JACOB takes us track by track through j., his solo debut – seven songs, brought together in a project he built almost entirely on his own terms

Track-By-Track: JACOB’s j.

CHOI YU REE returns with Stay: Two, the companion EP to last year's Stay: One – but this isn't a sequel that continues the story

Track-By-Track: Choi Yu Ree’s Stay: Two

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The Seoul-born singer-songwriter is 17 years old, less than two years into her career, and already operating on her own terms – writing and producing her music

ZIN CHOI: Listen at Your Own Risk

Before Islington Assembly Hall opened its doors, KANG YUCHAN and from20 brought us behind the curtains before the two rising stars took to the stage

Backstage At KANG YUCHAN & from20’s Body Talk Tour in London

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

CORTIS built "FaSHioN" around a lyric that refuses the idea that style needs money – 200 million streams later, the track is still their clearest statement of intent

CORTIS’ First Anniversary Positions Them As K-Pop Fashion Royalty

K-pop fandom has never just been about consumption. Fans have spent decades archiving, translating, and sharing content, driven by both accessibility and the instinct to protect moments that might otherwise disappear from an artist's history entirely

K-Pop Fans Are Not Just the Audience - They're the Archive

SHINee is a boy group formed by SM Entertainment, debuting in May 2008 with &quot;Replay.&quot; The group consists of Onew, Jonghyun, Key, Minho, and Taemin. SM promoted them as a &quot;contemporary band,&quot; a phrase that fit their role as trendsetters in music, choreography, styling, and performance. SHINee&#x27;s catalog moved quickly from the smooth youthfulness of &quot;Replay&quot; into sharper electronic pop and hybrid performance tracks. Later records like &quot;View&quot; and &quot;1 of 1&quot; showed how far they could push taste while staying accessible, bringing deep house, retro R&amp;B, and fashion-conscious presentation into mainstream idol pop. Their dances were often technical without feeling stiff, and their vocals gave even experimental tracks a polished center. The members built unusually strong individual identities: Onew as a warm vocalist, Jonghyun as a songwriter and one of K-pop&#x27;s most expressive singers, Key as a style and variety standout, Minho as an athletic performer and actor, and Taemin as a solo performer whose work influenced later idols. Jonghyun&#x27;s death in 2017 remains an important and painful part of SHINee&#x27;s history, and the group&#x27;s later activities are often understood through both grief and continuity. SHINee&#x27;s fandom is known as Shawol. Their legacy is deep because they were not only popular; they were influential in ways that became part of K-pop&#x27;s basic vocabulary. Later groups inherited their emphasis on difficult choreography, distinctive styling, strong solo identities, and the idea that idol pop could be both polished and genuinely adventurous.

SHINee

TAEMIN has officially unveiled the European dates of his &lt;LiMiNaL&gt; World Tour

TAEMIN Announces Europe Leg of <LiMiNaL> World Tour

i-dle, formerly known as (G)I-DLE, is a girl group formed by Cube Entertainment, debuting in May 2018. The current lineup consists of Miyeon, Minnie, Soyeon, Yuqi, and Shuhua, with Soojin as a former member. From debut, the group stood out because leader Soyeon played a central creative role in songwriting, production, and concept direction. Their first single, &quot;LATATA,&quot; introduced a group that could feel stylish without being anonymous. Over time, i-dle became known for concepts that were easy to name and hard to confuse: the dark elegance of &quot;HANN,&quot; the theatrical fire imagery of &quot;HWAA,&quot; the blunt rebellion of &quot;TOMBOY,&quot; and the satire and confidence of later hits. The group often treats a comeback like a thesis statement, with styling, lyrics, and stage language all pointing toward the same idea. i-dle&#x27;s member contrast is central to that impact. Miyeon gives the group a clean vocal center, Minnie adds a dreamy tone and international texture, Soyeon brings rap and creative direction, Yuqi gives warmth and a distinctive low voice, and Shuhua contributes visual and performance presence. The result is a group that can be sharp, funny, dramatic, or strange without losing its center. Their fandom is known as Neverland. i-dle&#x27;s importance lies in how visibly they challenged expectations around girl-group authorship. They helped make it normal to talk about a female idol group not only as performers of a concept, but as artists shaping the concept itself.

i-dle

On August 20, CUBE Entertainment announced that i-dle’s leader SOYEON will return as a solo artist with an album releasing in early September – her first since 2021

I-dle’s SOYEON To Release First Solo Album Since 2021

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

Momo of TWICE has been selected as the Fall 2026 ambassador for Korean fashion brand Matin Kim

TWICE’s Momo Named Fall Ambassador for Matin Kim

NCT Dream is a unit of NCT under SM Entertainment, originally introduced as the project&#x27;s youth-oriented team. The current profile centers on Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Chenle, and Jisung, with Mark tied to the unit&#x27;s earlier history. The unit debuted in 2016 with &quot;Chewing Gum&quot; and was first designed around a graduation system, where members would leave after reaching adulthood. That concept became one of the most important parts of NCT Dream&#x27;s story because fan attachment to the lineup eventually helped shift the unit into a fixed-team model. NCT Dream&#x27;s music tracks a coming-of-age arc more clearly than most NCT units. Their early releases emphasized bright teen energy, while later work grew into more confident dance-pop, stronger sales, and large-scale touring without losing the sense of member chemistry that fans had defended. The fandom connection is tied to NCTzen. The change from graduation concept to permanent unit became central to NCT Dream&#x27;s identity, helping the group become one of NCT&#x27;s most emotionally resonant and commercially powerful branches.

NCT Dream

SM Entertainment has announced that all six members of NCT DREAM have re-signed with the agency, allowing the continuation of group activities

NCT DREAM Resigns With SM Entertainment

Stray Kids is an eight-member boy group under JYP Entertainment, consisting of Bang Chan, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, Han, Felix, Seungmin, and I.N. The group was introduced through the 2017 survival program Stray Kids and officially debuted in March 2018 with I Am Not, following the pre-debut release &quot;Hellevator.&quot; Former member Kim Woojin left in 2019. The group&#x27;s identity is unusually tied to self-production. Before debut, Bang Chan had already gathered the members around a team-first concept, and the production trio 3RACHA -- Bang Chan, Changbin, and Han -- became the engine behind much of Stray Kids&#x27; sound. That gave the group a different center of gravity from many idol acts: the music often felt like it came from inside the team rather than being assigned to them. Musically, Stray Kids are known for dense rap writing, aggressive electronic textures, sudden rhythmic switches, and choruses built for performance impact. &quot;God&#x27;s Menu,&quot; &quot;Back Door,&quot; &quot;Thunderous,&quot; &quot;Maniac,&quot; and &quot;S-Class&quot; made their style easy to identify: noisy in the intentional sense, but organized around hooks, slogans, and choreography that fans could immediately hold onto. Their lyrics often return to pressure, self-definition, ambition, and the awkward process of growing into confidence. The members&#x27; contrast is a major part of the group&#x27;s appeal. Bang Chan anchors the team as leader and producer; Changbin and Han give the rap line speed and personality; Lee Know, Hyunjin, and Felix shape the performance image; Seungmin and I.N bring clearer melodic balance. Rather than smoothing those differences out, Stray Kids usually lean into them, making their songs feel crowded, restless, and unmistakably theirs. Stray Kids became one of the defining global boy groups of the fourth generation, with a fandom known as STAY and major touring success across Asia, North America, Europe, and beyond. Their rise helped prove that a self-producing idol group could scale internationally while keeping a specific sonic fingerprint. Even when the group experiments with genre or language, the core idea remains stable: Stray Kids make high-impact pop out of tension, noise, teamwork, and control.

Stray Kids

Stray Kids kicked off their fourth world tour, &lt;RUN IT&gt;, in Seoul at the end of July. A new tour comes with a new setlist

<RUN IT> Seoul The Start of Stray Kids’ “Eras Tour”

BLACKPINK is a four-member South Korean girl group formed by YG Entertainment, consisting of Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa. They debuted on August 8, 2016 with Square One, led by &quot;Boombayah&quot; and &quot;Whistle,&quot; and arrived as YG&#x27;s first new girl group after 2NE1. From the beginning, the group was presented less as a large idol ensemble and more as four sharply individualized performers, each with a distinct vocal tone, visual identity, and public role. The group&#x27;s name captures the tension that became central to their image: &quot;black&quot; for a harder, more self-assured edge and &quot;pink&quot; for glamour, playfulness, and pop accessibility. Their music often builds around that contrast. Jennie and Lisa&#x27;s rap sections give many songs a clipped, percussive center, while Jisoo and Rosé&#x27;s vocals provide melodic lift and emotional color. This structure made BLACKPINK songs easy to recognize even across different producers, languages, and markets; the group could move from the spare whistle hook of their debut to the maximal drops of &quot;DDU-DU DDU-DU&quot; and still feel like the same act. BLACKPINK&#x27;s rise was also shaped by scarcity. Compared with many idol groups, they released relatively few songs in their first several years, which made each comeback feel closer to an event than a routine promotional cycle. That strategy had tradeoffs, but it concentrated public attention on a small set of songs, videos, styling choices, and stage moments. Tracks such as Kill This Love, How You Like That, Pink Venom, and Shut Down became reference points for a global-facing K-pop style built around impact, visual clarity, and immediately repeatable hooks. Their international growth came from more than chart performance. BLACKPINK connected K-pop&#x27;s idol system with the language of global pop, luxury fashion, digital fandom, and festival stages. They were the first Korean girl group to perform at Coachella in 2019 and returned in 2023 as the first K-pop act to headline the festival. Collaborations with Western pop artists, major fashion-house relationships, and an unusually large YouTube and social-media footprint helped make the members visible to audiences who did not necessarily follow Korean music closely. As individual artists, all four members developed major careers in music, acting, fashion, and brand work, making BLACKPINK one of the clearest examples of a modern K-pop group whose group identity and solo identities reinforce each other. After renewing with YG for group activities, the members&#x27; individual paths became more independent while BLACKPINK remained active as a shared brand and performance unit. Their significance is not only that they broke records, but that they helped normalize a model where a K-pop girl group could operate simultaneously as an idol act, a global pop project, and a set of four standalone celebrity careers. The fandom is known as BLINK.

BLACKPINK

On August 19, JENNIE’s personal agency Odd Atelier announced that she will release a new EP in late August

JENNIE Announces New EP for Late August

Rising boygroup CORTIS has been nominated for two awards at the audience-voted MTV VMAs, in the Best New Artist and Best K-pop categories

CORTIS Nominated for Two Awards at the MTV VMAs

AtHeart is a seven-member girl group under Titan Content. The lineup consists of Arin, Michi, Katelyn, Bome, Seohyeon, Aurora, and Nahyun. The group introduced its members gradually from 2024 into 2025, released the pre-debut single Good Girl (AtHeart), and officially debuted on August 13, 2025 with Plot Twist. Their fandom is known as Heartbeat. AtHeart&#x27;s early identity centers on polished pop, individual member visibility, and a social-media-friendly rollout that lets each member show a distinct personality. After debut, the group expanded the Plot Twist era with Plot Twist (English ver.) and Plot Twist (Remixes), then continued with singles such as Shut Up and Butterfly Doors.

AtHeart

Rookie girl group AtHeart have released a new single, “3!4!”, accompanied by the announcement of a promotional multiplatform drama of the same name

AtHeart Release New Single “3!4!” and Launch Multiplatform Drama

On YouTube this week, K-pop is everywhere – and the data makes that case without needing any help

KATSEYE's WILD Arrives as ATEEZ and Stray Kids Add to a Strong Week for K-Pop on YouTube

K-pop's trainee system is widely considered the most extensive and intense artist development model in the music industry – and it didn't start with K-pop

The Trainee System, Explained: How K-pop Stars Are Made

While major K-pop companies like the Big 4 are still considered the leading agencies in South Korea’s idol industry, other mid-tier labels have steadily risen as contenders and real players in influencing music and idol culture

I-dle’s SOYEON To Release First Solo Album Since 2021

TWICE’s Momo Named Fall Ambassador for Matin Kim

Exclusive

Track-By-Track: JACOB’s j.

Track-By-Track: Choi Yu Ree’s Stay: Two

News

NCT DREAM Resigns With SM Entertainment

<RUN IT> Seoul The Start of Stray Kids’ “Eras Tour”

JENNIE Announces New EP for Late August

CORTIS Nominated for Two Awards at the MTV VMAs

AtHeart Release New Single “3!4!” and Launch Multiplatform Drama

KATSEYE's WILD Arrives as ATEEZ and Stray Kids Add to a Strong Week for K-Pop on YouTube

The Trainee System, Explained: How K-pop Stars Are Made

Backstage At KANG YUCHAN & from20’s Body Talk Tour in London

Beyond the Big 4: How K-pop’s Mid-Tier Labels Are Winning the Long Game

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