Meet CORTIS, the Coolest K-Pop Debut of the Year

The days leading up to the launch of a new K-pop group are often hectic and intense. Years of training typically go into preparing a group — not just in music and dance, but also often in areas like English, all to get them ready for global stardom. Now BIGHIT MUSIC, the label behind BTS and Tomorrow x Together (TXT), has revealed its first new group in six years: CORTIS, a five-member group that launched with official social media accounts in early August.

Over the past couple of years, fans have speculated about “BIGHIT’s new boy group,” with sightings while filming in Los Angeles or attending labelmates’ concerts. And yesterday morning, CORTIS released their first-ever song, “GO!” Much like their labelmates, Martin, James, Juhoon, Seonghyeon, and Keonho are heavily involved in production, and their other talents range from choreography to videography, allowing them to incorporate their creative ideas into everything the group will put out. 

While “GO!” marks CORTIS’ first-ever release, some of the members have had real-world experience in music. Martin had a hand in producing ILLIT’s “Magnetic,” ENHYPEN’s “Outside,” and most recently, “Beautiful Strangers” by TXT, just to name a few, and James was involved in choreographing for a handful of HYBE artists as well, including the viral “Magnetic” dance and “Seven” by BTS’ Jung Kook. All of the members of CORTIS are true creators in different avenues, and their management has empowered them to have real input into their music, choreography, and videos. 

The group’s name derives from the phrase “color outside the lines,” a nod to limitless creativity; it also draws inspiration from cortisol, a hormone linked to energy, action, and emotional intensity. After meeting the members and experiencing the music and accompanying music videos, the vision clicks into place. 

CORTIS are here to push boundaries and offer a freer, more unfiltered take on what a K-pop group can be. Korean-Canadian Martin, the group’s leader at age 17, is a natural creative who drives CORTIS’ sound, and cites Tyler, the Creator and Mac Miller as some of his favorite artists. James, the oldest at 19, is Taiwanese and a dance prodigy with a black belt in taekwondo, as well as 10 years of ice hockey at a semi-pro level, an experience he credits with instilling discipline. Juhoon has a background as a youth model, appearing in commercials and music videos, and attended an international middle school before getting scouted to join BIGHIT, where he sharpened his English skills. Seonghyeon, while soft-spoken at first, is a creative powerhouse with a sharp edge, and the ideas he brings to CORTIS as a topliner and a lyricist often come to fruition. The youngest member Keonho, at 16, is a key contributor to the group’s music videos, shapes up the group’s dynamic, and defines their current headspace perfectly — curious about the future, wanting the whole world to know their names. 

For the group’s first-ever interview, CORTIS met with Rolling Stone to discuss how they came together and the nerves they felt around finally debuting. Speaking mostly in English, with occasional asides in Korean, they were quick to support one another by helping find the right words, nodding in encouragement, and building on each other’s stories as they dove into their shared experiences.

We first met two or three weeks ago in Seoul. How have these past few weeks have been for you?

James: We’ve been busy. We’ve been practicing a lot, as always, but also doing a lot of different activities — a lot of different schedules, which is new to us, because for us, we usually always have full days staying in the practice room. It hasn’t fully sunk in yet [laughs]. Trying to get all the information, prepare as much as we can. I think as the days go by and the date is getting sooner and sooner, you kind of feel the anxiety coming up a little bit by bit. So yeah, definitely starting to feel it.

Seonghyeon: Same. [Laughs.] Yeah…  like, surreal? And I’m kind of nervous too, and also I’m very excited to get out there. I think it’s going to be fun.

Juhoon: When we see our Google Calendar, it’s starting to get filled up. I’m kind of feeling it.

Tell us how you first got introduced to music. Did you play instruments growing up? What kind of music did you listen to?

Martin: I actually just bought a synthesizer. It’s like a mini version of a Juno, and it comes in handy. I have been playing around with that a lot. I don’t really know how to play the piano or the keyboard, but I know a couple chords, so I like to play it often.

James: For me, I’ve been listening to Michael Jackson since I was a little kid. Taking the bus, dancing around, with Michael Jackson in my earphones. The King of Pop never disappoints .

Seonghyeon: Before I came here, I never listened to hip-hop or R&B. But now, I listen to a bunch of different genres. Pop, hip-hop, jazz.

How has it been getting to know each other over the past couple of years? And are there any specific moments that you think helped you build a strong relationship?

Keonho: Well, after we lived together in the dorm…

James: Unfortunately, we lived together, right? [Laughs.] When you go to practice together and go back home together, you eat together, you watch stuff together, everything kind of just comes naturally. At times it’s hard. It’s kind of rough, like here and there. Especially on the holidays, when it’s suddenly quiet. When everyone goes back home, suddenly it gets quiet, and then you’re like, “Something’s missing.” You kind of feel the decibel – it’s not there.

What else have you done to bond as a team?

Martin: We went to Universal Studios. 

Keonho: After we finished our song camp. 

James: We milked our time there to the very last second. We ran all over the place to take rides. … But recently, we went to Six Flags. Actually, personally, I like Six Flags. Really personally.

Martin: I mean, Six Flags has much more extreme rides.

James: Six Flags was exciting. You can feel the adrenaline, you feel like you’re gonna die! [Laughs.] But no! X2 was like —

That’s the scariest ride I’ve ever been on. [Laughs.]

James: When we took off our shoes for the ride, it was nerve-wracking. 

Martin: We knew it was going to be something [big].

Now that you guys are debuting, I’m curious if you have any short-term goals, looking to the end of the year. And how about longer-term goals — like five years, 10 years?

Juhoon: Short-term, since we’re just debuting, our goal is to show who we are to the audience and make sure that they understand who we are. 

James: Just trying to be at our best at introducing ourselves to the world. 

Keonho: I’ve never thought about long-term goals, but, I think… Now, I’m just curious. Curious about myself five or 10 years from now, I guess I could say I “want the whole world to know our name,” yeah. [Laughs.] That’s actually lyrics from one of our songs. 

Have you gotten any advice from other HYBE artists or BIGHIT MUSIC artists that has stuck with you?

Martin: BTS gave us the advice to do well by the people that you’re working with, the staff. And I feel like that’s all that matters. To hit a long run, you’ve got to be good to the people around you. You’ve got to show love.

James: Yeah, I think in the end, we make up CORTIS, but at the same time, the staff and everyone included — they’re all part of CORTIS. It’s all a big team and big family.

Juhoon: Another piece of advice BTS gave us is that a lot of people may think it’s the end once you debut. But actually, the debut is just the beginning, so there’s no need to be perfect. Show improvement and keep evolving as you go. That’s been helping me a lot for where we are right now in this particular moment in time when I’m just about to debut. 

In terms of preparing for your debut, I’m sure there’s a lot of things that you’re doing for the first time. Is there anything from the process that was surprising to you?

James: Today! [Laughs.]

Martin: We did a lot today. This is our first-ever interview. So today was a busy day, and it was actually pretty fun to just try all these new things. 

James: It’s the first full day we didn’t have dance class, but it’s full with other schedules. It’s just so fast. Everything is fast. 

Martin: Yeah, exactly! I was gonna say the same.

James: And, like, even now, at 11: 30 pm, I still feel like it’s lunch time. Everything went by so fast. I feel like I haven’t done anything yet. But now it’s like, the day is kind of coming to an end. It’s like, what?

Seonghyeon: Usually we would have one class for like six hours, but now, we’re doing a variety of things throughout the day. 

James: I think also because we’re used to repeating the same thing for a very long time, and now it’s like “this, that, this, that, this, that” is thrown at you, yeah?

Is there anything you’ve been doing to try to stay calm and not be as nervous?

James: We’re nervous! [Laughs.] Yeah, we’re just nervous.

Martin: I think all we can do is just get used to it, do more, if it’s possible. I feel like, as we do it, we’ll start to find more “know-how,” right? And that’s how it will kind of brush off.

Martin, I know you worked on a lot of CORTIS’ music, and you alrea