KPOP 2nd generation · STARSHIP Entertainment / Cross Phase Inc.
BOYFRIEND / BF
ボーイフレンド / ビーエフ / 보이프렌드
BOYFRIEND were Starship Entertainment's first boy group, with twins Youngmin and Kwangmin in a line-up that stayed six for its whole run.
- 2011DebutMay 26, 2011
- 6Members
- 2thGeneration
- BestfriendFandom
Last updated:
01
In 30 seconds: BOYFRIEND / BF
The bright early singles gave way to Janus and Witch, a busy Japanese schedule followed, and a later restart came under the shortened name.
Start here if you want a second-generation group whose concept hardened noticeably between its first and third years.
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Key facts
- Group name
- BOYFRIEND / BF
- Reading / Hangul
- ボーイフレンド / ビーエフ / 보이프렌드
- Company
- STARSHIP Entertainment / Cross Phase Inc.
- Debut date
- May 26, 2011
- Days active
- 5,637 days (15 years, 5 months)
- Debut song
- Boyfriend
- Generation
- 2nd generation
- Fandom name
- Bestfriend(ベストフレンド)
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Member guide
ドンヒョン동현 · DonghyunView in Japanese
ヒョンソン현성 · HyunseongView in Japanese
ジョンミン정민 · JeongminView in Japanese
ミヌ민우 · MinwooView in JapaneseProfile comparison
| Members | Birth date | Blood type | MBTI | Nationality | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ドンヒョン | 1989-02-12 | 37 | 178cm | A | Not disclosed | South Korea |
| ヒョンソン | 1993-06-09 | 33 | 178cm | B | Not disclosed | South Korea |
| ジョンミン | 1994-01-02 | 32 | 173cm | B | Not disclosed | South Korea |
| ヨンミン | 1995-04-24 | 31 | 180cm | A | Not disclosed | South Korea |
| クァンミン | 1995-04-24 | 31 | 180cm | A | Not disclosed | South Korea |
| ミヌ | 1995-07-31 | 31 | 174cm | A | Not disclosed | South Korea |
Ages are as of 2026-10-31.
Selected releases
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Start here
Follow a few songs from the starting point to the group's current sound.
Janus MVJanus is the turning point, and the drama in it goes well past the early brightness.
Witch MVWitch pushes the concept hardest and is best watched with the dance footage.
Bounce MVBounce is the 2015 single and the tidiest the performance ever got.05
From debut to now
- 2011Arrived as Starship's first boy group, and the twin members Youngmin and Kwangmin were a large part of the way in.
- 2012Janus moved them from a fresh early direction to a dramatic, hard concept, and the signature songs looked very different afterwards.
- 2013Japanese releases stacked up alongside the Korean work, widening the routes for fans.
- 2014Horror motifs and hard dance expression came in, making a signature period unlike the brightness of the early days.
- 2015Boyfriend in Wonderland set out a later signature song pairing fairy-tale motifs with forceful choreography.
- 2017A Korean comeback after a long gap left matured singing and visuals and set out the afterglow of the later period.
- 2019The contract ended and work under the BOYFRIEND name paused, followed by a gap before any restart.
- 2021The six returned under the name BF, leaving official work such as Adonis that links back to the older catalogue.
- 2025The official Japanese route keeps both the BOYFRIEND and the BF context, so old and new work can be followed together.
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Achievements
Key milestones
Verified information
Verified English information is not yet available for this section.
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Official links
Official site
Official social accounts and platforms
Shopping guide
Verified English shopping links are not yet available.
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KPOP DISCOVER's BOYFRIEND / BF note
What anchors BOYFRIEND is the change from a fresh early period to a dramatic later one, and work across both Korea and Japan. The six-piece boy group debuted from Starship Entertainment in 2011 with Boyfriend, and a line-up including the twins Youngmin and Kwangmin was a large part of the way in.
The way in is Janus, Witch and Bounce. Janus gives the dramatic signature song, Witch the hard concept, and Bounce the settled performing of 2015. The change from the fresh early direction to a later signature period with horror motifs and hard dance expression can be followed in order.
Work under the BOYFRIEND name paused when the contract ended in 2019, but from 2021 the six restarted as BF and released work such as Adonis. BOYFRIEND and BF connect as one history here, with the main Korean and Japanese releases and the choreography and special clips gathered together. Janus, then Witch, then Bounce covers the drama, the concept and the performing.
Editors' take Janus / Witch / Bounce — three songs cover the change from a fresh early period to a dramatic later one in a Starship six-piece.
Trivia worth knowing
Name
BOYFRIEND and Bestfriend work as a matched pair, which captures how close the group kept its fans in the early years.
Twins
Youngmin and Kwangmin are twins, and they are the easiest anchor for telling the line-up apart in the early videos and stages.
Shift
From Janus onwards the fresh tone gives way to harder dance and darker visual treatment.
Japanese releases
Japanese activity runs deep, so the originals made for that market deserve their own line in the discography beside the Korean title tracks.
Relaunch
A chapter closed in 2019, then a restart came in 2021 as BF with six members, which is the defining turn in this history.
Catching up
Once the eras are clear from the music videos, official KBS and Mnet stages show just how hard the choreography hits on Janus, Witch and Bounce.
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Japan activity score
KPOP DISCOVER original metric
No. 32/ 241 groups
No. 32 of 241 groups with recorded activity in Japan (top 13%)
- 9Japanese releases
- 15Japan-related tracks
- 0Members from Japan
- 3Official Japanese accounts
The denominator is the 241 groups, out of 564 covered by KPOP DISCOVER, whose raw score reaches at least one point. The score adds 10 points per Japanese-market release, 3 per Japan-related track, 12 per member from Japan, and 8 per official Japanese account. Japanese-market releases carry the most weight because they are the most direct evidence of activity; related tracks add track-level detail; members from Japan stand for Japanese-language communication and continuity; official accounts stand for a permanent point of contact. The weights are an editorial judgement, not a statistical optimisation, and the ranking tracks release volume in Japan closely. Source: releases, tracks, members, and official links recorded by KPOP DISCOVER (updated 2026-10-24).
How this score is calculated →View in JapaneseFrequently asked questions
What defines BOYFRIEND / BF?
The bright early singles gave way to Janus and Witch, a busy Japanese schedule followed, and a later restart came under the shortened name.
Why should a new listener start with BOYFRIEND / BF?
Start here if you want a second-generation group whose concept hardened noticeably between its first and third years.
Which songs should a new listener try first?
Start with Janus, Witch, Bounce, then continue to the official video index.