Seventeen’s Vernon returns with new solo track

Vernon of boy band Seventeen will release a solo track “I’ll Be Back” at 6 p.m. Thursday, according to his agency Pledis Entertainment.

Ahead of its official release, “I’ll Be Back” was performed last month during “2026 Vernon The 8 [V8] Live” — the concert of Seventeen’s subunit V8 held at Kintex in Goyang, Gyeonggi, on July 11 and 12. The subunit consists of Vernon and The8.

Vernon participated in the songwriting of the track, according to Pledis Entertainment. He has also released several solo tracks such as “Shining Star [Vernon Solo]” (2025) from “Happy Burstday” (2025) — Seventeen’s fifth full-length album — and mixtape “Black Eye” (2022).

Vernon debuted as a rapper of Seventeen in 2015 under Pledis Entertainment, now one of HYBE’s labels. The group has 13 members: S.Coups, Jeonghan, Joshua, Jun, Hoshi, Wonwoo, Woozi, DK, Mingyu, The8, Seungkwan, Vernon and Dino. 

The group is best known for songs such as “Adore U” (2015), “Don’t Wanna Cry” (2017) and “Left & Right” (2020).

BY SHIN WOO-JIN [[email protected]]