Like Big Hit Entertainment labelmates BTS before them, the members of boy group Color Outside the Lines, or CORTIS, burst onto the K-pop scene eager to tell their own stories of youth. From the exclamatory trap anthem “GO!” to grunge-rock lead single “What You Want” to reference-heavy hip-hop track “FaSHioN,” teen members James, Juhoon, Martin, Seonghyeon, and Keonho strive to be seen as a group that doesn’t fit into any of the traditional K-pop boxes—and “for the whole world to know [their] name.”

But it’s comparatively minimalist EP tracks like “JoyRide” and “Lullaby” that have some of the most unexpected things to say. On the latter—a hazy, acoustic ode to an already weary Generation Z—CORTIS interrupts a serenade of <i>ooh</i>s with a shouted yet still soothing refrain: “I GOT WORK/YOU GOT WORK/BUT IN THIS MOMENT/QUIET FIRST.” A valuing of respite alongside the boldest of global pop ambitions.

Four years after her solo debut <i>Hello</i>, Red Velvet singer JOY (aka 박수영) returned with the summer-themed EP <i>From JOY, with Love</i>. Though JOY originally debuted as Red Velvet’s lead rapper, she would become better known for her singing, and specifically for her sweet, airy vocal tone. Alongside fellow Red Velvet members IRENE, SEULGI, WENDY, and YERI, JOY has been active in the K-pop industry since the girl group’s debut in 2014. However, a multi-hyphenate career as a variety show host and drama actor has kept her from releasing solo music as frequently as many of her third-generation contemporaries.

While <i>Hello</i> gave listeners JOY’s reinterpretation of already famous tracks (e.g. Park Hye Kyung’s 2003 hit “Hello”), <i>From JOY, with Love</i> includes six original songs, perhaps giving fans a better chance to understand the singer’s intentions as an artist. This may be especially true for the songs JOY helped write: brass-led dance track “Get Up and Dance” and pop ballad “Unwritten Page,” which was written as a message to a past version of JOY who is going through a difficult time. Bubbly lead single “Love Splash!” is a beach-set bop about falling in love—but the album as a whole is designed to give JOY’s perspectives on four diverse forms of love: playful love, friendship, self-love, and romantic love.

<i>IVE SECRET</i> is the second Korean mini album of 2025 for IVE, the K-pop girl group known for hits like “LOVE DIVE” and “After LIKE.” As the title suggests, the six-track album is an exploration of the lesser-known, complex emotions behind the glossy facade of the fourth-generation team, composed of members Gaeul, Yujin, Rei, Wonyoung, Liz, and Leeseo.

Sonically, this means a more subdued sound for IVE. Gone are the soaring choruses of “I AM” and “REBEL HEART.” Instead, dreamy lead single “XOXZ” builds to a rap-chant chorus of the title slang, created to mean “I love you, good night, see you in my dreams.” IVE pairs the low-key chorus with a lulling, melodic “ooh-ooh, ooh,” a subtle and powerful reminder of their vocal prowess.

The album’s “secret” theme is more explicit in tracks like “Dear, My Feelings,” a song about looking back at old diary entries with fondness, and “♥beats,” a laidback electropop bop about love explored on a digital landscape. Wonyoung participated in writing the lyrics for “XOXZ,” while Liz co-wrote the lyrics for “Midnight Kiss,” a midtempo pop ballad about missing a lover.

<i>Cerulean Verge</i> wasn’t the start of Korean artist WENDY’s career—the K-pop soprano debuted alongside IRENE, JOY, and SEULGI as third-generation girl group Red Velvet in 2014—but it was the start of something new. The six-track pop EP was the first major project WENDY released following her solo split from SM Entertainment in April 2025, and the ASND Label album is filled with upbeat songs about harnessing the power of a fresh start.

<i>Cerulean Verge</i>’s central theme is perhaps most explicit on lead single “Sunkiss,” a pop anthem about embracing a new version of oneself, but an optimism is infused throughout the album. On “Hate2,” billed as WENDY’s first self-composed track, the singer beats back the inner voices telling her she’s not good enough. “I know what I really want,” she proclaims in the song’s soaring chorus. “I’m painting as my heart leads me.” On the English-language love song “Chapter You,” WENDY sets out on a different kind of journey—one that feels destined for some kind of success, given the broader faith in the future expressed on the piano ballad “Believe.”

On “EXISTENTIAL CRISIS,” a pop-punk track that sonically links <i>Cerulean Verge</i> with WENDY’s 2024 EP <i>Wish You Hell</i>, the singer has confidence that she can walk her own bold path. It’s one she’s taking listeners on along with her. “Even in the midst of any trials/Know I’m gonna be right there,” she promises on “Fireproof,” a rousing clap-along commitment to her fans.

TWICE成员CHAEYOUNG，9月12日发行个人出道正规专辑《LIL FANTASY vol.1》及主打歌《SHOOT (Firecracker)》
展现CHAEYOUNG内心小世界的首张个人正规专辑《LIL FANTASY vol.1》!能让大家看到"Artist CHAEYOUNG”全貌的作品

-CHAEYOUNG参与主打歌《SHOOT(Firecracker)》在内的所有歌曲的创作及视觉创意的全面指导
-主打歌《SHOOT (Firecracker)》，在俏皮又别致的旋律上唱出CHAEYOUNG抱负的歌曲！“一起享受这个派对吧！”
-专辑收录了MV先行公开曲《AVOCADO (feat. Gliico)》、TWICE全球巡演个人舞台曲《내 기타 (My Guitar)》、CD Only歌曲《Lonely Doll Waltz》等丰富曲目！

NMIXX(엔믹스) “Blue Valentine” Motion Poster
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NMIXX 1st Full Album “Blue Valentine”
➫ 2025.10.13 6PM (KST)
🫐 Pre-Save & Pre-Add
NMIXX.lnk.to/BlueValentine

With 2025’s <i>play hard</i>, TWS members Shinyu, Dohoon, Youngjae, Hanjin, Jihoon, and Kyungmin have begun to age into young adulthood, and they add some attitude to their bright, energetic musical formula, self-described as “boyhood pop.” On the hip-hop tracks “Head Shoulders Knees Toes” and “HOT BLUE SHOES,” the K-pop group trades soaring vocals for more restrained, chanted deliveries but keeps the group’s signature optimism.

Overwhelming feelings of love and attraction distract from TWS’s focus, though not necessarily in an unwelcome way. “You’re makin’ my heart 쿵쿵,” the members sing on “OVERDRIVE,” cleverly blending English phrasing with Korean onomatopoeia as they bound along on retro electric guitar riffs. On the ambling acoustic song “Caffeine Rush” and house-inspired pop track “overthinking,” a crush has the power to make the rest of reality feel gloriously hazy.

On their first mini album, Hearts2Hearts settle into the smooth, propulsive sound that has defined much of their first year as a K-pop squad. On the hypnotic house-pop title track “FOCUS,” members Jiwoo, Carmen, Yuha, Stella, Juun, A-na, Ian, and Ye-on sing about an all-encompassing attraction (“I cannot focus on anything but you, baby/I cannot focus on anything but you”). While the track works as a tale about youthful infatuation, it can also be read as a story about parasocial fascination—a complexity of attraction that Hearts2Hearts expand on across <i>FOCUS</i>’s five glossy tracks. The intimacy of female friendship is sugar-sweet on the sleepover-coded nu-disco track “Apple Pie,” while a delicate romantic love takes center stage on the city-pop bop “Flutter” and dreamy ballad “Blue Moon.” “Pretty Please” evokes the spirit of first- and second-generation girl groups in its vocally driven, midtempo exploration of connection.

<i>TUNNEL VISION</i>, the 11th mini album from K-pop girl group ITZY, is far from a debut for the five-member JYP Entertainment squad (Yeji, Lia, Ryujin, Chaeryeong, and Yuna), which has been active since 2019, but it embraces the kind of goal-oriented ambition usually associated with rookies. The EP opens with the mantra-like self-empowerment track “Focus” before launching into its main, anthemic statement: “TUNNEL VISION.” The Dem Jointz-produced dance track blends hip-hop and Afrobeats elements for a declaration that the group is “never backing down” from the grind required for their pop star dreams. Elsewhere on the six-track project, ITZY brings the theme of “focus” to the subject of relationships, challenging a would-be lover to make a move on the punchy dance-pop track “DYT” and giving up on an unfulfilling romance to concentrate on yourself on the retro-video-game-inspired “8-BIT HEART.”

The eldest member of Big Hit boy group TOMORROW X TOGETHER (aka TXT), Korean artist Choi Yeonjun uses his solo music to break out of any boxes fourth-generation K-pop may try to put him in. With his solo debut, 2024’s “GGUM,” the idol went against expectations by releasing a quirky hip-hop track worlds away from TXT’s emo-rock/synth-pop sound. On 2025’s <i>NO LABELS: PART 01</i>, the 26-year-old continues to play against K-pop “it boy” type, infusing funk rock, electronica, and old-school hip-hop elements into his EP debut.

<i>NO LABELS: PART 01</i>’s defiant themes are most explicit on “Nothin’ ’Bout Me,” a percussion-driven, brass-infused track that chafes against easy characterizations (“What you want?/I’m my own product/What you want?/Take off my label”), but they’re at their most liberatory on the bold, sexy rock lead single “Talk to You.” KATSEYE member Daniela stops by to feature on the R&B-leaning pop track “Let Me Tell You,” lending her Spanish-language skills to the love song’s seductive chorus.

NCT DREAM에게 시간이란 어떤 의미일까요? 전작 'Go Back To The Future'에서 이들은 시간 여행을 떠났습니다. 과거, 현재, 미래를 넘나들며 가장 빛나는 자신을 찾는 여정을 그렸죠. 이제, 이들은 또 다른 시간 이야기를 펼쳐나갑니다. 이번 미니 앨범 'Beat It Up'의 주제는 바로 '시간의 속도'입니다. 그동안 달려온 여정을 돌아보고, 휘둘림 없이 가장 자기다운 속도를 지키는 것. 그리고 그 속도 안에서 한계를 뚫고 성장해 나가는 것. 이것이 바로 'Beat It Up'이 전하고자 하는 메시지입니다.

묵직한 베이스와 킥이 귀를 사로잡는 'Beat It Up'은 그런 NCT DREAM만의 속도를 가장 잘 표현한 동명 타이틀곡입니다. 에너제틱한 사운드와 직관적인 퍼포먼스로 듣는 이의 힘을 북돋아 주는 노래죠. 그 밖에도 힙합, 팝, R&B, 발라드 등 다채로운 장르가 여러 수록곡에 녹아있습니다. 유닛 트랙 또한 이 앨범에서 놓칠 수 없는 묘미입니다. 런쥔, 해찬, 천러가 함께한 서정적인 어쿠스틱 발라드 'Butterflies', 그리고 마크, 제노, 재민, 지성의 질주감 넘치는 랩 트랙 'Tempo (0에서 100)', 이 두 곡이죠. 개성 있는 멤버들의 유닛 조합에서 색다른 음악적 매력이 뿜어져 나옵니다.

NCT DREAM이 전하는 또 하나의 시간 이야기, 'Beat It Up'을 지금 바로 감상하고, Apple Music이 단독 공개하는 앨범 전 트랙에 관한 멤버들의 인터뷰도 아래에서 확인해보세요.

<b>1. Beat It Up</b>
마크/지성: "타이틀곡 'Beat It Up'은 과감한 킥과 묵직한 베이스가 돋보이는 힙합 트랙으로, 에너제틱한 비트와 시그니처 보컬이 어우러져 중독적인 리듬을 만들어내는데요. 가사에는 NCT DREAM만의 속도로 나아가는 자신감과 패기가 담겨있고, 세상의 한계를 깨고 앞으로 나아가겠다는 포부가 표현되어 있습니다. 멜로디, 랩, 비트 모두 에너지를 북돋아주는 곡이라 출근길이나 운동할 때 들으면 좋으실 것 같고, 안무와 곡 모두 직관적이어서 저희가 주는 메시지를 바로 느끼실 수 있을 거예요. 편하게 즐겨주시고 많은 사랑 부탁드립니다!"

<b>2. Rush</b>
천러: "'Rush’는 강렬한 드럼, 코러스, 아르페지오 신스가 포인트인 팝 트랙으로, 폭발적인 훅과 다이내믹한 전개에 R&B 감성이 어우러져 세련된 매력을 더한 곡입니다. 에너지 넘치는 사운드로, 가사에는 한계를 돌파하는 순간을 담은 NCT DREAM의 자신감과 열정이 담겨 있는데요. 여러분도 이 노래를 들으며 자신감과 열정을 가지고 힘차게 나아가시길 바랍니다!"

<b>3. Cold Coffee</b>
해찬: "'Cold Coffee'는 새벽이 찾아오듯 새로운 하루를 열어주는 특별한 존재를 향한 마음을 노래한 R&B 무드의 팝 발라드인데요. 차가워진 커피에도 남아 있는 향기처럼 시간이 흘러도 변함없는 사랑을 표현하였습니다. 점차 고조되는 드럼 리듬과 힘 있게 뻗어 나가는 멜로디는 지금 이 순간, 사랑하는 사람에게 달려가고 싶은 간절한 마음을 담고 있습니다. NCT DREAM만의 애절하면서도 따뜻한 감성을 함께 느낄 수 있는 곡으로, 기분 좋은 위로와 감정이 전해지면 좋겠습니다."

<b>4. Butterflies</b>
런쥔: "해찬, 천러 그리고 제가 함께한 'Butterflies'는 서정적인 기타 사운드와 담백하고 감성적인 보컬이 어우러진 어쿠스틱 팝 발라드 곡입니다. "Do I still give you Butterflies?" 라는 물음을 통해 시간이 흘러도 여전히 눈부신 설렘을 주고받고 싶은 순수한 마음이 표현되었는데요. 처음 만난 순간처럼 다시 한 번 설렘과 떨림을 전하고 싶은 진심 어린 고백을 담았습니다. 오랜만에 들려드리는 보컬 유닛의 곡인 만큼 많은 사랑 부탁드립니다!"

<b>5. Tempo (0에서 100)</b>
재민: "마크, 제노, 지성, 그리고 제가 함께한 'Tempo (0에서 100)'는 90년대 붐뱁과 배틀 랩에서 영감을 받은 강렬한 힙합 트랙으로, 쏟아지듯 이어지는 랩핑이 매력 포인트인 곡입니다. 폭발적인 에너지와 거침없는 질주감을 표현하며, 무대 위를 장악하고 남들과는 다른 속도로 달려가는 자신감 있는 태도를 담았습니다. 'No reds, all green'이라는 가사처럼 막힘없이 앞으로 나아가는 NCT DREAM의 템포를 그려냈으며, 오랜만에 선보이는 랩 유닛 곡인 만큼 많은 사랑 부탁드려요. 그리고 개인적으로 콘서트에서 이 무대를 선보일 순간이 정말 기대됩니다."

<b>6. TRICKY</b>
제노: "'TRICKY’는 미니 6집에서 NCT DREAM의 한층 성숙해진 표현력을 보여주는 곡이라고 생각해요. 묵직한 베이스 사운드가 곡 전체를 이끌며 예측할 수 없는 긴장감을 자아내는 힙합 트랙으로, 가사에는 벗어나고 싶으면서도 중독된 듯 빠져드는 위험하고 혼란스러운 감정이 담겨있는데요. 곡 제목처럼 'TRICKY' 하게 느껴지는 사운드들이 인상적인 곡으로, 녹음할 때도 이러한 사운드와 플로우를 집중적으로 생각하며 작업했습니다. 재미있게 들어주세요!"

aespa의 세 번째 월드 투어, 그 화려한 무대를 압도한 멤버들의 4인 4색 솔로 트랙.

“I can’t remember when I had my own free time,” Bang Chan confesses in the opening line of “Holiday,” off of Stray Kids’ 2025 mixtape <i>DO IT</i>. It’s a line that will be repeated throughout the uptempo track about wanting to take a vacation, and a relatable sentiment for most modern listeners—even if they didn’t spend most of their 2025 on a K-pop world tour. <i>DO IT</i> is the first in Stray Kids’ “SKZ IT TAPE” series, which sets out to better define them in a specific moment in time, seven years into their activities as a group. The five-track EP also includes two versions of “Do It,” a reggaetón-inspired hip-hop track about going for what you want. The track shares double lead single status with “DIVINE,” an old-school hip-hop song that confidently declares, “All we need is love, dreams, and Stray Kids.” Sentimental fan song “Photobook” further balances out the album’s play between unsettled introspection and lighthearted swagger. The writing of the album’s songs was led by 3RACHA, aka members Bang Chan, Changbin, and Han.