유정), MNH Entertainment's Chungha (청하), Redline Entertainment's Sohye (소혜), Pledis Entertainment's Jieqiong (洁琼), MBK Entertainment's Chaeyeon (채연), Fantagio Music's Doyeon (도연), Jellyfish Entertainment's Mina (미나), Pledis Entertainment's Nayoung (나영) and Starship Entertainment's Yeonjung (연정).

Prior to Produce 101, some of the members of I.O.I gained recognition after appearing on other television shows: Sejeong was a contestant on competition show K-pop Star 2 in 2012, Somi was a member of 2015 reality survival show Sixteen and Yoojung appeared on web drama "To Be Continued". In September 2015, Chaeyeon debuted as a member of DIA but temporarily withdrew the group to join Produce 101. She also had a cameo appearance on 2015 web drama "Sweet Temptation".

They debuted on May 4, 2016 with a mini-album Chrysalis, accompanied by the title track "Dream Girls". Members Nayoung and Yoojung wrote rap lyrics for the track. Soon afterwards it was revealed that I.O.I would be disbanding in January of 2017.

At the start of their contract, I.O.I was in talks to have a special sub-unit song release. On June 10, 2016, YMC Entertainment revealed Nayoung, Chungha, Jieqiong, Sohye, Yoojung, Doyeon and Somi as members of I.O.I's unit group, slated to promote the group's second album during the summer of 2016. Members Mina and Sejeong were slated to be part of the unit group but declined in favor of debuting in their company's girl group gugudan. On August 9, 2016, the single Whatta Man was released. The album peaked at 2 on the Gaon Album Chart. On August 15, 2016, I.O.I released the digital single "Hand in Hand", a remake of the Seoul 1988 Summer Olympics theme song.

On September 22, it was confirmed that I.O.I was recording their final album. The title track was revealed to be produced by Jin-young Park, the founder of Somi's agency, JYP Entertainment. On October 16, they released their final mini-album miss me? along with the music video for title track "Very Very Very". "Very Very Very" performed fantastically on the charts, winning I.O.I three music awards on Inkigayo, Show Champion, and M! Countdown. As per their contract, this album was promoted until January.

On January 17, YMC Entertainment announced that the group's final track before official disbandment would be "Downpour", written and co-produced by Seventeen's Woozi, labelmate of members Nayoung and Jieqiong. The ballad was personally chosen and recorded by all 11 members of the group. Later that month, I.O.I performed at their final concert Time Slip – I.O.I from January 20 to 22, 2017 at the same stage where they made their debut. On January 29, the group quietly disbanded following their last television show appearance and the closure of their fan cafe.

It was announced on January 31 that I.O.I's song "Downpour" won Inkigayo's final January 2017 trophy with no live broadcast due to Lunar New Year's Day.

After disbandment, the members of I.O.I went on to pursue other activities. Chungha released her first mini album Hands on Me on June 7, 2017. Nayoung and Jieqiong went on to debut in PRISTIN. PRISTIN officially disbanded on 24th May 2019. Nayoung terminated her contract with Pledis Entertainment while Jieqiong stayed on with the company. In 2019, Nayoung signed with Sublime Artist Agency. While previously debuting on June 2016 in gugudan, Mina and Sejeong later had a comeback with their group on February 27, 2017 with their second mini-album Act.2 Narcissus. gugudan disbanded on December 30th 2020. Yoojung and Doyeon debuted in Weki Meki on August 8, 2017. Yeonjung joined WJSN as its 13th member. Chaeyeon similarily joined DIA, and Sohye terminated her contract with her entertainment company in order to pursue acting. In August 2018, it was announced that Somi had terminated her contract with JYP Entertainment and had signed with a sub-company of YG Entertainment, called The Black Label. She debuted as a soloist on June 13, 2019, with the digital single Birthday.