EXID

2011: Pre-debut

In May 2011, producer Shinsadong Tiger and AB Entertainment scouted several trainees from JYP Entertainment to form a new girl group. Trainee Yuji was the first to join when a JYP girl group failed to debut. Yuji contacted the trainees Hani, Haeryeong, and Junghwa to audition for AB, and all three were subsequently accepted into the agency. The group added a fifth member when Shinsadong Tiger discovered LE, an underground rapper and songwriter who performed under the name Elly. Dami, who was already an AB trainee, was the sixth and last member added to the group. Originally named "WT", an acronym for "Who's That", the group changed their name to EXID a few months before their debut. In December 2011, LE was featured in Huh Gak's single "Whenever You Play That Song", which appeared on Korean music charts. EXID was scheduled to debut in January 2012, but their debut was delayed to February when LE sustained a leg injury during rehearsals. On February 3, AB Entertainment announced that EXID would debut with the single "Whoz That Girl". Video teasers featuring the members doing solo performances were subsequently released online.

2012: Debut, line-up changes, and Hippity Hop

EXID released their first single "Whoz That Girl" from the digital single album Holla, on February 16, 2012. They made their debut performance on M! Countdown, and then performed on Music Core and Inkigayo. Their debut song "Whoz That Girl" peaked at #36 on the Gaon Singles Chart and ultimately sold 840,000 digital copies.

In April 2012, AB Entertainment officially announced members Yuji, Dami, and Haeryeong's departure. said in a statement that Yuji and Dami had left the group to focus on their studies, while Haeryeong had left to pursue an acting career. They were replaced by Solji, a former member of vocal duo 2NB, and Hyelin, who was originally considered for EXID's original lineup before she was dropped. With the new members, EXID returned in August 2012 with their second single "I Feel Good" from their first EP Hippity Hop. Hippity Hop debuted at #13 on the Gaon Albums Chart, selling 1,500 copies. EXID released the digital single "Every Night", in October. The title track is an alternate version of LE's self-written song "Phone Call", which was recorded in their debut EP. "Every Night" debuted at #43 on the Gaon Singles Chart, selling 105,000 digital copies.

On October 11, EXID released the song "Hey Boy" as part of the soundtrack release for MBC's sitcom The Thousandth Man. The song is the female version of B1A4‘s song "Hey Girl". Producer Shinsadong Tiger rearranged the song into a "reggae style" to create a different approach from B1A4's original version. It was revealed on November 30 that EXID, along with Big Star and D-Unit, would release a collaboration album, in addition to doing a special year of end show. The concert, entitled "The Bugs Show Vol. 1", was held on December 22 at the V-Hall in the Hongdae area of Seoul. On December 6, EXID won the rookie award at the 20th Korea Culture & Entertainment Awards.

2013–14: Dasoni sub-unit, "Up & Down", and rise in popularity

In February 2013, EXID released the single "Up & Down", from the Incarnation of Money soundtrack. It was announced shortly afterwards that members Hani and Solji would form a subunit called "Dasoni". The sub-unit released their debut single "Goodbye" on February 15, with the B-side track "Said So Often".

In June 2014, EXID was announced to have signed an exclusive contract with Yedang Entertainment, and were preparing a comeback in collaboration with producer Shinsadong Tiger. On August 24, EXID held their comeback showcase at the Ilchi Art Hall, performing their new song "Up & Down". The song was released on August 27 and initially charted poorly, failing to make it onto the top 100 of the Gaon Chart; though it peaked at #94 on the domestic chart. However, the song slowly gained popularity in early October after a fan-recorded video of member Hani performing the song went viral on Korean social networking websites. The video has been viewed more than 22 million times to date. This led to the song shooting back up record charts, eventually climbing to the top 10 on the real-time charts and topping the Gaon Chart. Because of the success of the fancam, EXID was invited back onto stage to promote despite the fact their promotions ended months before. Due to this success, EXID returned to several music programs to promote "Up and Down". The song was subsequently nominated for a first place award on Show! Music Core, The Music Trend, and M!Countdown, where they took their first music show win since debut on January 8, 2015. The group won a second award at KBS's Music Bank on January 9, and a third one at SBS's Inkigayo on January 11.

2015: Ah Yeah and "Hot Pink"

In February 2015, Solji participated in the pilot episode of MBC's singing competition program King of Mask Singer. She became the first winner of the show, which drew a lot of attention to EXID. On April 13, the music video for the title song "Ah Yeah", from EXID's second mini album, was released. The group won first place with "Ah Yeah" on both April 26 and May 3 episodes of SBS's Inkigayo, as well as the April 29 and May 6 episodes of Show Champion.

In May, the group made their first American performance at the Korean Music Festival in Los Angeles, California. EXID featured in their own season of the MBC Every1 reality show Showtime in July. That month Junghwa also made her acting debut as the female lead in Webtoon Hero Toondra Show, which also aired on MBC Every1.

On November 7, EXID won the MBC Music Star Award at the 2015 MelOn Music Awards. The music video for "Hot Pink" was released on November 17. "Hot Pink" was nominated for a first place award on various music programs. The group received their first win for "Hot Pink" on November 25 on Show Champion, and their second win on December 6 on Inkigayo.

2016-present: First studio album Street, Chinese debut, and KCON Mexico

On June 1, 2016, the group released their first full-length studio album titled Street with the title track "L.I.E". On the 8th of June, EXID won first place with L.I.E on Show Champion and not much later, they won first place twice on Inkigayo and The Show as well.

On December 20, 2016, EXID released their first Chinese single, "Cream" on QQ Music and YinYueTai-which charted #6 on Billboard China. However, a day later, Banana Culture announced that Solji had been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, and that she would halt all her activities for the awards season of 2016-17, while the remaining four members continue on. On January 10, 2017, the group released their second Chinese single "Up & Down" (Chinese: 上下; pinyin: Shàngxià). On the same day of it's release, an editied version MV for "Up & Down (Chinese Ver)" was uploaded to YouTube and the original was removed. Some Chinese fans had found EXID's dancing in the forbidden city to be inappropriate whilst some thought that it was completely normal.

On 15 January, member LE revealed that Solji is on her way to heal and that the song for the new album are all ready. She had revealed that it would be totally different from what they had released before. On 1 February, EXID was revealed to be a part of the lineup for KCON Mexico, and are scheduled to perform at the Mexico City Arena on March 17, 2017. Insiders shared information that the group's comeback may be delayed to April due to Solji's health issues.

Current members

Past members

Discography

Filmography

EXID's original lineup had a cameo performance in episode 8 of the tvN drama Twelve Men in a Year. After the group's lineup changes, they started their own reality show, titled "EXID BUTBUT TV", which features EXID's activities when they are not performing. The episodes are released through the group's official YouTube channel. The first season of BUTBUT TV was in 2012-2013, the second in 2013-2014, the third in 2014, the fourth in 2015, and most recent, the fifth in 2016.

Awards and nominations

Since debuting in 2012, EXID has won four various awards and 17 music program awards. On January 8, 2015, the group won their first number-one win on M! Countdown due to the big success of their digital single "Up & Down", followed by wins on Music Bank, The Music Trend and The Show.