Most of the fans here know about The Boyz, an 11-member group (formerly 12 but Hwall left the group) that gave us summer hits like Giddy Up and Thrill Ride, as well as the other songs such as Stealer, Bloom Bloom, and No Air. In 2018, they were one of the best rookie groups along with (G)-IDLE and they were a staple in awarding ceremonies and yearend music and song festivals. Then they joined Road to Kingdom and that's where they reached stardom. This is also when they started climbing the music charts each time they had a comeback, with Stealer winning them four music show trophies during their promotions.

As part of their prizes from Road to Kingdom, they were given a slot for Kingdom, where they competed against other established boy groups such as BTOB, iKON, SF9, Stray Kids, and ATEEZ. In the end, they placed second to the eventual winner Stray Kids. Even though they were not able to replicate the success of Road to Kingdom, they still gave their fans and viewers high quality performances, based on art and music and their interpretations.

This revived attention brought them to newer heights, with The Boyz eventually winning more music show trophies. For their recent comeback Thrill Ride, they won all the music show trophies in a single week, save for Inkigayo. They even won in Music Bank and Music Core, free TV station shows that have strict rules in winning music shows and place high regards for digital streaming.

Back then, their company Cre.ker Entertainment would have never imagined that an idol group like The Boyz would bring their name to recognition, simply because they were unknown back then.

Tracing the Roots

Cre.ker Entertainment comes from Creative Kernel, the full name of the company. Established in May 2016, it is a record label and entertainment agency under the bigger Kakao Entertainment. Its office on the Star Hills is known for sharing the building with other well-known Korean entertainment agencies, such as Starship Entertainment, Play M Entertainment, and Kingkong by Starship.

These agencies have something in common: they are all under Kakao Entertainment, which holds 80% of the company shares. For starters, Kakao Entertainment was formerly known as LOEN Entertainment, which manages IU up to this day. Cre.ker was an in-house label in 2013 and it was eventually added as a subsidiary to Kakao Entertainment in 2016.

Cre.ker is no stranger to handling idol groups before as they managed the girl group Melody Day back then. Melody Day did not hit the bank, and it eventually disbanded in 2018. It is a fun fact that several The Boyz members were included in some of Melody Day's music videos as actors, including Sangyeon.

Cre.ker came under the spotlight in 2017, when they sent Ju Haknyeon to Produce 101 Season 2. Nicknamed Jeju Prince by the viewers, he reached the finals night but he only came 19th out of 20 participants, due to the evil editing done to him by the producers of the show.

Then, Cre.ker announced that they will be debuting a boy group after Ju Haknyeon's participation in Produce 101 Season 2, but it was without him in the lineup. The moment they dropped the announcement, their Twitter following slumped down to four digits, showing their disappointment. Some netizens have even said that Cre.ker became known because of Ju Haknyeon so it would be a disservice to him by not including him in the group.

Finally, Cre.ker relented and they included Ju Haknyeon into the line up, known back then as Cre.kerz, then eventually debuted as The Boyz in December of 2017.

The Boyz already created a huge buzz, due to the fact that there was no visual hole in the group, and they were also marketed as an "all-center" group. Some of the members are Younghoon, who was seen in IOI's Whatta Man MV, and Sangyeon who appeared in Ailee's If You MV with IOI's Nayeon.

Since then, it was a rollercoaster ride for The Boyz, and fortunately, the Korean public loves them until now. They are one of the fourth generation boy groups that are popular in Korea and overseas, scoring countless advertisement calls, castings in several variety shows, and generating more buzz than ever. When Cre.ker announced The Boyz's debut, they were flooded with over 20 love calls, asking them to endorse different products and services.

Cre.ker did not expect this level of success to hit them, and they were and still extremely grateful to The Boyz and their fans' love and support.

The Boyz won several Rookie of the Year awards in 2018, including the most prestigious MelOn Music Awards, which places a high focus on digital streams. They were always invited to perform in yearend music festivals in 2018 until now, with their last yearend music show appearance in 2020 KBS Gayo Daechukjae.

Even though they were also riddled with controversies, Cre.ker was able to protect the members and they always put their health first among anything else. This has made Cre.ker beloved to most fans.

Hwall left the group in 2019 to focus on his health, and he is now promoting as a solo artist and an actor, with his most famous BL drama Color Rush being loved by the viewers. The Boyz continued to promote as 11.

Cre.ker Now

Cre.ker continues to manage The Boyz, and they are always keen to put The Boyz in every available spotlight. With Younghoon now launching his acting career, Hyunjae has also followed suit, while Juyeon, Sunwoo, Haknyeon, Q, and New were mainstays in several variety shows. Juyeon is now the host of SBS MTV's The Show, and has presented The Boyz their music show wins several times.

This proves how Cre.ker managed to succeed from obscurity to popularity.

Image courtesy of @sangyeontbz on Twitter.

As of now, they do not have any plans to launch another group soon, but as seen in Produce X 101, they are continuously training male and female trainees, with Kwon Heejun being sent as their sole representative in Produce X 101.