Most Creative K-pop Idea? JYP Entertainment's "Blind Package" And SM

K-pop has seen many creative, unique ideas throughout the years and they somehow always seem to come up with something amazing and different. Recently, JYP Entertainment's new girl group's "Blind Package" album had a pre-order period where there was no information about the group and you could only buy it then as it won't be produced after. It even broke pre-order records.

But before discussing "Blind Package", I was interested in other creative K-pop ideas. Notably, I think one of the companies most known for starting new trends and trying new concepts is SM Entertainment as they always make me interested in their ideas.

SM Entertainment

SM Entertainment, a South Korean entertainment company and one of the so-called 'Big three', was founded in 1989 by Lee Soo-man and re-established in 1995. Originally, SM stood for the initials of the founder Lee Soo-man but now SM means 'Star Museum'. The current CEOs are Lee Sung-Soo and Tak Young-jun.

SM Entertainment is so famous due to leading the popularity of K-pop globally with the early success of groups like H.O.T.. The oldest artist in SM Entertainment is Kim Min-jong (born in 1972) and the first artist to debut was Hyun Jin-young (debuted in 1990). Moreover, KeyEast and Woollim Entertainment are now under SM Entertainment. 

On 8 April 2012, SM debuted the group EXO, one of the first groups that became known for having a subunit concept where there's EXO-K (2012), EXO-M (2012), EXO-CBX (2016) and EXO-SC (2019). Now, many groups have subunits. 

NCT's interesting concept

NCT debuted on 9 April 2016 under SM Entertainment. They are the first group to have the unique concept of an ever-expanding group where more members can keep being added to the group in the future. NCT 2020 (the whole group) has 23 members.

Additionally, they have subunits as well: NCT 127, NCT Dream, NCT U and WayV. NCT U's different concept allows them to change members for each song as they don't have fixed members. 

NCT is one of my favourite K-pop groups and although their concept may be confusing and complicated, I like how they do the subunits as I think they do it well to have variety in their discography and match different people to songs and members that suit each other. In summary, SM has shown to be a company that isn't afraid to try new things and has created trends that gets people's attention. 

SM Entertainment's latest new idea was with the four-member girl group aespa, who debuted on 17 November 2020. Their name, 'aespa', means "ae" from "Avatar x Experience" put together with "aspect", which means "two sides". Furthermore, their idea is to show the meeting of another self, your 'avatar' in a new world.

Aespa, known by many as the first virtual K-pop group, has a concept where each member has virtual avatars in an AI universe and these virtual versions of them can be seen in their debut music video, Black Mamba. 

Now, it seems that JYP Entertainment has caught many people's eye with their new girl group, JYPn. Similar to SM, JYP is also part of the 'Big three' along with YG Entertainment, and is one of the largest entertainment companies in South Korea. Both companies have many fans around the world.  

JYP Entertainment

JYP Entertainment, a South Korean entertainment company and record label, was founded in 1997 by the owner J.Y. Park, also known as Park Jin-young. However, the current CEO of JYP Entertainment is Jung Wook.

As people are interested in knowing, the founder JYP can speak English and is very rich with a net worth of around $200 million. Also, JYP was married to Seo Yoon-jeong from 1999-2009 but they later got divorced.

Furthermore, JYP Entertainment is the company of many popular K-pop groups including Wonder Girls, 2PM, Miss A, Day6, TWICE, Stray Kids and ITZY.

Like many other fans, I agree that JYP is not a really great company as it has its flaws just as SM, YG and other companies do. But JYP supposedly seems better due to the girl groups like ITZY getting good treatment but others, like GOT7, aren't treated as well. GOT7 left JYP on 19 January 2021 due to their mistreatment and lack of promotions. 

Who is the girl group, JYPn?

Announced on 9 July 2021, the upcoming girl group by JYP Entertainment is currently called JYPn and set to debut in February 2022. However, the name will change later but is still unknown (like the letter 'n' in maths) after the ordering of their album. As well as 'n' meaning infinite possibilities, it also represents now, next and new.

JYPn's current members consist of Jinni, Jiwoo and Kyujin.

Jinni's real name is Choi Yun Jin and she was born in 2004. She joined JYP Entertainment in 2016 and was in the music video for Lucky Charm by 2PM's Nichkhun. 

Jiwoo's full name is Kim Ji Woo and she was born in 2005. She joined JYP Entertainment in 2018 and was also a student at DASTREET DANCE.

Kyujin's birth name is Jang Kyu Jin and she was born in 2006. She joined JYP Entertainment in 2018 and was a student at Withbill Dance Academy.

Their debut album is called "Blind Package" and the unique concept sounds just like the name. They also have the slogan "Grab your future!".

JYPn's "Blind Package"

In July 2021, there were only 10 days (16-25 July) when you could pre-order JYPn's "Blind Package" album and after that, it won't be produced anymore so you can't buy it later. All of this was done when the public knows absolutely nothing about the group or music as the group was not yet revealed. 

So, you would be buying an album without knowing what the songs sound like nor the group name, what the idols look like, how many members and who they even are. 

Interestingly, more than 61,000 albums were sold, which is good compared to ITZY's debut album selling 77,000 in the first week. "Blind Package" topped the charts of music sites like Hot Tracks, and achieved a pre-order record of nearly 40,000 sales in five days (39,545). Clearly, it shows that JYP Entertainment was confident, ambitious and optimistic to experiment for a new chapter for K-pop, which paid off well. 

Was JYP Entertainment's "Blind Package" idea good or bad?

The "Blind Package" received mixed reviews from fans around the world. Some thought it was unique and were excited (hoping their favourite trainees will debut) while others thought it was ridiculous to buy an album of a group that you don't even know who the singers are, or said to treat JYP's other artists better - that JYP has enough girl groups right now in this music generation.

Negative comments included "i don't think anyone will buy it, why would buy an album that hasn't been released from a group that hasn't debuted and we don't know anything about them. something smelly..", "we don't want it" and "What in the world is this sh*t...Treat ur already existing artist better!"

Positive reviews included "I'm so excited", "Can't wait to see who is in the lineup" and "Am I the only one thinking this is a good idea? lol I'm thinking about buying at least 1 to hold onto for later, lol". 

Many fans didn't know how to feel about this marketing plan. Because basically, you're buying an album blindly. I think it was a risky gamble for JYP but it seems to work positively and many people were interested in how it would turn out.

Firstly, I thought it was crazy but it was definitely interesting and eye-catching. While I agree with some comments that I wouldn't buy an album without knowing what and who it was, I think it's a unique idea with some benefits. If I really loved all of JYP's groups and styles and had money, I might've considered buying it.

The pros of JYPn's "Blind Package"

To start off, I think that having it limited and only available to buy in those 10 days would make people more interested to buy it since it's an opportunity they won't get again so they wouldn't want to miss out, especially if the group might be their favourite in the future. And if they buy it, fans might feel more invested and love JYPn more since they spent their money before knowing them. 

Moreover, it gained people's curiosity and interest because you don't know who they are and you're more likely to follow them later to find out about who they are. 

And JYP could succeed in this because it's part of the 'Big three' with a high reputation and many loved artists including ITZY, TWICE and Stray Kids. If you love the other JYP groups, you might like JYPn, right? So you're more inclined to buy the album.

Additionally, since K-pop fans can be quite into groups and love collecting albums, this was a new way to sell an album that worked. I've seen many people collecting albums and I do as well. It's a big part of the K-pop culture - collecting photocards (I've seen people even buy 50 albums to get the photocards they want).

JYPn's "Blind Package" includes a CD, photobook (with 62 pages), mini poster (1 type), premium membership card (1 type), random photocard, random polaroid and a random poster (1 out of 2). Those with a premium membership could join a raffle to win additional prizes. 

The cons of JYPn's "Blind Package"

To point out again, you don't know what you're buying - you don't know the songs, concept or who the members are. If you buy it and you don't like the music style or the artists, it would be a waste of money.

On the other hand, if you happen to like the group and songs after the pre-order period, it's annoying because you can't buy it anymore. It's also targeted to those who know and love JYP groups, and not non-K-pop fans. If someone gets into K-pop and JYP later and loves this new group, they sadly can't buy the debut album. 

Although JYP Entertainment had the luxury of trying this due to their high status and fame, other groups wouldn't be able to do it that well since they might not have that many fans and wouldn't profit as much.

The future of K-pop and its creativity

While SM seems to be always coming up with creative ideas that last long, I think "Blind Package" had a more impactful impression for a short time that left us shocked. SM will definitely continue to try new creations but JYP is more unpredictable as this feels like their first experiment. 

In summary, there will be more creative ideas as more groups and companies try new things to gain more attention from the world. But after "Blind Package", I can't think of what else they can do since this concept was unexpected. No doubt, I'm excited to see if more things can keep us surprised and to see the wild ideas they think of. Clearly, the crazy creativity is getting higher each time. 

Since JYP is a successful company, they could do well with the "Blind Package" but I don't think a smaller company would be able to pull it off. Additionally, I don't think other companies would do it since it seems like a unique one-off idea that would get attention for being the first but others might not succeed.

Right now, I guess we'll just have to wait to see if JYPn's "Blind Package" is just as amazing as we hope (which I think it will be as their covers scream talent). Other things to look forward to are the rumoured upcoming debuts of YG's new girl group and SM's new boy group. Of course, comebacks by great K-pop artists will also keep us busy and entertained.