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Chen, Baekhyun and Xiumin express wish to promote with EXO amid album news: ‘Made efforts to promote as full-group’
Chen, Baekhyun, and Xiumin’s names were omitted from the fan meeting and album release announcement recently shared by SM Entertainment.
EXO-CBX, the first official unit from K-pop boy group EXO, seems to be in a stalemate with its own company. Amid the dispute over the validity of their contracts and their promotions with the team, a new announcement affirming their absence from an upcoming album and fan meeting was shared by SM Entertainment. Now, their new label INB100 has shared their stance, denying the rumors of Chen, Baekhyun, and Xiumin’s refusal to participate in the projects and expressing willingness to be a part of the group activities starting this December.
EXO's Chen, Baekhyun, and Xiumin wish to promote with the group for the 2026 album and upcoming fan meeting
On October 29, INB100 shared a detailed statement recounting their attempts to have Chen, Baekhyun, and Xiumin promote with the rest of the six EXO members. Earlier, an announcement from their former agency shared that only Suho, Chanyeol, D.O., Kai, Sehun, and Lay would be a part of the upcoming fan meet called EXO‘verse, as well as an album which will be released in the first quarter of 2026. The obscurity on CBX’s future with the team comes amid the label and the trio’s legal fight over contracts, settlements, signing witha new label, and more issues following their departure from SM Entertainment.
In their statement INB100 claimed that, “Chen, Baekhyun, and Xiumin promised fans that, as members of EXO, they would take part in full-group activities, and we have been making every possible effort to honor that promise.” They then detailed instances throughout the year where the agency attempted to sort out the matters with their former label. The following are the steps taken according to a report from Newsen.
- July 9, 2025 — First confirmation of intent to reach an agreement with SM Entertainment. We met directly with SM to confirm the direction and willingness for an agreement over EXO’s full-group promotions.
- September 10, 2025 — Mutual sharing of specific terms. Both sides entered the stage of practical negotiations and exchanged specific agreement details.
- Full acceptance of SM’s demands. After the second mediation date (October 2), EXO-CBX clearly communicated their intention to reach an agreement by accepting all of SM's conditions for EXO's full-group comeback at the end of the year.
- Schedule adjustments prioritizing EXO activities In order to promote as a full group, they cleared all of their personal schedules in December and waited for SM's final response through their legal representatives.
They added that while making the above efforts for EXO-CBX's promotions, they received an announcement regarding the holding of an EXO fan meeting and the release of a full album, which excluded EXO-CBX. Moreover, the statement revealed that the three have ‘valued the sincerity of their long-time fans’ and wish for full-group activities, hence choosing the path of agreement, hoping to reach one as soon as possible.
It remains to be seen whether SM Entertainment is willing to negotiate any terms for the possibility of having Chen, Baekhyun, and Xiumin promote with the group.
