NCT Wish

2019–2023: Plans, formation and NCT New Team

Prior to the group's debut, Yushi was first introduced as a member of Japanese boy group Edamame Beans at the age of 11 but shortly left the group before debut in the same year. Yushi first auditioned for SM Entertainment in his fourth grade of elementary school and was accepted as a trainee in his sixth grade of elementary school. He later came to Korea in his 6th grade of elementary school and trained for about seven years prior joining the survival show. Riku had filmed a visual advertisement for his cousin Ai Takahashi's own cosmetics brand Aimmx in October 2021.^[8] Riku was cast through the 2022 SM Global Audition and was a trainee for about one year prior joining the survival show.^[9] Sion was cast through Instagram's direct messaging and trained for four years prior joining the survival show.^[10] In 2022, Ryo was first scouted by SM while he was watching NCT 127's concert.^[11] In January 2023, Jaehee was scouted by SM Entertainment.^[12]

In January 2016, SM founder and producer Lee Soo-man announced plans for a new boy group NCT with different units to be based in cities around the world.^[13] On June 20, 2019, SM producer Chris Lee announced in a presentation that NCT would continue to debut international units, mentioning that the company was in the process of creating a Japanese one. This was re-iterated in an interview with Billboard the following day, where the unit's activities were confirmed to be managed between Avex Trax and SM Japan.^[1]

On December 1, 2022, SM confirmed plans for a Japanese subunit based in Tokyo following the opening of their Southeast Asian branch.^[14][15] As part of their 2023 strategy, the company revealed that the next NCT subunit, tentatively named "NCT Tokyo", would be debuting in the third quarter of the year.^[16][17] On February 24, SM announced that NCT Tokyo would the group's final subunit.^[18][19]

On May 23, 2023, SM announced that two future SM Rookies would be part of the new unit's lineup, with the remaining members selected via a pre-debut survival show.^[20] The rookies were revealed to be Yushi and Sion on June 28;^[21] two days later, SM confirmed that the survival show NCT Universe: Lastart would begin airing on July 27.^[22] The official lineup of the group, now referred to as "NCT New Team", was unveiled during the final episode: Sion, Riku, Yushi, Jungmin, Daeyoung, Ryo, Sakuya.^[23] The group served as the opening for the rest of NCT at their Japanese NCT Nation: To the World concerts at Yanmar Stadium Nagai in Osaka from September 9 to 10 and again at Ajinomoto Stadium in Tokyo from September 16 to 17.^[24] The new NCT unit later embarked on a pre-debut tour beginning on 8 October, which consisted of 28 performances across 10 cities in Japan.^[25]

On October 2, 2023, SM announced that Jungmin, who had been absent from previous performances, would be departing NCT for health reasons.^[26] The unit released their pre-debut single "Hands Up" on October 8, with their official debut confirmed for 2024.^[27]

2024–present: Debut, subsequent single releases, Steady, and Wishful

On January 17, SM released a teaser titled "NCT Wish: Wish for Our Wish" and confirmed that NCT New Team would be debuting under the name NCT Wish scheduled in February.^[28] On February 21, NCT Wish performed their debut single "Wish" for the first time at SMTOWN Live 2024 SMCU Palace at Tokyo.^[29][30] The group made their debut on February 28 with the release of the single "Wish" in both Japanese and Korean versions.^[31][32] They took their first music show win on SBS M's The Show, 21 days after they debuted.^[33]

On April 11, NCT Wish announced their first fan meeting titled "NCT Wish: School of Wish" which would be held for four times at Myunghwa Livehall in Seoul on May 25–26 and the pre-sale tickets were sold out within 15 minutes.^[34] Later they added five more dates with a total of 14 meetings in five cities.^[35][36]

On May 3, NCT Wish attended and performed their songs at GirlsAward, one of the biggest fashion events in Japan.^[37][38] On June 25, NCT Wish released their second Japanese single "Songbird".^[39] The Korean version of the single was released as the lead track for the single album of the same name on July 1.^[40]

On August 28, NCT Wish confirmed that they would release new music at the end of September and were in the final stages of preparations. The release was preceded by a pre-release track in early September.^[41] Their first EP, Steady was released on September 24.^[42] On October 15, NCT Wish released the single "Make You Shine", the second ending theme for the Korean dub of Pokémon Horizons: The Series.^[43]

NCT Wish's debut studio album, Wishful, was released on November 27. The 13 track album contains the group's six previously released Japanese singles, as well as seven new tracks, including the single "Wishful Winter".^[44]

On January 22, 2025, NCT Wish released the digital single "Miracle", a remake of the song of the same name by Super Junior, as the second single from the album 2025 SM Town: The Culture, the Future.^[45]

On March 19, it was announced that NCT Wish would release their second EP Poppop on April 14.^[46]

Headlining tours