TNX (an acronym for The New Six) is a five-member boy group under P NATION. Originally debuting as six members, the group was formed through the SBS survival program LOUD, a collaboration project between J.Y. Park and PSY. They officially debuted on May 17, 2022 with their first mini album Way Up. The group’s lineup was finalized during the finale of LOUD in 2021, where Kyung Jun, Tae Hun, Hyun Soo, Jun Hyeok, Hwi, Sung Jun, and Tanaka Koki were selected for P NATION’s upcoming boy group. However, in January 2022, P NATION announced that Tanaka Koki would not debut with the team in order to continue training, leading the group to debut as six members under the name TNX. On their debut day, they also introduced their fandom name THX, meaning “Together with TNX.” Following their debut, TNX continued building their discography with releases such as Love Never Dies, Boyhood, and the digital single &quot;Fuego&quot;, while also participating in the survival competition Road to Kingdom : Ace of Ace in 2024. During this period, member Jun Hyeok temporarily paused activities due to anxiety before later returning to the group. In October 2024, it was announced that member Kyung Jun would enlist in the military and depart from the group following the completion of his service, reducing TNX to five members. The group continued activities with releases including the mini album For Real? in 2025 and the digital single &quot;Call Me Back&quot; in 2026, maintaining their growth under P NATION.

TNX's Kurated KPOPWORLD playlist doubles as commentary on "Die Another Day" itself

Kurated: 10 Songs That Inspired TNX During “Die Another Day”

WHIB is a seven-member boy group under C-JeS Entertainment, consisting of members Kim Junmin, Haseung, Jinbeom, UGeon, Leejeong, Jaeha, and Wonjun. Originally an octet, they debuted on November 8, 2023, with the single album Cut-Out. The group was first teased in November 2021 as the trainee group M.I.C, which stood for “Made in C-JeS.” On September 7, 2023, it was revealed that the group would debut as an eight-member group under the name WHIB, along with introductions to the new members. In 2025, members LeeJeong, Junmin and Wonjun competed on the Mnet survival show Boys II Planet, ranking 12th, 13th, and 62nd, respectively. On October 16, it was announced that member Inhong had departed from the group. WHIB released their first mini album, ROCK THE NATION, on January 29, 2026.

WHIB

Once driven by the need to do everything perfectly, he has learned to trust his own strengths, find his individual style, and enjoy the process more freely

An Interview with WHIB’s WONJUN – The Perfectionist Learning to Trust Himself

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KPOPWORLD #3

KPOPWORLD #2 (Poster Version)

MONSTA X is a boy group formed through the survival show No.Mercy and debuted under Starship Entertainment in May 2015. The group is associated with a powerful performance image built around Shownu, Minhyuk, Kihyun, Hyungwon, Joohoney, and I.M, with Wonho as a former member. Their sound often leans muscular: EDM drops, hip-hop percussion, dark synths, and choruses designed for heavy choreography. MONSTA X became one of the most forceful performance groups of their generation through a run that moved from the breakthrough energy of &quot;Dramarama&quot; to the sharper drama of &quot;Love Killa.&quot; At the same time, their vocal line and later English-language work showed a smoother R&amp;B and pop side that softened the edges without removing the group&#x27;s intensity. MONSTA X became especially important in the bridge between Korean idol promotion and Western touring. They pursued English-language releases, appeared on American media, and built a strong international audience while keeping a clear group identity. Their fandom, Monbebe, is known for loyalty through lineup changes, military service periods, solo work, and long gaps between full-group schedules. The group&#x27;s legacy rests on consistency and stamina. MONSTA X did not need to reinvent themselves every comeback; they refined a recognizable image of power, charisma, and emotional loyalty. That made them a template for later boy groups that wanted to look tough on stage while still building a close, fan-centered identity off it.

MONSTA X

KIHYUN of MONSTA X returned earlier this year with BORDERLINE, his second solo EP and the follow-up to 2025's YOUTH

KIHYUN: The KPOPWORLD Digital Cover

WONHO has always known how to catch the eye. Four years with MONSTA X, and now a soloist of six years

KPOPWORLD Festival Spotlight: Wonho

Individually, DEAN &amp; Tabber have established sonic identities that stand out in the Korean R&amp;B and hip-hop genres

KPOPWORLD Festival Spotlight: DEAN & Tabber

CRAVITY is a nine-member boy group under Starship Entertainment, consisting of Serim, Allen, Jungmo, Woobin, Wonjin, Minhee, Hyeongjun, Taeyoung, and Seongmin. They debuted on April 14, 2020, with the mini album &quot;HIDEOUT: REMEMBER WHO WE ARE&quot;. Their name, a blend of &quot;Creativity&quot; and &quot;Gravity&quot;, originally symbolized unity and balance among diverse members. In 2025, the group redefined it as &quot;Craving Gravity&quot;, expressing their goal to draw fans closer through stronger artistry and performances. The group released their second full-length album, &quot;Dare to Crave&quot;, on June 23, 2025, with members Wonjin and Hyeongjun sharing leadership duties for the comeback.

CRAVITY

CRAVITY are set to bring a signature K-pop, rookie-like energy to the KPOPWORLD Festival in San Antonio, following their rebrand and the establishment of a new artistic identity last year

KPOPWORLD Festival Spotlight: CRAVITY

82Major (stylized in all caps) is a South Korean boy band formed by Great M Entertainment. The group consists of six members: Cho Seong-il, Yoon Ye-chan, Nam Seong-mo, Hwang Seong-bin, Park Seok-joon and Kim Do-gyun. The group&#x27;s name is a combination of South Korea&#x27;s calling code (+82) and the word ‘major’, expressing their desire to become a group that represents Korea. They debuted on October 11, 2023, with the single album On.

82MAJOR

Rising boy group 82MAJOR has reached the number one spot on a real-time chart for the first time with the title track of their latest single album, ‘HEAT.’

82MAJOR Tops Real-time Charts for the First Time with “Like Fire

ZEROBASEONE, commonly known as ZB1, is a five-member boy group formed through the Mnet survival show &quot;Boys Planet&quot; in 2023. They originally debuted as a nine-member group — along with AND2BLE&#x27;s members Zhang Hao, Ricky, Kim Gyuvin and Han Yujin — under WAKEONE Entertainment, with &quot;In Bloom&quot; setting first-week sales records that demonstrated the massive anticipation built through the survival show. As a project group with a limited contract period, ZB1 operates with an urgency to make every comeback count, and they have delivered with consistent chart-topping releases and sold-out concerts. The group&#x27;s strength lies in their strong individual star power combined with impressive group synergy, cultivated through the intense bonding of their competition experience. Their fandom, ZEROSE, mobilized quickly into one of the most organized fan bases in fourth-generation K-pop. ZB1 represents the continued power of the survival show format to create commercially dominant groups with built-in passionate audiences. On March 15, 2026, they held their last concert as a nine-member boy group, sparking sadness among fans, who had grown fond of the relationship that had developed between the nine boys. As YH Entertainment did not renew the contracts of Zhang Hao, Ricky, Kim Gyuvin, and Han Yujin with WAKEONE, ZB1 are now promoting their career as a five-member boy group, with Sung Hanbin, Kim Jiwoong, Seok Matthew, Kim Taerae, and Park Gunwook.

ZEROBASEONE

Seok Matthew and Park Gunwook, members of WakeOne’s ZEROBASEONE, have announced the September 21 release of their long awaited sub-unit project under the duo name ‘EMP’

ZEROBASEONE’s Seok Matthew and Park Gunwook Announce Mixtape Under Sub-unit ‘EMP’

Cortis, is a South Korean boy band formed by Big Hit Music. The group consists of five members: Martin, James, Juhoon, Seonghyeon, and Keonho. They debuted on August 18, 2025, with the digital single “What You Want&quot; followed by their first EP, &quot;Color Outside the Lines&quot;. The group’s name is derived from the phrase “Color Outside the Lines,” reflecting their concept of creative freedom and nonconformity. Cortis has been promoted as a self-producing “creator crew,” with members participating in songwriting, choreography, and visual direction. Blending pop, hip-hop, and experimental elements, the group gained early attention for their performance skills, self-produced content, and strong rookie-year sales, establishing them as one of Big Hit Music’s newer generation acts.

CORTIS

Data from Circle Chart for September 6 to 12, 2026 revealed that CORTIS’ second mini album GREENGREEN has surpassed 4.1 million copies

CORTIS Becomes Quadruple Million-Seller With ‘GREENGREEN’

Rookie groups have taken over this week’s latest K-pop releases with songs that are intense, dramatic, soft, and lighthearted

Comeback Corner: IU, YOUNGTAK, NAZE & MORE

WJSN’s Seola and Eunseo have officially terminated their contracts with Starship Entertainment following the group’s 10 year anniversary this year

Seola and Eunseo of WJSN Leave Starship Entertainment

BTS, also known as the Bangtan Boys, is a South Korean boy band formed by Big Hit Music in 2010 and debuting on June 12, 2013, with the single album &quot;2 Cool 4 Skool&quot;. The group consists of seven members: RM (leader), Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook. The name BTS stands for Bangtan Sonyeondan (“Bulletproof Boy Scouts”), reflecting the group’s original concept of resisting societal expectations and criticism aimed at youth. Members RM, Suga, and J-Hope have played significant roles in songwriting and production throughout the group’s career. BTS first gained widespread attention with the [The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 1 era], particularly the single I Need U, which earned the group their first Korean music show win in 2015. Their international breakthrough followed with releases such as Wings and the Love Yourself series. In 2018, &quot;Love Yourself: Tear&quot; became the first album by a Korean act to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The group achieved further global success with singles including &quot;Dynamite&quot;, &quot;Butter&quot;, and &quot;Permission to Dance&#x27;&quot;, all of which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. BTS is among the best-selling artists in South Korean history and has received numerous international awards, while also participating in global initiatives such as the UNICEF Love Myself campaign. Between 2022 and 2025, BTS paused full-group activities as the members completed South Korea’s mandatory military service. The last member, Suga, was discharged in June 2025, marking the completion of service for all seven members. Following their reunion, the group confirmed they were preparing a new album and world tour for 2026. Their tenth studio album, &quot;ARIRANG&quot;, recorded between July and November 2025, was released on March 20, 2026, marking their first group release in more than three years. The album will be supported by the Arirang World Tour, beginning in April 2026.

Jimin's "Like Crazy" has become the first fully Korean-language song to hit one billion filtered streams on Spotify

BTS’ Jimin Sets Korean-Language Streaming Record With “Like Crazy”

TOMORROW X TOGETHER, often shortened to TXT, is a five-member boy group under BIGHIT MUSIC. The group consists of Soobin, Yeonjun, Beomgyu, Taehyun, and Huening Kai. They debuted in March 2019 with The Dream Chapter: Star, becoming BigHit&#x27;s first boy group after BTS and immediately attracting heavy attention. TXT&#x27;s early identity centered on youth, friendship, imagination, and the strange emotional weather of growing up. Instead of debuting with a hard-edged performance image, they leaned into brightness, fantasy, and vulnerability on songs such as &quot;Crown,&quot; &quot;Run Away,&quot; and &quot;Blue Hour.&quot; That made the group feel distinct within fourth-generation boy-group trends, especially because their storytelling often treated adolescence as magical, confusing, and a little unstable. As their catalog developed, TXT added sharper pop-rock, emo, and dance influences through songs like &quot;0X1=LOVESONG,&quot; &quot;LO$ER=LOVER,&quot; &quot;Sugar Rush Ride,&quot; and &quot;Chasing That Feeling.&quot; The members&#x27; strengths map cleanly onto that evolution: Soobin&#x27;s calm leadership, Yeonjun&#x27;s performance charisma, Beomgyu&#x27;s color, Taehyun&#x27;s vocal focus, and Huening Kai&#x27;s bright tone all help the group move between softness and intensity. TXT&#x27;s fandom is known as MOA, short for Moments of Alwaysness. The group&#x27;s significance is tied to how carefully they built a coming-of-age identity across albums, videos, and performances. Rather than defining themselves through a single sound, TXT became a group about transition itself: childhood into adulthood, fantasy into reality, and polished idol pop into something more emotionally restless.

TOMORROW X TOGETHER

When Dolce &amp; Gabbana named SOOBIN its newest ambassador, they led with skincare. Alongside the expected fashion portraits, his debut imagery puts glass skin and product front and center. It's not a random choice

SOOBIN, Dolce & Gabbana and the Growing Power of Male K-Beauty

TWICE is a nine-member girl group formed by JYP Entertainment through the survival show Sixteen. The lineup consists of Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung, and Tzuyu, with members from South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. They debuted in October 2015 with &quot;Like Ooh-Ahh,&quot; introducing the bright, kinetic identity that would make them one of the central girl groups of K-pop&#x27;s third generation. The group&#x27;s early rise was built on an unusually clear pop formula: big choruses, memorable gestures, colorful styling, and personalities that were easy for viewers to distinguish. A run led by &quot;Cheer Up&quot; and &quot;TT&quot; turned TWICE into a national-level phenomenon in Korea, while their Japanese members helped the group cross naturally into Japan&#x27;s idol and pop markets. Rather than relying on a single vocal or dance center, TWICE worked because the lineup felt balanced as a whole: playful, approachable, and tightly rehearsed. As the members grew older, TWICE gradually expanded beyond the cute and school-age image attached to their first hits. The move from &quot;Fancy&quot; through &quot;I Can&#x27;t Stop Me&quot; kept the group&#x27;s melodic accessibility while bringing in sleeker dance-pop, disco, synth-pop, and more mature performance styling. That evolution mattered because it let TWICE remain recognizable without staying frozen in their debut concept. TWICE also became one of the clearest examples of a K-pop girl group building a long international career without losing its domestic base. Their Korean and Japanese discographies developed side by side, and later global touring brought the group to arenas and stadiums far beyond East Asia. The fandom is known as ONCE, a name that matches the group&#x27;s long-running emphasis on mutual loyalty between the members and their audience. Their legacy is not only commercial. TWICE helped define what a modern large girl group could be: member-driven, visually bright, musically immediate, and durable enough to age into a second phase. They normalized the idea that a top K-pop girl group could keep all members active across many years, shift concepts without abandoning its core warmth, and still feel like a complete team even as individual members developed solo work, acting, modeling, and unit activities.

TWICE

Powerhouse girl group TWICE has announced the release of the new Special Vinyl &lt;THIS IS FOR&gt; WORLD TOUR FINALE in SEOUL - LIVE, containing live versions of the songs performed at the three-concert series in July

TWICE To Release <THIS IS FOR> World Tour Finale Live Vinyl

PLAVE is a virtual boy group under VLAST. It consists of five members: Yejun, Noah, Bamby, Eunho, and Hamin. The group uses motion capture technology for their idol activities. They were first introduced through YouTube and Twitch streams starting in September 2022. The group officially debuted on March 12, 2023, with the single album &quot;Asterum&quot;. In 2024, they joined the Melon Billion Club after reaching one billion cumulative streams. This record was achieved in just 494 days since their debut, breaking the previous record and becoming the artist to join the Melon Billion Club in the shortest time since their debut. In 2025, in the first week of the release of their third EP, &quot;Caligo Pt. 1&quot;, they sold one million copies, becoming the first virtual group to achieve this. In mid-June, they made their Japanese debut with the single &quot;Kakurenbo (Hide &amp; Seek)&quot;. It reached one million streams on Melon, making it the first time a Japanese song by a K-pop group had entered Melon&#x27;s &quot;Hall of Fame.&quot;

PLAVE

Virtual boy group PLAVE has announced the release of their 5th mini album, HYPERDRIVE, scheduled for digital release on October 12, 2026

PLAVE To Release 5th Mini Album ‘HYPERDRIVE’ Following Sold-out Stadium Concerts

Matin Kim has steadily built one of K-fashion's most recognisable looks – distressed knits, oversized jackets, that unmistakable metal logo – without needing luxury pricing to do it

How Matin Kim Became Your Favorite Idol’s Favorite Fashion Brand

BIGHIT MUSIC just opened its 2026 Global Audition, and the door is wide open. Any male born in 2008 or later can apply, from anywhere, with zero restrictions on category – singing, dancing, producing, whatever shows your talent best

BIGHIT MUSIC Opens 2026 Global Audition for Male Talent

Last week’s stories in K-pop varied from deeply personal struggles uncovered to exciting new announcements and a celebration of one of the industry’s increasingly popular girl groups this year

ZEROBASEONE’s Seok Matthew and Park Gunwook Announce Mixtape Under Sub-unit ‘EMP’

CORTIS Becomes Quadruple Million-Seller With ‘GREENGREEN’

Exclusive

Kurated: 10 Songs That Inspired TNX During “Die Another Day”

An Interview with WHIB’s WONJUN – The Perfectionist Learning to Trust Himself

News

Comeback Corner: IU, YOUNGTAK, NAZE & MORE

Seola and Eunseo of WJSN Leave Starship Entertainment

BTS’ Jimin Sets Korean-Language Streaming Record With “Like Crazy”

SOOBIN, Dolce & Gabbana and the Growing Power of Male K-Beauty

TWICE To Release <THIS IS FOR> World Tour Finale Live Vinyl

PLAVE To Release 5th Mini Album ‘HYPERDRIVE’ Following Sold-out Stadium Concerts

How Matin Kim Became Your Favorite Idol’s Favorite Fashion Brand

BIGHIT MUSIC Opens 2026 Global Audition for Male Talent

Last Week In K-pop, Interpreted (September 7 - September 11, 2026)

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