KOZ Entertainment will debut its first boy band in the first half of 2023, according to a local media outlet on Tuesday.

The yet-to-be-announced boy band was reported to be produced by artist Zico, the founder of KOZ Entertainment. During previous YouTube interviews and the 2022 HYBE Briefing with the Community, the artist confirmed that he was in the process of producing of a boy band.

“I’ll break the predictable formula,” Zico said during an interview with the popular YouTube channel Turkiyes on the Block in July.

The debut date for the boy band has not yet been confirmed.

Zico, whose real name is Woo Ji-ho, started out in the underground hip-hop scene and later shifted to the K-pop industry as the leader of the boy band Block B in 2011. He produced the majority of the band’s songs, including “NalinA” (2012), “Nillili Mambo” (2012), “Very Good” (2013), “HER” (2014) and “Yesterday” (2017). He is noted for having a successful career in both the K-pop and hip-hop scene, the latter mostly depicted by his solo songs like “Tough Cookie” (2014), “Artist” (2017) and “Any Song” (2020).

He has produced songs for other K-pop acts, like Mino of the boy band Winner, Kim Se-jeong, Penomeco and Wanna One.

Zico is also the founder and CEO of his own label, KOZ Entertainment, which he launched in 2018. The label was acquired by HYBE in 2020.

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]