Lee Soo-man — who, as founder of SM Entertainment, is widely considered a key architect of the K-pop phenomenon — launched his new agency A2O Entertainment in October 2024. Just two months later, the company debuted its first act, A2O MAY, a five-member girl group from China.
A2O MAY’s debut single, an English and Chinese version of TVXQ’s “Mirotic,” is an adaptation of Sarah Connor’s “Under My Skin.” The group’s dancing and singing skills have already earned them support online, with 10.7 million views on Weibo and 9.4 million on YouTube.
A2O MAY is Lee’s first idol group debut following his departure from SM Entertainment in 2022.
Lee has been a pivotal figure in the K-pop industry since 1995, launching globally known groups such as Girls’ Generation, EXO, and NCT. With a vision of further globalization, Lee explains in an interview, “Now we must enter the ‘beyond K-pop’ stage.” According to Lee, A2O is on a mission to replace K-pop with Zalpha-pop, music created for the rising generation of consumers — Generation Z and Generation Alpha.
In A2O MAY’s press release, the company announces, “Zalpha Pop will be presented in various languages” to evolve K-Pop into global music. Yet the majority of A2O’s rookies come from a Chinese background, and they have been predominantly marketed on Chinese platforms.
It seems that, for Lee, pushing K-pop’s formula towards the Chinese market is the first step towards globalizing Zalpha-pop. Most of A2O MAY’s fanbase is in China: A2O MAY has over 30,000 followers on Chinese social media platform Weibo, with only 6,000 on Instagram.
In addition to the main group, there are 21 A2O Rookies — trainees yet to debut — divided into four subgroups: HTG (High Teen Girls), LTG (Low Teen Girls), HTB (High Teen Boys), and LTB (Low Teen Boys). (Low teens are 15 and younger; high teens are 16 and older.)
In November of last year, the LTB Rookies released a Chinese cover of “Candy” by ’90s K-pop group H.O.T., earning nearly 2 million views on YouTube. Chinese fans have shown excitement for the new set of “developing idols” (养成系, yǎng chéng xì — idols that fans watch develop from a young age).
The developing idols phenomenon was popularized by Time Fengjun Entertainment’s TFBoys, who debuted at 13-14 years old. Fans invest in them as rookies and watch them grow into pop stars, cultivating a sense of collaboration and accomplishment.
The A2O MAY LTB Rookies’ youngest member, Nuonuo, was born in 2013, with other members aged between 13 and 14. On RedNote, fans are already comparing LTB to the new generation of Time Fengjun Entertainment rookies.
Though netizens have expressed excitement for Lee’s contribution to the Chinese idol market, others criticized the rushed debut. One Weibo user complained: “no showcase concert, concept direction, or member introduction trailers were released before the debut.” The success of A2O Entertainment’s first debuting act remains to be seen.
Cover image via A2O Entertainment.
