Boynextdoor by KOZ Entertainment to debut in May

Boynextdoor, KOZ Entertainment’s six-member boy band, will debut on May 30, the agency announced Monday. Rapper and producer Zico, the founder of KOZ Entertainment, is the mastermind behind the boy band.“Boynextdoor ...

Logo of KOZ Entertainment's new boy band, Boynextdoor [KOZ ENTERTAINMENT]

Boynextdoor, KOZ Entertainment’s six-member boy band, will debut on May 30, the agency announced Monday.

Rapper and producer Zico, the founder of KOZ Entertainment, is the mastermind behind the boy band.

“Boynextdoor, as the name suggests, means that the boy band will be friendly and approachable, like boys living next door,” explained the agency.

The members of the boy band have not been revealed yet.

Zico, whose real name is Woo Ji-ho, started out in the underground hip-hop scene and later shifted to the K-pop industry as the leader of boy band Block B in 2011. He produced the majority of the band’s songs, including “NalinA” (2012), “Nillili Mambo” (2012), “Very Good” (2013), “HER” (2014) and “Yesterday” (2017). He is noted for having a successful career in both the K-pop and hip-hop scene, the latter mostly depicted by his solo songs like “Tough Cookie” (2014), “Artist” (2017) and “Any Song” (2020).

He has produced songs for other K-pop acts, like Mino of boy band Winner, Kim Se-jeong, Penomeco and Wanna One.

Zico founded KOZ Entertainment in 2018. The label was acquired by HYBE in 2020. He confirmed on the 2022 HYBE Briefing with the Community session that he was working to produce a boy band.

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]