Gifted Their Trademark, INFINITE Now Has Artistic Freedom
Woollim Entertainment
Sometimes music predicts the future. In 2014, INFINITE released the single “Nothing’s Over” and this week, after four years of no music, INFINITE dropped links to new social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram, sparking comeback rumors. Nothing, it seems, really is over: the members of INFINITE have all departed their home company and have embarked on solo careers.
But friendship, and the goodwill of a CEO, have kept them together.
“INFINITE official YouTube channel open! Hello, this is INFINITE. Still near, still together, and still with you. INSPIRIT, we’re here. INFINITE, we’re all here,” read the caption on the teaser video released to YouTube. The group announced that they would hold a livestream on June 9 to celebrate their 13th anniversary.
The timing of this video was significant, particularly for INSPIRITs who have followed INFINITE since the beginning. As the fan account INFINITE INFO pointed out, the announcement video dropped on the same date that INFINITE was revealed with a greeting video on May 6, 2010.
INFINITE’s return is possible thanks to a recent deal between the group’s former company Woollim Entertainment and the boy group. The process began in January when Kim Sungkyu, the group’s leader, formed Infinite Company, which will run the group’s activities. On April 21st, Woollim’s CEO Lee Jung-yeop, who formed and trained the group, transferred the trademark rights to INFINITE, the fandom name INSPIRIT and 2017 concert titles. The transfer was a gift for Sungkyu’s birthday and Lee hopes it will “set a warm example in the industry.”
“I support INFINITE’s activities,” Lee told Sports Seoul.
There are no terms or conditions to the trademark transfer, and it was completed free of charge.
The gift is an astonishing development for INFINITE who haven’t held a comeback since 2019. Their last album was “Top Seed” in 2018, and a digital single titled “Clock” followed the next year. The group had already experienced a shift after Hoya left in 2017. But hopes for a comeback dimmed once Myungsoo, who has become a popular actor, left Woollim in 2019. The remaining members followed Myungsoo over the next three years: Sungkyu, Dongwoo and Sungyeol left in March 2021. The last two members to leave Woollim were Sungjong and Woohyun in 2022.
Despite the long wait, the members have insisted INFINITE is still together, even meeting for vlogs and variety show appearances uploaded to a YouTube page managed by Woollim. In 2021, while Myungsoo was completing his mandatory military service, the members met for a special Chuseok episode where they shared their individual activities and promised a comeback would happen.
But this week’s announcement is revelatory because for the first time, INFINITE will have complete artistic control and management of the group’s activities. Following a precedent set by a growing number of groups, including GOT7 and most recently Brave Girls, INFINITE’s next move will be entirely their own decision.
For many years groups leaving their labels to continue their work was unheard of. K-Pop groups are essentially patented IP created by companies with members fulfilling roles and personas devised by executives. But slowly, groups have started to fight back against this. Some groups, like T-ARA, have done so under the radar: Their latest comeback “RE:T-ARA” was largely overlooked by the industry. But others, such as GOT7’s 2022 comeback are blockbusters; reminders that groups can thrive when they are given license to create free of company input.
It only took two years for INFINITE to create a sound that heralded a new generation of K-Pop. In 2012 the group released “The Chaser”, a ridiculously catchy single that still holds up to this day. The opening is one of the craziest, most high voltage moments in K-Pop history and one that never fails to knock me out every time I hear it.
“The Chaser” elevated Woollim, a mid-tier company, high enough to challenge ‘the big three’ companies. INFINITE won seven variety shows in 2012, and were nominated for two Mnet Music Awards. A year later, Woolim was acquired by SM Entertainment, but their fame continued to climb.
Listening to their music today is like injecting a shot of nostalgia straight into your veins. Their best music was produced by Sweetune, a South Korean production team whose music defined mid-tier K-Pop groups like INFINITE, KARA and NINE MUSES. At times, both campy and high voltage, Sweetune’s production elevated INFINITE’s portrayal of themselves as both good boyfriends and good sons. Their music could be chaste, corny even, but it was never boring. It’s hard to imagine what K-Pop would sound like without the group’s album “Over the TOP”, which broke them into the mainstream and produced the smash “Be Mine”.
Impressively, INFINITE remains one of the few 2nd generation K-Pop boy groups to have no scandals. The members have remained well-behaved, professional and throughout it all, remained friends.
Today, INFINITE joins a growing number of second generation groups taking back their narrative and revisiting a legacy that, for the first time, feels open-ended. In August 2022, Girls Generation returned with “FOREVER 1”, a euphoric pop song that was a tribute to glass ceilings they smashed as teenage girls – and the sisterhood that’s endured fifteen years. KARA followed in November with “MOVE”, and this time two generations of KARA members came together for the reunion.
What can we expect on June 9th? A fan asked Sungkyu just that on Instagram Live this week. “Is anything going to happen?” the INSPIRIT wondered in the broadcast’s comments.
For a moment Sungkyu’s eyes lit up at the secret he was holding. Then he let out a long, exaggerated laugh.
