From 'Blood, Sweat & Tears' to chill, CORTIS captures K-pop's new mood

CORTIS performs at the 2026 Weverse Con Festival. Yonhap

By Hankookilbo

• Published Jul 11, 2026 12:10 AM KST

Something about CORTIS just hits differently from other K-pop groups.

There is no sophisticated fictional universe or elaborate lore surrounding the members. No mystique designed to keep fans on edge. No metallic beats dominating their music. Much of the formula that has come to define K-pop is conspicuously absent from CORTIS.

The decision to take a different path came from a bold acceptance of the fact that conventional methods, such as building elaborate lore around a group, could take CORTIS only so far in expanding its fan base. And it paid off.

People in their 40s and 50s, a generation that has largely remained outside the core K-pop fandom, suddenly began to notice the group and, more importantly, like it.

To some, CORTIS represents change itself. The most high-profile figure to make that connection was newly appointed Prime Minister Han Sung-sook, who quoted the group’s lyrics while pledging the change she intended to bring to the country.

The obvious question, then, is what exactly about CORTIS has won over so many middle-aged listeners and led them to embrace the group as a symbol of change.

It is certainly not the pedigree of its agency. CORTIS was created by BigHit Music, HYBE’s boy-band powerhouse. If anything, the name suggests a group every bit as meticulously manufactured as many idol acts that came before it. Yet to fans, CORTIS embodies something far less calculated: the spirit of youth that breaks rules, crosses boundaries and refuses to be confined by convention.

One commenter, who identified herself as being in her 40s, wrote that CORTIS’ appeal lay in watching the members embrace their youth and live out their teenage years to the fullest. Asked to elaborate, she said the group was unafraid to show themselves in a raw, unpolished state.

“They express themselves through their songs, music videos and fashion, and everything about them feels true to who they are,” she wrote. “They do not put on emotions they do not feel. They act freely and enjoy themselves in a way that clearly does not seem taught or directed by someone else.”

In an era of cancel culture, when public figures are constantly scrutinized and can become targets of outrage the moment something they do is deemed problematic, seeing CORTIS behave with such unfettered, unapologetic freedom is almost enviable, she added.

That impression is shared by the CEO of a music production company whose work has largely remained outside mainstream K-pop.

“CORTIS gives off the impression of being creators rather than something produced and manufactured,” he said.

In essence, CORTIS possesses an aura that more conventionally manufactured idol groups cannot easily reproduce.

How CORTIS escaped the ‘manufactured idol’ image

The clearest example is “Yeongkeukeu,” a Korean abbreviation of “Young Creator Crew,” which international fans more commonly shorten to “YCC.” The phrase appears in the group’s lyrics and has since taken on a life of its own among fans, becoming both a meme and a shorthand for how CORTIS is perceived.

“The phrase suited the group remarkably well, reinforcing the impression that its members enjoy greater creative freedom than those of most other idol groups,” pop music critic Kim Sang-hwa said.

By placing the phrase front and center, CORTIS has actively promoted the members’ originality and the group’s artist-driven identity since its debut. The members participate in writing lyrics and devising concepts for their music videos, led by team leader Martin, who had songwriting credits on ILLIT’s “Magnetic” even before making his own debut.

That approach stands in sharp contrast to the way K-pop albums are typically produced. Much of the process is directed by an entertainment agency’s artists and repertoire division, which selects songs, producers and concepts and shapes them into a coherent package. This is partly why experienced K-pop listeners can often detect a label’s distinctive imprint and guess whether a song came from SM, JYP or YG.

Groups such as CORTIS, whose members appear to shape their artistic identity with their own hands, remain relatively rare in the K-pop industry.

CORTIS members began preparing for that role long before their debut. At one point, they spent three months in Los Angeles attending a songwriting camp, where they collaborated with other musicians and developed new material. While working with international songwriters there, the members refined and completed “What You Want,” the song with which they would make their debut two years later.

A BigHit Music official said the decision to attend the camp came at the members’ own request. They wanted to exchange ideas with a wider range of artists and discover the kind of music they genuinely wanted to make.

Why CORTIS puts its rule-breaking on display

CORTIS’ different approach extends beyond how the group makes music to how its members are presented to fans. Videos uploaded to BigHit Music’s YouTube channels bear titles such as “Early Morning Outing” and “Early Morning Escape,” showing the members gleefully swiping the company credit card and sneaking out of their dorm.

For years, idol members secretly slipping out at night would have been treated as a serious breach of discipline and immediately drawn scrutiny from fans. CORTIS instead turns the very act into playful content.

In doing so, the videos place the members’ free-spirited nature front and center, further adding to the group’s appeal. Other footage shows them in the recording studio discussing how a vocal line should be delivered or where a rap verse should enter, and spontaneously proposing ideas on music video sets.

One international songwriter who worked with CORTIS said the members approached songwriting less like an assignment than a party.

The kind of content CORTIS presents remains rare among newly debuted K-pop groups. In the past, so-called “creative idols” — groups that emphasized their autonomy and artist-driven identity — often did so to prove that they possessed genuine skills and were more than merely “manufactured products,” pop music critic Kim Do-heon said.

“But CORTIS is redefining what it means to be a creative idol by showing that the act of creating can itself be a source of enjoyment,” he said.

From hunger-driven ambition to effortless ease

Meanwhile, some interpret CORTIS’ growing popularity as partly the result of a broader change in audience tastes.

For decades, K-pop thrived on the rags-to-riches narrative, beginning with first-generation groups such as H.O.T. The members of g.o.d famously stole corn from nearby fields to feed themselves when they were struggling trainees. BTS prepared for their debut while seven members shared a single bathroom. Such stories of hardship were repeatedly presented as reasons for audiences to root for the groups and become emotionally invested in their success.

The way audiences respond to those narratives, however, has begun to change. One symbolic turning point came with the debut of Annie, a granddaughter of Shinsegae Group Chairwoman Lee Myung-hee, as a member of Allday Project.

It marked the first time a member of a conglomerate family had debuted in a K-pop idol group, and suggested that a different kind of story could also resonate. Audiences were no longer drawn only to desperate young people pulling themselves up through K-pop. Ease, nonchalance and an unforced sense of self could now become sources of appeal in their own right.

CORTIS emerged at the precise moment K-pop audiences were ready for something different.

Social media has been filled with similar reactions.

"I find CORTIS much easier to watch than celebrities who debuted with a chip on their shoulder after growing up in poverty," one user wrote.

Another commented, "Watching BTS rise from nothing through 'Blood Sweat & Tears' made me feel emotionally invested in their struggles. With CORTIS, I can simply enjoy watching them without feeling that burden."

Such reactions suggest that the appeal of K-pop idols may be shifting — from the desperation of "rags-to-riches" stories to an effortless sense of confidence and ease.

Critic and author Ahn Hee-je, who wrote a book examining K-pop fandom, said the change reflects a broader shift in how people view success.

"Groups like g.o.d and BTS became beloved because overcoming hardship was once seen as an essential part of their appeal," Ahn said. "Today, many people believe innate advantages matter more than relentless effort. As a result, qualities such as effortless confidence and a relaxed demeanor have emerged as new forms of appeal for idols."

In that sense, CORTIS' popularity reflects more than a change in K-pop. It suggests a broader shift in what people find attractive and aspirational in life.

From hard work to effortless privilege?

Some scholars argue that the growing popularity of "effortless cool" in K-pop may also reveal a more troubling trend.

Jin Soo-hyun, a research professor at Chung-Ang University's Institute for Multicultural Content Studies, said the industry's changing ideals mirror wider social changes.

"The fact that effortless confidence has become more desirable than stories of people overcoming poverty through hard work may indicate that K-pop is increasingly functioning as a platform that reproduces existing social class," Jin said.

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.