JYP’s plans for all-Japanese K-pop girl group Nizi spark social media backlash
- Park Jin-young, the music company’s founder, criticised by fans over move to exclude Korean candidates from auditioning for new group, Nizi, which will seek to emulate the success of TWICE
Plans by K-pop producer Park Jin-young, founder of JYP Entertainment, to launch a Japanese-only girl group – dubbed Nizi – to emulate the success of his South Korean band, TWICE – has sparked criticism.
In February JYP and Sony Music agreed to recruit girl group members aged between 15 and 22 who can speak Japanese fluently. Park plans to launch the new group in November 2020.
The move sparked controversy because Park said that only Japanese girls and women will be eligible to audition for a place in the K-pop group.
Some South Korean K-pop fans expressed their displeasure that other candidates will be excluded – accusing Park of being pro-Japanese in social media comments.
One internet user tweeted: “Why would the Korean producer put his efforts towards helping globalisation of a Japanese girl group?”
Another fan criticised Park for cashing in on the growing popularity of K-pop to make profits for himself and his company.
“Many K-pop groups, such as BTS, EXO, BLACKPINK and TWICE, have worked very hard to lift the status of K-pop on the global stage,” the social media user wrote.
“Now Park is using K-pop’s influence for his own sake – to earn more money for himself.”