Release Date: June 30, 2020
- Make You Happy
- Baby I’m a Star
- Boom Boom Boom
- Niji no Mukou e
Review
NiziU (sounds like “Need You”) is a group formed from the reality music survival show Nizi Project, a joint project between South Korea’s JYP Entertainment and Sony Music Japan. The nine members of this group are the finalists selected by Park Jinyoung (a.k.a. JYP) after an exhaustive search from auditions in Japan and America.
Make You Happy is the group’s pre-debut EP, and it features the title track as its lead single. The b-sides consist of the Nizi Project theme song (Baby I’m a Star) and the two final mission songs.
Viewers of the Nizi Project program should be very familiar with all of the music on this mini-album. If you fall into that category, you are free to stop reading here if you wish. If you have not watched the Nizi Project TV show, it’s okay. You don’t have to know much about the program’s details to enjoy the music on this EP.
The opening song Make You Happy is an upbeat piece of Pop music that will sound like a TWICE song resurrected from the cutting room floor, or it will seem like something wholly pandering, and unbecoming of a JYPE girl group in 2020. What your take is will depend on what side of the fence you are on.
The remaining songs each have their charms. As mentioned above, Baby I’m a Star was the theme song for the Nizi Project show. It has a Pop-Rock feel and probably isn’t immediately catchy as Make You Happy. It might take some a few listens to get into the song since it doesn’t get going until later in its running time.
Boom Boom Boom and Niji no Mukou e are two songs that sound like they could belong to ITZY in another life. The former is an aggressive EDM type song with a girl crush type of vibe. The latter is closer to the typical dance-pop expected of girl groups. Both songs show the possible musical directions NiziU could follow in the future.
Overall Make You Happy is a relatively decent pre-debut release that does what it’s supposed to do, and that is to build the hype for the group for their debut. What JYPE comes up with for NiziU next will be of great interest.
