When CORTIS dropped their pre-release single, GO! on August 11, 2025, I was curious. They’re BigHit Music’s first male group in six years. Consisting of five members, Martin, James, Juhoon, Seonghyeon, Keonho, their name means “Color Outside The Lines.”
One problem I have with CORTIS’s GO! is that it doesn’t give me a clear idea of what the group is about. Not the way LE SSERAFIM, ILLIT, ATEEZ, or aespa did with their debut singles. CORTIS’s concept is supposed to be about creative freedom, with all the members participating in songwriting, producing and choreography. Yet, I don’t get that feeling listening to the song or from watching the music video.
Hip-Hop Concept or Cosplay?
On paper, the concept works. A young creator crew who write, choreograph, and produce together. The pre-release single was meant to set the tone for their August 18 debut with “What You Want” (and an English version with Teezo Touchdown on August 22). Their debut EP, Color Outside The Lines, arrives September 8.
However, the execution is shaky. GO! leans too hard into heavy autotune and Western rap aesthetics. While ALLDAY PROJECT actually pulled off the hip-hop aesthetic, CORTIS are more like kids dressing up in adult clothes. It doesn’t compliment the guys and it feels like BigHit is throwing out something it thinks will sell.
Even the lyrics veer into cringe territory. Instead of boundary-breaking, the track feels like cosplay.
“Pull up to the studio with our pants low, here we go
Drippy, just like a drain that’s leaky
Callin’ a new wave, like Poseidon
Martin, (that’s so fire) play that beat (that’s so fire)
Lit up the studio, make night bright as day
We made one today and this track is so sick
Bring the levels up, this song kicks, it runs the city”
“Watch me go, go, go, go, go, go
I just gotta get it
Watch me go, go, go, go, go, go
I just gotta get it
Bring the new beat
Bring the new hit
Bring the new sheet
We make the new sh—”
Divisive Reactions
To say the response to GO! has been polarizing would be an understatement.
Critics say it abandons the things K-pop is known for: no strong vocals, no killer hook, no maximalist, over the top instrumental. Just a “slurred, swaggy” delivery and a recycled sound. Some have even accused BigHit Music of appropriating Black American hip-hop culture and have called for a boycott. Others question whether the “self-producing” image is genuine or just empty marketing.
CORTIS does have some defenders who argue this is exactly the point. They see GO! as a generational shift that focuses on raw experimentation: Gen MZ values authenticity, and freedom over polish. To them, CORTIS is refusing to fit into the mold and that the group should be celebrated for taking such risks.
What This Debut Is Really Testing
The real question here isn’t whether GO! is good. It’s whether the track does a good job of expressing CORTIS’s concept. If “Color Outside The Lines” is just a tagline, the group risks blending into the long list of K-pop debuts that promise reinvention but deliver imitation. If it’s real, then the debut single What You Want needs to show us what CORTIS is trying to tell us and why their voice matters in a crowded industry.
Right now, GO! fails to showcase the group’s identity. The potential is there. A young, collaborative group breaking boundaries and rewriting what it means to be a K-pop group. But potential without clarity isn’t enough. If CORTIS wants to own their concept, the official debut has to feel like them, not BigHit’s idea of what will make them the most money.
