SM to debut British K-pop boy group

NCT Wish (SM Entertainment)

K-pop powerhouse SM Entertainment is set to debut four new K-pop acts including NCT Wish this year.

The frontrunner is NCT Wish which is to debut at the label concert, “SMTown Live,” slated to be held at the Tokyo Dome in Japan on Feb. 21, according to SM Entertainment on Thursday.

NCT Wish is the last subunit of NCT. Other subunits include NCT U, NCT 127, NCT Dream and WayV.

SM also plans to launch a new girl group, its first virtual artist naevis known as aespa’s Kwangya helper and a British K-pop boy group.

Last year, SM announced that it would launch a boy group in the UK with the British entertainment company M&B.

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 maximize 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 L.S.S. and NCT Ten’s standalone concerts.

By Hong Yoo(yoohong@heraldcorp.com)