From WISHLIST, NCT WISH’s first Japanese mini album. Half of this group is Japanese, and that is not an afterthought — it is the design.

A Korean group built for Japan

Most K-pop acts add Japanese releases once they are established at home. NCT WISH were pointed at Japan from the start: Japanese members in the line-up, a pre-debut tour of Japanese cities, and a Japanese mini album early in the catalogue rather than years into it. Japan is the world’s second-largest music market and, unusually, one that still buys physical copies in volume. A group designed for it from day one is a different product from one that adapts to it later.

About this release

“Hello Mellow” was published on 14 January 2026 from WISHLIST and has passed 9 million views. The album’s other video on this board, the Dreamcatcher Special Video, came out two months earlier.

Watching from outside Korea

Multinational line-ups are now normal in Korean pop, and the nationalities usually map onto target markets rather than being incidental. It is worth checking who is in a group and where they are from.

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