SM Entertainment applies decades of girl-group expertise to GPP, blending K-pop training with Japanese talent for a strategic market push<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
![\"GPP,](\"https:\/\/wimg.heraldcorp.com\/news\/cms\/2025\/11\/10\/news-p.v1.20251110.12aea599f6a24edab0dcd051e03b7f8e_P1.jpg\")
SM Entertainment Japan’s first all-Japanese girl group GPP, set for an early 2026 debut, signals a deliberate strategy shift that will leverage the company’s decades of experience and fanbase in the Japanese market.<\/p>\n
The debut announcement aligns with the K-pop industry\u2019s growing focus on Japan-localized groups, a strategy that competitors JYP and Hybe have already explored.<\/p>\n
JYP debuted NiziU, a nine-member all-Japanese girl group formed through “NiziU Project” in December 2020. The group quickly became a commercial success in Japan, topping charts with its predebut single \u201cMake You Happy.\u201d Hybe, meanwhile, launched the Japanese boy group &Team in December 2022 under Hybe Labels Japan.<\/p>\n
In comparison, GPP\u2019s debut in early 2026 may seem late, but SM has taken a calculated approach to the Japanese market.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though NCT\u202fWish was a sort of localized group for Japan, it ended up becoming more popular in Korea and was eventually integrated into the Korean market,\u201d music critic Lim Hee-yun said on Monday.<\/p>\n
He emphasized that Japan remains a highly lucrative and low-risk market for K-pop, thanks to its proximity, cultural familiarity and strong fan loyalty.<\/p>\n
Historically, SM Entertainment Japan\u2019s strategy relied on Korean acts releasing Japanese versions of their singles, Japanese tours and appearances on local media. As K-pop has globalized, the market\u2019s expectations have evolved. Aspiring Japanese idols now see the opportunity to join K-pop-style groups, blending J-pop sensibilities with K-pop production systems.<\/p>\n
Lim points out that \u201cmore Japanese artists want to join K-pop groups rather than traditional J-pop, and there are now sufficient resources to train and debut local groups.\u201d<\/p>\n
GPP represents SM Entertainment applying its long-standing girl group expertise \u2014 honed with Girls\u2019 Generation, BoA and later Aespa \u2014 to a fully Japanese lineup.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooking at J-pop girl groups like Hana or Cosmosy, where a Korean producer manages the group\u2019s content and members speak Korean fluently, it\u2019s clear SM Entertainment now sees the opportunity to use its girl group know-how to compete in Japan with local members,\u201d the music critic said.<\/p>\n
This strategy sets GPP apart from its predecessors. NiziU leveraged a survival-program origin, and &Team followed Hybe\u2019s localization model. SM Entertainment\u2019s approach emphasizes its historical infrastructure in Japan, from its early presence to decades of fan engagement and proven success with Girls\u2019 Generation.<\/p>\n
By debuting a Japanese girl group trained under its K-pop system but native to Japan, SM Entertainment can combine local authenticity with global production expertise.<\/p>\n
jaaykim@heraldcorp.com<\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.koreaherald.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SM Entertainment applies decades of girl-group expertise to GPP, blending K-pop training with Japanese talent for a strategic market push GPP, the first all-Japanese girl group by SM Entertainment Japan (SM Entertainment Japan) SM Entertainment Japan’s first all-Japanese girl group GPP, set for an early 2026 debut, signals a deliberate strategy shift that will leverage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[362349,409966,409965,50696,409967],"class_list":["post-2145913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-aespa","tag-boa","tag-gpp","tag-sm-entertainment","tag-tvxq"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2145913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2145913"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2145913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2145914,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2145913\/revisions\/2145914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2145913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2145913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2145913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}