I think Heart of Woman’s Heart Byte and Close Your Eyes’ Eternalt are the best 5th gen debut album/ep I have heard and easily part of my favourite albums. “Best” in K-pop is hardly every clear-cut because everyone values different things but these two are just mindblowing for me.
We’ve had a lot of great 5th gen debut songs but I’m specifically referring to the whole package (album/ep). Debuts are like every other day (hyperbole) so it takes a lot for me to consistently think of and go back to listen to two
ETERNALT is just one of those albums that clicked immediately. People use the word cohesive a lot, so pardon me, but this an album that actually feels cohesive. All My Poetry is a fantastic title track, but the b-sides are what really sold me. To The Woods and Close Your Eyes are incredible, and that little special monologue before the heavenly outro in Close your eyes does it for me every time.
My first favorites were How to Dance and Laid Back, and looking back this album is probably one of the reasons I started leaning more into rnb in kpop. Stay 4 Good and Upside Down are amazing too. I knew absolutely nothing about them, so seeing a group debut with 8 rnb songs was honestly a big surprise. Not necessarily saying they did it first, but it wasn’t something I had observed much.
Mind you, this was released in April 2025 and here I am still talking about them. They’ve consistently released more great music (X, Who’s Dat?, What if I miss love, Snowy summer etc) but that debut album really set them on high for me.
And then there’s HEART BYTE
I don’t even know what to say other than…….woowwww. Personal opinions and all, but I struggle to take any “best albums of the year” lists for 2026 seriously if this album isn’t somewhere on them. That sounds SO DRAMATIC for a debut album, but then I listen to the album again and I’m like…..nahh I’m not dramatic at all…
I found it through a recommendation, and I was like 13 songs????? IN THIS K-POP ECONOMY?? Consider me flabbergasted.
Lost in proof is a solid title track but the rest of the album mogs it real bad, which is pretty impressive considering it’s a really amazing track itself. Skit. exe is criminally short and incredibly good that I need to fight whoever made that goodness so short (It’s exactly how I feel about Jo yuri’s Round and round).
It’s been over 2 months, and the album has not worn off at all. TEA and Dive with me grabbed me first but Told U so, $.$, and My vision are ridiculously good. Told U So is particularly gorgeous. I love the harmonies, the voices, and how every song just makes the album cohesive (yes I used the word again). The beat in $.$ is soo soooo nice.
When people bring up memorable 5th gen debut albums this will always come to mind first, but I don’t even think I see much conversation around that as opposed to debut songs. Maybe if anyone of them become more popular down the line—then these will become the buried treasures. I hope it’s up and up from here on for both groups!
Thanks for Reading
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