Client: CLASH
Pentagon may not be driven, as Yuto says, by results, but this doesn’t mean they don’t desire them. In 2018, their single ‘Shine’ was everywhere in South Korea. Idols sang it on their VLives, danced to it on stage and in waiting rooms, and dance crews uploaded versions to YouTube by the dozen. The scale of the song’s infiltration put Pentagon at the cusp of something that felt very big and very famous. But while ‘Shine’ exploded into the stratosphere, Pentagon did not.
It wasn’t for want of good material: their follow up single, ‘Naughty Boy’ played to the group’s breezy, summery-pop strengths, and the DNA of 2019’s excellent ‘Sha La La’ lay in another monster Pentagon-penned hit, 2017’s ‘Energetic’, written for Wanna One. Fans have theories as to why the group’s trajectory stalled but, more than that, they have fire in their bellies. Camp out in the comments under a Pentagon video and you’ll see variations on the same sentiment: Pentagon are slept-on. They deserve more. They’re the underdogs.
Taylor Glasby 