‘Firework,’ honey, look away; we’re so sorry. We’ve adored that title track for over three years, but our loyalty is being truly tested with this new teamies era! On September 8th, &TEAM had their first Korean comeback – which feels wild to say considering they’ve been promoting there for years – with the superb mini album, Mark on Me. With these six tracks, &TEAM has fine-tuned exactly what makes this wolf pack, and their music, so special.
When an artist really hones in on their most beloved musical traits and chooses to revisit them, it can feel a little formulaic or like the artist is stuck. That couldn’t be further from how it feels to listen to Mark on Me. This album feels like they’ve extracted all of the best bits of their previous work, distilled them, and poured the result directly into our headphones.
Following the record-breaking success of their official Korean debut, Back to Life, &TEAM might have felt some pressure to continue on that trajectory – no fear or nerves come across in this soaring, genre-hopping album! The members seemed genuinely so excited for this release, and now that we’ve heard it, we can totally see why. Besides, Mark on Me brought &TEAM their highest first-week sales ever, and they were even surprised with the news that they’d reached a million copies sold in the middle of their live comeback showcase!
‘Mark on Me’
We’re gonna get stuck into every song on Mark on Me, but let’s start with arguably the most important one, the title track! A Benson Boone-penned K-Pop hit wasn’t on our 2026 bingo card, but TBH, we couldn’t have predicted how gorgeous this song is! Here, &TEAM find the perfect sweet spot, mixing the things we love from them the most: gritty pop-rock and dizzying sensuality (and wolfish antics, obviously).
&TEAM has also really leveled up in their vocal performance on Mark on Me, too. Where the chorus of ‘Mark on Me’ is searing and dramatic, the verses are tiptoeing towards being a little too repetitive; however, that’s saved by how distinct – and incredible – each member’s vocal tone is. They each have such a different approach to the same melody, and we love to hear it!
Speaking of dramatic, the ‘Mark on Me’ music video is one of our fave MVs from this whole year. The ornately dressed ballerinas to highlight the elegance of the choreography, the opulent theater set – we truly can’t get enough. If you haven’t seen it yet, you are missing out!
Mark on Me B-sides
‘Good Boy’
Want proof that &TEAM can do it all? Look no further! Mark on Me‘s promotional b-side could not be more different from the title track. With this iteration of their werewolf lore, &TEAM focuses less on the atmospheric, full-moon side of things and more on… well… the beastly side of things. Whether you’re looking at the lyrics, the choreography, or the styling, this is &TEAM at their rowdiest, and we love it!
In an iconic crossover, all five members of CORTIS have writing credits on ‘Good Boy’ – a fact that you can’t un-hear once you hear it. The unbridled, in-your-face nature of the song does feel very CORTIS-like, but &TEAM totally pull it off, too. ‘Good Boy’ could also rival ZB1’s ‘V for Vision’ for our favorite fanchant in 2026. It’s not often your fave idols ask you to shout “Good boy” at them, is it?
‘Love Jang’
To the LUNÉ who love retro-&TEAM, there’s a new member of the family! Joining the likes of ‘Big Suki,’ ‘Run Wild,’ and ‘Mismatch,’ we have ‘Love Jang.’ From the very second we pressed play and heard the intro, we knew we were in for a treat (though, presumably, not the treat TAKI was begging for in the previous song). &TEAM are so good at this 90s R&B style, and we’ll never be mad at it reappearing in an album! See what we mean when we say that &TEAM truly finessed all of their best traits in Mark on Me?
‘Accelerate’
We’re calling it now: ‘Accelerate’ is Mark on Me‘s sleeper hit. Why have we not seen anyone losing their minds over this song on our timeline or FYP?! We can already see ‘Accelerate’ getting a new lease of life every time we want a new driving or summer playlist. This groovy, sleek R&B track really shows off &TEAM’s vocals and how they each deliver this syrupy sound. K singing “It’s been way too long” will be living in our heads forever, thank you very much.
‘Empty’
If ‘Love Jang’ was for the retro lovers, then the last two Mark on Me tracks are for the emo lovers. We know we’ve talked about it already, but this song has arguably the best vocal performances of &TEAM’s career so far. Rock ballad ‘Empty’ is the kind of song MAKI’s voice was built for, and the transition from YUMA in the bridge to FUMA’s high note is otherworldly. If nothing else, ‘Empty’ proves that the 5SOSFAM to K-Pop stan pipeline is still running strong.
‘Night to howl!’
We’re gonna make another big statement: ‘Night to howl!’ is one of the best album closers we’ve heard in a long, long time. Not only does it finish the storytelling of Mark on Me beautifully, but it’s just an incredible song in its own right. No part of this song feels like it’s pop-punk inspired; it’s just straight up pop-punk!
As some eagle-eyed LUNÉs spotted, one of the mixing engineers on ‘Night to howl!’ is Zakk Cervini, who has worked with the likes of Blink-182, Good Charlotte, Baby Metal, One Ok Rock, and Yungblud. So maybe that’s one of the big reasons why the production on this song is so utterly perfect! And, just like we had to point out how iconic the ‘Good Boy’ fanchant is, we’re praying we get a chance to howl along to this song at an &TEAM concert!
We told you: it’s an iconic album, right? Which is your favorite track from &TEAM’s Mark on Me? What do you love about this era? Let us know on Twitter @TheHoneyPOP, or over on Facebook or Instagram!
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