Skills, Charm, and Strategy All Paid Off… Hearts2Hearts, a Group You Can’t Help but ‘Focus’ On

This is a magical team that is fulfilling the declaration made at their debut showcase nine months ago. Hearts2Hearts has succeeded in making their name and music known to the public from their debut year, standing tall as the next top girl group to represent the future of K-pop, as well as for their agency SM Entertainment.

Hearts2Hearts is an 8-member girl group ambitiously launched by SM Entertainment (SM), which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. They debuted on February 24th with their first single ‘The Chase.’ As the first girl group launched by SM in five years since aespa, and the first large-group girl group in a whopping 18 years since Girls’ Generation, they garnered attention early on. Born with a silver spoon in their mouths, as the saying goes in the music industry, they are decorating their first year with impressive performances befitting the expectations and reputation.

Hearts2Hearts’ debut single ‘The Chase’ ranked on the music charts immediately after its release and enjoyed a long run for over half a year. ‘Style,’ released in June, also continues to be loved in the upper ranks of the charts, firmly establishing the group’s presence to the public. While showcasing their mystical and vibrant charms through each song, they conquered sophisticated cool-toned charms with their first mini-album ‘Focus,’ released in October.

The title track of the same name, ‘Focus,’ is a house genre-based song that highlights a vintage piano riff. Kenji, who worked with them on ‘The Chase’ and ‘Style,’ participated in writing the lyrics for ‘Focus,’ incorporating the message of focusing on them. Just like the lyrics, the public’s eyes and ears were drawn to Hearts2Hearts’ unexpected charms, which were never shown in their previous title tracks.

In an era where K-pop is reaching a high level of quality and performance, with countless idol groups active, this song evokes curiosity from the very beginning with its unconventional intro. It explodes with listening pleasure through its melodic yet unconventional style, aiming to captivate listeners within just the first three seconds.

The visual aspect is also exceptional. Thanks to their synchronized choreography, which shines even brighter with a large group, they added sophistication to ‘Focus’ and left a deep impression on global K-pop fans with their stylish charm, temporarily setting aside their youthful, lively demeanor akin to middle and high school students. Consequently, ‘Focus’ has been in the top ranks of domestic music charts for over a month, and their first mini-album, which includes this song, recorded first place on the Oricon Daily Album Chart on November 20th, proving their hot popularity in Japan.

In this way, Hearts2Hearts has achieved a triple hit in their debut year with high completeness and captivating music and performances that do not fall short of expectations, making their rookie title seem undeserved. This was also SM’s intention. In an interview with Ilgan Sports in April, SM’s CAO Lee Sung-soo hinted, ‘Through a trilogy that began with their debut song, you will be able to see that Hearts to Hearts is a team that makes music of a different genre from Red Velvet or Girls’ Generation.’

According to CAO Lee, ‘The Chase’ is difficult for the general public but is the optimal song for fans to express the identity of the group Hearts2Hearts, similar to NCT’s ‘The 7th Sense.’ In reality, Hearts to Hearts not only secured differentiation in the current music trend, which is largely divided into easy listening or hip-hop, but also garnered attention for their unconventional musical color with ‘The Chase.’

In particular, CAO Lee explained that while ‘Focus’ was originally planned to follow ‘The Chase,’ they chose ‘Style’ as the second title track after comprehensively reviewing public responses following their debut song. He added, ‘From an A&R perspective, ‘Focus’ is the music that will become Hearts2Hearts’ identity.’ The strategy of first showcasing the ‘SM girl group’ lineage to the public by prominently displaying a bright and refreshing feel, characteristic of girl groups, after their mystical debut, and then revealing the ‘real thing’ through ‘Style,’ has paid off.

Riding this success, Hearts2Hearts quickly secured rookie awards at various music award ceremonies. They proved they were the top rookies of the year by winning the IS Rising Star Award at the ‘2025 Korea Grand Music Awards with iM Bank’ (2025 KGMA) held at Inspire Arena on the 15th.