Blog

In an exclusive interview with Philippine Concerts, the fast-rising K-pop group reflects on growth, artistry, and the trust that holds them together as they enter a new era with “METRONOME” and prepare to bring their first concert tour to Manila.

There is a particular moment in a young K-pop group’s trajectory when the story begins to shift.

The debut has happened. The introductions have been made. The first songs, stages, and milestones are already part of the record. What follows is a more complicated and revealing question: Now that the dream has become real, who are you becoming?

For izna, that question is taking shape in real time.

Since emerging from Mnet’s I-LAND 2: N/a in July 2024 and making their official debut in November 2024, MAI, BANG JEE MIN, KOKO, RYU SA RANG, CHOI JUNG EUN and JEONG SAE BI have steadily built a profile that extends beyond the usual expectations placed on a rookie act. Their catalog has expanded from their 2024 debut EP ‘N/a’ through releases including ‘SIGN’, ‘BEEP’, ‘Not Just Pretty’, and ‘SET THE TEMPO’, while their latest promotional cycle has carried them toward their first major concert tour.

Now, izna are preparing to take another significant step outward.

The group’s ‘2026-2027 izna Concert Tour: WHO DAT GIRL?’ opens with two Seoul shows at Olympic Hall on September 19 and 20 before continuing with multiple stops, including Taipei, Manila, Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Fukuoka, Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. The Manila stop is scheduled for October 17 at the EGM Hall of the EVM Convention Center in Quezon City.

For a group still in the early stages of its career, the tour is more than a collection of dates. It is a chance to test the scale of what izna can be.

“I hope this tour will be remembered as ‘the first step in introducing izna to a wider world,’” MAI tells Philippine Concerts. “Since this is our first concert tour, I want it to be the beginning of many more opportunities for us to share our music and performances in more places.”

That idea, of expansion without losing the identity being built at home, runs through nearly every part of izna’s current chapter.

From debutants to a team with their own rhythm

The group’s recent “METRONOME” era arrived after what MAI describes as a long period of preparation, one that carried particular weight for the members.

“The ‘METRONOME’ promotion held great significance for us, as it was our comeback after a long period of preparation,” she says. “We worked especially hard on it because we considered it so important.”

The most meaningful changes, however, may not be immediately visible in a music video or a perfectly synchronized performance.

“While preparing, we had many conversations and became even closer,” MAI says. “I think it was a period when we were able to grow together as well.”

Compared with the group that first stepped onto the K-pop stage, izna now understands one another with greater ease, she says, a development that has strengthened their chemistry and made them feel more relaxed as performers.

That growing familiarity matters in a genre where cohesion can be as crucial as individual talent.

BANG JEE MIN puts it simply: A group can execute the same choreography, but if its members are not expressing the same idea, it will not feel like one team.

“We communicate a lot, rely on each other, and keep working to stay in sync,” she says. “I think that’s how izna’s teamwork naturally comes through on stage.”

For izna, then, precision is not merely technical. It is relational.

The group’s polished performances are built on rehearsal, repetition, and synchronization, but CHOI JUNG EUN says perfection only means something when audiences can also feel the effort behind it.

“Our fans really love our perfectly synchronized performances,” she says. “I feel like they appreciate not only what they see on stage but also the effort and process that went into creating it.”

The goal, she adds, is not simply to arrive at a flawless result.

“What matters most is giving our all to every performance and putting our hearts into everything we do on stage.”

That distinction may explain where izna currently sits in the increasingly crowded landscape of K-pop’s newer generation. The group has the technical discipline expected of the genre, but the members speak about performance less as a demonstration of ability than as a shared experience.

When RYU SA RANG considers how her understanding of artistry has changed, she returns to the stage.

“When we perform our music, we try to convey the message of, ‘We’re having such a great time on stage, so we hope you enjoy it with us too,’” she says.

It is a shift away from simply presenting a finished product.

“We’re gradually realizing that rather than simply putting on a performance, it’s important to share the emotions and energy we’re feeling with the audience.”

What does “izna” feel like?

Every young group eventually has to answer a question that no branding strategy can fully solve: What makes us unmistakably us?

For JEONG SAE BI, the answer is not necessarily found in one song or one visual concept.

It happens in rehearsal.

“I think I feel that way when we’re practicing together, laughing, and just being ourselves,” she says. “We all have very different charms, but when they all come together, I think they create a special synergy, almost like a rainbow.”

That image is revealing. izna’s identity, at least as the members describe it, is not built around sameness. It is built around the combination of different personalities and strengths.

“When I see that side of us on stage together,” JEONG SAE BI says, “I think, ‘This is what feels like izna.’”

That growing sense of identity is also creating room for the members to explore their own creative instincts.

KOKO recently experienced that firsthand while preparing for ‘WHO DAT GIRL?’, contributing choreography and ideas to part of the concert’s performance.

“It was only a small part, but I really enjoyed being able to create something on my own,” she says. “It was a great experience that helped me discover a new side of myself as well.”

It is the kind of development. A concert is not simply a longer version of a music-show stage. It asks artists to sustain an atmosphere, build momentum and reveal different dimensions of themselves over the course of an entire evening.

For MAI, that possibility is one of the tour’s most exciting aspects.

“What felt the most different to me was being able to show more songs and performances through one concert,” she says. “I’m really happy that it gives us a chance to show more of izna’s different sides.”

The transition arrives at a moment when izna’s activities are continuing to widen. In addition to the first concert tour of ‘WHO DAT GIRL?’, the group has announced Japanese activities, including its Japan debut with the mini album ‘HANDLE WITH CARE’.

The momentum is unmistakable. But izna’s members appear more interested in what comes next than in treating their early achievements as a finish line.

A first meeting with Manila

For naya in Manila, October 17 will mark the long-awaited first opportunity to see izna perform in Manila.

And, according to JEONG SAE BI, the anticipation is mutual.

“Manila has been one of the places all of our members have really wanted to visit,” she tells Philippine Concerts. “As soon as we heard it was included in the tour schedule, we were so happy and excited.”

“Thinking about finally going there and meeting naya in Manila makes me even more thrilled,” she adds. “I can’t wait to see you!”

Following the tour’s opening in Seoul and its Taipei stop, the Manila show will also give global audiences an unforgettable experience of izna’s first major concert tour.

KOKO already knows one thing she wants to hear once the group finally takes the stage.

“I really want to hear naya sing our songs out loud,” she says. “I think I’d be really happy to hear your voices from the stage.”

JEONG SAE BI, meanwhile, hints that Manila may get a performance especially suited to the occasion.

“There’s one performance that I think fits Manila’s bright and refreshing atmosphere really well,” she says, keeping the song title under wraps. “I think it’ll be even more fun and special when we get to share it with naya in Manila.”

The group’s hopes for the night are tellingly modest and ambitious at the same time.

CHOI JUNG EUN focuses on what happens after the lights come up and the concert is over.

“If our fans leave the concert thinking, ‘I want to see it again,’ I think we’d be really satisfied,” she says.

For an artist beginning a first concert tour, there may be no clearer measure of success.

The stage, the fans and the next chapter

K-pop moves quickly, particularly for artists introduced to the public through survival shows. The pressure to establish a distinct identity, maintain momentum, and grow beyond the narrative of debut can be relentless.

izna is now entering the part of its story where those expectations become more complicated.

The members are no longer speaking only about the dream of debuting. They are beginning to articulate what they want their performances to communicate, what kind of artists they hope to become, and why they continue to move forward.

For BANG JEE MIN, the answer begins with naya.

“Everything we’ve been able to do so far has been thanks to naya, and so much of what we do is for them as well,” she says. “That’s why I think naya is always our biggest motivation to keep moving forward.”

Years from now, RYU SA RANG hopes the group will be remembered not only for the scale of its achievements but for its relationship with the work itself.

“I hope we’ll be remembered as artists who love and value the stage more than anyone, and who are truly good at what we do,” she says.

More importantly, she wants that sincerity to be visible.

“I hope people can see that we put our whole hearts into every stage and are able to share that sincerity with our fans.”

It is a philosophy that runs through izna’s current moment. Their chemistry has become more instinctive. Their individual creative interests are beginning to surface. Their stages are becoming larger, their itinerary more global and their audience more expansive.

Yet the members repeatedly return to the same ideas: communication, trust, enjoyment and the desire to share something real with the people in front of them.

JEONG SAE BI imagines that the members preparing for debut would probably be surprised by just how close they have become.

“We’re so close now that we can tell what the others are thinking just by looking at each other,” she says. Her message to the younger versions of themselves would be simple: “Don’t worry! You’re going to become so close!”

Perhaps that is what makes this particular chapter feel important.

izna is still a young group, but WHO DAT GIRL? represents a transition from proving that they can stand onstage to discovering what they can build from it. Their first major tour is an opportunity to bring the songs, discipline, and chemistry developed in rehearsal rooms to audiences across borders.

And when the group arrives in Manila next month, naya in Manila will become part of that story.

For izna, the hope is that this is only the beginning.

The metronome is already moving. The next measure is waiting.

Organized by Three Angles Production and co-organized by O.N worldwide, the ‘2026-2027 izna Concert Tour: WHO DAT GIRL? in MANILA’ takes place on October 17, 2026, at 6 p.m. at the EGM Hall, EVM Convention Center in Quezon City. Tickets and official event information are available via https://tapyourtickets.bigtix.io/en/events/2026-izna-concert-tour-who-dat-girl-in-manila/IZNAPH26.