2024: The Year of the Boy Group Resurgence?
January 2024 has showed us one thing: K-pop boy groups are back, baby!
Although 2023 was the year of the Kpop girl group, you may have noticed some important debuts of new (are we really calling them fifth gen? Am I really that old?) boy groups. This trend has continued into 2024, and while the girl group wave is certainly continuing, these new boy groups are no joke. Here’s what you need to know.
The biggest fifth gen boy group (henceforth 5GBG) news of the month was, of course, the debut of TWS. The first new boy group from Pledis Entertainment, these boys do not disappoint! They are giving me all the classic Pledis vibes: theatrical choreography synchronized to perfection and fairly even line and dance formation distribution. Their debut single is Plot Twist, and the lyrics are adorably perfect for a debut. With the HYBE machine behind them and riding the coattails of Seventeen’s domination this year, I’m expecting big things from these boys. Oh MyMy: 7s is a particular standout from their album and the dance practice video for this song made me squeal in excitement.
I want to flag one other 5GBG debut in January - All(H)ours debuted January 10 with Gotcha. This song hasn’t really been making huge waves that I’ve seen on Spotify or Instagram BUT the music video has an astonishing 22 million views already!? The performance is strong, production is good, and the group has vibes somewhere between old BTS and Stray Kids, although I don’t think All(H)ours is writing and producing their own songs, so it doesn’t feel quite fair to compare them to either of those groups yet.
Three other 5GBGs had comebacks in January! First up, Riize is back with their third comeback, Love 119. This is a refreshing return to form for Riize after missing a step with their last comeback (Talk Saxy), which carried on the “instrument” theme from debut (Get a Guitar) but was too mature for this fresh faced group. In any case, Love 119 is back in the sweet spot, with a particularly great shouty/chanted chorus which will be so fun to see live! I’m excited to see SM getting a group right and letting go of the neo culture sound. Riize captures the more trendy-stripped back K-Pop style popularized by NewJeans but with an SM spin (aka insane visuals and vocals plus top notch production).
A strong contender for my favorite January comeback was a total surprise - 8TURN’s Ru-Pum-Pum has been stuck in my head all month. I also LOVE the all blonde music video! 8TURN comes from a small agency (MNH), and so the fact that their 2023 singles made a bit of a splash is no mean feat! You’ve probably heard Tic Tac even if you don’t know that you’ve heard it. Ru-Pum-Pum and 8TURN in general is definitely more “noise music” than Riize or TWS but it’s noise music with smoother edges than we got from the third and fourth gen groups who introduced this sound.
The other 5GBG with a comeback this month was from a group I hadn’t heard of, Evnne. This group debuted in September last year and is made up of runners up from Boys Planet, last year’s super popular survival show. The group is under contract for one year only, and Ugly is their second comeback. It’s quite good! And if you compare it to their (also decent) debut Trouble, you can see how far they’ve come since September and it’s actually really impressive!
Although they haven’t been active this month, no discussion of 5GBGs is complete without mentioning the two groups that made big waves last year.
First of course is Boy Next Door, who debuted in May last year to huge fanfare from HYBE imprint KOZ. This was the first boy group to pick up on the sound NewJeans has been trailblazing in girl group land, a very stripped back “fresh” sound which we’re now seeing everywhere. BND debuted with a “debut album” instead of a single, but One and Only was the standout track for me. I was really impressed by this group’s fresh concept, sound, and charisma, but I’m worried that we haven’t heard much from them since debut and other groups are now delivering similar sounds. I’d expect a comeback soon!
And of course there’s arguably the most popular 5GBG in Korea at the moment, ZeroBaseOne. This is the group formed from the winners of Boys Planet (the same show that created runner up group Evnne). They are under contract for a bit longer - 2 and a half years. Groups formed from these types of shows are always domestically successful, at least at first (see the limited success of label mates Kep1er, formed through a similar show in 2021). There’s no denying that July’s In Bloom was a bop though! The recognizable recurring sample of Take On Me really helps make it an earworm.
OK so now you’re (relatively) up to date on 5GBGs! Still feeling overwhelmed and unsure where to start? Here’s my helpful “if you like this, try that” guide to help ease you in to our new reality (fifth gen overlords).
If you like this…. Try this…
Seventeen → TWS
Stray Kids → Evnne
NCT-127 → 8TURN
NewJeans → Boy Next Door
Exo → Riize
TXT → ZeroBaseOne
early BTS → All(H)ours
PS Who is your fifth gen bias? Mine has to be Wonbin from Riize, those visuals SHEESH!