WJSN’s Luda and Dawon leave Starship Entertainment following contract expirations

Starship Entertainment has bid goodbye to WJSN members Luda, Dawon, Xuanyi, Chengxiao and Meiqi following the expiration of their contracts.

• READ MORE: FIFTY FIFTY on joining K-pop’s new wave of powerhouse girl groups: “We wanted to show ourselves and stand out”

On March 3, Starship released a statement announcing the departure of WJSN members Luda and Dawon, as well as inactive Chinese members Xuanyi, Chengxiao and Meiqi from the agency.

“Starship Entertainment recently renewed contracts with the eight members Exy, Seola, Bona, Soobin, Eunseo, Yeoreum, Dayoung and Yeonjung of our agency artist WJSN,” said the agency, per Soompi.

“We carried out sincere and in-depth discussions with members Luda and Dawon for a long time, but unfortunately our exclusive contracts [with Luda and Dawon] will come to an end. We express deep gratitude for the great efforts and dedication shown by Luda and Dawon until now,” Starship added.

The agency revealed that members Xuanyi, Chengxiao, and Meiqi, who joined WJSN through Starship’s partnership with Chinese entertainment agency Yuehua Entertainment, would also be leaving the group. The trio have not promoted with WJSN since 2018.

However, it is unclear at this time if Luda and Dawon have also exited WJSN following their departure from Starship Entertainment.

The girl group’s latest release was their July 2022 single album ‘Last Sequence’, which followed their Queendom 2 win weeks prior. All ten Korean members had participated in the release.

WJSN first debuted in 2016 as a 12-member act with their first mini-album ‘Would You Like?’. Vocalist and youngest member Yeonjung, who was part of project girl group I.O.I at the time, was added to WJSN later that year, and they went on to release three mini-albums and one studio album as a 13-member group.

In 2018, members Xuanyi and Meiqi participated in the Chinese version of reality competition series Produce 101, ultimately joining its project girl group Rocket Girls 101 for two years.

Chengxiao also began filming the Chinese drama Legend of Awakening around the same time, leading to the three members’ hiatus from WJSN. They have since been pursuing their individual music and acting careers in China.

The post WJSN’s Luda and Dawon leave Starship Entertainment following contract expirations appeared first on NME.