Home > Entertainment > Music & Performance

'I never wanted to leave the band': Former Brown Eyed Soul member Sunghoon speaks out about departure

Published: 08 Oct. 2025, 15:14 Updated: 08 Oct. 2025, 17:17

YOON SO-YEON
yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr

R&B trio Brown Eyed Soul [INNEXTTREND]

Korean R&B trio Brown Eyed Soul's December concerts sold out in mere seconds, but the group's fans are now divided as former member Sunghoon spoke out about how he was forced by the agency to leave the group in 2023.

“I never wanted to leave the band,” wrote Sunghoon in an Instagram post on Tuesday. “I hope everyone knows that I wanted to save [the team] to the best of my abilities.”

Brown Eyed Soul debuted in 2003 as a quartet — with members Sunghoon, Naul, Jungyup and Youngjun — and became one of the most respected vocal groups in Korea with hit ballads such as “Did We Really Love” (2003), “My Everything” (2003) and “If It's the Same” (2010).

Sunghoon left the band in March 2023. Before that, he uploaded a video of himself on Instagram that hinted he may be leaving the group but did not specify why. Brown Eyed Soul's agency Long Play Music said the termination of the contract was amicable and mutual but also refrained from providing details.

According to Sunghoon, he released his solo album in June 2022 because Naul was having trouble with his throat, and there was no album scheduled for Brown Eyed Soul.

Sunghoon, former member of R&B band Brown Eyed Soul [SCREEN CAPTURE]

“I was praying and waiting, but I couldn't just sit around doing nothing, so I decided to release my second album,” wrote Sunghoon. “But then I found out through the internet that Naul's voice had already come back, and he was getting ready for a solo project. For me, who had been praying for his voice to come back, it was a great shock. And at that moment, 20 years of sorrow and anger exploded within me.”

Sunghoon claimed that the agency forced him to shut down his solo YouTube channel and “beg on his knees to Naul” if he wanted to continue to be a member of Brown Eyed Soul. Long Play Music's CEO forced him to sign the contract termination papers, according to the post.

“We agreed to end things without revealing the dirt to anyone else,” Sunghoon continued. “I'm fine with people saying that '3 is the perfect number' of whatever. But if they were going to do that, shouldn't they have at least taken my name out of [Brown Eyed Soul's] fifth album? Wouldn't that have been the polite thing to do for me?”

Long Play Music refuted Sunghoon's claims in a post on Tuesday, saying that Sunghoon had become psychologically unstable during the group's long break during Covid-19.

“He was getting professional treatment and help, but during the process, he left insulting messages to other members and their families,” the agency said in a statement. “We helped him continue his solo activities in hopes that he would recover, but he showed no sign of change even after a year, which is why we decided that it would not get any better.”

“Although we sincerely hope that he gets better, as longtime colleagues of Sunghoon, we will also be taking firm legal measures if he continues to spread false rumors and damage the reputation of our artists and the company,” added the agency.

Brown Eyed Soul released its fifth full-length album “Soul Tricycle” on Sept. 23. The trio will hold three concerts at the Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul on Dec. 24, 25 and 27, with around 18,000 admissions each day.

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]