Singer and producer ZICO, member of boy group Block B, is preparing for the debut of a boy group he has produced.
According to KOZ Entertainment, which is led by ZICO, the first boy group of KOZ, which has been in preparation for years, will make their official debut on May 30th. This poses a new challenge for ZICO, who has been in the music industry for over a decade.
Debuting in 2011, ZICO has been juggling group activities and solo activities. His representative solo tracks, such as “Any Song” and “New Thing”, have gained immense popularity.
Throughout his career, ZICO also established a strong presence as a producer, particularly in hip-hop-based works. In particular, he appeared as a producer for Mnet’s hip-hop survival program “Show Me The Money” Seasons 4 and 6.
Of course, ZICO also has idol-producing experience. The male star participated as a producer alongside Chairman Bang Si Hyuk and singer-actor Rain in Mnet’s idol audition “I-LAND,” where the group ENHYPEN was formed.
This experience is expected to be incorporated into ZICO’s upcoming boy group. In fact, the preparation for this boy group began quite a while ago, with insiders saying that ZICO has been working on producing a boy group since he left his previous agency and founded KOZ in 2018.
It is known that the male idol seeked trainees that matched KOZ’s color and held a large-scale audition last year.
Since KOZ was acquired by HYBE (then Big Hit Entertainment) in 2020, ZICO has been able to focus on production and music activities rather than management, and the production of the boy group has accelerated.
This is virtually the first time a second-generation idol group member has taken the lead in producing an idol group, raising interest in the boy group ZICO will produce. Particularly, Block B, which Zico belongs to, is known as a representative boy group of their time.
Previously, among first-generation idol group members, there were cases where they worked as producers, but they didn’t achieve great success. There are groups like Smash, jointly produced by Tony Ahn and Kim Jae Duck from first-generation groups H.O.T. and Sechs Kies, and Teen Top and 100%, produced by Shinhwa member Andy from the 1.5 generation.
Among the second generation, Park Jae Beom, formerly of 2PM, who had a brief group activity, also established a new company last year for idol group production and other purposes, but no proper plan has been made yet.
Source: Daum
