Why NEWBEAT Are K-Pop Crossovers to Watch

NEWBEAT make their official debuts today, March 24, after captivating K-pop fan attention with intriguing art direction led by one of the industry’s hottest names alongside a small-but-mighty collection of pre-debut music.

NEWBEAT is the second-ever boy band crafted under the small but increasingly creative music label Beat Interactive that first entered the scene in 2017 with the quintet A.C.E and the still very rare female CEO in Hyeim Kim. Fast forward nearly eight years later and the company has grown its roster to include popular crossover classical group Forestella, established veterans from beloved boy bands like Son Ho Young from first-generation K-pop group g.o.d and Changjo of second-generation outfit TEEN TOP. The agency even manages actors now. Beat Interactive also spent a good portion of 2024 sending their seven trainees, who would soon become NEWBEAT, overseas as back-up dancers in A.C.E’s U.S. tour and holding busking and dancing events in cities like New York and Los Angeles, and events like KCON LA.

Beat Interactive seems ready to go all in with NEWBEAT with some impressive talent is on board to help bring the boy band fully to life.

Beat linked with of-the-moment film director Yoon Seung-rim to direct NEWBEAT creatively. Yoon has caught viral attention after her work on some of last year’s best music videos including aespa’s “Armageddon,” I.M’s “Overdrive,” IVE’s “HEYA,” plus “TGIF” and “IYKYK” for XG. (Does anyone else notice that IVE and XG find all the cool creatives first?)

Yoon shared in an interview that she’s not only working on NEWBEAT’s visuals but also the group’s larger worldview and storylines, bringing in an additional director and visual effects designer to bring her vision to life.

Follow Yoon Seung-rim on Instagram at @rimayoon_sr

With their debut release RAW AND RAD, which dropped on March 24, NEWBEAT took the unorthodox approach of unveiling a full-length, 10-track album — a move that even some of the most anticipated rookie acts don’t take. But the LP does include an intro and outro track, plus a 93-second interlude, for more of a solid seven tracks. Still, the team enlisted trendy rapper Khundi Panda to write and appear on the LP’s intro and BTOB member Lim Hyunsik to produce “F.L.Y(Fu**ng Lovely, Lonely Youth).” There’s a host of curiously and creatively titled tracks, including “JeLLo(Sleepers)” and “You,Me +,-” but that gives me more intrigue into the larger story NEWBEAT is setting up to tell.

Since the early days of NEWBEAT’s first social media accounts (potentially under the name HinLOVE), the group has utilized playful and nostalgic imagery with a futuristic, sci-fi edge.

For a while, NEWBEAT’s profile photo on Twitter was a Ring Pop. With the album’s release, NEWBEAT are utilizing an animated unicorn motif with the members sporting tiny horns themselves in the LP’s official trailer film (above) and when officially meeting the press for the first time at their debut media showcase (peep some shots below).

The bold looks and vision nicely accompany RAW AND RAD as the album shifts through a range of sounds and styles while mostly boasting a West Coast hip-hop inspiration. (“JeLLo” made me want to listen to Coolio and I haven’t stopped imagining mashing “Gangsta’s Paradise” or “Fantastic Voyage” into the production).

An additional moment of crossover potential comes via the LP’s most unexpected track, “Wonder,” an English solo track performed by member Yeoyeojeong Jeon. While the heartfelt, snappy pop cut doesn’t obviously fit in sonically with the singles from RaR, it does spotlight some healthy diversity within the group’s offerings. Plus, Yeoyeojeong has the most prominent profile in the group as a former new member added to TO1 (an excellent, gone-too-soon boy band) who had a pretty unfair shake when it came to joining a TV-created group as a totally new artist only for them to disband 18 months later.

Yeoyeojeong getting a well-deserved and long-awaited solo moment feels like something that should be exciting for the fans who have stayed with the 20-year-old the past years (his rapping of the line “This will be my one last chance” feels particularly poignant) but also showcases the group’s potential in tackling classic pop tracks.

Following “Wonder,” the final full track on RaR is “We Are Young,” a more traditional K-pop/pop track with an uplifting, guitar-infused chorus to celebrate adolescence. It’s a topic heavily explored since the rise of BTS, but it feels like an essential foundational block for NEWBEAT to showcase who they are to new and next-generation K-pop fans. This song will likely go off as a special singalong anthem in a concert.

NEWBEAT also boasts U.S. representation in Helix Publicity who, admittedly, have a tougher sell internationally when it comes to NEWBEAT. However, the ‘90s hip-hop throwback sounds and increasingly intriguing visuals and stories behind the group give me confidence that we’ll see them rising alongside KiiiKiii.

Read about why KiiiKiii is also a crossover act to watch here.

A version of this story originally appeared in The Crossover’s March 24 Newsletter. Subscribe now to get the latest updates in your inbox.