K-pop's toughest stage comes after debut

Two K-pop acts have been making headlines this summer, and their stories could not be more different. Girl group Rescene finally topped a music chart with "Love Attack," a song that had gone largely unnoticed for two years. Ateez ATEEZ K-POP GROUP ATEEZ is an eight-member K-pop boy group known for powerful performances, intense choreography, and a strong global fanbase. Since debuting in 2018, they have built a reputation for cinematic concepts and commanding stag , a group long celebrated abroad but overlooked at home, cracked South Korea's own charts for the first time with its new single "Bad" — eight years into its career. Such reversals of fortune look glamorous from the outside. But they remain the exception, not the rule. E