ZELO at Waterbomb Seoul 2026 in an official VLACKSQUAD image stored locally.

ZELO Profile: B.A.P History, Solo Music, ELA, Facts and Videos

ZELO spent his first idol era being introduced as the giant baby of B.A.P. That description stopped being useful years ago. He is a rapper, dancer, choreographer, singer, songwriter, and now the person rebuilding his own career after military service with nobody else deciding what shape it should take.

ZELO at Waterbomb Seoul 2026. Image provided by VLACKSQUAD through Sports Kyunghyang.

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Quick profile

Stage name	ZELO (젤로)
Birth name	Choi Jun-hong (최준홍)
Born	October 15, 1996, Mokpo, South Korea
Work	Rapper, singer, dancer, songwriter, choreographer
Group	B.A.P, including the pre-debut unit Bang & Zelo
Current company	VLACKSQUAD, signed March 2026
Military service	December 12, 2023 to June 11, 2025

Before B.A.P

Choi Jun-hong grew up in Mokpo and started training young enough that the word “young” feels almost insulting. He attended an academy tied to dance and performance, auditioned for several companies, and eventually entered TS Entertainment. Before the full group arrived, he was paired with leader Bang Yong-guk for the unit Bang & Zelo. Their 2011 single “Never Give Up” introduced the contrast that would become one of B.A.P’s weapons: Yong-guk’s gravelly low register against ZELO’s much lighter, faster attack.

B.A.P and the maknae who could outrap the furniture

B.A.P debuted in January 2012 with “Warrior.” ZELO was fifteen. He was the youngest member, a lead rapper, and one of the group’s strongest dancers. His rapid-fire “LTE rap” became an early calling card, but the choreography mattered just as much. He did not dance like the decorative rapper waiting for his verse. He treated the entire stage like evidence.

The group moved between aggressive hip-hop, rock, R&B, social commentary, and emotional pop without becoming one-note. That range is why older fans still get twitchy when somebody reduces B.A.P to one hard concept and a whistle.

The lawsuit years were not a cute little hiatus

In November 2014, all six members filed to terminate their contracts with TS Entertainment, alleging unfair terms and profit distribution. The dispute paused group activity at a moment when B.A.P had real international momentum. They settled and returned in 2015, but the interruption remains part of the group’s history because it changed the trajectory. ZELO left TS in December 2018 when his contract expired. The remaining contracts ended soon afterward, and the group’s first era closed in 2019.

Solo work without pretending he was finished growing

ZELO made his formal solo debut in 2019 with the EP Distance and the title track “Questions.” The catalog that followed included “She and Malibu,” “Day2Day,” “Fault,” “Smile,” and other releases that let him move beyond the speed-rapper label. He also choreographed and directed performance choices, which makes sense when you watch him. He has always seemed physically incapable of treating movement as somebody else’s department.

His solo career was not one uninterrupted victory lap. There were label changes, independent stretches, and the usual ugly question facing an idol outside a major company: how much talent can you turn into visibility without an industrial machine doing the shouting?

Military service, return, and VLACKSQUAD

ZELO enlisted in December 2023 and completed his service in June 2025. That timing kept him out of the four-member B.A.P reunion project Curtain Call, released in 2024 under the name Bang & Jung & Yoo & Moon. It was not a dramatic rejection of the group. He was literally serving.

In March 2026 he signed with VLACKSQUAD and released “Cola Comigo,” followed by fan concerts and a push back toward live performance. He told KpopWise that he had loved Latin rhythms for years and wanted to make them feel natural and accessible in Korean pop. Then he named Waterbomb as a goal. A few months later, he was on the Waterbomb Seoul stage previewing “BANANA” and “ELA.” I respect a receipt that arrives that quickly.

“ELA” era

“ELA” was released July 29, 2026 after its live debut at Waterbomb Seoul. ZELO is credited as a composer, lyricist, chorus vocalist, and performance director. The song folds Latin-pop rhythm, glossy dance-pop, guitar, and a very 2010s summer-night memory into his post-service reset. Read my full “ELA” review.

The RaeRae take

ZELO’s problem was never a shortage of skill. It was that he debuted with so many skills at once that people froze him at fifteen and kept describing the same prodigy. “ELA” is interesting because it does not beg us to notice how fast he can rap. It lets him be smooth, playful, melodic, and grown. The dancing is still rude, obviously. Some laws of nature remain.

Official Socials

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YouTube tracking history

Current totals checked against the official uploads on August 12, 2026. Daily changes begin from this baseline.

The giant baby grew into the person directing the room

ZELO debuted so young that the nickname “giant baby” followed him into adulthood like a family member who refuses to update the group chat photo. It described the visual contradiction—B.A.P’s towering maknae—but it never explained the workload. Choi Jun-hong was a main rapper, dancer, performance weapon, and teenager learning an industry in public. The adult solo career matters because it finally lets us discuss the decisions that were hidden behind the novelty of his age.

Bang & Zelo before B.A.P

Before the six-member debut, ZELO joined Bang Yongguk for “Never Give Up” as Bang & Zelo in 2011. The school setting and youthful styling were deliberately accessible, but the rapid rap made the technical ambition clear. He was not introduced as a trainee cameo. He was already responsible for contrast: Yongguk’s low authority against ZELO’s higher, faster attack. That pairing became one of the sonic foundations B.A.P could build on.

B.A.P arrived at full volume

B.A.P debuted in January 2012 with “Warrior,” a song and visual identity designed to leave dents. ZELO’s speed rap became an immediate signature, but his value went beyond syllables per second. His height extended formations, his dance lines made power choreography look elastic, and his youth gave the group’s anger a particular charge. He sounded like someone who had been handed an emergency before being old enough to rent the vehicle responding to it.

Speed was the doorway, not the whole room

Fast rap is easy to turn into a stopwatch contest, and ZELO sometimes suffered from praise that stopped at velocity. The more useful listen tracks articulation, tone changes, rhythmic placement, and how he moves between rap and melody. “One Shot,” “No Mercy,” “1004 (Angel),” “Skydive,” and “Wake Me Up” require different emotional functions. He could cut through a dense arrangement, soften into a transitional line, or use movement to complete a phrase the recording only suggested.

The group’s contract fight belongs in the history

In 2014, B.A.P filed suit against TS Entertainment over contract conditions and revenue distribution. They later returned to the company, but the dispute remains essential context for the interruptions and strain surrounding the group. A member profile should not convert that history into inspirational fog. Young artists performed, toured, and produced value inside a structure they publicly challenged. ZELO’s later decision not to renew in December 2018 belongs to that institutional timeline, not a fantasy that the members simply outgrew each other.

Leaving B.A.P did not erase B.A.P

ZELO departed after his contract ended, and the remaining members’ TS contracts concluded soon afterward. “Former member” is therefore accurate for the original company-era group. It does not mean hostility, nor does it automatically place him inside every later reunion configuration. When Bang Yongguk, Jung Daehyun, Yoo Youngjae, and Moon Jongup promoted together while he was serving, ZELO was not a participant. Relationship pages must preserve the shared history and the participation boundary at the same time.

Distance introduced the solo vocabulary

His 2019 EP Distance made room for a different scale. “Questions,” “Flash, Party!,” and the project around them treated rap, singing, dance, and visual direction as parts of one authorship problem. The work did not attempt to reproduce B.A.P without five members. It explored looser hip-hop and R&B shapes, personal color, and the uncertainty of an artist whose first adult creative decisions arrived after years of being marketed as the youngest person in somebody else’s system.

Day2Day and the independent stretch

The 2020 Day2Day and Scarecrow material expanded that vocabulary while later singles kept testing distribution and label arrangements. Independent eras are often romanticized as total freedom, but freedom without infrastructure means the artist also inherits scheduling, funding, promotion, visual delivery, and the thousand boring tasks audiences only notice when one fails. ZELO’s uneven release rhythm reflects that reality more honestly than a clean “went solo” sentence can.

Military service made the gap official

ZELO began mandatory service on December 12, 2023 and completed it on June 11, 2025. During that period, four B.A.P members released reunion material under their names because the original group-name situation and member availability were complicated. The accurate record is simple: ZELO did not participate because he was serving. Anything beyond that—secret resentment, guaranteed reunion plans, or imaginary contracts—belongs to fandom speculation until an official announcement exists.

VLACKSQUAD and the 2026 restart

In March 2026, VLACKSQUAD announced ZELO as its first artist. The label described a hip-hop, R&B, and pop production environment intended to support his broader authorship, including lyrics, composition, visual direction, and stage direction. Being first is opportunity and pressure at once: there is no established roster to absorb risk, but there is also no older label identity demanding that he shrink to fit a template built for somebody else.

Cola Comigo opened the new chapter

“Cola Comigo” arrived as the first release marker of the VLACKSQUAD phase, followed by fan-concert activity that reconnected solo work with the audience waiting after service. The title and styling leaned into movement and invitation rather than a grim “I survived” narrative. That choice matters. A comeback does not need to perform damage for legitimacy. Sometimes the strongest declaration of continuity is a song interested in being enjoyed.

Waterbomb and ELA

At Waterbomb Seoul in July 2026, ZELO performed catalog material and introduced unreleased songs including “BANANA” and “ELA.” “ELA” was released July 29. The official video places Latin-pop rhythm, guitar, soft vocal phrasing, choreography, and pool-party nostalgia inside a frame that understands flirting as performance direction. The track does not ask him to win the old speed-rap contest again. It asks whether he can control ease, and the answer is much more interesting.

Why ELA works for this stage of his career

The song lets ZELO use the body knowledge accumulated through idol training without making difficulty the subject. He directs attention through posture, eye line, and timing. The vocal stays lighter than the B.A.P material casual listeners may expect, which keeps the groove open. That is growth by selection: having more tools does not require using all of them in every track. The artist decides which skill disappears so the song can breathe.

Current status in August 2026

ZELO is an active VLACKSQUAD solo artist and a former member of B.A.P’s original TS-era lineup. He has completed military service, released “Cola Comigo” and “ELA,” returned to live stages, and continued building fan-concert routes. He is not currently credited as a participant in the four-member reunion releases made during his service. CVM Sekai will update that relationship only when the artists or their companies announce actual participation. Hope is lovely; databases need receipts. His Hong Kong live schedule and continuing fan events show active solo infrastructure, not merely a pair of digital singles left to drift without a stage plan. That distinction keeps the status current and useful.

Choreography is part of the authorship file

ZELO’s dance reputation should not be reduced to flexibility clips and long limbs. He understands formation geometry, how a rap accent can become a direction change, and where the camera needs a clean silhouette. VLACKSQUAD’s 2026 materials explicitly positioned stage and visual direction among his skills. That matters because the official record finally names labor fans could already see: he is not only executing counts. He is deciding how the performance teaches us to hear the track.

The reunion question needs a careful answer

Fans reasonably want to see ZELO with the B.A.P members again, especially after post-service fan concerts included shared stages with Daehyun, Youngjae, and Jongup. A shared stage is meaningful evidence of continuing personal and musical relationships. It is not the same thing as membership in a specific release configuration. CVM Sekai records the original B.A.P history, links the current group route, and labels 2024 reunion participation precisely. That preserves hope without turning it into false credits.

What independence should be allowed to look like

A veteran idol rebuilding after service does not owe the audience one perfect relaunch that resolves every business problem. New labels learn, songs land differently, and promotion can be uneven. The fair standard is whether the work develops a legible direction and whether official information lets listeners follow it. “Cola Comigo” and “ELA” establish movement, pop color, and performance control as the first VLACKSQUAD coordinates. The next release can expand or contradict them without making the restart fraudulent.

Where to start

Begin with Bang & Zelo’s “Never Give Up” to hear the pre-debut contrast. Use B.A.P’s “Warrior,” “One Shot,” “1004 (Angel),” “Skydive,” and “Wake Me Up” to track his group range. Move to Distance and Day2Day for solo authorship, then compare “She and Malibu,” “Cola Comigo,” and “ELA.” The sequence makes the change visible: speed remains available, but control increasingly means deciding when not to prove it.

Current CVM Sekai card

ELA — ZELO official MV React

The exact 2026 official video, reviewed through its Latin-pop rhythm, choreography, vocal restraint, styling, and replay discoveries.

Verified sources

React image cards

ELA

Read the exact-video deep dive

Tagged B.A.P, Former Member, Group Member, K-pop, Person Profile, Solo Artist, ZELO