K-pop's 5th Gen Kicks Off with Boyband Rush

 K-pop is entering a new era, with rookie boy bands rushing to open doors.

Girl groups flourished during the fourth generation of K-pop groups, which is dominated by those that made their debuts between 2019 and 2022. During those years, unique and excellent groups dominated the stage and the charts, from Aespa to Ive, NewJeans, Le Sserafim, and Itzy. But trends come and go, and it seems boy bands might be popular once more.

The number of new boy bands scheduled to make their debuts under Hybe, the multi-label company known for household names like BTS, Seventeen, NewJeans, and Enhypen, is one of the most highly anticipated groups from the upcoming generation.

Four new boy bands are expected to be released by Hybe this year alone. Boynextdoor, the first idol group under KOZ Entertainment, will be Hybe's debut offering. The six-piece act will make their debut on May 30 with the track "Who!" despite the fact that not much is known about them.

This year, Pledis Entertainment plans to introduce a brand-new boy band. The group will be the label's first new male idol group since Seventeen in eight years.

Belift Lab, under which Enhypen was created through Mnet's audition program "I-Land" in 2020, plans to broadcast the program's second season and make a boy band debut through it in the second half of 2023.

The label of NewJeans, Ador, has lately started interviewing talented potential members for its forthcoming boy group, despite not having a fixed launch date of 2023.

Aroundus, the Group Highlight's agency, is kicking off the new year with The Wind. The Wind, a group of seven teenage males composed of six Korean and one Thai, will enter the music industry on May 15 with its debut EP, "Beginning: The Wind Page."

Eight-piece Lun8, will make their debut on Astro's Fantagio label. Lun8 is a largely Korean group with one Japanese member, the company's first new male group in seven years since Astro. The group plans to make its debut in June.

The final NCT subunit will officially debut this year, according to SM Entertainment. The final component of the "Neo Culture Technology" brand, which began with the idea to continuously premiere boy bands in major cities around the world, will be the subunit, provisionally dubbed NCT Tokyo.

JYP Entertainment also intends to release at least two new male teams this year, one of which will target China especially and the other will be a product of the label's "Loud" TV audition program for 2021.

There are already certain teams on the scene. Xikers, the second boy group released by Ateez's company KQ, was successfully introduced last month. The 10-piece band burst onto the scene with their debut EP, "House of Tricky: Doorbell Ringing," and within 12 days of its release, it debuted at No. 75 on the Billboard 200's main album list.

In April, the international nonet Xodiac and the six-piece CMDM made their debuts. The current K-pop boy band trend is also reflected in TV audition shows. Mnet will shortly release ZB1, a project group that was created through "Boys Planet." ZB1 will remain as a group for two and a half years and consists of the nine fan-selected program winners.

Final Line-up Boy's Planet (Source:Google)

MBC is now running "Fantasy Boys," while JTBC recently finished "Peak Time," which featured male K-pop artists who had already made their television debuts.