Revolt 반란
From left to right : Gelato, Hanjun, Oliver, Wooshik, Han
Background information
Origin	Seoul, South Korea
Genres	Kpop, hiphop, trap, EDM, R&B
Years active	2017–present
Labels	Noir Entertainment
Fandom	Rebels
Associated Acts	None
OG Members	Gelato Oliver Han
Riot Members	Hanjun Wooshik
Past members	None

This article contains Korean text.Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Hangul and hanja.

Revolt (Korean: 반란) is a South Korean K-pop boy group formed and officially debuted in 2017 under Noir Entertainment. There are currently 12 members of the group split into 2 units; 8 members in the main unit, which has been given the unofficial name of "Revolt OG" by fans, and 4 members in the sub-unit named RIOT (Korean: 폭동) who debuted as new members of the group in 2021. The current Revolt OG unit members are Cho Hyunsoo (Gelato), Lin Bingwen (Oliver), and Han Yongja (Han). The current RIOT unit members are Kim Hanjun and Baek Wooshik.

The original group officially debuted on September 23rd, 2017 with the Korean single, "One Shot". The sub-unit RIOT debuted 4 years later on August 15th, 2021 with the Korean single, "Breaking Dawn" as part of a whole group with the other original 8 Revolt members. RIOT released their first single as a sub-unit, "Obsession" on May 28th, 2022.

Revolt has won numerous awards including Rookie of the Year (Mnet Asian Music Awards 2017), Song of the Year for "Boss" (Mnet Asian Music Awards 2019), Album of the Year for WARNING (Mnet Asian Music Awards 2021), and Artist of the Year (Mnet Asian Music Awards 2021).

History

Pre-debut (2015–2017)

Most if not all members of the original lineup were trainees under Noir Entertainment prior to debut. Many members had trained and practiced together in their formative years, leading some to grow a close bond as friends as well as an in-synced performance ethic.

In 2015, the members were introduced as an experimental trainee group named Banlan Boys (반란소년) often shortened to BB and roughly translates to "Rebellion Boys". Later on January 1st, 2016 they released a pre-debut Korean single "Trespass" on YouTube and for streaming platforms. Despite the lack of promotions for the song, their online presence with cover videos, dance practices, and interaction with fans garnered some intrigue as the video for "Trespass" reached 5.4 million views.

Once again they released another pre-debut single "Bling Bling" on September 25th, 2016 while still under the working moniker Banlan Boys. This helped to further push the group into public attention and slowly gain fans who pressured Noir Entertainment to finally settle on a debut date.

Debut, ARG, and First EP (2017–2019)

Revolt officially debuted with the Korean single "One Shot" on July 25th, 2017 and changed the group name from the former moniker Banlan Boys to the current Revolt in conjunction with their new narrative-inspired concept. Noir Entertainment explained the concept in promotional online posts that introduced the new group, stating, "In a dystopian world ruled by hateful villains, the Rebellion rises up with their firsts held high as they ready to Revolt".

The music video for "One Shot" was released that same day and reached 40.2 million views on YouTube within its first week. It charted at #12 in KOR Gaon chart with positive reviews from East Asian critics. The music video received critical praise for its edgy story-driven plot yet equally received backlash from more conservative critics and parents who deemed the video, and subsequently the group themselves, were too violent.

Unorthodox marketing tactics only added fuel to the fire of those with growing concerns surrounding the group's graphic content. While Revolt continued usual promotions with stage performances and appearances on variety shows, Noir Entertainment planned a secret ARG (alternate reality game) that would later coincide with their future releases. The game, titled The Revolution, followed a similar plot to the group's new concept and focused on the 7 members as main characters supposedly living in a dystopian world, trapped and wanting to escape an evil militant theocracy, their only option of freedom being to radicalize their fellow Rebels (which was also announced to be the group's fanbase name) who could begin a revolution to overturn the neo-conservative government by any means necessary.

During "One Shot" promotions, members of Revolt as well as Noir Entertainment staff were witnessed purposefully leaving behind golden bullet castings at various stage performances and events that were intended for fans to find. When some fans took the bullets and analyzed them, they found small engravings. Online forums formed to discuss the strange activity Revolt was participating in and soon they came to the conclusion that each bullet found has one single word engraved on them. When arranged together properly, the engraved bullets created a mysterious message; "Find the key". Many were perplexed by the message yet continued to investigate Revolt's behavior as well as online posts and videos. Eventually fans noticed members wearing key-shaped USB flash drives as necklaces in livestreams and when questioned about them, Revolt members would simply asl fans to "give the passcode" before revealing any answers. Once again fans recognized strange semi-transparent dots in corners of Revolt social media posts or videos found from the official Noir Entertainment YouTube channel. Once realizing the dots were Morse code, it translated to a link that would lead fans to "The Revolution" website where there were more cryptic messages, an in-character Manifesto written by the Revolt members, and hidden at the bottom was a brief snippet audio file of Revolt's then unreleased single "We Are Bulletproof".

Revolt official logo.

They were solidified as one of the most rapidly popular hiphop-focused groups once releasing their first EP Bulletproof on February 5th, 2018. After creating buzz and intrigue with their ARG scavenger hunt the previous year, Revolt finally released the music video for main single, "We Are Bulletproof" just a few days before their first EP album, Bulletproof. The EP sold over 30,000 copies within its first week, ranking #11 on the KOR Gaon chart. Their single stayed on the Top 100 charts for several weeks as fans across South Korea and interanationally alike continued to support Revolt.

In lieu of their great success, they began international promotions and went on a small showcase tour from August 2018 until January 2019. The tour was titled The Uprising Tour and had one-night-only shows in Seoul, Tokyo, Hong Kong, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, and Rio. Show dates were dispersed across the span of five months so that there would be time in between for more promotion schedules, breaks, and recording in the studio. During this time, the members wrote more of their own original raps and songs as they were desperate with the hunger for self expression.

On November 20th, 2018 they made a surprise release of Bulletproof Vol.2, a repackaged EP of Bulletproof which featured two new singles from Revolt; "Zero For Conduct (품행제로)" and "Get Down". The singles helped ramp up excitement for both the long awaited showcase finale in Rio as well as getting fans to anticipate what the future held for Revolt in the coming new year. During the finale show, Revolt teased fans with the promise of a full album to come soon.

First Album, Hiatus (2019–2020)

Their first studio album The Revolution was released on May 20th, 2019 and sold over 50,000 copies within its first week, ranking #6 on the KOR Gaon chart. The album proudly revealed more of the members’ individual talents in some solo self-written songs and featured several singles as well as a few tracks in Mandarin. The three main singles off the album were "Boss", "Lotto", and "Shoot Out". However, these three tracks were not the only ones to receive music videos as virtually almost every solo track also produced it’s own music video within the months after the album’s release.

It was said by Revolt members in interviews and Noir Entertainment public relations staff that they sacrificed much of their personal time, wages, and lifestyle so that they could invest enough money into producing a well-done comeback. The cost for the various music video productions during this comeback combined tallied up to over 600,000 US dollars. Revolt revealed to have been dorming together in one single studio apartment and worked part–time jobs during recording or break times to invest in the album’s overall production budget themselves.

Many songs from the album were on and off the Billboard Hot 100 charts even long after the initial release date. Revolt won several stages for both their singles and some solo performances. After months of promotions, album sales and streams surpassed those of their debut releases nearly three times over.

The Emancipation was released on January 11th 2020 as their second EP which attempted to introduced Revolt to a Western market. The EP’s title alluded to the group’s sense of musical and cultural freedom to produce music in various languages intended for all to enjoy. As well as releasing the main single "Regular" in Korean, English, and Chinese, the group included two language versions of their B-side track "Levanter" and the English version of their previous single "Shoot Out".

The EP was well received in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom with most EP and streams sales coming from the United States. Plans for an official international tour had been in development for some months since the success of their album. Tour dates were announced and tickets in all locations were sold out within an hour.

However, with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, plans for their tour were cancelled. There were many refunds of pre-purchased tickets and fans were left disappointed. To make up for the lost funds and appease fans, the group released another single, "Victory Song". Revolt did some minor promotion by performing on various stages and music shows, but mainly quarantined in their dorm to avoid putting the members at health risk. An official hiatus was announced in June 2020, Noir Entertainment explaining all group activities would be halted until further notice for the sake of Revolt's safety.

Second Album, RIOT Sub-unit debut (2021–Present)

As the pandemic slowly lessened in severity and vaccines began to roll out, Noir Entertainment finally announced Revolt's return from hiatus would be coming soon. Fans were further shocked by the news that Revolt would be debuting a sub-unit group in that same year, named RIOT, consisting of 5 brand new members. The members of RIOT were revealed on social media posts and given introductory YouTube videos just a month prior to the announcement of Revolt's second album.

Their second studio album WARNING was released on April 30th, 2021 and sold over 80,000 copies within its first week, ranking #3 on the KOR Gaon chart. Both the original main lineup of Revolt as well as the new members of sub-unit RIOT united as a supergroup for this album. RIOT's official debut came with the release of main single, "Breaking Dawn" which featured all 12 members together.

RIOT released their first single as a sub-unit, "Obsession" on May 28th, 2022. The music video reached 155 million views on YouTube and ranked #4 on the KOR Gaon chart for several weeks.

Subunits

Plans for the sub-unit RIOT composing of 4 brand new members were hinted at in late December 2020 and officially announced in early February 2021. On April 30th, 2021 the sub-unit debuted alongside the main unit of Revolt for their second album WARNING while being equally featured on the main single, "Breaking Dawn". They released their first single, "Obsession" on May 28th, 2022.

 Revolt OG Members

한용자

린빙웬

 Riot Members

 Discography