SEOUL (ANN/THE KOREA HERALD) – SM Entertainment, a dominant force in the K-pop industry, is preparing to unveil four fresh K-pop acts, including NCT Wish, throughout the course of this year.
Leading the lineup is NCT Wish, scheduled to make their debut at the upcoming label concert, “SMTown Live,” set to take place at the Tokyo Dome in Japan on February 21, as confirmed by SM Entertainment on Thursday.
NCT Wish represents the final subunit within the NCT umbrella, joining other established subunits such as NCT U, NCT 127, NCT Dream, and WayV.
Additionally, SM has outlined plans to introduce a new girl group, its inaugural virtual artist named aespa’s Kwangya helper, and a K-pop boy group from Britain.
This initiative follows SM’s announcement last year regarding its collaboration with the British entertainment company M&B, signalling its intention to launch a boy group in the UK.
M&B is led by Nigel Hall, the producer of British competition shows such as “The X Factor” and “Britain’s Got Talent.” SM and M&B plan to make a six-episode TV series about the creation of the upcoming K-pop group consisting of British members.
SM also recruited 84 local music composers this year through its music publishing affiliate, Kreation Music Rights, to further expand its reach overseas.
“This year, we are going to establish the American branch of Kreation Music Rights to recruit American composers. We plan to hold at least two large-scale song camps to maximise production capability,” said the label.
Some of SM’s major artists are releasing new albums in the second quarter of this year.
Both Ten and Taeyong of NCT are releasing their solo albums this month.
Wendy of Red Velvet is releasing her solo EP in March.
NCT Dream is dropping an EP in March as well.
Other artists to make a comeback in the second quarter include BoA, Suho of EXO, Hyoyeon of Girls’ Generation, Doyoung of NCT, SHINee, Red Velvet and WayV.
Also scheduled for the second quarter are NCT Dream, aespa, Super Junior, Super Junior LSS and NCT Ten’s standalone concerts.
