UP NOW Lyrics – XG | from “THE CORE – 核”

XG’s unleashing their debut full album THE CORE – 核 like a seismic shift on January 23, 2026, via XGALX, and “UP NOW” is the track that snaps you awake—fierce, unyielding, a battle cry for owning the moment before the world even blinks.

This seventh cut pulses with XG’s signature sonic sorcery: razor-sharp hip-hop edges fused to R&B silk, courtesy of music architects JAKOPS and Chancellor, who lace the beat with those glitchy synth stabs and thunderous drops that make your chest vibrate. Writers Chancellor, BENJMN, Feli Ferraro, and composer Tayor layer in that raw, motivational fire—think booming basslines that build like a revolution brewing, all wrapped in the group’s multilingual flows that switch from English snarls to Japanese whispers without missing a step. It’s genre-defying girl-group gold: empowering anthems that scream self-actualization, ditching the cute for commanding presence.

Thematically, it’s about that electric surge of clarity—shedding doubts, flipping scripts, and charging forward with zero apologies, a perfect thread in XG’s tapestry of bold reinvention. Teased in album snippets on their Insta last month, it’s already got ARMY-level stans dissecting Morse-code visuals for hidden lore, hinting at the personal stakes these seven queens are betting on every bar.

THE CORE – 核? It’s XG’s magnum opus, a 10-track manifesto mining their “nuclear” core—raw power, identity fusion, and global takeover vibes—after EPs like New DNA and Left Right turned heads worldwide. The lineup’s a fever dream: opener “XIGNAL (The Intro)” sets the trap, bangers like “GALA” and “ROCK THE BOAT” keep the momentum feral, mid-album heaters “TAKE MY BREATH,” “NO GOOD,” “HYPNOTIZE,” and this “UP NOW” rocket the energy, then “O.R.B (Obviously Reads Bro)” and “4 SEASONS” add introspective flex before JURIN’s ASAYA spotlight on “PS118” ft. Rapsody closes with lyrical napalm. No fluff—just 45 minutes of boundary-smashing, produced in Tokyo studios where the group co-wrote chunks, proving they’re not just idols, they’re architects. It’s their evolution from viral rookies to full-force phenoms, ditching JYP’s shadow for XGALX’s wild-card freedom.

XG’s hitting warp speed into ’26, post-sold-out Asia tours and that Billboard Women in Music nod last spring—they’re the multicultural force (Japanese-Korean roots, global gaze) rewriting K-pop’s export game, one fearless drop at a time. From busking dreams to Coachella whispers, this LP’s their stake in the throne room.