SM Entertainment to debut three new groups this year
SM Entertainment has announced its plans to launch new IP in 2023, including a two boybands and girl group.
The plans were announced by SM Entertainment’s CEO Jang Cheol-hyuk in a new YouTube video. The first new group the K-pop agency plans to launch is the latest and final NCT sub-group, which is widely expected to be the Japan-based NCT Tokyo.
“To this end, we plan to increase the proportion of Japanese members [in NCT],” Jang said. “By collaboration with Japanese media companies, we will share SM’s selection process of unrevealed trainees and members’ debut journey.”
Jang then previewed two members of the upcoming group with a clip of the duo dancing in a practice room. The SM CEO also noted that the pair are of “Korean and Japanese nationalities”.
In addition, trainees selected through a “pre-debut reality show” will also join the upcoming NCT sub-group. Meanwhile, previously revealed SMROOKIES member Shohei will not join the new boyband due to health reasons.
Jang then touched on plans for a brand-new boyband, which he described as “SM’s new IP to start the SM 3.0 era” and will feature Sungchan and Shotaro, who left NCT earlier today (May 24). The pair will be joined by two SMROOKIES members, Eunseok and Seunghan.
At the end of the video, Jang then revealed SM Entertainment’s plans to debut a brand-new girl group in the fourth quarter of 2023. “Trainees introduced in the March 2023 showcase will be a part of this new group,” he added, but did not specify which trainees have made the cut.
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SM Entertainment had first hinted at its plans to debut new groups earlier this month, when it released a music line-up preview of its plans for the third quarter of 2023. At the time, the K-pop agency said that it had plans to debut two new acts in that time frame.
The K-pop agency is also scheduled to release a number of projects by current artists, including SHINee, EXO, NCT Dream, Red Velvet‘s Wendy, Girls’ Generation‘s Taeyeon and more.
