Each year brings new artists to any scene, and 2023 was no exception. After a busy year, 2024 has a new crew of rising teams that bring a sense of freshness to the wide-ranging world of K-pop.

Last year, several new acts arrived with major buzz, produced by industry stalwarts. Others arrived seemingly from nowhere, impressing with their ability to stand up to the giants. This new class steadily offered up releases — some of which were simply a single teasing a vibrant 2024, while others shared albums. All made their names as burgeoning stars, and readied themselves to stand out in the crowd this year. 

A few of these newcomers are aiming to bring K-pop energy into different regions. Non-Korea-oriented teams are especially a big trend in 2024, as last year saw many Seoul-based South Korean companies launching K-pop-inspired groups for the U.S. and Japan. 

While they still have a lot to show, GRAMMMY.COM spotlighted 11 K-pop acts to keep an eye on in 2024. 

BABYMONSTER

The first girl group to follow under BLACKPINK’s label since the iconic act debuted in 2016, BABYMONSTER premiered their single "Batter Up" in November after a nearly year-long lead-up. After the group's name was revealed in January 2023 came a competition show, Last Evaluation, where the group's lineup was finalized from among YG Entertainment trainees. 

Following in the brash, girl crush lineage of BLACKPINK and their fierce forebears 2NE1, "Batter Up" introduced six members of BabyMonster with a trap-inflected, hip-pop confection heralding the act’s arrival to the K-pop scene. (A seventh member, Ahyeon, did not appear for their debut.) They’re reported to release their second song, "Stuck in the Middle," on Feb. 1, and drop their first album in early April.  

BOYNEXTDOOR

BOYNEXTDOOR are the first boy band produced by rapper-producer Zico under his own label K’Oz Entertainment, a subsidiary of Hybe, the company best known as home to BTS. 

The group arrived in May with a three-track album, Who! and quickly followed up with their second album, Why..., in September. Across both albums, the group’s lyrics evoke a laid back, peppy feeling reflecting the experience of youth. Musically, they exude quirky-indie-band-energy as they profess their love with rollicking tracks that blend effusive verses and playful raps. As the name suggests, there’s an affable, relatable sense to the six member team, feeling all at once invigorating and familiar, as if they could live in the next house over.

I’ll It

Although they have yet to share any original music with the world, I’ll It is set to be another impressive girl group joining the growing Hybe roster with members from across their subsidiaries. Managed by BELIFT Lab (known best for boy band Enhypen) I’ll It stands for "I Will Be It.” 

The five member team is set up to join NewJeans and Le Sserafim as another of Hybe’s female powerhouses. The act gained a sizable following after coming together during the reality show R U Next, which began airing in June.  They’re currently preparing for their first release.

Kiss of Life

Kiss of Life, a quartet with a sense of femme fatality, is doing things a bit differently. Their self-titled debut album in July featured not only songs from the group, fronted by single “Shhh,” but also solo tracks from each of the four members. Natty’s smooth solo, "Sugarcoat," a Y2K R&B throwback, ended up being one of the biggest surprise hits in South Korea in 2023. 

It emphasizes part of what makes KIOF so intriguing: several members already had sizable experience in the industry, either as soloists, producers, or high-profile trainees. The individual members can stand on their own just as easily as they come together harmonically. Their dramatic Born to Be XX album in November, released with a series of music videos for singles "Bad News" and "Nobody Knows," cinematically relayed their fiery joie de vivre.  

KATSEYE

Targeting global audiences, Hybe is producing KATSEYE in collaboration with Geffen Records as a K-pop-inspired act. The girl group formed via the Dream Academy talent competition with six members that hail from the United States, Korea, Switzerland, and the Philippines and will be U.S. based, focusing on the American market. They represent a variety of ethnic and cultural backgrounds and are set to be featured in an upcoming Netflix docuseries highlighting their formation. They're expected to release a studio album in 2024. 

NiziU

While NiziU isn't exactly a new group, (they were formed in 2020 as a Japan-oriented girl group under JYP Entertainment) it wasn't until 2023 that they released their first official K-pop song. 

Since their debut in Japan, NiziU has been a major act there, one of the biggest girl groups in the market in recent years. Transitioning from the J-pop scene to integrate into the K-pop world, the digipop, Korean "Heartris" was a huge hit for the group, and showed their potential to continue to grow even as far as they’ve already come. 

RIIZE

Another busy major in the K-pop scene this year is SM Entertainment, with RIIZE, fittingly, rising.  Proving success with several chart hits in South Korea, including the wintery "Love 119," they made headlines last year for being the first boy band from the K-pop behemoth that isn’t part of its NCT multi team project since 2016. 

Featuring two former NCT members plus an otherwise all-new crew, they’ve leaned into old school sounds in their songs, with their first two singles. "Get a Guitar" and "Talk Saxy" thematically orient themselves with titular instruments while "Love 119" draws inspiration from a 2005 song, "Emergency Room." The act is expected to keep releasing new music this year, with at least one album likely forthcoming. A Japanese version of "Love 119" will be released on January 24.

NCT Wish

The latest and final NCT team from the supergroup is the Japanese subunit NCT Wish. The group is a collaboration between South Korea's SM and Japan's Avex Trax with six members introduced last year through a competition show called NCT Universe: LASTART. After the show aired in summer 2023, the group became known as NCT New Team temporarily. But in January it was announced that they’d officially be known as NCT Wish, joining NCT 127, NCT Dream, WayV, and NCT U as NCT’s official team brands.

While their formal debut as NCT Wish is impending, this new crew released "Hands Up" and "We Go" in October, giving a taste of their dynamic and bright energy to the world at the end of 2023.

TripleS

TripleS has something for everyone — a K-pop experience that is perhaps reminiscent of a pick your own adventure book. The collective boasts twenty current members and a series of different teams releasing albums under different names, chosen in part by fans who can fund a unique cryptocurrency to support their favorite members. With another four members forthcoming for an even two dozen members,  TripleS is more than a K-pop group, it's a fully immersive journey for fans.

Triple S is the brainchild of Jaden Jeong, who played an integral role in LOONA's early days. There have been several distinct subunits, all with a unique style, under the umbrella of the TripleS brand. One of these sub-groups, AAA (or Acid Angel from Asia,) released the first single, "Rising," in October 2022. Last year, five different TripleS teams released music: +(KR)ystal Eyes, Acid Eyes, LOVElution, EVOLution, and NXT. In early 2024, TripleS’s Aria kicked things off with their song "Door.” 

TWS

While they’re still newbies, TWS is one of this year’s most anticipated new K-pop groups, racking up millions of views with each music video . They are the first boy band from Pledis Entertainment, a Hybe subsidiary, since the company’s headlining act Seventeen arrived on the scene in 2015.

The six member TWS team rolled out their pre-album teaser, "Oh Mymy:7s,' during the first days of the new year, and followed up with their first album, Sparkling Blue, on Jan. 22. It leads with the perky "Plot Twist," which lives up to the title with topsy-turvy synthpop productions and effervescent vocals. Its Korean title is also a tongue-in-cheek reference to showing up on a new scene: "First Encounters are Always so Hard," TWS sings, charming upon their arrival. 

VCHA

An all-American girl group, VCHA, was put together by JYP Entertainment and Republic Records on last year’s competition series, A2K. Featuring members from the United States and Canada representing a variety of different backgrounds and lived experiences, the six member team’s name is a reference to the Korean word for shining light, mirroring their aim to brighten up the world.

In September, following their formation during A2K's finale that same month, the group released their first album, SeVit (New Light), featuring versions of competitor's original songs that were performed during the show. They're set to release their first VCHA original, "Girls of the Year," on Jan. 26, and will open for TWICE's upcoming concerts in Las Vegas, Mexico City, and Sao Paulo in February and March. 

What's Next For K-Pop? A Roundtable Unpacks The Genre's Past, Present And Future