Happy July! XLOV, K-pop’s firstgroup with a “genderless” concept, was in New York for two fanmeeting events over the holiday weekend, on July 4th and 5th. It was so fun not only to see this group perform their (excellent) music onstage but see the diverse range of fans coming to see them. More with XLOV soon.

Also, if you enjoy listening to your newsletters, I went through today’s newsletter and more live on YouTube as something new. Be sure to subscribe if you’d like to join in on future streams.

ATEEZ’s newly released GOLDEN HOUR : Part.5 debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, earning the eight-member group their third career chart-topper. The EP earned an eye-popping 228,000 album units for the week ending July 3 for a new career high — besting their previous high of 200,000 reached with GOLDEN HOUR : Part.4 earlier this year.

Part.5’s haul puts ATEEZ (KQ Entertainment/RCA Records/hello82) among the biggest sales weeks any K-pop act has ever posted stateside and now in the same conversation as BTS and Stray Kids. Those same two artists who are the only K-pop acts to earn multiple No. 1s on the Billboard 200 alongside ATEEZ.

But as The Crossover friend and mentor Keith Caulfield noted for Billboard, ATEEZ holds a new record outright: With GOLDEN HOUR : Part.5, ATEEZ have logged nine consecutive Top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 — the most of any group this decade, breaking their three-way tie with Stray Kids and Tomorrow X Together. ATEEZ and BTS now both have nine Top 10 entries on the Billboard 200, the most among all K-pop acts.

Notably, GOLDEN HOUR : Part.5 sold 223,000 pure album units, meaning that the group earned about 5,000 units from streaming-equivalent albums (about 4.96 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs, according to Billboard). That’s a significant gap as the K-pop scene overall is looking to up its streaming game — and having famous ATEEZ fan Chase Infiniti co-star in a new music video, plus a Steve Aoki remix of Part.5’s lead single “BAD,” were all valiant attempts to up the streaming numbers.

Coming from a smaller agency in terms of U.S. recognition, ATEEZ’s mainstream press footprint has historically been smaller than the likes BTS or Stray Kids’ but seeing the likes of Variety, Complex, Hypebeast and ContactMusic all cover ATEEZ’s new No. 1 album points to expanding exposure and interest. Hopefully the coverage is catching up to the commercial reality.

And the timing dovetails with a new format frontier for ATEEZ whose LIGHT THE WAY IN CINEMAS VR concert film is heading to cinemas worldwide next month. (Forbes)

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—i-dle returns with new EP We made and Afrobeat-pop English single “Gimme Dat Love”: The group formerly known as (G)I-DLE leans fully into a summer love concept with a sizzling crossover-ready sound. Leader SOYEON framed the record as part of a larger arc for the group, saying, “While i-dle started as a group of individuals, each with our own unique personality and charm, the We [album] series is about coming together as one, and showing an even stronger and better side of i-dle as a group.”

Notably, the EP also includes “Mono,” an all-English collaboration with skaiwater, which includes the wonderful lyrics: “You're from the right or from the left / Whether East or West / Whether straight or gay / Every day and night, dance to your real vibe. (UPI / AllKpop)

—VAYONN, Kim Jaejoong's new boy group, makes its official debut with Youth Today and title track "MUAH!": The six-member group (consisting of members Sen, Masato, Ayang, Jinyu, Teru and Mano) is the second boy band to debut this year from iNKODE Entertainment, the agency founded by K-pop pioneer and JYJ/TVXQ veteran Kim Jaejoong. I love a refreshing boy-band sound and VAYONN fully leaned into the summer-youth concept. Take a listen to “MUAH!” (embedded below) because it’s got a really addictive pre-chorus, chorus and post-chorus combo — and I love the idea of using an onomatopoeia of “muah” as a whole chorus concept.

While the group has a U.S. publicist, landing coverage for K-pop debuts is difficult. The Bias List gave "MUAH!" a solid B (an 8.5 rating), writing that “this K-pop summer is in dire need of some big, upbeat pop tunes and I'm glad to see a new group leading that charge.”

—An interesting angle worth watching: With the release of Youth Today, VAYONN is the second boy group Kim Jaejoong’s INKODE has launched in barely three months following KEYVITUP, another new group that debuted in April with a harder hip-hop sound. Two labelmate rookie groups this close together raise a real question of whether there will be a supportive overlapping fandom or an automatic built-in rivalry? A commenter on The Crossover Livestream noted that KEYVITUP and VAYONN were originally introduced by INKODE as a group of 11 trainees and fans were surprised to see them split into two groups.

For now, the members are playing it as family. As Sen put it at the showcase, KEYVITUP "approach me calling me ‘Senior Sen’… they worry about me whenever I have concerns and are teaching me a lot," while Mano said the two groups “cheer for each other” from their different concepts. The fandoms seem to be following that lead. (Star News Korea)

—Rahul Rajkhowa & Jimmy Brown, “Holiday in Paris”: An unexpected India-Korea crossover pairing the Indian artist with a rising Korean R&B voice with several fantastic songs — one to watch as that lane widens.

—Niel of TEEN TOP, “California”: A soloist from one of the groups who toured the U.S. very often early in K-pop’s U.S. crossover (about 2012-2015 era) back with a West Coast–inspired theme.

—Jennie Teases New Music “Soon”: Will Jennie be the first BLACKPINK member to drop a sophomore album? She teased unreleased songs at Poland’s Open’er Festival. (Billboard)

—Co-ed K-pop group KARD to disband after their first full album and a world tour, ending a decade together: “KARD debuted under DSP Media in 2017 as a four-member mixed-gender group comprising BM, J.Seph, Somin, and Jiwoo, an unusual configuration in an industry with either only boy groups or girls groups. K-pop wasn’t always this segregated by gender. In fact, mixed-gender groups like Koyote, Cool and Space A were a natural part of Korean pop in the 1990s, achieving significant domestic success with both male and female members. However, the explosion of the idol system worldwide, along with specific audience targeting and societal taboos about mixed gender co-habitation, for example, led in part to more rigidly enforced single gender structures and a suffusion of single gender groups and artists.” (Forbes)

—NCT/WayV/SuperM’s TEN launches artist-centered creative company ILLIMNT, based in Los Angeles, as a co-founder: Per a press release, the new “next-generation creative company” bridges music, culture, visual arts, fashion, and brand partnerships, with TEN as co-founder. The press release promises new releases from TEN aimed for Korea, Thailand, China, the U.S. and other international markets. In his words: "At ILLIMNT, we believe the impossible becomes possible through creativity…we hope to empower artists to stay true to who they are while exploring new possibilities.”

—Why middle-aged Koreans are falling for rookie group CORTIS: The Korea Times has an interesting piece as to why even Korea’s Prime Minister gave CORTIS a co-sign. A fun generational-crossover read on a rookie group breaking out of the usual demographic.

—YG Entertainment girl group BABYMONSTER dropped their new video for “I LIKE IT,” earning about 16 million views in under 24 hours.

—A holiday-weekend listening dump: While you may have been grilling, K-pop kept shipping. Worth a spin: Raina of After School and Orange Caramel’s “Loving You (feat. Jae Woo AN),” BE'O’s “Cherry Cola,” L of INFINITE’s OST cut “Beautiful Moment,” RAPH4EL (a.k.a TAG of ONE PACT)’s “W4STED (feat. Vapo),” OHYUL of LNGSHOT’s OST single “Us, Now” and Pagaehun’s “Hey Girl” featuring Dita, formerly of Secret Number, as the music video co-star.

—Oui, K-pop: Not seeing many international sources but Korean media shares that French “creator” Peek (who reportedly has 1 million followers) is making his K-pop debut with a song titled “Mohani.” (And maybe it’s just bad SEO on his name but I can’t find any information on “Peek” but here’s an English source for the news)

—Rolling Stone India dropped its Top 10 K-pop songs of 2026 so far — English tracks like BTS’ "SWIM," LE SSERAFIM, KATSEYE and ILLIT’s “Iconic by Mistake”, and Jennie’s Tame Impala “Dracula” remix all made the cut, as did K-pop hits by ATEEZ, TREASURE, aespa, ENHYPEN, Hearts2Hearts. Nothing too surprising, but a good mix of 10 of the biggest tracks from the scene, if anything. (Rolling Stone India)

—Fandom in the streets: BTS ARMY marched in Chile after the National Stadium cast doubt on the group's shows there. The shows were ultimately not canceled, but the on-the-ground footage is amazing and a reminder of the real-world organizing power of this fanbase. (Associated Press)

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