
JYP Entertainment has issued a statement today, Jan. 11, to confirm that members of K-pop boy band GOT7 will be leaving the agency after seven years.
"JYP held in-depth discussions with members of GOT7 ahead of their exclusive contract termination on Jan. 19. As a result, the two sides agreed not to proceed with a contract renewal, hoping for a new future," the agency said in a notice posted on its website, according to Yonhap News.
It said GOT7 has been around for seven years since debuting on Jan. 16, 2014 and has been active as a global idol group representing K-pop.
JYP Entertainment added that although the official relationship with GOT7 is over, “it will sincerely cheer the new future for the GOT7 members.”
The agency issued the statement a day after a news report stated that GOT7 members JB, Mark, Jackson, Jinyoung, Youngjae, BamBam and Yugyeom decided to leave JYP Entertainment and not renew their exclusive contracts.
GOT7’s last official group activity was attending the 35th Golden Disc Awards (GDA) on Jan. 10 wherein they won a “bonsang” (main prize) or Best Album for “Dye.”
Mark took to Twitter to say that “the past 7 years have been the best years of my life. Nothing is coming to an end, just the beginning. The seven of us are going to continue to bring you guys the best version of us till the end. #GOT7FOREVER.”
When GOT7 accepted the Best Album award at the GDA, Mark said, “We wanna thank our Ahgases everywhere for making ‘Dye’ one of the best albums of the year and we want to thank you guys so much for always being there and supporting us. We want to tell you guys 2020 was a tough year but 2021 is a new year and it's gonna be a new start.”
The news report on their leaving the agency added that many of the members will go to different agencies and labels while Mark will fly back to the US to be with his family and is planning to create a personal YouTube channel.