Right now, JYP currently has three active 5th gen groups: NEXZ, KickFlip, and OurBirthday. And none of them are performing particularly well digitally, especially when you consider that they’re coming from a Big 4 company.
I’ll give NEXZ some leeway with their domestic performance since they’re supposed to be primarily a Japanese group, similar to how NiziU targets the Japanese market. As of now, they’re doing the best out of the three internationally. None of their songs have ever charted on Melon Top 1000, including their latest TT, Saucin’, but they’re doing fairly decently on Spotify, still maintaining around 100k daily streams.
KickFlip is a sad case because I actually think their discography is the best out of these three groups. They have a relatively clear musical identity, and I think they’ve put out some pretty solid stuff. Unfortunately, they just don’t seem to resonate with kpop fans, either domestically or internationally. They had a comeback a few days ago with double title tracks, Puzzle Piece and Kick Off The Wall (feat. iann dior). On its second day, Puzzle Piece is sitting at #872 on Melon, and it could drop out of the Top 1000 within the next day or two. Kick Off The Wall didn’t even make the Top 1000. On Spotify, the two tracks debuted with around 24k and 30k daily streams respectively. For a group from JYP, those numbers are very underwhelming.
OurBirthday is a bit trickier to assess. They’re technically under INNIT Entertainment, a JYPE subsidiary, rather than JYPE directly, but I’ve seen them described in articles and variety shows as JYPE’s maknae group, so I think they’re fair to include in this discussion. Sound-wise and conceptually, they’re much closer to ITZY than NMIXX. They’ve only just debuted, so their discography is still limited, but so far, I’m not feeling their music whatsoever. The lyrics, production, and melodies all feel out of step with current trends.
Their title track, SQUEEZY, is performing really poorly digitally. It never even entered Melon Top 1000 and is pulling in fewer than 10k daily streams on Spotify. Even NMIXX’s O.O, which received one of the most infamous debut receptions in Kpop history, peaked at #91 on the daily chart on Melon and got a ton of Spotify streams. Love it or hate it, people were talking about O.O. With OurBirthday, it feels like there’s barely any conversation about them or their music outside their small fandom. That’s arguably even more concerning than a polarizing debut because at least O.O managed to get people interested enough to react to it.
All in all, I don’t think any of these three groups are meeting the standards you’d expect from a company as big as JYPE. It feels like a significant part of their visibility comes from the JYPE name itself rather than genuine public interest in their music. They’re still relatively early in their careers, but none of them seem remotely close to reaching the level of success or recognition their senior groups have achieved. NEXZ is 2.5 yrs old, and KickFlip will be 2 years old in just two months. They’re no longer rookies. They really need to start stepping up because I don’t see any of them carrying the mantle of their seniors anytime soon.
submitted by /u/Acrobatic_Prize_7749
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