SHINee’s Onew, Kim Jaehwan and Young Posse all released new music on Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 6 p.m. Korea Standard Time, which was 5 a.m. Eastern Time in the U.S. The same day also brought the debut of KO1KEYZ, the 12-member group formed through the latest season of “Produce 101 Japan.”
The midweek slate is a mix of formats: a pre-release single, a three-track single album, a digital single and a debut single.
Onew’s “Tic Tac Toe” features Zico and is a pre-release from Onew’s upcoming single album, which is scheduled for Oct. 20 at 6 p.m. KST. The Korea Herald reported that the project is Onew’s first solo single album and is built around three focus tracks. The first, “Mind Games,” featuring former GFriend member Yuju, was released the week before. Star News described “Tic Tac Toe” as an R&B hip-hop track that uses a game as a metaphor for the back-and-forth between two people, and the two singers promoted it with a duet challenge video ahead of release.
Kim Jaehwan’s single album “Love, From Here” contains three songs, and he took part in writing and composing all of them, according to Sports Kyunghyang and Star News. The project, released through WakeOne, explores different forms of love. It comes about six months after his April digital single, and he has a solo concert in Seoul set for Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 at Blue Square’s Woori WON Banking Hall.
Young Posse’s “GO해,” styled “GO AHEAD (GO해)” on the group’s official teaser, is a digital single and the hip-hop girl group’s first new release in about six months, following April’s “we don’t go to bed tonight,” Korea Daily reported.
KO1KEYZ made a simultaneous Japan and Korea debut on Oct. 7 with a single led by a title song named after the group, “KO1KEYZ,” according to the Japanese outlets Real Sound and The First Times. The release pairs three new songs with KO1KEYZ versions of three songs from the audition show, including “BLACK ANGEL” and “Neko.” The group, managed by LAPONE Entertainment, includes 10 Japanese members and two Korean members, Korea JoongAng Daily reported.
The calendar picks up again on Monday, Oct. 12. JYP Entertainment band Xdinary Heroes is scheduled to release its mini-album “IMPULSE” at 6 p.m. KST that day, according to Sports Kyunghyang, and The Black Label’s MEOVV returns the same day with the single “GO HARD,” Korea JoongAng Daily reported. Onew’s full single album follows on Oct. 20.