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

KPOPWORLD #5

KPOPWORLD #4

KPOPWORLD #3

KPOPWORLD #2 (Poster Version)

Beyond K-pop, Southeast Asian genres like P-pop are gaining international attention. Leading the charge is boy band SB19, who are coming to San Antonio to show exactly why

KPOPWORLD Festival Spotlight: SB19

Jay Park headlines the first-ever KPOPWORLD Festival, and if you know his story, that booking makes perfect sense

KPOPWORLD Festival Spotlight: Jay Park

As the second KPOPWORLD Festival headliner, indie-rock band The Rose present a refreshing authenticity

KPOPWORLD Festival Spotlight: The Rose

Always thinking about ways to support the team, JEONG brings a distinctly group-minded perspective to his role in WHIB

An Interview with WHIB’s LEE JEONG – The Team Player Who Brings WHIB Together

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

BOYNEXTDOOR, is a South Korean boy group formed by KOZ Entertainment, a subsidiary of HYBE LABELS. The group consists of six members: Sungho, Riwoo, Jaehyun, Taesan, Leehan, and Woonhak. They debuted on May 30, 2023, with the single album &quot;Who!&quot;, featuring the tracks &quot;But I Like You,&quot; &quot;One and Only,&quot; and &quot;Serenade.&quot; Marketed with a &quot;boy next door&quot; image, the group emphasizes relatable storytelling and youth-centered themes, blending pop, hip-hop, and R&amp;B influences. BOYNEXTDOOR is recognized for its self-produced approach, with members contributing to songwriting and production under the creative direction of KOZ founder Zico. Following debut, they achieved strong rookie sales and growing international popularity through subsequent releases and live promotions.

BOYNEXTDOOR

KOZ Entertainment’s BOYNEXTDOOR has announced their first repackage album, HOME: DELUXE, scheduled for release on September 28, 2026

BOYNEXTDOOR Unveils Repackage Album ‘HOME: DELUXE’

SEVENTEEN is a thirteen-member boy group formed by Pledis Entertainment, debuting in May 2015. The group is organized into three internal teams: hip-hop, vocal, and performance. That structure is more than branding; it explains how SEVENTEEN functions, with members contributing to songwriting, choreography, staging, and the division of energy across a very large lineup. The members are S.Coups, Jeonghan, Joshua, Jun, Hoshi, Wonwoo, Woozi, DK, Mingyu, The8, Seungkwan, Vernon, and Dino. Their nickname as &quot;self-producing idols&quot; comes especially from Woozi&#x27;s central role in music and Hoshi&#x27;s role in performance direction, but the larger appeal is how the group makes thirteen people feel coordinated rather than crowded. SEVENTEEN&#x27;s early music leaned bright, youthful, and rhythmically nimble, with songs like &quot;Adore U,&quot; &quot;Mansae,&quot; and &quot;Very Nice&quot; presenting them as a group with unusual stage chemistry. Later releases such as &quot;Don&#x27;t Wanna Cry,&quot; &quot;Home,&quot; &quot;Left &amp; Right,&quot; &quot;Rock with you,&quot; and &quot;Super&quot; widened the scale while keeping the choreography and vocal distribution clear. Their best songs often turn teamwork itself into the hook: repeated gestures, fast transitions, and formations that reward watching the whole stage. The group&#x27;s growth into one of K-pop&#x27;s top album sellers came from consistency as much as spectacle. SEVENTEEN built trust through steady comebacks, strong variety content, and concerts that emphasized the members&#x27; humor as well as precision. Their fandom, CARAT, became part of that identity, following a group that could be technically impressive without losing warmth. SEVENTEEN&#x27;s legacy is tied to durability. Few large idol groups have kept such a clear group image while allowing so many individual personalities to stand out. As their scale expanded under the wider HYBE era, they remained recognizably Pledis-born: performance-first, member-driven, and unusually good at turning the mechanics of a big team into something emotionally easy to understand.

SEVENTEEN

PLEDIS Entertainment has announced that Jun of SEVENTEEN has been cast as the male lead in the Chinese romance film Summer Never Ends, directed by Golden horse winner Bao Jingjing

SEVENTEEN’s Jun Cast as Lead in Chinese Movie ‘Summer Never Ends’

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

Popular Korean fashion brand Matin Kim has unveiled its fall 2026 ambassador: Lee Know of Stray Kids

Stray Kids’ Lee Know Chosen as Matin Kim’s Fall 2026 Ambassador

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

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

Sung Hanbin, leader of ZEROBASEONE, has announced his first solo album under THE L1VE LABEL, to be released on October 12

ZEROBASEONE’s Sung Hanbin To Release First Solo Album

EXO-CBX is a subunit of EXO formed by SM Entertainment, consisting of Chen, Baekhyun, and Xiumin. The unit debuted in 2016 with Hey Mama!, giving three of EXO&#x27;s most agile vocal performers a brighter and more compact setting than the main group often used. The unit&#x27;s appeal comes from vocal chemistry and pace. Chen brings strong high-note power, Baekhyun adds a flexible R&amp;B/pop center, and Xiumin gives the trio a clean tone and performance sharpness. The trio&#x27;s music, especially &quot;Hey Mama!&quot; and &quot;Blooming Day,&quot; shows a lighter, funkier, and more playful side of EXO&#x27;s wider musical world without disconnecting from the main group. EXO-CBX is important because it made an EXO subunit feel like a complete pop act rather than a temporary pairing. The group&#x27;s releases in Korea and Japan gave fans a focused version of EXO&#x27;s vocal color, built around three members whose voices could carry both energetic dance tracks and smoother melodic material.

EXO-CBX

EXO’s sub-unit CBX, made up of Chen, Baekhyun, and Xiumin, have reportedly filed a legal injunction against their company INB100

EXO and CBX’s Chen, Baekhyun, and Xiumin File for Contract Suspension from INB100

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

ENHYPEN is a boy group formed through the 2020 survival show I-LAND and managed by Belift Lab. The current lineup consists of Jungwon, Jay, Jake, Sunghoon, Sunoo, and Ni-ki. They debuted in November 2020 with Border: Day One, arriving with a built-in global audience from the show and a concept built around connection, transformation, and fate. The group&#x27;s early work used dark, dramatic imagery to separate them from brighter rookie-boy-group formulas. &quot;Given-Taken,&quot; &quot;Drunk-Dazed,&quot; &quot;Fever,&quot; and later songs in the Dimension and Dark Blood eras leaned into supernatural metaphors, sharp choreography, and a tension between elegance and danger. That made ENHYPEN feel less like a simple survival-show product and more like a group with a continuing storyline. ENHYPEN&#x27;s member appeal is strongly performance-based. Jungwon gives the team a steady center as leader, Jay and Jake bring international texture, Sunghoon&#x27;s skating background informs his clean stage image, Sunoo adds brightness and contrast, and Ni-ki anchors the dance line with unusual precision for a maknae. Their fandom, ENGENE, grew quickly because the group&#x27;s identity invited close reading: fans could follow the music, the lore, and the members&#x27; development at the same time. As a fourth-generation act, ENHYPEN&#x27;s importance sits between survival-show fandom and global idol scale. They showed how a group could debut with a transnational audience already watching, then keep that audience through consistent visual storytelling, polished performance, and songs that made adolescence feel mythic rather than ordinary.

ENHYPEN

EVAN has arrived with his first mini album: DEATH OF ME is out now, with eight tracks led by EVAN across production and creative direction, stretching from alt-rock grit to dream pop softness

EVAN Arrives With Debut Mini Album DEATH OF ME

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

NiziU (ニジュー) is a nine-member Japanese girl group formed by JYP Entertainment and Sony Music Japan through the Japanese reality show Nizi Project. The group’s name, a combination of &quot;Nizi&quot; (rainbow) and &quot;U&quot; (the fans/members), symbolizes their goal of shining in various colors. The final lineup was established on June 26, 2020, featuring leader Mako, along with Rio, Maya, Riku, Ayaka, Mayuka, Rima, Miihi, and Nina. After the massive pre-debut success of &quot;Make you happy&quot;, the group officially debuted on December 2, 2020, with &quot;Step and a step.&quot;

NiziU

JYP Entertainment’s rising Japanese girl group NiziU has announced their first Korean mini album, ‘Sour Grapes.’ Scheduled for September 28, 2026

KPOPWORLD Festival Spotlight: CRAVITY

BOYNEXTDOOR Unveils Repackage Album ‘HOME: DELUXE’

Exclusive

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

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

News

SEVENTEEN’s Jun Cast as Lead in Chinese Movie ‘Summer Never Ends’

Stray Kids’ Lee Know Chosen as Matin Kim’s Fall 2026 Ambassador

KPOPWORLD Festival Spotlight: DEAN & Tabber

ZEROBASEONE’s Sung Hanbin To Release First Solo Album

EXO and CBX’s Chen, Baekhyun, and Xiumin File for Contract Suspension from INB100

KPOPWORLD Festival Spotlight: Wonho

EVAN Arrives With Debut Mini Album DEATH OF ME

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

Japanese Girl Group NiziU To Release First Korean Mini Album

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