The Howl That Changed into a Flame
Sooner than they have been icons, they have been contestants. Sooner than the sold-out arenas and the million-copy albums, there have been audition rooms and survival display cameras and the brutal mathematics of removal. For EJ, Nicholas, and Jo of &TEAM — 3 of the 9 contributors spotlighted in Singles Japan’s June 2026 pictorial — the street to the quilt started with a howl.
That howl is now We on Hearth. Launched April 13, 2026, &TEAM‘s 3rd mini-album broke the gang’s personal first-week gross sales file with over 1.23 million copies — a determine that tells you the entirety about the place this crew stands presently: on the middle of a world dialog about what J-pop and K-pop can develop into after they forestall being separate issues and get started being one thing altogether new.
The Captain Who Carries the Weight
There’s one of those quiet authority that comes from opting for to be accountable sooner than you’re requested to be. EJ — born Byun Eui Joo in Goyang, South Korea — embodies that authority totally. He first gave the impression in entrance of world cameras on I-LAND in 2020, used to be eradicated in episode seven, and one way or the other became that go out right into a runway. Two years later, he entered &AUDITION: The Howling now not as a cautionary story however as somebody who had already realized the best way to lose with grace — and win with function.
As &TEAM’s chief since their December 2022 debut, EJ units the temperature of the room. In fan-documented moments and Weverse lives, he’s the one that notices when a member is off, who delivers comments with care relatively than edge, who reminds the gang — and the target market — that energy and softness aren’t opposites.
“He’s a gentleman,” the opposite contributors have mentioned, greater than as soon as. That gentleness hasn’t ever made him delicate. The 67th Japan Report Awards, the place EJ stepped ahead to just accept on behalf of the gang, mentioned all of it: composed, thankful, clear-eyed, burning.
“He steps ahead so the gang can transfer ahead. That’s what a pace-setter in reality looks as if.” — Editorial statement, Kpoppie Mag
The World Voice within the Room
If &TEAM represents the theory of 9 numerous contributors connecting numerous worlds — and that’s actually the foundation in their identify — then Nicholas is evidence that the concept that isn’t advertising discuss.
Born in Taipei Town, Taiwan, Nicholas brings a world DNA to the gang that is going past his passport.
His breakdancing basis provides each efficiency an unpredictable kinetic edge; his presence at style occasions attracts eyes that know the way to learn a silhouette.
Nicholas has graced Marie Claire Korea, Area Homme+, and GIANNA Plus in fresh months — every editorial leaning into his herbal working out of garments as conversation.
On TikTok, fan edits of Nicholas and Jo in runway stroll mode rack up hundreds of thousands of perspectives, framing them now not simply as idols however as figures from the intersection of recreation, boulevard, and couture. That intersection is precisely the place Singles Japan discovered them for this June factor.
“He carries Taiwan, Tokyo, and the sector level in the similar stride. Nicholas isn’t simply &TEAM’s world voice — he’s evidence that the concept that used to be by no means simply advertising.” — Kpoppie Mag
The Quiet Hearth
Jo used to be scouted at a competition for folks dreaming of modelling or performing — a incontrovertible fact that, if you’ve observed him transfer on level, makes absolute sense.
There’s an inherent theatricality to Jo, a herbal working out of the way mild falls and the way a frame occupies area, that almost all performers spend years seeking to manufacture. It used to be already in him.
Basketball courts, levels, style units — Jo strikes thru they all with the similar unhurried self belief.
His favorite track is The Weeknd’s Out of Time. In fact it’s. That track — silk-smooth, melancholic, cinematic — is principally a temper board for what Jo brings to &TEAM’s softer moments.
He’s the counterweight to the gang’s more difficult edges, the notice that makes the chord really feel complete. And within the Singles Japan pictorial, that fullness interprets into one thing in reality uncommon: editorial photographs that really feel like stills from a movie that doesn’t exist but however completely will have to.
“He carries Taiwan, Tokyo, and the sector level in the similar stride. Nicholas isn’t simply &TEAM’s world voice — he’s evidence that the concept that used to be by no means simply advertising.” — Kpoppie Mag
From the Howling to the Hearth
The arc of &TEAM’s tale is one in every of planned escalation. They debuted in December 2022 with First Howling: ME — 9 new faces, a lycanthropic mythology, a debut that offered 151,000 copies in its first week. By way of 2023 that they had a complete album hitting No. 1 on Billboard Japan. By way of past due 2024, Yukiakari had cemented them as one thing past a bunch: a cultural tournament.
But it surely used to be 2025 that modified the entirety. Again to Existence — their first complete Korean-language EP — offered over 1.1 million copies on its unencumber day on my own, making &TEAM the primary Jap artist to most sensible Oricon Day-to-day Album ratings with a Korean-language file. They swept track display triple crowns. The narrative had totally flipped: this wasn’t a J-pop crew making an attempt K-pop. This used to be a in reality multinational unit that had realized to talk each language the trendy pop international calls for.
Now, with We on Hearth, the tale enters its maximum assured bankruptcy. Produced with “hitman” Bang, the album’s Dance-Pop and J-Pop-Rock fusion indicators a bunch not auditioning for a seat on the desk — they constructed their very own desk, they usually’re atmosphere it on hearth.
They didn’t simply go the border between Jap and Korean pop — they dissolved it.” — Kpoppie Mag editorial
Dressed for the Technology
The Singles Japan June 2026 pictorial doesn’t simply record EJ, Nicholas, and Jo — it types them as exactly because the track does. Style in K-pop and J-pop has all the time been a secondary language, some way of claiming one thing the lyrics can’t. For this trio, the visible narrative leans into distinction: structured tailoring towards uncooked power; soft-drape night appears to be like towards the contained depth in their level identities.
EJ — Structured Energy
Blank-lined suiting references; deep tones anchoring chief power. Actual tailoring echoing his ISTJ structure — the entirety as an alternative, the entirety intentional.
Nicholas — Side road-to-Runway
Athletic-meets-editorial; layering that honors his breakdance roots whilst leaning into the mag international that has claimed him. Textured outerwear, impartial palettes with edge.
Jo — Cinematic Softness
Fluid silhouettes; the type of editorial dressing that images like reminiscence. Ivory and bone tones, regarded as drape, the glance of somebody who used to be all the time going to be in entrance of a lens.
All style credit for the Singles Japan June 2026 Factor are attributed to the editorial staff at YX LABELS and Singles Japan styling division. Particular person area attributions are editorial descriptions most effective; particular garment credit as indexed within the mag factor.
LUNÉ: Gentle Up New Power
The fandom identify LUNÉ — which means moon, a backronym for Gentle Up New Power — used to be introduced on September 26, 2022. It’s, looking back, precisely proper. The moon doesn’t generate its personal mild; it displays and amplifies what it receives. LUNÉ does the similar: taking &TEAM’s output and reflecting it again brighter, thru fan cams and vote casting campaigns and the specific language of Gen Z devotion that turns a track video right into a shared revel in lasting months.
The fan dating with EJ, Nicholas, and Jo in particular has a definite texture. EJ’s composure makes LUNÉ really feel held. Nicholas’s style presence makes them really feel observed. Jo’s cinematic heat makes them really feel understood. 3 other emotional registers, 3 other causes to pour your center into this crew — and one way or the other, in combination, they shape a whole international.
こちらからフィードバックがありますか？こちらからお知らせください。日本語でも大丈夫です。
피드백이 있으신가요? 여기에서 알려주세요. 한국어도 가능합니다.
Credit & Rights
Revealed by way of: Kpoppie Mag
Writer / Rights Holder: Speed Leisure Inc. (Japan / New Zealand)
Article Creator: Kpoppie Mag Editorial Group
Factor: Singles Japan Particular · June 2026
Pictorial Matter: EJ, Nicholas & Jo of &TEAM (앤팀)
Artist Control: YX LABELS (previously HYBE Labels Japan) · Tokyo, Japan
Distribution (Artist): Common Track Japan
Pictures: Singles Japan Editorial Pictures Group (Singles Japan, June 2026 Factor). All pictorial images © Singles Japan / YX LABELS. Used with editorial reference. No replica with out written permission.
Style Credit: As indexed in Singles Japan June 2026 Factor. Editorial style descriptions © Kpoppie Mag / Speed Leisure Inc.
Album Reference: We on Hearth (third Mini Album, April 13 2026); Again to Existence (EP, October 28 2025) © YX LABELS / Common Track Japan. All rights reserved.
© 2026 Speed Leisure Inc. (Japan / New Zealand) · All editorial textual content, design, and inventive course copyright Kpoppie Mag. All rights reserved underneath the Berne Conference for the Coverage of Literary and Creative Works and appropriate world copyright treaties. Unauthorized replica, distribution, or transmission of this content material in any shape is unlawful. Artist names, crew names, and related emblems are the valuables in their respective rights holders. Kpoppie Mag is an unbiased editorial e-newsletter. No industrial association with YX LABELS, HYBE Company, or Common Track Japan is implied.
The Newest Posts
kpoppie.com
You must be logged in to post a comment Login