KARD are officially calling it. On July 6, DSP Media announced that the 4-member group will disband after 9 years, with one final chapter still to come. Their first full-length studio album, Where To Now? (Part.2): NOWHERE, arrives July 28, followed by a farewell world tour that launches August 8 in Seoul before heading across Asia and Europe.
The agency said the decision was mutual, reached after discussions with all 4 members, and that “this album and tour will mark the conclusion of KARD’s journey as a group.” The timing still stung. The announcement landed while the group was in the middle of active touring, catching their fandom, known as HIDDEN KARD, off guard.
It’s hard to overstate how unusual KARD were when they debuted in 2017. BM, J.Seph, Somin, and Jiwoo arrived as a mixed-gender group in an industry that had spent 2 decades sorting itself strictly into boy groups and girl groups. Co-ed acts were actually common in 1990s Korean pop, but the modern idol system, with its carefully targeted fandoms, pushed them nearly to extinction. KARD walked into that landscape anyway, and pre-debut singles like “Oh NaNa” and “Don’t Recall” went viral internationally before the group had even officially launched.
What followed was one of K-pop’s stranger and more admirable career arcs. KARD never became a domestic chart powerhouse. Instead, they built something most idol groups never manage: a genuinely global fanbase concentrated in markets the industry usually treats as an afterthought. They toured Latin America early and often, and their sound, heavy on deep house, tropical rhythms, and Latin-inspired dance pop, felt built for those rooms. Tracks like “Hola Hola” and “Bomb Bomb” didn’t chase Korean music show wins. They chased festival crowds in São Paulo and Mexico City, and got them.
That independence is the legacy worth sitting with. In an industry that rewards formula, KARD spent 9 years being consistently, stubbornly themselves. They proved a co-ed group could survive in modern K-pop, even if “surviving” never quite turned into thriving at scale. Newer mixed groups like AllDayProject owe them a debt, whether the lineage gets acknowledged or not.
There’s a poetic detail in how this ends. After 9 years of EPs and single albums, NOWHERE will be KARD’s first and only full-length record, completing the two-part Where To Now? project. A group that spent a decade asking where they were headed answers with the title. Read it as “nowhere” or “now here,” depending on how you’re grieving.
DSP Media asked fans to support each member as they move into individual careers, and BM, in particular, has already built solo momentum that should carry forward. Still, something specific disappears when KARD goes. The final tour gives HIDDEN KARD around the world one last chance to see the experiment in person before it becomes history.
Tickets to their world tour are available here.
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