More boy groups expected to debut this year

Over the past two to three years, boy groups have performed poorly in Korea compared to girl groups. Among the 4th-generation idol groups, several girl groups such as aespa, IVE, LE SSERAFIM, and NewJeans are enjoying a long stretch of success. Accordingly, large agencies are carrying out various plans to select boy groups this year.

Big Hit Music, the agency of BTS, announced on its homepage on Feb. 10 that it would hold a ‘Big Hit Music New Boy Group Audition.' PLEDIS Entertainment, under HYBE, will showcase a boy group at the end of this year, eight years after the introduction of Seventeen. JYP plans to debut boy groups selected through the SBS audition program “LOUD” in the second quarter of this year (April to June). SM Entertainment will introduce two of the three new teams this year: NCT unit 2 and a regular boy group.

In the music industry, the absence of BTS has affected such a flurry of new boy bands on the horizon. "As BTS, which has seen a solid path of being No. 1, continued for an extended period of time, a shift for a new generation of a boy group took longer than usual," an official from a large entertainment company said. "The competition between 3rd-and 4th-generation idols and new groups, who have made comebacks to fill the vacancy created by BTS members' solo activities and military enlistment, is expected to become very fierce.”


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