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Who is NiziU, the hottest new girl group from Japan?

Japanese pop girl group NiziU's singer-dancers (left to right): Ayaka, Maya, Mayuka, Miihi, Mako, Rio, Rima, Riku and Nina. (Photo: Twitter/NiziU)
Japanese pop girl group NiziU's singer-dancers (left to right): Ayaka, Maya, Mayuka, Miihi, Mako, Rio, Rima, Riku and Nina. (Photo: Twitter/NiziU)

Whether it is K-pop or J-pop, there has been an abundance of girl groups. The latest addition with rising popularity is NiziU (pronounced as nee-jyuu). The Japanese idol group is actually co-produced by Korean company JYP Entertainment and Sony Music Entertainment Japan. Through a survival reality show aired this year called Nizi Project, nine were selected to debut, from a pool of Japanese-speaking girls aged between 15 and 22 from eight Japanese cities and two United States cities.

The group name NiziU combines the word Nizi (rainbow in Japanese) from the survival reality show and the single letter “U” which represents the group members and their fans. NiziU also sounds like “need you” in English – producer J.Y. Park said, “People cannot succeed alone. You need each other and fans.”

The members of NiziU are: leader Mako, source of energy Rio, swan Maya, energetic squirrel Riku, soft beauty Ayaka, chameleon Mayuka, attractive voice Rima, smile maker Miihi, and the cheerful youngest member Nina.

After the group was established, they moved on to greater heights, releasing their first digital EP Make You Happy. As one of the top pick-me-up Japanese songs, Make You Happy has been streamed more than 33 million times on Spotify, and its music video, which J.Y. Park had a cameo in, now has more than 182 million views on YouTube. NiziU even had a highly participated “skipping rope” TikTok challenge featuring cute dance moves from Make You Happy.

On Wednesday, NiziU made their CD debut, releasing a light-hearted dance hit Step And A Step. Like a warm light shining through the dreary pandemic, the optimistic lyrics read, “Step and a step, in my stride. Step and a step, at a pace just right for me. You can go slowly, you can rest. Go on walking as you are, just believe yourself.”

Coupled with bright colours in their music videos, it seems that the music style that NiziU is going for is something positive to inspire people. Or at least, it is a little ray of hope that we could all use during trying times — as compared to depressing love songs from Mandopop.

Their first single also includes Make You Happy and two other upbeat songs Joyful and Sweet Bomb. However, as NiziU’s origin is South Korea, even though the songs are labelled as J-pop, they actually sound more like K-pop songs with Japanese-translated lyrics. Even the artists’ make-up and costumes do not look anything like that of J-pop’s.

Regardless, it would be fascinating to see how NiziU disrupts the girl band phenomenon in Japan, going up against strongholds like AKB48 and Nogizaka46. One thing for sure is that NiziU’s dances are extremely in sync, which you can hear from the sound of their footsteps in this Make You Happy dance performance video.