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A Korean band's second wave, with an American stage in mind
For hrtz.wav, a five-member newcomer to South Korea's music scene, the next step is about finding a collective sound: how to turn five musicians with distinct strengths into a band whose identity extends beyond the television competition that brought them together.
The group's answer on its second EP, “The Second Wave : MOMENTUM,” is synth-pop. Released on the ninth, the six-track collection places bright electronic textures alongside songs about attraction, longing and the ambition to become a rock star. At a release showcase in Seoul's Seongdong district, the musicians described the shift as a way to bring their personalities into sharper focus while making their sound and performances fuller.
There is an American horizon to that ambition. Bassist Dane named Lollapalooza as a festival he hopes the band will one day headline. That is an aspiration, not a booking announcement. Still, the choice of a festival rooted in Chicago's alternative-music history offers a useful frame for this release: a Korean band developing its musical identity while imagining a future on a major international stage.
The distance between a second EP and a festival headlining slot is considerable. What makes this chapter worth watching is the work happening in between — a move from individual songwriting instincts toward a shared musical language, with synthesizers as the connecting thread.
What synth-pop changes — and what it does not
Synth-pop is pop music built around the electronic tones of synthesizers, instruments capable of producing everything from warm, sustained chords to sharp melodic hooks. For American listeners, the term can evoke the keyboard-driven music that helped define 1980s radio and MTV. But it describes a set of musical tools as much as a period style, and those tools remain common in contemporary pop.
For hrtz.wav, the decision was not presented simply as a retro makeover. The members said they considered what genre would suit them and settled on synth-pop as a means of expressing their individual qualities within the group. That distinction matters. Adding an electronic texture to a song is relatively straightforward; making it serve the singer, guitarist, bassist, drummer and keyboardist at once is an arranging challenge.
Dane described a change in how he and vocalist Rian approached writing. Rather than thinking primarily about songs for themselves, they began considering the band's character and the strengths of its members. The idea of introducing a different sound emerged from that process, with synthesizers becoming their chosen vehicle.
That explanation does not establish how successfully every track achieves its goals. It does, however, identify the creative question behind the release. The musicians are not describing electronics as a replacement for their band format. They are treating them as another way to make that format work — broadening the palette without abandoning the interplay among five performers.
“ALIVE” brings a connection to the wider K-pop audience
The EP's lead single, “ALIVE,” features Sungchan of RIIZE, the South Korean pop group. Built around a midtempo pulse and retro-style synthesizers, the song addresses the growing clarity of feelings between people drawn to one another. Its youthful energy comes through rhythm and texture rather than relying exclusively on a fast pace.
For readers new to Korean music coverage, “title track” often means an album's main promotional song, even when it does not share the album's name. “ALIVE” fills that role here. It is the obvious entry point for the release, both because of its placement at the center of the promotional campaign and because Sungchan's participation gives RIIZE listeners a reason to explore another act.
The collaboration follows a familiar music-industry logic. In the United States, a featured artist can introduce a rising performer to listeners who might not otherwise encounter the release. A guest appearance can also connect audiences across styles. Neither outcome is automatic, and the presence of a recognizable name does not establish that listeners will stay for an entire EP.
For hrtz.wav, that makes the songs beyond “ALIVE” especially important. Sungchan's contribution may attract attention, but the band's longer-term identity depends on what it offers without a guest. The key question is whether the single functions as a doorway into a coherent musical personality, rather than becoming the only part of the release that casual listeners recognize.
Six songs about growing up, without an elaborate mythology
The album's themes are deliberately close to everyday experience. “Mind” deals with longing. “Sunday Morning” captures the buoyancy of an emerging crush. “Play My Guitar” turns toward the dream of becoming a rock star, expanding the emotional territory from relationships to the kind of person a young musician hopes to become.
Rian said the group wanted to include specific feelings that people their age might recognize. That emphasis gives the EP an accessible premise for listeners unfamiliar with the band or with Korean pop culture. Missing someone, feeling the first rush of attraction and imagining a future onstage require little cultural explanation. The language and setting may differ, but the emotional stakes are familiar.
Those subjects also sit comfortably within American pop and rock traditions. Songs about romantic uncertainty and escaping into music have long helped young performers establish a connection with their peers. The comparison is about shared subject matter, not evidence that hrtz.wav borrowed from any particular American artist.
It would be premature to describe the six songs as a single continuous story. The available descriptions suggest related emotional snapshots rather than a confirmed concept album. Their connection lies in a stage of life: learning to navigate attachments while developing ambitions of one's own. Within that framework, the synthesizers provide a changing musical surface, while the lyrics supply experiences listeners can recognize without first studying a fictional universe or a complicated group backstory.
From television contestants to a working ensemble
Hrtz.wav formed through “Steel Heart Club,” a band competition on South Korean music channel Mnet. Its members finished first in their respective performance positions. The lineup consists of keyboardist Yoon Young-jun, vocalist Rian, bassist Dane, guitarist Keiten and drummer Hagiwa.
For an American audience, the basic television mechanism is familiar from “American Idol” or “The Voice”: viewers encounter performers through a competition before following their recording careers. The important difference here is the position-based structure. These musicians were brought together to fill distinct roles in a band, not simply to assemble several lead singers under one name.
That creates an artistic transition the competition itself cannot resolve. Winning recognition as an individual performer is different from knowing when to step forward, when to support another player and when a song needs less rather than more. A band has to turn separate abilities into arrangements that serve a shared purpose.
The members' account of the EP points directly to that transition. Dane's comments about writing for the team suggest a shift in the unit of measurement: not whether a part suits one musician, but whether it helps define the whole group. The synth-pop direction is best understood within that process, rather than automatically labeled an attempt to chase an international trend. The members identified it as a solution to their own creative needs; commercial consequences remain to be seen.
What this means for the United States
For American listeners, hrtz.wav offers another reminder that South Korea's popular-music exports are not limited to choreography-centered vocal groups. This is a five-piece instrumental band working with electronic pop textures. Its format may provide an approachable entry point for listeners who enjoy keyboard-driven pop or guitar bands but have not developed a broader interest in Korean music.
The Lollapalooza ambition also has a concrete context. BTS member J-Hope headlined the Chicago festival in 2022, and Tomorrow X Together headlined in 2023. Those appearances established that Korean acts can occupy prominent positions at a major American festival with a lineup extending well beyond K-pop. They do not mean an emerging Korean band has a guaranteed route to the same stage.
For U.S. promoters and other music companies, the distinction is important. Familiarity with Korean entertainment can help audiences discover a new act, but demand for one artist cannot simply be transferred to another. A guest feature, a television origin story and a recognizable genre are potential points of introduction, not substitutes for evidence that people want to hear a band's music or attend its shows.
The source account does not identify an American tour, a U.S. label agreement or a confirmed Lollapalooza appearance for hrtz.wav. This release is therefore a story about possible audience connections, not an announced U.S. expansion. Its relevance to U.S.-Korea cultural ties lies at the listener level: Korean musicians working in a globally familiar style, with American festival stages among their ambitions. Whether that connection grows will depend on songs, performances and sustained interest rather than the symbolism of crossing borders alone.
Why the live show is the next meaningful test
The band says it has been gaining experience at music festivals and reviewing its shortcomings after performances. That routine is less attention-grabbing than naming a dream headlining slot, but it offers a more immediate measure of how the musicians understand growth.
A recording allows layers of sound to be shaped and balanced under controlled conditions. A festival performance asks a different set of questions: Can the vocalist remain distinct in a dense arrangement? Do the bass and drums preserve the song's movement? Does a keyboard part add definition, or crowd the guitar? These are general challenges for bands combining electronic textures with live instruments, not reported failures in hrtz.wav's performances.
They are particularly relevant because the members described this EP as an effort to enrich both sound and performance. If those aims reinforce each other, the new material could help clarify what audiences should expect from a hrtz.wav set. If they pull in different directions, the musicians' habit of reviewing shows gives them a practical mechanism for making adjustments.
For now, the evidence supports a description of a band working on its live craft, not one whose new musical direction has already been validated on a large international stage. The distinction keeps the story grounded. A headlining ambition describes a destination; repeated performances and careful revisions describe the work necessary to pursue it.
A second release built around a shared identity
Even the group's stylized name links emotion with sound. “Hrtz” invokes hearts and sound frequency, while “wav” points to high-quality audio and waves. That branding fits an EP pairing recognizable feelings with a more explicitly electronic palette, although a name is a statement of intent, not proof of artistic achievement.
The more consequential development is the members' shift toward thinking collectively. Their account of “The Second Wave : MOMENTUM” describes musicians asking what makes sense for five people together, rather than treating the band as a container for separate ambitions. The lead single's collaboration, the songs about young relationships and the rock-star aspirations all sit within that larger search.
What to watch next is whether that search produces a sound listeners can identify across the full EP and in live performance. International bookings, if announced, would provide a separate test of the band's reach. Neither commercial success nor an American breakthrough can be inferred from the release itself.
For English-speaking audiences encountering hrtz.wav for the first time, the clearest introduction is also the simplest: five musicians are using synth-pop to explore how they fit together. Their biggest stated dream points toward an American festival. Their immediate task is closer to home and more fundamental — making the next song, and the next performance, sound unmistakably like their own band.
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