Pre-debut Somin debuted in DSP Media's Japanese girl group
Puretty in 2012 which later disbanded in 2014. She later joined
Kara Project where she competed to become a new member of
Kara and finished in second place. In 2015, she debuted as the leader of DSP Media's girl group
April but she decided to depart from the group on November 9. J.Seph trained for five years and
BM trained for four and a half under DSP Media with an original plan to debut as a hip-hop duo. Before his debut, BM was featured in
Goo Ha-ra's song "La La La" from her 2015 debut EP
Alohara (Can You Feel It?) and was also her dance partner for the music video and live performances of its lead single "Choco Chip Cookies". Jiwoo trained under
FNC Entertainment for two years and moved to DSP Media in 2016.
2016–2017: Project singles DSP Media first announced the formation of Kard on December 1, 2016, after opening several social media accounts under the group's name. After being revealed in a sequential order, all the members were revealed by December 5, with the label elaborating more on their card-game concept. The group's name is an abbreviation of different "cards" that are assigned to each member: BM is assigned as the "King" card, J.Seph is known as the "Ace" card, Somin is given the "Black JokeR" card, while member Jiwoo is referred to as the "Color JokeR" card. A certain "hiDDen card" was also stated by the agency, but it was not elaborated further in its statement. Then, DSP Media confirmed that the group's first release was slated for December 13. On December 8, Kard revealed that their first "hiDDen card" member would be their labelmate
Hur Young-ji, and further elaborated that Youngji would be active only in the first release of the group's "Kard Project", wherein they will release three project singles each with their own "hidden card" feature before their official debut. The announcement was made by the group's four members including Youngji in a live broadcast on the V-Live app. The following day, the music video teaser for their first project single titled "Oh NaNa" was released. "Oh NaNa" was released on December 13. The music video for the song accumulated over 1.25 million views in three days. Following the release of the song,
Billboard magazine included Kard in its list of "10 Best New K-pop Groups in 2016" ranking at number 8, with the group making it into the list just eight days after starting their pre-debut project. "Oh NaNa" then became the group's first entry into the
Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart, with the song peaking at number 5 in its issue dated January 7, 2017 and remaining on the said chart for 8 weeks. On January 19, 2017,
Billboard selected Kard as one of the "Top 5 K-Pop Artists to Watch in 2017", citing the group's mixed-gender setup and their international attention which was seen when the music video for "Oh NaNa" became one of the top-viewed video in the United States for December. On February 16, Kard released their second project single titled "Don't Recall", at number 22 on the UK Singles Chart, and at number 34th on the Brazilian Song Chart. Six days after the song's release, the music video for "Don't Recall" had accumulated over 6 million views. Similar to its predecessor, "Don't Recall" charted on
Billboard's World Digital Song Sales chart and peaked at number 5 in its issue dated March 18, 2017, but remained on the chart longer, charting for 12 weeks. An English version of the song was released by the group on March 1, which marked the group's second "hidden card" release. On April 21,
LG Electronics announced that it has selected the group as their global ambassador for the G6 Smartphone. Following this development, it was revealed that all content for Kard's final project single titled "Rumor", including its music videos, will be produced in collaboration with LG Electronics G6. "Rumor" was then released on April 24, with the song's music video featuring Korean choreographer Z.Sun as the group's third "hidden card" member. The group then embarked on their first concert tour, known as the
2017 Wild Kard Tour, held in 11 cities covering Canada, the United States, Mexico, and Brazil from May to June 2017. It was reported that all tickets for the concert tour were sold out. In the midst of the group's tour, Kard was featured in their first solo reality series titled "Secret Kard", which depicted the group's experiences during their "Wild Kard" concert tour. The series first premiered on Mnet's M2 YouTube channel on June 19.
2017–2018: Debut and touring Kard made their official debut on July 19, 2017, through the release of their first EP
Hola Hola. The six-track EP contained their previous project singles, as well as the title track "
Hola Hola". The group held their debut showcase at the Ilji Art Hall in
Gangnam-gu, Seoul. The album debuted on several
Billboard charts, charting at number 3 on
World Albums, at number 25 on
Heatseekers Albums, and at number 46 on the Independent Album Chart. The album's eponymous title track also entered the
Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart at number 4, while other tracks of the album, "I Can’t Stop" and "Living Good" ranked number 10 and number 12, respectively. On August 19, Kard performed at the 2017
Summer Sonic Festival, known as one of the world's largest rock festivals, held in Japan. On the next day, the group performed at the second day of the 2017
KCON Festival held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Following their performance at KCON, the group then embarked on their second concert tour known as the "2017 Wild Kard Tour PT. 2" which was held from September to October 2017, with five European dates in London, Lisbon, Madrid, Milan, and Rotterdam, and five North American dates in Minneapolis; Washington, D.C.; New York City; Miami; and San Francisco. The group released their second EP,
You & Me, on November 21, with the song "You In Me" serving as the title track.
You & Me debuted at number 8 on the Gaon Album Chart on the chart issue dated November 19–25, 2017, and also debuted at number 4 on the US World albums Chart and at number 17 on the US Heatseekers Albums chart, achieving their new peak as a group on the latter chart. The female members of the group, Somin and Jiwoo, were featured in a special version of the song "
Lo Siento", the lead single of
Super Junior's album
Replay (a repackaged album of their eighth Korean studio album
Play). This version is included in the digital version of the album, with the album to be released on April 12, 2018. Somin and Jiwoo joined Super Junior to perform the song on various
Korean music programs. Kard then held an Asia-wide tour spanning four countries: Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the Philippines. Kard also performed at the
South By Southwest (SXSW) 2018. On April 14, 2018, the group met local fans through their
2018 Wild Kard Tour in the
Kasablanka Hall in Jakarta, Indonesia. Two meetings were then held in Australia in the city of Melbourne on April 26 and Sydney on the 29th. On July 25, 2018, they made their comeback with their third EP,
Ride On the Wind. The EP debuted and peaked at number 7 on the Gaon Album Chart for the week ending July 28, 2018. On August 19, Kard held their first solo concert in South Korea since their debut, completing their "Wild Kard in Seoul" concert held at the YES24 Live Hall in
Gwangjin-gu, Seoul.
2019–2021: Red Moon and Way with Words On March 27, 2019, they made their comeback with their first digital single "
Bomb Bomb". "Bomb Bomb" became the group's fifth top five entry on the
Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart, debuting and peaking at number three. A month later, Kard held their second concert in Seoul named as the "2019 Wild Kard in Seoul" at the Mary Hall of Sogang University in Mapo-gu, Seoul on April 27. The following month, Kard performed at the 2019
Dream Concert held at the World Cup Stadium in Sangam-dong, Seoul on May 18. On July 12 and 14, Kard embarked on their Indian two-city tour known as the "Play Your Kard Right Tour", with the band performing at Delhi's Talkatora Indoor Stadium and at the city of
Guwahati. On September 21, Kard made another comeback with their second digital single, "
Dumb Litty". Following the success of the single which peaked at number three on the
Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart, Kard debuted on the
Billboard Social 50 chart, ranking at number 41 on its tally dated on October 5 as they experienced a 39% increase in Twitter mentions and a 457% increase in YouTube subscribers. Throughout the month of October, Kard embarked on their "Wild Kard Tour in USA 2019" with five concert dates held in different cities in the United States. The tour wrapped up on October 27 at the Buckhead Theatre in Atlanta. The following month, on November 6, Kard appeared at the Young Hollywood studio in Los Angeles, talking about their comeback song "Dumb Litty", and playing the Mystery Box Challenge game. On February 12, 2020, Kard released their fourth EP,
Red Moon. The EP debuted and peaked at number 10 on the
Gaon Album Chart for the week ending February 15, after reporting 1,453 copies sold, before reporting a total of 1,752 copies sold in its first two weeks. Additionally, its eponymous title track reached a peak position of number 8 on the
Billboard World Digital Song Sales Chart. On August 26, 2020, Kard released their first single album
Way with Words and their title track "Gunshot". BM wrote, composed, and arranged the title track, with the other members contributing to the album as well. "Gunshot" reached a peak position of number 9 on the
Billboard World Digital Song Sales Chart on September 12, and spent a total of three weeks on the chart. On October 5, J.Seph quietly enlisted for his
mandatory military service as an active duty soldier. Kard then continued promoting as a three-piece group, making their first live performance without J.Seph on the second season of
KCON's online series KCON:TACT held on October 16–25. BM debuted as the group's first soloist in 2021, releasing his single album
The First Statement on July 2.
2022–present: Return with Re:, Icky, Where To Now? (Pt. 1: Yellow Light) and Drift On January 21, 2022, BM released his first solo comeback with the single "Lost in Euphoria." On April 4, 2022, it was confirmed that J.Seph has been discharged from his military service. However, due to the spread of
COVID-19, J.Seph's last vacation was in mid-February, where he did not return to military service and was discharged early. On May 28, 2022, DSP Media announced that Kard would release a new album in June and resume all activities, marking their first full group release in 22 months. Their fifth EP,
Re:, was released on June 22 with the title track "
Ring the Alarm". On July 7, 2022, DSP Media announced that Kard has renewed their contracts with them for three more years. On March 23, 2023, it was confirmed that Kard would be making their comeback in April 2023 and had recently finished filming their new music video. On August 13, 2024, the group released their seventh mini-album
Where to Now? (Pt. 1: Yellow Light). On June 9, 2025, the group announced that their 8th mini-album,
Drift will be released on July 2. == Artistry ==