Jo KwonLeader
조권- Name
- Jo Kwon
Played Jamie New in the musical Everybody's Talking About Jamie in 2020.
Their story
One Day, split in two
2AM began as one half of a JYP plan called One Day. The trainees were divided into 2PM, for dance tracks, and 2AM, for ballads, two names that only make sense as a pair. Jo Kwon, Changmin, Seulong and Jinwoon made their debut with "This Song" on Music Bank in July 2008. Jo Kwon, the leader, had been picked for the group through the reality show Hot Blood.
The ballad that broke through
The turning point came in early 2010. "Can't Let You Go Even If I Die" won Inkigayo that February, and later that year the first studio album Saint o'Clock brought "You Wouldn't Answer My Calls". Variety helped too: Jo Kwon and Ga-in became the "Adam Couple" on We Got Married, and their duet was a hit of its own. In 2012 they started releasing singles in Japan and played Tokyo's Orchard Hall.
Four voices, no choreography
2AM was built for singing. Their hits are slow breakup songs with almost no choreography, and the members joke that 2AM means "ex-boyfriend" songs to most people. One Spring Day in 2013 tried a lighter colour, with pianist Yiruma and Epitone Project on board. On the reunion record Jinwoon wrote his own B-side, "Always Me".
Where they are now
After Let's Talk in 2014 the contracts ran out and the four moved to different agencies, though they never called it a split. Military service stretched the break to seven years. In November 2021 they returned with Ballad 21 F/W, its two title songs written by Bang Si-hyuk and Park Jin-young. Concerts and a national tour followed. In June 2026 the four were back with a new digital single, "Like a Movie".
