EXO’s Kai and Sehun are officially a duo. SM Entertainment confirmed on Wednesday that the two members will debut as EXO-KASE on Dec. 1 with their first EP, Waking Up The City, and preorders are already open.
For EXO-Ls, the news closes a fast nine-day loop. A Nov. 2 report first hinted that the pair were preparing December music, the two previewed the title track’s choreography on stage at EXO’s Seoul encores, and the unit now has a name, a release date and a launch film. It also turns a nickname fans have used for years into an official act.
EXO-KASE Debut: Dec. 1, Seven Tracks, Preorders Open
The confirmation landed Wednesday, Nov. 11. Kai and Sehun will debut as EXO-KASE on Dec. 1 with their first EP, Waking Up The City, according to SM Entertainment.
The mini-album holds seven tracks in a range of moods. Alongside the title track, “Waking Up The City,” the EP includes one solo song from Kai and one from Sehun, the agency said, making it their first joint release as a separate unit. Preorders are open now at online and offline music retailers.
For anyone who caught the earlier headlines, the first word on this project came on Nov. 2, when a report cited a local media report that the two were forming a subunit with new music due in December. No name, no date and no album title existed then. Everything above is now agency-confirmed.
The Pitch: A “Visual Performance Unit”
SM is branding EXO-KASE as a “visual performance unit,” pairing Kai’s intense “hot guy” charisma with Sehun’s chic “cool guy” image. The agency says the project places particular emphasis on choreography and stage performance, which is a different sell than a standard vocal-forward subunit.
The visual language is already out. EXO’s official social media accounts released a launch film titled It’s Time To Wake Up at midnight Wednesday. In the clip, the two members face each other, each carrying a distinct presence, before coming together as one unit, signaling a fresh start for the pair.
Why the “94-Liners” Becoming a Unit Matters
Kai and Sehun were both born in 1994, and fans have long known them as the “94s” or “94-liners,” a nod to the Korean fandom habit of sorting idols by birth year. In K-pop terms, a subunit is a smaller group formed from members of an existing band to release music with a concept separate from the full group.
This is Kai’s first subunit. He has built a solo catalog that now includes four EPs, so a shared stage project is a new lane for him. For Sehun, it is a second unit, following EXO-SC with Chanyeol, which released one album in 2019 and another in 2020. Sehun also put out his first Chinese-language single in July.
The two have been circling a shared stage for a while. Sehun appeared as a surprise guest at Kai’s solo concert in 2025, an appearance that gave fans an early look at how the pair work together outside a full-group setting.
EXO debuted in 2012 and has released music through units including EXO-CBX and EXO-SC. EXO-KASE is the first of them framed explicitly around performance and visual contrast, which makes it a different proposition from the vocal-pop of EXO-CBX or the hip-hop-leaning energy of EXO-SC. Two members who have each carried solo work are choosing to share a stage again.
The KSPO DOME Preview Sehun Told Fans to Judge
The clearest proof that this is a performance-first project came before the announcement. During EXO’s three EXhOrizon [dot] encore concerts at KSPO DOME from Nov. 6 to 8, which drew about 33,000 fans, Kai and Sehun previewed part of the title track’s choreography in front of the crowd.
Sehun addressed it directly from that stage. “More than anything, the performance is incredible,” he said at the encore concert. “We’re that confident in it, so please look forward to it, and we’d appreciate your honest feedback.”
That is a notable move for a new unit: testing choreography on a live audience weeks before release and inviting honest criticism.
EXO-KASE Lands on the Back of EXO’s Biggest Recent Year
Timing matters here. EXO opened its 14th anniversary year with its eighth studio album, Reverxe, in January, which sold over a million copies and swept music charts and television music chart shows. The group then toured 14 regions across Asia with 27 shows from April to July, before the November encores in Seoul.
That kind of activity gives EXO-KASE a running start: a fandom already in comeback rhythm and a pair who have spent the past year onstage. The debut is arriving at the end of a busy cycle rather than in a quiet stretch.
What EXO-Ls Should Watch Before Dec. 1
A lot of the rollout is still unannounced. There is no full tracklist, no song credits, no music video date, no album version breakdown and no promotion schedule yet. SM also has not detailed exact release timing for US listeners, so the first hours of Dec. 1 in Korea are worth tracking closely.
The confirmed pieces are simple: preorders are open, the EP is Waking Up The City, and the debut is Dec. 1. The next three weeks should bring concept photos, track details and at least one more teaser cycle, plus the question every EXO-L will be asking, which is where Kai and Sehun take the first live EXO-KASE stage.