Kihoon Wrote, Produced and Now Sings 'BLUE' — His First Step Solo

Most bands have that one member who makes you wonder what they'd sound like on their own. For CATCH THE YOUNG, that member is Kihoon — the group's main guitarist, whose playing has been a defining texture of the band's sound since their debut. On July 20, 2026, he gave fans an answer, releasing his first-ever collaboration single "BLUE (Feat. Kim Dong Hyun)" via 1theK's official YouTube channel and major streaming platforms.

The release isn't just a step outside the group. Kihoon handled every creative dimension of the project himself — writing the lyrics, composing the melody, arranging the track, and overseeing the full production. What arrived is a deeply personal statement from an artist who has long been heard but, until now, rarely spotlighted in this way.

What 'BLUE' Is Actually About

The word "blue" carries obvious associations — sadness, distance, the ache of something missed. But Kihoon pushed through those easy associations toward something more layered. According to the song's release materials, "BLUE" uses the color as a lens for exploring the full landscape of youth: anxiety and hope, wounds and growth, and the courage to keep dreaming even when the light feels like it's gone.

The central message — that dreams don't end even in the moments you feel most lost — is not a new idea in K-pop, but the way Kihoon approaches it is. The arrangement builds gradually, with his guitar work moving from sparse and atmospheric in the early passages to increasingly urgent and present as the song progresses. The effect is less like a pop track and more like a short story told in sound.

A music video teaser released the day before the single captured the visual tone: Kihoon playing guitar on an open rooftop, Kim Dong Hyun at a microphone beside him, both figures framed against a wide open sky. The imagery was clean and uncluttered — exactly matching the emotional register of the song itself.

Why Kim Dong Hyun Was the Right Collaborator

The choice to feature AB6IX's Kim Dong Hyun wasn't announced until close to the release, having been teased earlier only with hints about the collaboration. When his name was revealed, it made immediate sense. Kim Dong Hyun has built a reputation within AB6IX for a vocal style that is understated but dense — a kind of plainness that conceals real emotional depth until a song needs him to open up.

That quality is exactly what "BLUE" required. The production creates an interplay between Kihoon's guitar and Kim Dong Hyun's voice that feels genuinely conversational — neither element overwhelming the other, both building toward the song's second half with something approaching inevitability. The climax, where guitar riff and vocal line trade phrases in rapid succession, is described in pre-release materials as designed to produce catharsis — and based on the teaser, it seems likely to deliver on that promise.

It's worth noting that collaborations between members of different K-pop acts tend to follow recognizable patterns: big names paired for mutual promotion, or genre experiments designed to cross demographics. This one feels genuinely driven by creative compatibility rather than calculation. Kihoon produced the track end-to-end; Kim Dong Hyun didn't just contribute vocals but apparently shaped his performance around what the song needed, not the other way around.

What This Release Means for Kihoon's Solo Identity

Guitarists in K-pop exist in an unusual space. The genre's production often reduces live instruments to texture elements, with the performer out front drawing all the attention. Band acts like CATCH THE YOUNG give instrumental members more room to breathe — but even then, a guitarist's identity tends to be defined by what they do in service of the group's songs rather than their own.

"BLUE" breaks that pattern for Kihoon in a direct way. By producing, writing, and arranging the song himself while featuring a vocalist rather than taking the lead vocal himself, he's asserting his identity as a composer and producer more than a singer — and that framing feels accurate to who he is. The guitar work in "BLUE" doesn't disappear into the arrangement; it anchors the whole track, establishing the mood and driving the emotional arc from beginning to end.

For fans of CATCH THE YOUNG, this release offers a richer understanding of what Kihoon brings to the band. For listeners who haven't followed the group before, it's an accessible entry point — a self-contained single with a clear emotional throughline that doesn't require any prior knowledge of his career to connect with.

Where to Find 'BLUE'

The full music video for "BLUE (Feat. Kim Dong Hyun)" is available on 1theK's official YouTube channel, where it was released on July 20, 2026. The single is also available across all major streaming platforms including Melon, Genie, Bugs, Spotify, and Apple Music, as released by Evermore Entertainment (에버모어엔터테인먼트).

For artists like Kihoon, a solo release is never just a side project — it's a declaration about who they are when the group framework is set aside. "BLUE" makes that declaration clearly and without fanfare. Whether this signals a sustained solo career or remains a single defining statement for now, it's arrived as exactly the kind of release that makes listeners pay closer attention to what comes next.

The decision to release through 1theK is also significant. As one of K-pop's most prominent music video channels with a global audience, 1theK gives "BLUE" immediate international reach. The single isn't positioned as a domestic release with aspirations — it's built for a global audience from the start, which reflects the kind of ambition that comes through in the production quality of the track itself.

CATCH THE YOUNG has been building its audience steadily, and Kihoon's decision to step out with a solo project at this point in the group's trajectory feels well-timed. It raises the profile of both artist and band simultaneously — giving fans of AB6IX and Kim Dong Hyun a reason to discover CATCH THE YOUNG, while giving the band's existing audience a deeper look at the creative range of one of its core members. In that sense, "BLUE" functions not just as a song but as an introduction — to Kihoon as an independent musical voice, and to a sound that clearly has more to say.