Samuel

Career 2012–2014: Pre-debut Samuel made his first appearances to the public at the age of eleven, when he appeared in the live broadcast series Seventeen TV as a trainee under Pledis Entertainment. In 2013, he left the agency.

Samuel met producer Brave Brothers and subsequently began training at Brave Entertainment. He signed an exclusive contract with the company on June 9, 2014.

2015–2016: 1Punch and collaboration with Silentó In 2015, Samuel debuted as a part of hip-hop duo named 1Punch (with rapper One) under a collaboration between Brave Entertainment and D-Business Entertainment, taking "Punch" as his stage name. They debuted on January 23 with the release of "Turn Me Back", which is the title track of their album, The Anthem. Eight months later, One was scouted by YG Entertainment, leading to the disbandment of the duo. Under the name, Punch, Samuel collaborated with Silentó to release the single "Spotlight" in 2016, for which they won the 26th Seoul Music Award for Global Collaboration. He later joined Silentó on tour in the US.

2017–2021: Produce 101, solo debut and lawsuit

In April 2017, Samuel participated in the second season of the popular survival show Produce 101 under his own name, representing Brave Entertainment. During the first elimination, he was ranked 2nd, but did not make the final cut for the 11-member team, finally ranking 18th overall. The result was met with surprise from many viewers, who had expected Samuel to become part of the lineup of Wanna One.

Samuel debuted as a solo artist on August 2. His debut mini album, Sixteen, was released on August 2, with the title track "Sixteen" featuring rapper Changmo.

Samuel's first full-length album, Eye Candy, was released on November 16, 2017, with a total of ten tracks including the lead single "Candy".

In December 2017, it was announced that Samuel had signed a contract with 'Pony Canyon' for his Japanese promotions. The music video of "Sixteen (Japanese Ver.)" was released on January 18.

In March 2018, Samuel released his second mini album, One, with the title track "One" featuring BtoB member Jung Il-hoon.

In April 2018, Samuel released his second Japanese single, "Candy (Japanese Ver.)", on May 16. The music video of the track was released on May 2.

On May 30, 2018, Samuel released his repackaged album, Teenager, featuring Lee Ro Han, who was a runner-up to MNet's "School Rapper Season 2".

In the course of 2018, Samuel, together with Chinese singer Zhou Zhennan, collaborated and participated in Tencent's The Collaboration Season 2. The duo eventually placed first and won the competition.

In June 2019, Samuel announced to work independently onwards, filed a name trademark, and set-up a one-man agency.

On November 17, 2021, Samuel won a lawsuit against Brave Entertainment to terminate his contract.

2024–present: Now On April 21, 2024, Samuel made his comeback after five years and released his new self-produced EP Now, along with its lead single titled "YEH YEH!".

In May 2025, Samuel participated on Mingyu's solo track "Shake It Off", included on Seventeen's fifth studio album, Happy Burstday.

On May 9, 2025, he released the digital single "Rockstar".

On June 8, 2026, released a four track EP entitled, SAMUELiTO. The lead single is "Zigi-Zigi-Zigi".

Personal life On July 16, 2019, Samuel's father José Arredondo was found dead at his condo in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. He died from blunt force trauma and stab wounds. Later in July 2019, Mexican authorities arrested a suspect who was a family acquaintance and "friend of [Arredondo] for 20 years".

Discography Studio albums Title Details Peak chart positions Sales KOR Eye Candy Released: November 16, 2017 Label: Brave, Kakao Formats: CD, digital download 6 KOR: 25,153

Extended plays Title Details Peak chart positions Sales KOR Sixteen Released: August 2, 2017 Label: Brave, Kakao Formats: CD, digital download 4 KOR: 34,386 One Released: March 28, 2018 Label: Brave, Kakao Formats: CD, digital download 8 KOR: 16,900 Re-released: May 30, 2018 (Teenager) Label: Brave, Kakao Formats: CD, digital download 11

Singles

JPN: 1,563 "One" 2019 52 "—" denotes songs that did not chart or were not released in that region.

Soundtracks Title Year Album Collab Say you love me 2017 Pink Pink OST Kriesha Chu Thousand Times 2018 Cross OST N/A Time to Shine 2018 Sweet Revenge 2 OST BIGSTAR Feeldog

Other appearances Title Year Album Collab "CHANEL BAG" 2016 SUNGLASSES ELECTROBOYZ "Chan Chan Chan" 2019 Immortal Songs: Singing the Legend (Sing the Lyrics of Kim Byeong Geol) Hong Kyung-min

Filmography Reality shows Year Title Notes 2012 Made in U Contestant 2017 Produce 101 Season 2 Leaving The Nest 2 Cast member Photo People 2018 The Collaboration Season 2 Contestant

Television series Year Title Role Notes 2018 Sweet Revenge 2 Seo Robin Main Cast 2018 Pops in Seoul Host

Radio shows Year Title Network Role Notes 2022–present Radio'n Us Arirang Radio DJ March 14, 2022–present

Awards and nominations Year Award Category Nominated Work Result 2017 19th Mnet Asian Music Awards Best New Male Artist Kim Samuel Artist of the Year 2018 32nd Golden Disk Awards New Artist of the Year Global Popularity Award 27th Seoul Music Awards Bonsang Award Popularity Award Hallyu Special Award Soribada Best K-Music Awards New Hallyu Performance Award