It would be very amiss for me to focus on the rookies of 2026 and not cover the latest sensation in KPOP. I’m talking about none other than A2O LITE, who has been taking the industry by storm with their debut track NEON. A2O LITE is a nine-member group from A2O Entertainment (the company Lee Soo Man founded after leaving SM Entertainment, which he also founded) and includes Young, Himeki, Vora, Xili, Rada, Merci, Ayune, Oa, and Aijing. The group debuted alongside their male counterparts, A2O SOUL, who debuted with the single SUPERSTAR (which I just posted a review for).
The song’s trendy nature has made NEON a very earwormy track. The futuristic sound profile the song steers its electropop toward feels unique for the current makeup of KPOP, but it also feels very second-generation KPOP. I particularly like how unexpectedly punchy the instrumental break is. I’m not sure what I expected, but it definitely pops against the rest of NEON‘s linear electropop instrumentation. The chorus comes through as an alien-like chant that is intriguingly catchy. The vocal layering and harmonies heighten the chorus’s appeal. I like how NEON‘s bridge throws us back to SM Entertainment’s bridge style from when Lee Soo Man was at the helm, which we can attribute to Yoo Young Jin and Dem Jointz, the producers who worked alongside Lee Soo Man to pioneer this bridge style and song formula. I suspect that at some point, I will find NEON repetitively annoying. I mean, it’s hard to see how everything in this song doesn’t point to that outcome. But despite NEON appearing everywhere, including my playlist queues, I am surprised the song hasn’t reached that point yet. But for now, I find NEON extremely rich and addictive.
NEON‘s music video was top-notch. From the high-definition visuals to the post-production and transitions, everything looked crisp and fresh. Those transitions were fun, and the sets felt interactive. The song’s futuristic sound was visually captured through the members’ looks throughout the video. They literally felt like clones, the same ones that are usually the subject or seen in many sci-fi movies about a technologically dominant future.
NEON‘s choreography looked great. It had the potential to be cooler if the execution had been smoother in some parts and the flow better in others. But they are definitely a group to keep an eye on for future performances. I liked how the group broke up into small units or duos in the performance, letting us focus on certain members at a time (rather than constantly on all 9). It led to some funny memes, but it also helped draw more attention to their debut.
Song – 9/10
Music Video – 9/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 8.8/10
