This photo, provided by JYP Entertainment, shows the agency’s founder and chief producer Park Jin-young.
SEOUL, July 13 (Korea Bizwire) — K-pop powerhouse JYP Entertainment and Japan’s Sony Music are aiming to introduce a new K-pop boy group through a joint audition project following their success with Japanese K-pop girl group NiziU.
Under the plan, which is the second leg of the “Nizi Project,” the two companies will hold auditions in eight cities across Japan, as well as Seoul, Los Angeles and New York, to pick members of the envisioned act, according to the two companies.
Contestants will be reviewed across categories like vocal and dance skills, modeling, rap and songwriting, with JYP Entertainment chief and K-pop guru Park Jin-young leading the auditions in the different cities.
The two companies plan to run the auditions until December and announce the members who will debut as part of the new group in December next year. The group’s official debut is tentatively scheduled for March 2023.
The audition, open to men aged 22 or younger, is set to be broadcast while details on the schedule and outlets were not immediately released. The first season of the project aired on Japanese TV channel NTV and video platform Hulu.
The project comes on the success of NiziU, a nine-member Japanese K-pop girl group that debuted through the joint project.
The band — consisting of members Mako, Rio, Maya, Riku, Ayaka, Mayuka, Rima, Miihi and Nina — was trained by JYP and debuted in December 2020.
It has built up a successful fandom in a relatively short time, recently topping a key daily and weekly music chart in Japan with its second single “Take a picture / Poppin’ Shakin’.”
(Yonhap)
