The keyword that runs through the ‘K-pop Big 4’ this year is ‘discovering new talent’. A new ‘rookie war’ has come to fruition as Hybe, SM Entertainment (SM), JYP Entertainment (JYP), and YG Entertainment (YG), which are leading the K-pop market, are all gearing up to launch new groups.

JYP will be the first to present the seven-member boy group Kickflip. Kickflip includes Koreans Lee Kye-hoon and Lee Dong-hyun and Japanese members Amaru and Keizu, who were selected through the SBS audition program ‘Loud’, which ‘chief’ singer Park Jin-young led in 2021. It has been reported that the group has been completed with the addition of three trainees who have not yet been revealed.

The group name itself, ‘Kickflip’, which refers to a skateboarding technique of spinning the board 360 degrees with the tip of the foot, gives off a free-spirited vibe. JYP explained Kickflip as “a name that contains the aspiration to please people‘s eyes and ears with music and performance, without being bound by existing techniques like the kickflip technique”. They were planning to reveal content related to their debut project starting on the 1st, but the schedule was postponed to the 6th due to the recent Jeju Air disaster.

SM, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, has officially announced the debut of a new girl group in the first half of the year. This will be the first time SM has introduced a girl group in five years since aespa. The number of members or the exact debut date have not been revealed yet, but as the first girl group under SM’s new system, the so-called ‘SM 3.0’ system, they are already receiving hot attention from K-pop fandom.

There are also high internal expectations for the new girl group. Co-CEO Jang Chul-hyuk recently announced, “With the debut of the new girl group, the artist IP (intellectual property) and artist lineup across all generations of K-pop will be further solidified.”

YG is also planning to release a new group this year. Given that the girl group Baby Monster debuted in 2023, the new group is likely to be a boy group. General Producer Yang Hyun-suk, who is leading the rookie project, recently revealed the ‘Annual Plan’, adding, “There are quite a few trainees waiting to debut at YG right now,” raising expectations.

HYBE has not revealed specific plans for the debut of its new group, but it is reported that various labels are in the final stages of preparing multinational groups. Previously, Pledis Entertainment, Source Music, etc. have been making all-out efforts to expand their talent pool by holding global auditions.


Reporter Yoo Ji-hye yjh0304@donga.com