Following the end of Wanna One's activities as a group, Kang took a six-month hiatus from the entertainment industry and took over management of his career. In mid-2019, he established his own agency to manage his future activities as a solo artist and released his debut extended play, Color on Me, which was a commercial success that topped South Korea's Gaon Album Chart. His subsequent works from his color series titled Cyan and Magenta also topped the Gaon Album Chart with the former's title track earning Kang his first top ten single in Korea.