{"id":557615,"date":"2026-07-24T15:51:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T15:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/557615\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T15:51:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T15:51:16","slug":"reevaluating-2025s-k-pop-rookies-the-bias-list-k-pop-reviews-discussion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/557615\/","title":{"rendered":"Reevaluating 2025\u2019s K-Pop Rookies | The Bias List \/\/ K-Pop Reviews & Discussion"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"I haven\u2019t done this before, but now that 2026 is halfway over I thought it would be interesting to see how my \u201ctop ten\u201d rookies of last year are doing. Any best-of countdown is tied heavily to the time it was written, but the rookie countdown is particularly malleable because these acts can easily explode or implode in their second year.<\/p>\n

So\u2026 here\u2019s how it\u2019s going to work. First, I\u2019ll offer updated thoughts on each of my top ten rookies from last year and then I\u2019ll re-rank them according to their standing at this very moment. I\u2019ll take my honorable mentions into account as well. And if I had written about Cortis last year, I\u2019d have to eat just a bit of crow today as their REDRED<\/a> is a deserved mega-hit (even if everything else remains various shades of bad).<\/p>\n

AM8IC \u2013 Seemingly inactive. Hard to make any sort of judgment.
AxMxP \u2013 A serious dip in quality after a solid debut.
idntt \u2013 A real mixed bag. I\u2019ve enjoyed a number of their tracks but nothing has bowled me over yet.
Kiii Kiii \u2013 A big success. I still worry they\u2019re too \u201cstyle over substance\u201d when it comes to the actual songs, but they\u2019re certainly at the forefront of the game.
KIIRAS \u2013 I don\u2019t even remember their May comeback, to be honest.
NEWBEAT \u2013 Seemingly inactive. Hard to make any sort of judgment.
RE:WIND \u2013 Seemingly inactive. Hard to make any sort of judgment.
XLOV \u2013 The material\u2019s getting better, but their music has yet to match their potential.<\/p>\n

10. 1VERSE<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sadly, I think it might over before it even began for this group. As someone on twitter said recently, they\u2019ve got more controversies and cancellations than songs at this moment. Personally, my excitement around them has completely fizzled.<\/p>\n

9. BABY DONT CRY<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It feels like they\u2019re on the upswing. I\u2019ve enjoyed Yihyun\u2019s stint as Inkigayo host and their two March singles were pretty solid. They need to consistently release new music, though. Competition is fierce.<\/p>\n

8. IFEYE<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ifeye seem like a big question mark. A switch in creative teams resulted in a very bland comeback<\/a> and their concerts seem to keep getting cancelled or postponed. I fear their hopes of gaining a foothold in the market are quickly dimming. I hope I\u2019m wrong.<\/p>\n

7. ALLDAY PROJECT<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

After a very successful 2025, ALLDAY PROJECT have been pretty quiet this year. Weren\u2019t they supposed to release something this month or am I just misremembering? It\u2019s hard to tell whether their breakout success will be a flash in the pan or a sustaining career. K-pop history suggests the former, but I think they still have some juice left in them if they find the right material.<\/p>\n

6. IDID<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been really enjoying IDID\u2019s material and find the members incredibly charming, but they\u2019re just not releasing enough music. Their discography is still very small for a boy group in their second year and promotion has been overly hesitant. They\u2019re quite high on my personal list, but I\u2019m a bit worried about their future \u2014 especially with new groups coming down the line.<\/p>\n

5. HEARTS2HEARTS<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve had a really strong 2026 so far. I came around to RUDE!<\/a> in a big way and it did such a great job on the charts. Lemon Tang<\/a> was more polarizing, but its mini album remains one of my favorites from this (admittedly underwhelming) summer. With SM\u2019s backing, they seem to have a very bright path ahead of them.<\/p>\n

4. KICKFLIP<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

KickFlip have been consistently releasing great music every few months or so and I\u2019ve really fallen for their sound. What makes it all the more exciting is that the members have a large amount of creative input, suggesting their music will remain strong in the coming years. They feel like a very stable rookie group whose music I can trust to be quality, and that\u2019s saying something in K-pop\u2019s ultra-trendy landscape.<\/p>\n

3. CLOSE YOUR EYES<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Similar to my thoughts on IDID, I\u2019ve been enjoying Close Your Eyes\u2019s music very much but they haven\u2019t released much of it so far this year. I really expected another mini album (or even a full) by this time. On the plus side, Pose<\/a> is my second favorite title track of theirs after All My Poetry<\/a>. They\u2019ve shown an ability to adapt to different sounds while keeping the quality high, which is very promising.<\/p>\n

2. NOUERA<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

NouerA have been my biggest disappointment on this list. They had such a strong discography last year but have switched producers and concepts to their detriment in 2026. I found nothing worth saving on March\u2019s Pop It Like mini. Their upcoming album sounds much better, but still not near the excitement of their debut era. I really wish they would have kept working with producer e.one for a least a few more comebacks. As it stands, it feels like their discography will be very hit or miss going forward.<\/p>\n

1. AHOF<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

AHOF are still chugging along very well, though I\u2019m not quite as enamored as I was last year. Their work with EL CAPITXN remains their best material but they really stumbled when switching concepts for last month\u2019s Sugar High<\/a>. They\u2019re still one of K-pop\u2019s bright spots in 2026, but I\u2019m a little less sure of where they\u2019ll head in the future and that gives me pause.<\/p>\n

10. Baby DONT Cry
9. idntt
8. ALLDAY PROJECT
7. Kiii Kiii
6. NouerA
5. IDID
4. Hearts2Hearts
3. Close Your Eyes
2. AHOF
1. KickFlip<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I haven\u2019t done this before, but now that 2026 is halfway over I thought it would be interesting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557616,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[146,85,46,409],"class_list":["post-557615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}