KOZ Entertainment is forming a new boy group

Artist and producer Zico [NEWS1]

KOZ Entertainment will debut its first boy group in the first half of 2023, a local media reported on Tuesday.

The yet-to-be-announced boy band is reportedly produced by KOZ Entertainment founder artist Zico. In a previous YouTube interview and 2022 HYBE community briefing, the artist confirmed that he is working on a boy band.

“I would break the predictable formula,” Zico said in a July interview with the popular YouTube channel Turkiyes on the Block.

A debut date for the boy band has yet to be set.

Zico, whose real name is Woo Ji-ho, started out in the underground hip-hop scene before moving into the K-pop industry in 2011 as the leader of boy band Block B. He produced most of the band’s songs, including “NalinA” (2012), “Nillili Mambo” (2012), “Very Good” (2013), “HER” (2014) and “Yesterday” (2017). He is known for his successful careers in K-pop and hip-hop, the latter mainly characterized by his solo songs such as “Tough Cookie” (2014), “Artist” (2017) and “Any Song” (2020 ) ).

He also produced songs for other K-pop artists such as boy group Winner’s Mino, Kim Se-jeong, Penomeco, and Wanna One.

Zico is also the founder and CEO of his own label, KOZ Entertainment, which was launched in 2018. The brand was acquired by HYBE in 2020.

Cao Yongjun [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]