2025 Kpop Debuts and Contract Renewals

[RussianRoulette]

New year means new group debuts!

So far here are all the companies who have announced they will be debuting a new group this year:
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SM: New Girl Group
- They have currently announced that they are still finalizing the final member lineup. They are also still working on the official group name and are still trying to decide on a debut song. They said production for the debut will begin soon and they are expected to debut in the first quarter of 2025.

Article Source

SM: Trot Group MYTRO
I thought Mytro already debuted, but apparently Bam Bam Bam was just a prerelease and their actual debut will be in February.
This explains why Bam Bam Bam had little to no promotions. Good luck on your debut Mytro!

YG: New Group
With Babymonster just making their debut recently and their last boy group having debuted 6 years ago, it is expected this will be a new boy group.

Source Music: New Girl Group
Very unexpected, but it was announced that Le Sserafim will be getting a younger sister group this year!
Currently Source is managing LSF and Gfriend's reunion.
(TBH I am anticipating the future lawsuits now of MHJ claiming this new group has somehow also plagiarized NJ )

Pledis Ent : New Girl Group
With Fromis_9 leaving just 1 day ago, Pledis has already announced they will be releasing a new girl group this year. This will be their first girl group that debuted under their new ownership by Hybe.

I don't really have any other information on both Pledis and Source's new girl group other than this Source Article announced it.

MHJ left Fromis_9 and Pledis alone, so I am more hopeful this new girl group will not be sued by MHJ.

Big Hit: New Boy Group
Once again, not much news about this other than this will be TXT's younger brother group.
I believe they were originally supposed to debut last year? Or at least I remember reading that and it never happened.

JYP: New Boy Group KickFlip

StrayKids will be getting a younger brother group this year! JYP announced their new boy KickFlip, formed through the survival show LOUD, will be debuting on Monday January 6th.

Stray Kids still seem like such babies to me (I think the youngest member is only 22?), I can't believe it's been 6 years! They are growing up so fast

Cube Ent: Boy Group Polarix

Cube will be handling the Korean promotions for the new boy group Polarix which was formed through survival show Starlight Boys.
The group will have promotions in Korea and China and the Chinese promotions will be handled by Idol Youth Entertainment.

Ablume: Former fifty fifty members

The three OG fifty fifty members Saean, Sio, and Aran will be debuting as ABLUME sometime this year under MASSIVE E&C.

The debut date has not been announced but they have been working in LA on their debut and it has been reported that the stylists and makeup artist from the MV for Cupid are working with ABLUME on their debut along with the original MV director for cupid. Additionally, these three members of ABLUME are the ones who wrote and choreographed Cupid, so oversea kpop fans are highly anticipating their debut.

Good luck Ablume!

UNCORE: Close Your Eyes (CYE)

UNCORE, A new label started by Studio LuLuLaLa (SLL) and YG PLUS, will be debuting the new boy group Close Your Eyes (CYE for short) which was formed through the survival show Project 7. Their debut date is currently unknown.

High Up Ent: New Girl Group

High Up Ent, home of girl group StayC, started teasing that they will be debuting a new girl group at some point and they are expected to debut sometime this year.

No other information is known at this time other that child dancer and former SMNGG member Na Haeun will be debuting in this group.
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Contract Renewals

With beginning also come endings! Here are groups expected to start contract renewal negotiations this year:
(I am not including groups who have already renewed in advance)

- Saturday
- Dreamnote
- Ateez
- Various NCT Members
- AleXA (already hinting she will not renew)

Since contract renewal negotiations usually begin a year in advance, here are 2019 debut groups who are expected to start talks this year:
- AB6IX
- CIX
- Everglow
-Itzy
- TXT
- Oneus
- Only One Of
- Vanner
- Verivery
- WayV
- Jeon Somi
- Various NCT Members​

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Any debuts or disbandments catch your attention?

I'm really excited for Ablume's debut!

I am also really shocked Source is debuting a new girl group already (I would have expected a boy group) and I am really hoping we won't get new lawsuits with Source and Pledis's new girl group debuts

I didn't officially add this on the list since they haven't announced a debut date, but ADOR is preparing a boy group, they held auditions around April 2024? So there is a possibility we will get an Ador New Boy Group in 2025. (Once again, I hope they won't get a plagiarism lawsuit for some reason as well ).

For contract renewals:
I am expecting Everglow to disband, Ateez to renew (I would argue they are right behind Stray Kids for the #1 4th gen boy group and are one of the biggest boy groups in general right now). I low-key have no idea what to think about Itzy's renewal. I wouldn't be surprised in Somi left the black label because I feel like they are doing nothing for her??? And for WayV I have no idea what to think, but i'm scared of WinWin leaving the group. He has been inactive for at least a year (though he has been vocal that he wants to rejoin but SM won't let him).​

 

[fromisEJel]

I don't trust Pledis with new girl groups anymore. They had all the great GGs but only to let them down in the end. After School, Pristin, fromis. Even if I like the new girl group they will be producing, I will probably only support the GG from afar. I been scarred too many time by Pledick.

 

[RussianRoulette]

I don't trust Pledis with new girl groups anymore. They had all the great GGs but only to let them down in the end. After School, Pristin, fromis. Even if I like the new girl group they will be producing, I will probably only support the GG from afar. I been scarred too many time by Pledick.

Since they have Hybe backing them now people are hoping this time will be better. I don't trust Pledis, but I can trust Hybe a little bit?

 

[fromisEJel]

Since they have Hybe backing them now people are hoping this time will be better. I don't trust Pledis, but I can trust Hybe a little bit?

I don't trust Hybe too

 

[hatmixx]

Prepared for the worst news with everglow. But will remain hopeful. Nothing else this year of known consequence really matters to me

 

[sm maid]

the Cube managing Polarix thing is still only a rumor... though I do hope it's true

 

[tokki]

I've heard rumors of new Starship groups too - I think they have a boy group and a girl group both in the wings but we'd probably see the boy group first if either of them are debuting this year

 

[RussianRoulette]

I've heard rumors of new Starship groups too - I think they have a boy group and a girl group both in the wings but we'd probably see the boy group first if either of them are debuting this year

I feel like it’s too early for a girl group? I can see a boy group maybe though.

 

[Aegyo]

Lowkey hope Pledis to refrain from wasting talent, they defiantly have the eye to create an amazing GG but they are the worst of the worst in managing them, i will never forgive them for Afterschool, Pristin and letting go of Hello Venus.

 

[Ackerman]

I also expect Everglow to disband. The numbers are just not there. Its a shame because their debut was so strong but after Pirate they had too long a hiatus. Another one that Id like to know is WJSN. They've been inactive for 2 years now, but their last news was they renewed with Starship.

 

[Chomiczewska]

Pledis Ent : New Girl Group

Various NCT Members

Their contract renewal season only begins next year - sm has 10 year long contracts

 

[BianTwo]

I'm impressed Dreamnote survived that long and even outlasted many groups who debuted after them. They never had much promotions, they stayed "nugu" but they were at least active on SNS. It won't be surprising if 1-2 members renew if they don't have a better plan but for now I'm saying no one will

Ablume's debut/redebut will be interesting, to see the reactions, etc. Most of their loud support are coming from abroad and I wonder if they'll be ignored or "shadow banned" by the industry. I was never into vocals so I didn't find anything special about Cupid or the members' vocals.
Sadly their family failed them, they falled into The Givers manipulation, so I have a slight negative opinion about them although they weren't the main culprits.

AleXa hinted she would not renew, her company didn't seems to care about her and did whatever they wanted. For example releasing songs without her knowing, doing stuffs when she was mourning her father's passing, etc. I wish her to find a better company.

Pledis didn't wait long to announce they'll debut a NGG. This time it's a group they trained themselves from the beginning so it might be different, or maybe not, as the company doesn't have a great historic with girlgroups.
fromis_9 members were individual trainees, some were trained in previous companies, others had some dancing/singing background, and a few didn't have any training. Pledis only took charge of their predebut and debut period.

With what happened recently to Everglow, it's the feeling that the group's end, at least with Yuehua, is getting closer. What a shame, they could've been more popular if they didn't have those hiatus and better promotions.

SM NGG, I can't believe Aespa will already celebrate their 5th year in 2025. It looks like the NGG is very close to be finalized so their debut could happen anytime, maybe in Spring ?

H Music (former NV Ent and former SSQ Ent), wooah's company, is planning to debut a NGG

 

[tokki]

I feel like it’s too early for a girl group? I can see a boy group maybe though.

starship tends to debut their groups back to back, kind of like they're in pairs

2015: Monsta X
2016: WJSN

2020: Cravity
2021: IVE

so the assumption is that we'd probably get something like
2025: new bg
2026: new gg

IVE would be almost 5 years old by that point if that happened - the boys will almost certainly come before a gg though since they're probably more ready

 

[RussianRoulette]

Update:

FNC Ent will be debuting a new boy group called AxMxP. They will be their newest band group (like cnblue or FT Island) with a rock concept and 4 members. They are expected to debut around February-March.

FNC has no girl group right now, so I’m surprised they are debuting a new boy group?

SM will also be debuting their British boy group Dear Alice this year as well.

 

[fromisEJel]

I also expect Everglow to disband. The numbers are just not there. Its a shame because their debut was so strong but after Pirate they had too long a hiatus. Another one that Id like to know is WJSN. They've been inactive for 2 years now, but their last news was they renewed with Starship.

This is what Exy said:



The only thing we can do now is to to wait, although it look like Starship are giving their resources to IVE instead

 

[Seriously]

Alexa is gone, sad honestly. I mean, I never loved her music, but some of it was nice, and she seemed really genuine and likable.

Everglow is a question mark, they just seemed to lose momentum.

On another note, props for Kickflip, a genuinely good name for once.

 

[Seriously]

SM will also be debuting their British boy group Dear Alice this year as well.

Their WHAT sorry!? No... no thank you.

 

[RussianRoulette]

Their WHAT sorry!? No... no thank you.

They announced this back in August and they were supposed to debut this year but it got delayed until next year.

This is assumed to be the replacement for NCT Hollywood, SM is pretty much trying to make their own 1D.

 

[Seriously]

They announced this back in August and they were supposed to debut this year but it got delayed until next year.

This is assumed to be the replacement for NCT Hollywood, SM is pretty much trying to make their own 1D.

God help us

 

[Thumbnail]

The current Oh My Girl members had already renewed their contracts with WM in 2022, so I'm confident they will renew their contracts again with WM this year before their 10th anniversary. If, however, some of them choose not to renew with WM for whatever reason, I think some might sign with other entertainment agencies to pursue their individual activities. And I believe it is the same for TWICE; they already renewed with JYP Entertainment in 2022 and so I think all members are expected to renew for group activities, with some members potentially considering signing with other entertainment agencies for their individual activities.

From what I understand some (smaller) agencies have five-year contracts with their artists, which means that some groups who debuted in 2020 might be in talks about their contracts now. Using a more recent example: Rocket Punch disbanded last year despite debuting in 2019, and so I think the members of Drippin, who debuted in 2020 and are from the same agency as Rocket Punch, may consider terminating their contracts this year with Woollim to sign with other agencies.

I heard IST have had troubles recently and so I feel some members of Weeekly could also be released earlier from their contracts, and I would say the same could be true for artists who have signed with other smaller agencies — for example, wooah.