Baby Shark Boy Grows Up: Park Geon-roung Launches Recording Career With Debut Single 'WAVE' Featuring Monsta X's JOOHONEY
Park Geon-roung, the 17-year-old once known to the world as Baby Shark Boy, has launched his recording career with a debut single called 'WAVE', released across streaming platforms on August 20, 2026, in Korea and August 19, 2026, in the U.S. The Korean-language electropop track reimagines the 'Baby Shark' melody as a full dance production with trap influences, and features a guest verse from JOOHONEY, rapper in the K-pop group Monsta X (Billboard). Park participated in writing the lyrics himself (Billboard).
The release arrived at 12:00 p.m. KST — 11:00 p.m. ET on August 19 — timed to the standard K-pop release window (Forbes). In a statement shared with Billboard, Park described 'Baby Shark Dance' as "the first wave that began 10 years ago" (Billboard).
That wave was a big one. 'Baby Shark Dance' has surpassed 17.2 billion views on YouTube, making it the platform's most-viewed video ever (Billboard). The original 'Baby Shark' song peaked at No. 32 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 2019 and reached No. 12 on Billboard's Streaming Songs chart (Billboard).
Park made a surprise return to the 'Baby Shark' franchise's 10th-anniversary short-form content in 2025, and his appearance racked up more than 22 million views (Billboard). He was 17 at the time of the debut announcement (Forbes; Korea Herald via Facebook).
The choreography for 'WAVE' comes from TEAM SAME, led by Young-jun Choi, whose credits include BTS, SEVENTEEN and TWICE (Billboard). The track's production leans into the kind of high-energy, festival-ready sound that has defined much of recent K-pop output, with the familiar shark melody threaded through an electropop framework rather than presented as a children's sing-along (PR Newswire).
Behind the music, The Pinkfong Company — the Seoul-based entertainment firm behind the 'Baby Shark' brand — is preparing a behind-the-scenes documentary titled 'WAVE: Becoming Baby Shark Boy' (Billboard). The company is also considering additional collaborations, including a potential appearance by Park in an upcoming 'Baby Shark' film expected in winter 2026 (Billboard).
For a child star whose face was attached to the most-watched video in YouTube history, the question was always what came next. 'WAVE' is the first answer: a debut single co-written by the artist himself, backed by a veteran choreographer and a featured rapper from an established K-pop group, released on a standard K-pop schedule. Whether it charts or not, the infrastructure around it — label support, documentary, film plans — signals that The Pinkfong Company is treating Park's transition from viral child star to recording artist as a long-term bet rather than a novelty.
