2003–2004: Debut with Just Listen, best new artist awards, and Must Listen Seven began training under the management agency
YG Entertainment at the age of fifteen. After four years of training in singing and dancing, he made his debut in 2003 with the album
Just Listen, released on March 8. Later that year, he received best new artist awards at the
Golden Disc Awards,
MBC Gayo Daejejeon,
Mnet Music Video Festival,
SBS Gayo Daejeon, and
Seoul Music Awards. On July 7, 2004, Seven released his second album,
Must Listen, which he described as being more grown-up than his debut album.
Must Listen peaked at number one on the monthly Recording Industry Association of Korea album chart. The album's lead single, "Passion", won
Best Male Video at the
Mnet Km Music Video Festival, as well as
bonsang awards at the Golden Disc Awards and MBC Gayo Daejejeon.
2005–2006: Expansion in Asia, 24/Se7en and Se7olution In April 2005, Seven continued promotions for
Must Listen in Thailand, where the album sold over 100,000 copies and the singles "Passion" and "Tattoo" topped the
Channel V weekly charts. Later that month, he won the award for Popular Asian Artist at the
Channel V Thailand Music Video Awards. He went on to win three awards at the China Original Music Pop Chart Awards held that summer, helping to establish his reputation as a "
Hallyu star". On March 8, Seven released his third Korean studio album,
24/Se7en (which includes the lead single "I Know"), as well as his first Japanese studio album,
First Se7en.
24/Se7en charted at number one on Hanteo's daily album chart in South Korea, while
First Se7en debuted at number eight on
Oricon's daily album chart in Japan. He released his fourth Korean studio album,
Se7olution, on November 1.
2007–2010: Acting debut and U.S. promotions Seven made his acting debut in January 2007 as the lead of the TV drama
Prince Hours, a spin-off of the 2006 hit series
Princess Hours. While viewership ratings for the show were low, Seven said in an interview after the show concluded, "The word 'failure' is used to describe
Prince Hours, but, to me, it is a great success that's so precious". In April 2007, it was reported that Seven's debut English-language single had been leaked on
YouTube. The song, titled "This Is My Year", featured rapper
Fabolous and was not intended to be released until later that year. As a result of the leak, YG Entertainment announced that it would revise plans for Seven's U.S. debut. On March 14, 2008, Seven held a preview party in New York City for his upcoming U.S. debut. He played three new songs, which featured collaborations with producer
Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins and hip-hop group
Three 6 Mafia. He continued promotions in Los Angeles in May, when he announced that he had finished recording 12 songs for his planned U.S. album. On March 10, 2009, Seven released his first English-language single, "Girls," a pop-R&B song that features American rapper
Lil' Kim. In June, Seven became the first Asian artist to have his music video played on the U.S. television channel
BET, when "Girls" was broadcast on the music video show
106 & Park. Seven's full English-language album was ultimately not released.
2010: Korean comeback Seven made an official comeback in Korea after a three-year-long hiatus on July 31, 2010 with his first mini-album "Digital Bounce." The album consisted of six songs, including a song from his American debut titled 'Money Can't Buy Me Love'. His 2nd track 'Digital Bounce' featured the rapping skills of BigBang's
TOP. Seven began his follow up promotions in October with the song 'I'm Going Crazy' which featured his longtime girlfriend
Park Han-byul as the main actress in the music video. Throughout his comeback, Seven attended many variety shows and even featured in fellow labelmate
2NE1's hit reality show 2NE1TV, where he described his hardships in America and his hiatus. Seven ended his promotions on October 30, 2010.
2011: Japanese comeback Seven has recently revealed, by means of 2NE1's Nolza Japan Concert, that he is planning a comeback in Japan after his four-year hiatus since 2007. He has revealed that this album will have a Pop concept and that his first official fanmeet would be on November 6, 2011. Seven has also revealed that he will be releasing a digital single called 'Angel' in November 2011, and would release a full Japanese album alongside a Korean album in January 2012. Seven released his 2nd mini-album on February 1, 2012 with title track "When I Can't Sing." The track was produced by
JYP and written by JYP, making it the first ever official collaboration between
YG Entertainment and
JYP Entertainment.
2013–2015: Military service and discharge On March 18, 2013, Seven enlisted for his
mandatory military service at the 306 Reserve in
Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province for five weeks of basic training followed by 21 months as an active-duty soldier. On that same day,
YG Entertainment released Seven's music video "THANK U (고마워)". Seven was discharged from his mandatory military service on December 28, 2014. During his military service, the singer's contract with YG Entertainment expired in February 2015. It was later confirmed that they mutually agreed not to renew the singer's contract.
2016: Return to music, I Am Seven On July 6, he released "I'm Good", his first song since leaving YG Entertainment. On October 14, he released the mini-album
I Am Seven (stylized
I Am Se7en), his first album in over four years, along with the lead single, "Give It to Me", and its music video. After staying out of the public eye for four years, Seven announced he would return to promote in Korea after signing a new contract with Dmost Entertainment on April 17, 2020. ==Artistry==