February 2026 K-Pop Roundup
Soloist
Gaeul (IVE), “Odd”
Group
QQQ, “QtoresQ”
Release
ASC2NT, Still : I
Starting off the second month of the year by mildly cheating my own rules — Gaeul from IVE isn’t precisely a “soloist,” but each member did get a solo track on the group’s debut studio album, REVIVE, and Gaeul’s stood out to me more than any other solo release this month. Even my beloved Chungha didn’t measure up to this dream pop confection about making “something super beautiful.”
The announcement that OnlyOneOf’s Nine and KB would be joined by ex-member Jisung and release a trio album was maybe the biggest Gay News of late 2025 for K-Pop stans. Though no member of OnlyOneOf is openly queer, the group attracted controversy in Korea — and gained a cult following in online queer spaces — with their 2022 “Underground Idol” series, a set of six solo songs with accompanying music videos depicting gay love stories between the group members. They occupy an ambiguous space that has become more common in K-Pop in recent years, one where groups and individuals express queerness through on- and off-stage coding without ever stating their identities explicitly. XLOV is an even more striking example; you would have to be a Victorian time traveler with a brain injury to misunderstand the messages they’re sending. So it’s probably not an accident that Nine, KB, and Jisung’s new trio is called QQQ, and neither are the frequent references to rainbows in the lyrics of their 4-track EP QtoresQ. I like every song on this release, but the sincere rock ballad “QtoresQ” hits me right in the Goo Goo Dolls fangirl heart, so here we are.
I knew nothing about the relatively new boy group ASC2NT when I pressed play on their first EP, Still : I. Both K-Pop fans and neophytes tend to expect one of two things from K-Pop — undistinguished trend-chasing imitations of Western pop, or strange hybridity. These types definitely exist, but more often than not you get something like Still : I: an extremely solid collection of pop songs, performed by experienced artists. And ASC2NT’s five members are even more experienced than most. Unusually for a rookie boy group, all five are in their mid-20s or older (the eldest is 34), all have completed their mandatory military service, and three of them had been active in the idol industry before joining the group. There are so many advantages to debuting a group with these assets that I’m almost surprised that more labels don’t attempt it – except that I’m well aware of the idol industry’s obsession with youth and novelty. That does seem to be changing, though – I think of Kim Jiwoong, whose dedicated fanbase (developed over a decade of work in failed idol groups) secured him a spot in ZEROBASEONE, now the bestselling boy group of K-Pop’s fifth generation. While ASC2NT probably won’t reach the heights achieved by ZB1, my fingers are crossed for them to stay on stage for as long as they want.
