K-pop in 2025: The rookies and acts hyped to make a big splash next year

K-pop acts, from top: NCT Wish, BabyMonster, TWS and ILLIT [EACH AGENCY, LEE JEONG-MIN]

 
While the K-pop world moved forward in 2024, with news both good and bad, rookie bands also bravely stepped onto the stage in the hope of gaining the public’s attention.
 
Diversity began to bloom this year for a genre that has been less acquainted with the idea in the past. K-pop’s first-ever boy band with hearing impairments, Big Ocean, made its debut, while HYBE rolled out Katseye, a girl group with an ethnic diversity rarely seen in Korea.
  

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Major agencies again showed their influence with BabyMonster from YG Entertainment and Meovv from The Black Label, a company that started out as a subsidiary of YG Entertainment; ILLIT, Katseye and TWS from the HYBE labels; and NCT Wish from SM Entertainment. And audition-made groups, TIOT and UNIS, once again proved the power of television in the K-pop world.
 
Some bands have already announced their debuts for the upcoming year, including JYP Entertainment’s KickFlip and a new girl group from SM Entertainment. The three former members of Fifty Fifty will form a new group, albume, while SM Entertainment’s virtual singer naevis prepares to launch her first album. With the new year just days ahead, the Korea JoongAng Daily has compiled a list of 10 rookies and new acts to look forward to in 2025.
 

Girl group BabyMonster [YG ENTERTAINMENT]

BabyMonster
 
The group may be a beautiful monster, but still a monster nonetheless, with the ambition to eat up the stage.
 
Girl group BabyMonster is YG Entertainment’s first new girl group in seven years, since Blackpink, and is expected to be the agency’s biggest asset in the upcoming year.
 
BabyMonster made its official debut on April 1, five months after releasing its first single “Batter Up” on Nov. 27, 2023. It counts April 1, the release date of its first EP “BABYMONS7ER” with all seven members — Ruka, Pharita, Asa, Rami, Rora, Chiquita and Ahyeon — as its debut day.
 
The septet released its first full-length album “Drip” on Nov. 1 and will kick off its first world tour, “Hello Monsters,” with two concerts at the KSPO Dome in southern Seoul.
 

Boy band Big Ocean [PARASTAR ENTERTAINMENT]

Big Ocean
 
If there ever was one band that truly widened K-pop’s horizons, it would be Big Ocean.
 
Big Ocean made its debut on April 20, Korea’s Day of People with Disabilities, as the first K-pop idols — as the profession is referred to in Korea — with hearing impairments.
 
Big Ocean's members are Kim Ji-seok, Park Hyun-jin and Lee Chan-yeon. Kim was born with a hearing impairment, while Park lost part of his hearing at age 3 and Lee at age 11. Lee had cochlear implant surgery on both ears. Park has an implant in one ear and wears a hearing aid in the other, while Kim wears hearing aids.
 
Big Ocean has been actively releasing music and taking part in social activities, including performing in Switzerland for the AI for Good Global Summit. The trio is managed by Parastar Entertainment, an agency that specializes in stars with disabilities.
 
Big Ocean is set to hold its first concert in Nagoya, Japan, on March 9.
 

Girl group ILLIT [BELIFT LAB]

ILLIT
 
Despite the amount of debate surrounding the group, ILLIT experienced one of the most successful debuts in K-pop.
 
The quintet’s debut track “Magnetic” became one of the most popular songs not just in Korea but around the world, especially through online short-form videos that readily used the song as background music for various memes and challenges.
 
ILLIT released its second EP “I’ll Like You” on Oct. 21.
 
The girl group was caught in the middle of one of the biggest clashes in K-pop — the massive Min Hee-jin versus HYBE brawl. Although it hasn't been able to hold its own solo concert yet, the group has received some of the biggest honors in K-pop, including Best New Female Artist at the 2024 MAMA Awards and Rookie of the Year at the 2024 Melon Music Awards.
 

Girl group Katseye [HYBE]

Katseye
 
Globalization has always been a lifelong dream for K-pop, and HYBE dared to dream with a new group. It collaborated with a subsidiary of Universal Music Group to form a girl group made up of not just Asian members but a mix of ethnicities joined through the power of music.
 
Katseye debuted on June 28 with the single “Debut,” seven months after the six members won “The Debut: Dream Academy” audition program held last year.
 
HYBE has been executing some of its most aggressive marketing campaigns for Katseye. A docuseries on the audition process and Katseye members’ training was released on Netflix under the title, “Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE.”
 
Reaction to the unique group has been divided so far in Korea, but a growing international fan base and Korea’s growing awareness around diversity may soon tell a different story.
 

Girl group Meovv [THE BLACK LABEL]

Meovv
 
Music producer Teddy has been credited as one of the most talented music makers in K-pop. His efforts gave life to the powerful music of YG Entertainment girl groups 2NE1 and Blackpink and helped bring the two quartets to the top of the charts.
 
Having already proved his prowess, Teddy put on a new hat, this time as a girl group producer. Meovv, pronounced Meow, debuted on Sept. 6 with the namesake feline concept portrayed in its first single “Meow.”
 
The company has been drip-feeding the public with information about Meovv and its members from before the group's debut and even after, leaving it mostly mysterious to the public.
 
Meovv released its second single “Toxic” on Nov. 18, but The Black Label hopefully has more surprises for fans in 2025.
 

Boy band NCT Wish [SM ENTERTAINMENT]

NCT Wish
 
The newest member of the NCT family, NCT Wish debuted on Feb. 28 as the official final subgroup of the NCT franchise with a clear goal of reaching out to the Japanese audience.
 
Of the six members, four are Japanese — Riku, Yushi, Ryo and Sakuya — and only two are Korean, Sion and Jaehee. The band has nevertheless been gaining a major fandom in Korea as well, continuing the tradition of SM Entertainment’s biggest boy band franchise, NCT.
 
NCT Wish has released two singles and one full-length album in Japan, and two singles and one EP in Korea. The band kicked off its “LOG in” Asia tour on Nov. 3 in Japan and is set to continue the performance in Korea, Macau, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia and Thailand starting in March next year.
 

Girl group Rescene [THE MUZE ENTERTAINMENT]

 

Rescene
 
Will K-pop be seeing another underdog succeed?
 
In a market dominated by major agencies and conglomerate-backed companies, Rescene has been slowly making its way up the charts purely with the power of a well-made song that caught the audiences’ attention on short-form video platforms.
 
Rescene debuted on March 26 under The Muze Entertainment, an agency founded by music producer Josh Lee, also a member of band Highbro.
 
The girl group struggled to steal the spotlight at first but slowly caught the attention of online listeners with the lead track of its first EP “Scenedrome,” titled “Love Attack,” which went viral on short-form video platforms.
 
“Love Attack” has been chosen as one of Grammy.com’s 10 K-pop Songs that Electrified 2024 list, along with receiving acclaim from NME and Dazed.
 

Boy band TIOT [REDSTART ENM]

TIOT
 
What would K-pop be now without a boy band put together through an audition program?
 
TIOT made its debut on April 22 with four members who were contestants of cable network Mnet's audition show "Boys Planet" (2023) but did not make it to the winning nine-member boy band ZeroBaseOne — Kim Min-seoung, Kum Jun-hyeon, Hong Keon-hee and Choi Woo-jin —, along with one additional member, Shin Ye-chan.
 
The band established a steady fan base through the “predebut” activities that K-pop bands have been pulling off these days in order to secure themselves a softer landing on the K-pop scene.
 
TIOT has so far released three digital singles, one EP and one “pre-debut” album. It is managed by a newly founded agency called Redstart ENM.
 

Boy band TWS [PLEDIS ENTERTAINMENT]

TWS
 
HYBE definitely knows how to make a boy band.
 
TWS debuted as the first new boy band from Pledis Entertainment since Seventeen made its debut in 2015. And it’s quite safe to say that the rookie sextet is smoothly following in the footsteps of its predecessor.
 
Two of TWS’s songs released this year became major hits on short-form video platforms — “Plot Twist” and “If I'm S, Can You Be My N?” — thanks to their catchy melodies and trendy lyrics, a feat more remarkable in a market where girl group’s songs have been most popular on streaming platforms.
 
TWS received the Best New Male Artist and the Best Dance Performance Male Group awards at the 2024 MAMA Awards as well as the Rookie of the Year and the Top 10 awards at 2024 Melon Music Awards.
 

Girl group UNIS [F&F ENTERTAINMENT]

UNIS
 
Girl groups from audition programs are also not to be missed.
 
UNIS, also stylized as U&IS, was formed in January through the SBS girl group audition program “Universe Ticket” (2023), with winning members Jin Hyeon-ju, Gehlee Dangca, Kotoko, Bang Yun-ha, Elisia, Oh Yoon-a, Nana and Lim Seo-won. The eight members were voted as winners among a pool of 82 contestants from different entertainment agencies.
 
The group made its official debut on March 27 under F&F Entertainment, an agency owned by fashion company F&F that owns major brands such as MLB and Discovery Expedition. UNIS is set to be active for two years and six months.
 

Virtual singer naevis [SM ENTERTAINMENT]

More to watch for in 2025
 
K-pop companies have already shared exciting news for the year to come.
 
JYP Entertainment will roll out its first new boy band in six years, since Stray Kids, named KickFlip. The band will start its “debut album project” at midnight on Dec. 31, but other details have not been unveiled yet.
 
SM Entertainment will debut a new girl group, its first in five years, since aespa, within the first quarter of 2025. The announcement was made during a conference call for the third-quarter earnings of the K-pop company in November. The company will also present the first album by the agency’s virtual singer naevis.
 
AxMxP, a new rock band from FNC Entertainment, will also debut next year. FNC Entertainment is home to hit rock bands such as CNBlue, N.Flying and FT Island.
 
And although no date has been set, one girl group that will definitely seek the spotlight is albume, the trio put together by Massive E&C with three former members of girl group Fifty Fifty. The three members initially debuted as part of the girl group Fifty Fifty under Attrakt in November 2022 and earned success with its song “Cupid” (2023) but were kicked out of the group in October 2023 after a failed fight with their former agency, Attrakt.

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]