BE’O has released his new digital single “HATE,” marking his first release since signing with MiDNiGHT RECORDS, the artist-led label founded by ASH ISLAND. The single arrived on May 8 at 6 PM KST, shortly after MiDNiGHT RECORDS announced BE’O’s exclusive contract earlier this week.
The release opens a new chapter for BE’O, who first reached a wider mainstream audience through Show Me the Money 10 before building a catalogue defined by melodic rap, emotional clarity, and crossover appeal. Songs such as “Counting Stars,” “Limousine,” and “LOVE me” helped establish him as one of the most recognizable voices to emerge from Korea’s post-Show Me the Money generation.
On “HATE,” BE’O returns to the kind of emotional contradiction that has often sat at the centre of his music. The song is framed around a breakup that refuses to become clean or final. Anger becomes longing, longing becomes exhaustion, and the word “hate” starts to feel less like rejection than a confession from someone still caught in the same cycle.
The lyrics move through repeated arguments, late-night thoughts, and the strange details that make heartbreak feel ordinary and surreal at the same time. Even a Subway order becomes part of the song’s emotional dislocation, as BE’O turns a casual habit into a small sign that something in his life no longer feels like his own.
His teaser caption also pointed toward the significance of the moment: “You waited a long time, right? Now it really begins. My new beginning starts now.” That line now reads less like simple comeback promotion and more like a statement of intent. “HATE” is not only a new single, but the first public step in BE’O’s next phase under MiDNiGHT RECORDS.
With ASH ISLAND’s label continuing to shape its identity around artists with distinct emotional colours, BE’O’s arrival adds another major name to its growing roster. For BE’O, “HATE” gives that move an immediate musical direction: wounded, melodic, and restless, with the tension between love and resentment left unresolved.
“HATE” is out now on streaming platforms.