For one reason or another, a K-pop group might have a comeback that doesn't make it to fruition despite much preparation. Here are seven comebacks that fans looked forward to that got cancelled.
1. HyunA
In 2018, HyunA was slated to make a solo comeback under CUBE Entertainment after "Lip & Hip". The track was even teased to her Instagram back in July 2018. However, once news of her and fellow Triple H member Dawn being in a relationship surfaced, the company said they lost track in her and terminated her and Dawn's contracts. Because of this, the album was scrapped.
2. INFINITE
In March 2015, Woollim Entertainment released teasers for a comeback titled "7 in 1", that was slated for a May release. However, the comeback was delayed until July and instead of coming back with "7 in 1", INFINITE came back with "Bad", a song with a totally different concept and sound. "7 in 1" was never released, and fans speculate the company decided to go a different direction for the boy group.
3. I.O.I
Back in July 2019, Studio Blu had confirmed that I.O.I would reunite and make a comeback in October of that year. Fans were pumped to see the group back together, as it had been two years since the group last promoted together. However, just a few weeks later, Mnet was exposed for rigging the votes of the "Produce" series. That along with members dropping out of the reunion due to schedules caused comeback plans to fall apart.
4. T-ARA
As the members of T-ARA's contracts close to expiring in May 2015, their agency allegedly tried to scheduled one more comeback as six members. Due to contract conflicts with Soyeon and Bora with MBK Entertainment, the comeback kept getting delayed. In the end, Soyeon and Boram left the company before the album's release, thus eliminating the possibility of a six-member comeback. Their later release, "What's My Name", is speculated to be a song made for six-members, but had to be re-recorded to suit four members.
5. SHINee
SHINee was rumored to have a comeback slated for 2017, a year after the release of "Tell Me What To Do". However, Onew was caught up in a sexual assault scandal, with the idol being accused of inappropriately touching a woman in a club. It was cleared as a misunderstanding, but the damage caused to the group's reputation and the comeback never came to fruition.
6. iKON
Back in 2019, iKON was allegedly preparing for their second comeback of the year as seven members. However, leader Kim Hanbin, also known as B.I, was soon embroiled in a drug scandal, leading to the idol's withdrawal from YG Entertainment and from iKON. This had ruined the group's plans for a comeback, as well as a planned duo album between Bobby and him. iKON ended up having their comeback in 2020 with "DIVE". Fans noticed that B.I had composed, written, and produced most of the songs, but was not given proper credits.
7. CL
CL was slated to make an American comeback in 2016 following "Lifted" and had even shot a music video. The song was called "All In". However, the project was scrapped for unknown reasons. Later on, CL would leak 90 seconds of the music video to her Instagram, which apparently got the idol in trouble from her company.
