EXO's Lay Produces NouerA's Third Mini Album POP IT LIKE — Inside the Group's Biggest Reinvention Yet
Nine months after their second release, the seven-member group unveiled a hip-hop-driven sound and a radically different image - with the EXO veteran behind every frame of it.
NouerA held the showcase for their third mini album POP IT LIKE at YES24 Live Hall in Seoul on March 9 - only the group's second showcase since their debut just over a year ago, and by far the more consequential one.
The album arrives nine months after n: number of Cases, and it doesn't sound like its predecessor. Where NouerA built their early identity around a sleek "agents on a mission" concept, POP IT LIKE steps outside that framework entirely. The four-track record - title track "POP IT LIKE," "SILHOUETTE," "A-LIST," and "WE ARE YOUNG" - leans into hip-hop across the board, with the title track opening on a lyrical orchestral passage before breaking into trap, "A-LIST" channeling retro hip-hop, and "WE ARE YOUNG" blending pop-rock over a hip-hop tempo.
The man behind all of it is EXO's Lay, who served as executive producer - handling creative direction, recording supervision, and choreography. It's not a transactional arrangement. Two of NouerA's members, Pan and Lin, trained under Lay's company in China before moving into Korean idol training, giving the collaboration an unusual personal dimension.
Hyunjun described the recording sessions in detail: Lay came to the studio in person, improvising ad-libs and melody lines on the spot. "He told me directly - 'you have a good voice and real talent, but you're not using it. If you follow my guidance, you can reach the top.'" The combination of sharp criticism and genuine encouragement, Hyunjun said, made it impossible not to improve.
Junpyo was equally candid about an early rehearsal where Lay showed up unannounced and told the group, without softening it, that their performance wasn't working. "We were shocked. After that, every one of us went back to the song from scratch - not just adjusting angles, but completely reinterpreting it. That was the turning point."
The physical transformation matches the tonal shift. Yuseop, who had kept his hair long through previous promotions, went short for this album. Hyunjun also changed his look. Several members switched up their hair color. "As the concept changed, we committed to changing too," Yuseop said.
The title track's choreography, Lay-designed, features a recurring hand gesture forming the letter "A" - standing for "ace," according to Lin, who described it as a statement of intent for the new era.
The group's name derives from the French verb nouer, meaning "to tie together," and the members spoke at the showcase about connecting across generations as a guiding ambition. "We've always aimed at a wide audience," said Junpyo. "With these new genres, we hope to reach people who hadn't found us before." Gihyeon added that the group had spent considerable time discussing not just this album but where NouerA is headed - what kind of stages they want to build, what kind of group they want to be by the end of 2026.
"We want to meet fans all over the world this year," Gihyeon said. "That's the goal."
