The Howl That Became a Flame
Before they were icons, they were contestants. Before the sold-out arenas and the million-copy albums, there were audition rooms and survival show cameras and the brutal arithmetic of elimination. For EJ, Nicholas, and Jo of &TEAM — three of the nine members spotlighted in Singles Japan’s June 2026 pictorial — the road to the cover began with a howl.
That howl is now We on Fire. Released April 13, 2026, &TEAM‘s third mini-album broke the group’s own first-week sales record with over 1.23 million copies — a figure that tells you everything about where this group stands right now: at the center of a global conversation about what J-pop and K-pop can become when they stop being separate things and start being something altogether new.
The Captain Who Carries the Weight
There’s a kind of quiet authority that comes from choosing to be responsible before you’re asked to be. EJ — born Byun Eui Joo in Goyang, South Korea — embodies that authority completely. He first appeared in front of global cameras on I-LAND in 2020, was eliminated in episode seven, and somehow turned that exit into a runway. Two years later, he entered &AUDITION: The Howling not as a cautionary tale but as someone who had already learned how to lose with grace — and win with purpose.
As &TEAM’s leader since their December 2022 debut, EJ sets the temperature of the room. In fan-documented moments and Weverse lives, he’s the one who notices when a member is off, who delivers feedback with care rather than edge, who reminds the group — and the audience — that strength and softness aren’t opposites.
“He’s a gentleman,” the other members have said, more than once. That gentleness has never made him soft. The 67th Japan Record Awards, where EJ stepped forward to accept on behalf of the group, said it all: composed, grateful, clear-eyed, burning.
The Global Voice in the Room
If &TEAM represents the idea of nine diverse members connecting diverse worlds — and that’s literally the origin of their name — then Nicholas is proof that the concept isn’t marketing speak.
Born in Taipei City, Taiwan, Nicholas brings a global DNA to the group that goes beyond his passport.
His breakdancing foundation gives every performance an unpredictable kinetic edge; his presence at fashion events draws eyes that know how to read a silhouette.
Nicholas has graced Marie Claire Korea, Arena Homme+, and GIANNA Plus in recent months — each editorial leaning into his natural understanding of clothes as communication.
On TikTok, fan edits of Nicholas and Jo in runway walk mode rack up millions of views, framing them not just as idols but as figures from the intersection of sport, street, and couture. That intersection is exactly where Singles Japan found them for this June issue.
The Quiet Fire
Jo was scouted at a contest for people dreaming of modelling or acting — a fact that, once you’ve seen him move on stage, makes absolute sense.
There’s an inherent theatricality to Jo, a natural understanding of how light falls and how a body occupies space, that most performers spend years trying to manufacture. It was already in him.
Basketball courts, stages, fashion sets — Jo moves through all of them with the same unhurried confidence.
His favourite song is The Weeknd’s Out of Time. Of course it is. That song — silk-smooth, melancholic, cinematic — is basically a mood board for what Jo brings to &TEAM’s softer moments.
He is the counterweight to the group’s harder edges, the note that makes the chord feel full. And in the Singles Japan pictorial, that fullness translates into something genuinely rare: editorial images that feel like stills from a film that doesn’t exist yet but absolutely should.
From the Howling to the Fire
The arc of &TEAM’s story is one of deliberate escalation. They debuted in December 2022 with First Howling: ME — nine new faces, a lycanthropic mythology, a debut that sold 151,000 copies in its first week. By 2023 they had a full album hitting No. 1 on Billboard Japan. By late 2024, Yukiakari had cemented them as something beyond a group: a cultural event.
But it was 2025 that changed everything. Back to Life — their first full Korean-language EP — sold over 1.1 million copies on its release day alone, making &TEAM the first Japanese artist to top Oricon Daily Album rankings with a Korean-language record. They swept music show triple crowns. The narrative had fully flipped: this wasn’t a J-pop group attempting K-pop. This was a genuinely multinational unit that had learned to speak every language the modern pop world requires.
Now, with We on Fire, the story enters its most confident chapter. Produced with “hitman” Bang, the album’s Dance-Pop and J-Pop-Rock fusion signals a group no longer auditioning for a seat at the table — they built their own table, and they’re setting it on fire.
Dressed for the Era
The Singles Japan June 2026 pictorial doesn’t just document EJ, Nicholas, and Jo — it styles them as precisely as the music does. Fashion in K-pop and J-pop has always been a secondary language, a way of saying something the lyrics can’t. For this trio, the visual narrative leans into contrast: structured tailoring against raw energy; soft-drape evening looks against the contained intensity of their stage identities.
EJ — Structured Power
Clean-lined suiting references; deep tones anchoring leader energy. Precise tailoring echoing his ISTJ architecture — everything in its place, everything intentional.
Nicholas — Street-to-Runway
Athletic-meets-editorial; layering that honors his breakdance roots while leaning into the magazine world that has claimed him. Textured outerwear, neutral palettes with edge.
Jo — Cinematic Softness
Fluid silhouettes; the kind of editorial dressing that photographs like memory. Ivory and bone tones, considered drape, the look of someone who was always going to be in front of a lens.
LUNÉ: Light Up New Energy
The fandom name LUNÉ — meaning moon, a backronym for Light Up New Energy — was announced on September 26, 2022. It is, in retrospect, exactly right. The moon doesn’t generate its own light; it reflects and amplifies what it receives. LUNÉ does the same: taking &TEAM’s output and reflecting it back brighter, through fan cams and voting campaigns and the particular language of Gen Z devotion that turns a music video into a shared experience lasting months.
The fan relationship with EJ, Nicholas, and Jo specifically has a distinct texture. EJ’s composure makes LUNÉ feel held. Nicholas’s fashion presence makes them feel seen. Jo’s cinematic warmth makes them feel understood. Three different emotional registers, three different reasons to pour your heart into this group — and somehow, together, they form a complete world.
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Credits & Rights
Published by: Kpoppie Magazine
Publisher / Rights Holder: Velocity Entertainment Inc. (Japan / New Zealand)
Article Author: Kpoppie Magazine Editorial Team
Issue: Singles Japan Special · June 2026
Pictorial Subject: EJ, Nicholas & Jo of &TEAM (앤팀)
Artist Management: YX LABELS (formerly HYBE Labels Japan) · Tokyo, Japan
Distribution (Artist): Universal Music Japan
Photography: Singles Japan Editorial Photography Team (Singles Japan, June 2026 Issue). All pictorial photographs © Singles Japan / YX LABELS. Used with editorial reference. No reproduction without written permission.
Fashion Credits: As listed in Singles Japan June 2026 Issue. Editorial fashion descriptions © Kpoppie Magazine / Velocity Entertainment Inc.
Album Reference: We on Fire (3rd Mini Album, April 13 2026); Back to Life (EP, October 28 2025) © YX LABELS / Universal Music Japan. All rights reserved.
© 2026 Velocity Entertainment Inc. (Japan / New Zealand) · All editorial text, design, and creative direction copyright Kpoppie Magazine. All rights reserved under the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works and applicable international copyright treaties. Unauthorized reproduction, distribution, or transmission of this content in any form is prohibited. Artist names, group names, and associated trademarks are the property of their respective rights holders. Kpoppie Magazine is an independent editorial publication. No commercial affiliation with YX LABELS, HYBE Corporation, or Universal Music Japan is implied.
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