LNGSHOT

K-pop wasted little time setting the tone for 2026. January and February arrived packed with heavyweight comebacks from the genre's biggest names alongside ambitious debuts from new acts eager to claim their place. LNGSHOT — "Moonwalkin'" from "SHOT CALLERS," released Jan. 13 Verdict: Surprisingly good While the rookie boy band's predebut release, "Saucin'," made it easy to assume that LNGSHOT would fall neatly into a hip-hop rivalry narrative with HYBE Labels' CORTIS, “Moonwalkin’,” the official title track of the four-member band's debut album "SHOT CALLERS," arrived and quietly refused that storyline. Where CORTIS leans playful, LNGSHOT chooses a more grounded, groove-heavy lane, almost like rookies deciding they would rather age well than trend fast. Handling accessible R&B and hip-hop without sounding like an industry plant is harder than it looks, and the group clears that bar with ease. There are also obvious nods to pop icons Michael Jackson, Destiny’s Child and even early Justin Bieber, especially in one member’s vocal tone that feels tailor-made for global pop ears.

As more former idols step into executive and production roles, a growing number of rookie K-pop groups are debuting under the guidance of artists who once stood on the same stage. From Jay Park’s Lngshot to Zico’s BoyNextDoor and Kim Jae-joong’s Say My Name, idols-turned-producers are emerging as a new force in reshaping how the next generation of K-pop is trained, promoted and positioned. “We’re built on trust. I don’t want a relationship where I say, ‘I’m your CEO, so you have to do as I say,’

As the K-pop idol market slowly enters a new era, rookie boy groups Cortis and Lngshot are challenging long-held industry formulas by carving out fresh identities in a space long-defied by uniformity and structure. Cortis made its official debut in September with the EP “Color Outside the Lines” under Big Hit Music — the agency that houses popular groups BTS and Tomorrow X Together. Lngshot entered the scene four months later with its EP “Shot Callers” with More Vision, the first boy group to de

Is the K-pop idol industry witnessing a new shift? At the very least, two rookie boy groups — CORTIS and LNGSHOT — are drawing attention by openly breaking with long-established genre formulas and proposing a different model of what an idol group can be. CORTIS debuted last September with its first album, "COLOR OUTSIDE THE LINES," while LNGSHOT made its debut in January this year with the album "SHOT CALLERS." They do not perform tightly synchronized choreography or build elaborate fictional universes designed to anchor group narratives and they avoid meticulously unified visual concepts — all of which are often considered standard K-pop practice. CORTIS made this approach evident from the get-go, and refuse to rely on a conventional top-down production system. Instead, all members participate collectively in composing music, creating choreography and producing visual content — a structure the group has described as a "young creator crew." The emphasis is less on polish and more on experimentation. LNGSHOT has taken a similar path. In its debut album, which moves across hip-hop,