INI will return to California later this week to hit the stage at KCON LA 2024, the third time the group has participated in this event since their first appearance in 2022. This year’s KCON takes place Friday (July 26) to Sunday at Crypto.com Arena, L.A. Convention Center and Gilbert Lindsay Plaza in Los Angeles.
INI — pronounced “eye-en-eye” — is an 11-member global boy band born from the survival audition program Produce 101 Japan Season 2 (GYAO!/TBS), broadcast in 2021. The group has been popular from the start — a special program with a title that roughly translates to Nice to meet you! We are INI! (GYAO!) aired in Japan before the band’s debut, and the members were featured on a segment on the TV show Yoru no Brunch (TBS) from the day they debuted. The group’s fandom has grown steadily since then, and while its continued popularity can mainly be attributed to the appeal of each member, another major reason behind the group’s breakthrough is that in the early days of the group’s formation, it took measures that had rarely been implemented in Japan before.
For example, prior to the release of their debut single “A,” INI released teasers of two songs, “Rocketeer” and “Brighter,” and invited fans to vote for their favorite. As a result, the powerful dance number “Rocketeer” came out on top, which helped set the image of INI being a group skilled in hip-hop-tinged dance tracks. When launching this voting system, INI announced on its official website: “We adopted a new system where fan votes determine the group’s music, since INI is a group chosen by popular vote.” This message suggests that the band wanted to welcome its fandom — collectively called MINI — that had been watching over them since the audition as part of its team. In fact, the hashtag “#TeamINIandMINI” has recently been created on social media.
All of INI’s singles released since have reached No. 1 on Billboard Japan’s weekly Top Singles Sales chart. Also, the group’s sixth single “THE FRAME,” which dropped June 26, launched with 812,184 copies in its first week and became its best-selling single to date, far exceeding “I,” the second single that had been the group’s previous best-seller at 742,208 first-week copies. “THE FRAME” went on to hit No. 1 on the Japan Hot 100, the comprehensive song chart that includes six metrics in its methodology including downloads, streaming, radio airplay and more. The music video for “LOUD,” the lead track off “THE FRAME,” has been viewed over 11.8 million times as of July 24 after being released June 17 on the group’s official YouTube channel.
The members are gradually becoming more and more involved in the production, beginning to present their individualities. Hiroto Nishi took part in writing the lyrics for “SPECTRA,” “DROP,” and “LEGIT,” and the songwriting for “Walkie Talkie.” Xu Fengfan was involved in the lyrics for “I’m a Dreamer,” Hiromu Takatsuka for “My Story,” Shogo Tajima for “Runaway,” “TAG,” and with Takatsuka for “Dirty Shoes Swag,” Kyosuke Fujimaki for “YOU IN,” Rihito Ikezaki for “10 THINGS” with Tajima and “Ferris Wheel” with Fujimaki. Furthermore, Masaya Kimura choreographed “Moment,” “YOU IN,” and “KILLING PART” (with Nishi).
The group’s popularity lies not only in each member’s creative abilities, but also in their performance skills — when all eleven members perform together, the result is powerful and bold. The word “flamboyant” is probably the most apt description, and their gripping performance has the strength to captivate a wide audience. The members come from different backgrounds — some are good at dancing, others at singing. In particular, Ikezaki and Yudai Sano participated in the audition with no prior experience in singing or dancing, but have both now reached the level of uploading their own dance videos on TikTok, and now all eleven members make their presence felt in their stage performances. That the traces of each member’s hard work can be seen adds to the appeal of their performances.
INI has also gained experience by performing on numerous stages. The INI 1ST FAN MEETING took place right after their debut, and showcase events have accompanied every CD release. The band successfully completed a hall tour in 2022, an arena tour in 2023, and on February 24 and 25, 2024, they performed at Kyocera Dome in Osaka for the INI 2ND ARENA LIVE TOUR [READY TO POP!] IN KYOCERA DOME OSAKA concerts. The [READY TO POP!] arena and dome tour drew a total of 200,000 fans.
The group has also performed in many outdoor rock festivals including the 1CHANCE FESTIVAL 2022 presented by power trio WANIMA and JAPAN JAM 2024, steadily gaining fans by showcasing its unique appeal in situations where not all the people in the audience are familiar with the group. This summer, INI will take the stage in some of Japan’s premier music festivals such as ROCK IN JAPAN FESTIVAL 2024 and SUMMER SONIC 2024, and will likely expand its fandom through its overwhelming performances.
INI has also become a fixture at KCON, not only at the L.A. event — again, their third consecutive year to perform — but also at KCON 2023 THAILAND, KCON in South Korea, and the music program M COUNTDOWN, gradually gaining experience performing outside of Japan. After almost three years since the group’s debut, INI is on its way to winning the hearts of new MINIs around the world.
KCON LA, including INI’s performance, will be broadcast on The CW.
—This article by Azusa Takahashi first appeared on Billboard Japan