SM Entertainment (SM), which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, is once again challenging the ‘girl group syndrome’. SM, which produced consecutive hits with Girls‘ Generation, f(x), Red Velvet, and Espa, is releasing a new girl group after a full 5 years, attracting the attention of global K-pop fans.

SM’s new ‘youngest daughter’, who has confirmed their debut on February 24, is the 8-member girl group Hearts2Hearts. They revealed their group name and faces for the first time through a trailer at the end of the second day of the ‘SM TOWN LIVE 2025’ held at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on the 12th.

According to SM, Hearts To Hearts contained the meaning in the team name “of connecting hearts with global fans and moving forward together as a bigger ‘we’ through their own mysterious and beautiful music world filled with various emotions and sincere messages”.

The eight members of various nationalities only showed their faces in a short 40-second video, and their exact information is still shrouded in mystery. Nevertheless, as soon as news of the new group‘s debut spread, various speculations about the members poured in among K-pop fans at home and abroad, boasting ‘firepower’ that is no less than that of existing groups. Some fans are already forming a fandom by bringing up videos of SM trainees’ showcases in the past.

People both inside and outside the music industry are looking at Hearts To Hearts with curiosity as it is the first large-scale girl group to be released by SM in about 18 years since Girls‘ Generation, which started as a 9-member group in 2007. Since Girls’ Generation, SM has mostly produced girl groups with 4-5 members.

Furthermore, some are saying that this is the first girl group to be released under SM‘s new system, ‘SM 3.0’, and that it will be a new testing ground for SM. Just as the previous group, aespa, built a unique image with ‘Soimat’ with EDM-based music and created mega hits with ‘Supernova’’‘Whiplash’, Hearts To Hearts are also expected to put forward a new concept that has never been attempted before.

SM is also expected to spare no support in various promotional activities until Hearts To Hearts gets on track. On the 13th, SM emphasized, “As a group debuting in the 30th anniversary of its founding, we will show a differentiated color based on our unique cultural heritage and solid planning capabilities.”


Reporter Yoo Ji-hye yjh0304@donga.com