Jinni, Jiwoo and Kyujin: the first three members revealed

Jinni, Jiwoo and Kyujin were introduced to the world through a YouTube video uploaded on JYPN’s channel on August 6, 2021. The girls got to show off their incredible moves with a group dance cover to Cardi B’s Press.

According to Koreaboo, Jiwoo and Kyujin both joined JYP in 2018, while Jinni joined in 2016. All three girls have previous performing experience: Jiwoo was a dancer for Dastreet Dance, Kyujin appeared in a JYP trainee showcase in 2018, while Jinni once appeared in 2pm Nichkhun’s Lucky Charm music video in 2019.

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Sullyoon and Bae: will they be the lead vocals?

Just like the first dance video uploaded on the JYPN channel was a cover, Bae and Sullyoon’s debut video was a singing cover of the song Graveyard, perhaps hinting their positions in the group.

As for Sullyoon, who’s a lookalike of Twice’s Sana and Tzuyu, Kbizoom reports that she had a short training period at JYP of only about two years after getting in through a private audition in 2020. What’s even more impressive is that she actually also auditioned and passed in many other big K-pop agencies such as SM, YG, Fantagio and TS, and is also known to be a former Woollim Entertainment trainee.

Haewon and Lily: familiar faces to K-pop fans

The final two members revealed were Haewon and Lily, who may look familiar to avid K-pop fans. According to KProfiles.com, after going through a four-year training period, Haewon appeared in two JYP trainee showcases in 2018 and 2019. In 2019, she came together with NiziU’s Rima and sang Billie Eilish’s song Bury a Friend.

Lily. meanwhile, was discovered on the fourth season of audition programme K-pop Star in 2014. Born in Australia, she was loved by YG Entertainment’s executive Yang Hyun-suk, who was one of the judges on the show at that time. During the show, Yang once said: “Lily lives in Melbourne right? I would fly even to Africa to bring her [to YG].” Not only was she highly sought after by YG – the agency behind supergroup Blackpink – for her vocal talent, Lily also recorded two songs for the soundtrack of drama Orange Marmalade in 2015.

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What will the group’s final name be?

While the group’s pre-debut name is JYPN – with N representing the word next, now or new – according to press releases, its official name has not been revealed yet. However, that hasn’t stopped the online K-pop community from making guesses.

On September 13, 2021, JYP Entertainment applied to KIPRIS (Korean Intellectual Property Rights Information Service) for a trademark on the name Nmixx. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because JYP once planned to form a girl group named 6mix, but it never happened in the end.

Looking at previous examples, Itzy’s official name was also revealed four months before its debut through a trademark JYP had registered in advance. Will fans guess correctly again this time?

JYPN’s “blind package” pre-orders were sold with no information provided

In July 2021, even before the seven members were introduced, JYP attempted an unprecedented limited edition pre-order of JYPN’s debut single. Open for 10 days, this so called “blind package” provided no information on the group or even song teasers.

The package included a CD, photo book, photo card, poster and premium membership card, which the card holders will be able to use to enter a special event after the group’s debut. It seems that K-pop fans were either curious and intrigued by this move, or simply had a lot of faith in JYP’s ability to create powerful girl groups, because according to Osen, almost 62,000 packages were sold over the 10 days that pre-orders were open.