K-pop artists Badvillain, Katseye, Rescene and TWS were named in NME's "Essential Emerging Artists for 2025" list of 100 rising stars for this year.

The annual list, compiled by music critics and journalists recognizing rising artists that have shown potential in the music industry, was released Wednesday featuring 100 up-and-coming acts from around the world. Each artist, listed alphabetically, was also compared with other K-pop artists of the similar music style.


Badvillain, the first of the four K-pop acts, was acclaimed for "setting themselves apart in the crowded K-pop girl group field by taking passé girl crush concepts and making them new again."

Katseye, the multinational girl group managed by HYBE, was described by NME as "blending Korean levels of dance precision with a sassy Western flair, their Y2K-inspired music is catchy, fun and liable to turn the entire world into ‘Eyekons.'" Eyekons is the name of the group's fans. The group went viral for the song "Touch" (2024).

Rescene was noted for "a natural musicality and sensitivity that suggest great depths to the members’ talents." Its songs were pointed out as "often hauntingly melodic" but also "nostalgic." The group recently has been rising in fame with the songs "Love Attack" (2024) and "Glow Up."

TWS was the only K-pop boy band in the list. It was praised for taking a "grounded approach by exploring what it means to be a young man in the modern world." The band is best known for the song "Plot Twist" (2024). "Plot Twist" and "Love Attack" were also previously named on NME's list of 25 best K-pop songs of 2024.

BY SHIN MIN-HEE, YOON SO-YEON [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]