Spotlight: From East to World! Hello, we are DKZ!

Welcome to my very first spotlight post!

I was trying to figure out who I wanted to introduce my readers to first when I saw the announcement that in a little over a month DKZ is going to disband. Though I’m really sad to see this news as I’ve always wanted them to get the funding and the attention they deserve. While we may not get any new music from them, I’d like to write up a brief introduction of the group and share some of my favorite songs by them. 

DKZ originally known as Dongkiz officially debuted in April of 2019.  Their name meaning Kids from the East, and their fan group took on the name Dong-Ari. 

The Members at Debut:

Jonghyeong (Now going by Juone) - Vocalist, Dancer (Original Maknae)                                                                                                        Jaechan - Vocalist, Producer, Visual, Rapper                                                                                                                                                    Wondae - Leader, Lead Vocalist, Main Rapper                                                                                                                                                    Kyoungyoon - Main Vocalist                                                                                                                                                                                    Munik - Vocalist, Main Dancer 

In 2022 Dongkiz went through a lot of changes. In March Wondae announced he was leaving due to health issues and that they were being renamed.  Shortly after that same month three new members officially joined the rebranded group DKZ.   This was a big second chance for the group that had been struggling, aside from the rebrand one of the members had a hit drama. Jaechan was in a web drama called Semantic Error, this drama was a BL (boys love) and it’s success took Korea by surprise as they got nominated for awards and even won best couples for the APAN Star Awards. While this definitely brought attention to their music from a whole new group of fans, there was also a lot of negative attention too. 

The members at Rebrand  (Names link to their instagrams if I found them)                                                           
Jonghyeong (Juone) - Leader, Vocalist, Main Dancer                                                                                
Jaechan - Vocalist, Producer, Visual, Rapper
Sehyeon - Rapper, Vocalist, Dancer
Mingyu - Main Vocalist, Dancer
Giseok - Vocalist, Dancer, Maknae
Kyoungyoon - Main Vocalist (till he left in 2023)
Munik - Vocalist, Main Dancer (He was on hiatus during these changes and also left in 2023)

Now that you’ve met all the members let me share probably the first song I ever heard of theirs back in 2020.  I was 100% being annoying roaming my home during lockdown singing  “Let me be your honey” and my pet bunbun was not amused.

Another pre-rebrand song that was on repeat during covid era.

Post rebrand group minus Munik who was on hiatus. 

Their song with the most views and a very different vibe from Cupid ( I personally like Cupid more)

Then 2023 happened Munik officially left the group after being on hiatus more than a year. Later Kyoungyoon left the group due to health/personal reasons. We got only a couple songs from the group, a sub-unit with three songs and a Jaechan mini album.  In 2024 we got a new mini album with the new 5 member line up. 

Then in 2025 we got another mini album

This brings us to now, seven years after their initial debut. It’s sad to see another group fall to the seven year curse. I hope that the members all do very well in their solo activities. I will keep listening to their old music and keep my eyes open for solo releases.  They have a lot of covers on their YouTube channel and I hope they continue to release those as well.

If you’re new to the group I hope you enjoyed learning about them and experiencing a little bit of their music. Please look them up and listen to more of their music including sub units, OSTs, and solos. For those of you whom have been fan for a while, I hope you enjoyed this walk through memory lane and celebration of their time and music they have given us. 

- Rei