JYP Entertainment, Japan's Sony Music to form new boy band

Japanese girl group NiziU [JYP ENTERTAINMENT]

K-pop powerhouse JYP Entertainment and Japan's Sony Music, which created the Japanese girl group NiziU, is now planning to form a boy band.

According to Japan’s Kyodo News and JYP Entertainment on Monday, Sony Music will work with JYP’s chief producer Park Jin-young to create a new male idol band.

Members of the upcoming boy band will be selected through the second season of the “Nizi Project,” which was an audition program held in collaboration with Sony and JYP to form NiziU. Season one of the “Nizi Project” was broadcast on major Japanese TV channel NTV and video platform Hulu, garnering high ratings.

Auditions will take place in eight major Japanese cities, Seoul, Los Angeles and New York City.

Males of any nationality who are set to graduate middle school before March of 2023 or are younger than 22 are qualified to apply.

For the final audition in each city, Park will lead the selection process himself.

The auditions will take place between November and December this year, and the final debut team will be announced in December of 2021. The boy band will officially debut under the JYP Entertainment label in March of 2023.

At a press conference, Park encouraged anyone who dreams of being an idol to audition without hesitation.

Members of NiziU are all of Japanese nationality but were trained at JYP Entertainment’s headquarters in Seoul, receiving Korean-style idol training before debuting last year. Through this “K-pop incubating” process, NiziU has gained great popularity in Japan by offering a different style from other conventional Japanese idols.

Its debut single “Step and a Step” (2020) and EP "Take a Picture / Poppin' Shakin'" (2021) both topped Japan’s Oricon singles chart.

BY HALEY YANG [yang.hyunjoo@joongang.co.kr]