Inner Circles, we hate to break this to you, but maknae Nam Taehyun’s leaving the group.
The decision was announced by YG Entertainment today (Friday, 25th November) in a statement. The label has also assured fans that the idol group won’t disband, but will continue on with 4 members.
It has been confirmed that Taehyun will be leaving because of his health issues, and after discussions, both parties have decided to terminate the contract. YG Entertainment previously revealed that the reason for the postponement of [EXIT] series was due to Taehyun’s issues, and announced his hiatus a month ago.
However, the idol has remained active on his Soundcloud account, and has been uploading original music and covers from other artistes even days before and after YG’s previous announcement. Recently, he also posted a mysterious photo on Instagram, seemingly a complain to his label.
The full statement regarding Taehyun’s departure reads:
“WINNER who was planned for many activities this year had put all their activities on hold unfortunately due to Taehyun’s health issues.
YG and the other members have put Taehyun’s mental health as the priority and decided to wait for his improvement. However, due to the fact that the mental issue was one that has been present ever since his childhood, we cannot predict when he will recover and when he will be able to return to activities.
After long discussion with Taehyun we have decided that it is not possible for him to continue activities as a part of WINNER and as of 18th November the exclusive contract between YG and Nam Tae Hyun has been terminated.
This is due to the fact that Taehyun felt responsible for the fact that the team was put on halt because of him and that WINNER who is 2 years into their debut can no longer wait to promote.
Although Taehyun will no longer be with WINNER we hope that they will continue to support each other in their musical careers.
YG plans to continue promoting WINNER as a 4 member group with no addition of new members. Please show WINNER and Taehyun much support and love as they stand on the start line again.”
We’ll leave you with Taehyun’s solo track “I’m Young” to soothe your broken heart:
We feel you, Inner Circles, we really do. Let’s just hope for the best for WINNER and Taehyun.
Source: Koreaboo.
