"I Saw My K-Pop Dream Through SHINee Kids"...The Success Story of 13-Year-Old Japanese Girl Ni-ki with ENHYPEN

A Japanese girl who fell in love with dancing since she was three years old came to South Korea without hesitation in her second year of middle school, driven by a dream of becoming a K-Pop idol. This is the story of Ni-ki, 19, a member of ENHYPEN, an group under HYBE’s Billliephop label. Her encounter with K-Pop began through her dance teacher in childhood. She first developed an interest in dancing after watching a Michael Jackson music video played by her father and spent about 10 years learning various dance styles at a nearby dance academy. Eventually, she approached a famous choreographer from another region, who happened to be working as a director for SHINee. In 2017, when she was in the sixth grade, she performed on SHINee’s Tokyo Dome concert as a SHINee Kids dancer and danced alongside them. That moment changed her life. “From then on, I started exploring K-Pop and realized its high quality. I felt like I had to pursue this career,” Ni-ki described her emotions at the time. Although she was in the sixth grade, she decided immediately after taking a K-Pop audition in her second year of middle school. “I came to South Korea right away without any hesitation.” Her parents, who had supported her dancing since she was young, encouraged her by saying as long as she didn’t give up, it would be fine. After arriving in South Korea, Ni-ki went through a short training period of about 8 months. The biggest challenge at that time was the language barrier. She struggled greatly with communication as she attended classes alone without being able to train with other Korean members. Fortunately, Jay of ENHYPEN, who speaks Japanese well, provided her with a lot of help. Even after joining Mnet’s survival program “I-LAND,” she felt pressure to lead other trainees with her dancing skills, but ultimately, she gained a debut opportunity through this program. Five years after her debut, Ni-ki has become a global K-Pop star. The group reached second place on the U.S. main album chart, the Billboard 200 (the highest rank achieved by any K-Pop group), and recently became the first K-Pop boy group to enter the large-scale U.S. music festival, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, in the shortest time since debut. In Japan as well, they held a large stadium concert at the shortest time among foreign artists. Ni-ki revealed that she is currently deeply contemplative at five years into her career. “I was young when I debuted and just did what was told, but looking back now, I regret it because I seem to have lacked ambition.” She hopes to build pride as an artist, challenge herself in various genres, and improve her weaknesses. In particular, her performance at Coachella this year was a major turning point for her. “Since we are the only K-Pop boy group there, I tried my best not to embarrass myself.” The Coachella performance, which took over a month to prepare, became “the favorite stage I’ve had since debut.” The same passion is reflected in the new album “DESIRE: UNLEASH” that ENHYPEN is currently working on. “I poured tremendous effort into this album,” she said. The title track carries a message of “wanting to turn you into a vampire” filled with desire, and Ni-ki mentioned that since she has maintained this concept for five years, she truly understands such desires. She expressed joy at traveling around the world as a K-Pop idol and encountering new languages and cultures. “Now, aside from my hometown, South Korea feels more comfortable to me.” Ni-ki speaks fluently in Korean, expressing her love for K-Pop and firm beliefs. The journey of this 13-year-old girl from Japan who transformed into a global star on the K-Pop stage serves as an example of how much inspiration K-Pop provides to teenagers around the world across borders.