Find Out More About JYP Entertainment Newest Survival Show—Nizi Project
Idol survival shows have become quite the trend in the K-Pop industry, especially since it is a fun way of choosing trainees for a debut. Many Korean TV channels have tried this kind of concept, including one of the big three companies: JYP Entertainment.
The company itself has done 3 survival show projects, namely Sixteen, Stray Kids, and the most recent one Nizi Project. And for our topic today, we will learn more about the Nizi Project survival show. Curious to learn more about it? Don’t worry, because Byeol Korea will provide you with all the information.
So without any further ado, let’s get into our article’s topic for today!
NIZI Project Concept & Contestants
On January 29th, 2019, it was announced that JYP Entertainment will have a collaboration with Sony Music Entertainment Japan to make a girl group through a survival show. There are 2 seasons, where the first season showed the selection process for the Japanese trainees. The age varied between 15 and 22 years old, from 8 Japanese cities also contestants from Hawaii and Los Angeles.
Then for the top trainees that completed the second five days of competition were around 14 girls, and all of them who have been selected will be sent to JYP’s building to be trained for around six months. As for the second season that started to air in April 2020, it was focused more on the six months of the training process. It also shows the final contestants and all the winners for the upcoming debut project.
In the 9th episode, TWICE’s Momo and Sana made a surprise appearance in the show. Not only that, but both of them were appointed as special judges as well. While entering the room, all the trainees were surprised and excited by it.
Momo and Sana smiled as they energetically greeted all the girls, and wished them good luck during the training. They also said ‘Fighting’ with an adorable tone. Here is the short clip from it:
https://twitter.com/SubjectKpop/status/1239783436316884992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1239783436316884992%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.koreaboo.com%2Fstories%2Fremember-sixteen-twices-momo-sana-judges-now%2F
During this episode, all contestants performed with their group in front of Park Jin Young, Momo, and Sana. Both of the Japanese members gave them some constructive yet encouraging comments after all the performances, Momo and Sana also sweetly hugged and comforted the participants who were crying.
The Debuting Trainees
For the Nizi Project girl group, nine members were envisioned as part of the group. And, of course, not all the trainees can be a winner, so here is a list of the girls that are able to debut. Let’s start with the 9th position!
[9th Place] – Nina
Birth Name: Makino Nina (牧野仁菜)/Nina Hillman
Stage Name: Nina (仁菜)
Date of Birth: February 27th, 2005
Nationality: Japanese-American
Height: 164 cm (5’5″) (From her old profile info)
Blood Type: O
Position Possibilities: Vocalist, Rapper, and Dancer
[8th Place] – Ayaka
Birth Name: Arai Ayaka (新井彩香)
Stage Name: Ayaka (あやか)
Date of Birth: June 20th, 2003
Nationality: Japanese
Blood Type: A
Position Possibilities: –
[7th Place] – Mayuka
Birth Name: Ogou Mayuka (おごう まゆか)
Stage Name: Mayuka (まゆか)
Date of Birth: November 13th, 2003
Nationality: Japanese
Blood Type: A
[6th Place] – Miihi
Birth Name: Suzuno Miihi (鈴野みいひ)
Stage Name: Miihi (みいひ)
Date of Birth: August 12th, 2004
Nationality: Japanese
Blood Type: O
[5th Place] – Maya
Birth Name: Katsumura Maya (勝村摩耶)
Stage Name: Maya (まや)
Date of Birth: April 8th, 2002
Nationality: Japanese
Blood Type: O
[4th Place] – Rio
Birth Name: Hanabashi Rio (花橋梨緒)
Stage Name: Rio (梨緒)
Date of Birth: February 4th, 2002
Nationality: Japanese
Blood Type: B
[3rd Place] – Rima
Birth Name: Yokoi Rima (横井りま)
Stage Name: Rima (りま)
Date of Birth: March 26th, 2004
Nationality: Japanese
Blood Type: O
[2nd Place] – Riku
Birth Name: Oe Riku (大江梨久)
Stage Name: Riku (陸)
Date of Birth: October 26th, 2002
Nationality: Japanese
Blood Type: AB
[1st Place] – Mako
Birth Name: Yamaguchi Mako (山口真子)
Stage Name: Mako (真子)
Date of Birth: April 4th, 2001
Nationality: Japanese
Blood Type: A
Eliminated Trainees
In case some of you were wondering about the competition, we also have information about the participants who didn’t make it in the final line-up. So, we will introduce you to all the trainees that sadly were eliminated during the show. Here they are!
Akari
Birth Name: Inoue Akari (井上あかり)
Stage Name: Akari (あかり)
Date of Birth: September 3rd, 2004
Nationality: Japanese
Blood Type: A
Possible Position: Vocalist, and Dancer
Yuna
Birth Name: Ahn Yuna (안 유나/あんゆな)
Stage Name: Yuna (ゆな)
Date of Birth: January 19th, 2004
Nationality: Korean-Japanese
Blood Type: O
Possible Position: –
Riria
Birth Name: Ikematsu Riria (池松里梨愛)
Stage Name: Riria (リリア)
Date of Birth: September 20th, 2002
Nationality: Japanese
Blood Type: A
Possible Position: –
Momoka
Birth Name: Hirai Momoka (平井桃伽)
Stage Name: Momoka (ももか)
Date of Birth: August 24th, 2004
Nationality: Japanese
Blood Type: O
Possible Position: –
NIZI Project Performance With K-Pop Songs
There is not a single survival show that doesn’t have a mission that requires the contestants to make covers of popular K-Pop songs. In Nizi Project, they added some of the JYP idols’ popular songs for one of their missions. Curious to learn which are the songs? Well then, let’s check out all the songs listed below!
ITZY ICY
The first comeback song of ITZY, “ICY,” was chosen to be a song on the list of Nizi Project trainees. Let’s check out their spectacular performance below!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UOt2A2FanA&pbjreload=101
TWICE Dance The Night Away
One of TWICE’s hit songs that were released in 2018, “Dance The Night Away,” was chosen as one of the songs for evaluation for group battle. Here is the performance of Seaside Fairies below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fdMRDqUMXQ
2PM Heartbeat
Not only girl group songs, but they also performed JYP’s boy group songs as well. The crew chose 2 PM, which is a popular 2nd generation boy band. As for the song, they added “Heartbeat” to the list of songs. The Nizi Project trainees who performed this song are Mako, Riku, Ayaka, Mayuka, and Momoka.
Without further ado, let’s check out their fierce performance below!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jdMoXVHEgI
I.O.I Very Very Very
Even though I.O.I aren’t from JYP Entertainment, one of their songs, “Very Very Very,” was produced by Park Jin Young (the JYP CEO). Performed by three Nizi contestants, the audience was amazed by how stable they are while dancing to the choreography. Here is the video for you guys!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4PcC_xCH3o
Park Jin Young Criticized For Mauling An Underage NIZI Project Contestant Weight
Park Jin Young, who is known as the founder of JYP Entertainment, received a lot of criticism after commenting about the weight of one of the Nizi Project contestants.
During the audition episode, Ikematsu Riria who is a 17-year-old girl was criticized for her body figure in addition to her performance skills. Riria was told by JYP that her body was “very heavy and slow” while dancing, then followed by a caption that read “pointing out her lack of self-care.”
JYP added that she needs to lose weight, in order to dance easily. He even went so far by saying that, Riria doesn’t seem to want to improve her dancing skills because she doesn’t control her weight and hasn’t practiced hard yet.
JYP aimed his critique about Ikematsu Riria’s body, from his own struggle with weight management for over 25 years of career. Then a fan stated, that a man’s body is different from an underaged girl’s body.
If you want to learn more about the whole event, you can click on the video below!
https://twitter.com/jypewhy/status/1236919416132005889
NIZI Project Final Episode & Debut
The final episode of the Nizi Project was aired on June 24th, 2020. The viewers were finally able to see who are the nine girl contestants that are going to debut.
Aside from announcing the group debut line-up, they also shared further details and information. It was also revealed that the group would be named NiziU. The group released a pre-debut mini-album both in Japanese and Korean on June 30th. As for the official debut, it is expected to take place in the autumn of 2020.
And here is the official music video of NiziU’s pre-debut song titled “Make You Happy.” With a colorful and fresh vibe, you will absolutely enjoy it!
There are no other recent updates or news regarding NiziU’s upcoming schedule for now, and we hope for all the best for their official debut in the autumn of 2020!
Well, that was all for today’s topic about JYP’s Japan survival show Nizi Project, we hope this could help you guys to learn more information about them. Don’t forget to like and share your honest opinion in the comment section below. Also, share this with the others, so they can catch up with the latest information about their favorite Korean artists with us Byeol Korea.
Until we meet again in the next article, see you later everyone!
