Alternative title: Reason #45786254123416 why most Unis hate Cube*
In July 2019, Cube announced that Yanan would be taking a hiatus and not participating in the Prism world tour due to health reasons [1] (the Prism world tour ran from 27 April 2019 - 21 December 2019 [2]). Pentagon released the mini album Sum(me:r) on 17 July 2019, and according to Hui the title track Humph! has Yanan's voice in it [3].
Around December 2019, Yanan posted on Weibo saying that he was ready to return to Pentagon but Cube was not communicating with him about when he could return [4]. I'm pretty sure he was in China at the time. I haven't found any clips of Pentagon talking about him at that time but I'm not about to watch every vlive or interview from around then.
Then of course COVID started so Yanan was stuck in China for a while (I'm not sure if/when there was a travel ban to South Korea, but it was probably safest for him not to travel for the time being anyway). On February 2nd Cube released another statement saying Yanan would not be participating in the album that would be released on February 12 (Universe: The Black Hall) [4]. Around the beginning of Road to Kingdom (April 30) Yanan posted some pictures on Weibo of himself with Pentagon [5], and it looked like Dr. BeBe era, so it seems like maybe he returned to Korea briefly and then went back to China since Cube wouldn't let him work with Pentagon. In summer 2020 he acted in a Chinese drama [6].
In September 2020 Cube finally let Yanan come back to Pentagon [7]. He posted a video to Pentagon's YouTube channel talking about returning to Korea/Pentagon and quarantining for 2 weeks [8].
Pentagon talked about him leaving/returning in the RE:Pentagon interview in Sept 2020 [9]. You can also see his reunion with Hui, Yuto, Kino, and Wooseok in the behind the scenes video of the WE:TH photoshoot [10]. (It seems like that was the first time he'd seen some of them since the last time he was in Korea, but I think he had already seen some of the other members.) Also, according to Shinwon, during Road to Kingdom they already knew Yanan would be returning [11].
*Disclaimer: I know there's a negative stigma about kpop fans blindly hating kpop management companies. Although many companies deserve to be hated for various reasons, I don't believe most companies are totally bad or totally good. For example, one great thing about Cube is the amount of artistic freedom they give Pentagon.
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Pentagon: Song Guide & History
Non-FictionPentagon is a K-Pop group. The main purpose of this book is a "song guide" to Pentagon's music. It lists information about the inspiration and/or creative process of specific songs, as stated by Pentagon themselves. I'll also provide a general overv...
