NEXZ Debuts on Immortal Songs With a Bold Deal for Park Jin-young

It was a scene that summed up everything about NEXZ in one moment. Standing in the green room before their first-ever appearance on KBS2's Immortal Songs, member Yuu turned to the camera with a grin and delivered his ask to the group's label head: "If we win, Park Jin-young PD-nim — please buy Korean beef for everyone here." The room immediately erupted.

NEXZ (pronounced "Next Z"), the seven-member group signed to JYP Entertainment and composed of six Japanese members and one Korean member, made their Immortal Songs debut on the May 9 episode — episode 755 of the long-running KBS2 music competition series. The episode, themed around legendary songwriter Joo Young-hoon, pitted NEXZ against an impressive lineup that included singer-actor duo Son Seung-yeon and Jo Hyeong-gyun, the dance collective AriHyo (Aiki, Ri-hey, and Hyojin Choi), veteran K-pop singer Chae-yeon, and crew D82.

NEXZ and the Immortal Songs Format

Immortal Songs (불후의 명곡) has been a fixture of Korean entertainment television since 2011, now airing in its 755th episode. The show invites performers from across the music spectrum to reinterpret songs by legendary Korean composers and artists, with the winner determined by audience vote. The format has launched or reignited countless careers over the years, and a debut win — or even a close loss — can change a group's public profile overnight.

Joo Young-hoon, the theme of this two-part edition (following Part 1 aired May 2), is one of South Korea's most celebrated songwriters. He is the composer behind massive hits for Kim Jong-kook, Uhm Jung-hwa, Coyote, and Turbo, among many others — artists who defined Korean pop music from the 1990s through the 2000s. Bringing his catalog back to life through younger performers is precisely the kind of intergenerational celebration that Immortal Songs was designed to deliver.

NEXZ selected Turbo's debut track "A Dream from My Childhood" as their performance piece, reinterpreting it in a Gen-Z aesthetic with sharp choreography and vocal energy that immediately drew comparisons to some of Immortal Songs' most celebrated debut performances. MC Lee Chan-won — himself a veteran of K-pop competition programs — noted the parallel directly: "This reminded me of ATEEZ's first performance on this show," he said, invoking one of the program's most-cited debut moments.

More Korean Than They Seem

Before the competition even began, NEXZ charmed the show's green room with a different kind of performance: a display of Korean cultural fluency that surprised even the other guests.

Member Yuu, now in his third year of living in Korea, explained his relationship with Korean food with complete sincerity: "When I eat samgyeopsal with ramyeon and pa-kimchi, I feel like I've become a full Korean." The group laughed. Then he went further: "I even packed squid salted seafood when I went to shoot our music video." Billie's Tsuki, who was also in the room, joined in: "For me, I feel fully Korean when I use the taxi app." The exchange captured something genuine — a group that has not just learned Korean music but absorbed Korean life.

The moment also underscored NEXZ's unusual position in the K-pop world. The group debuted under JYP Entertainment in 2024, with a Japanese fanbase that followed them from their earlier activities and a Korean fanbase they have been building since. Their fluency in Korean cultural codes — food, language, idioms — has become part of their public identity and a recurring topic whenever they appear on Korean television.

The Competition and the Stakes

The May 9 episode was structured as a closely contested competition from the start. Reports ahead of the broadcast described a one-vote margin separating the finalists — the kind of result that keeps audiences engaged until the final second of the episode.

Hyojin Choi, one-third of AriHyo (a special unit combining Aiki, Ri-hey, and Hyojin Choi), revealed the intensity of her preparation: "I was so focused on not straining my voice before the performance that I didn't smile for two days." The comment captured the seriousness with which Immortal Songs contestants approach each episode — this is not a casual appearance. For AriHyo in particular, the episode represented a chance to demonstrate range beyond their separate careers in dance (Aiki and Ri-hey) and music (Hyojin Choi).

Son Seung-yeon and Jo Hyeong-gyun, paired as a duo for their performance, were assigned Joo Young-hoon and Lee Hye-jin's "We Were in Love" — a track from the early 2000s that remains familiar to Korean audiences across generations. Chae-yeon, a singer who built much of her career on high-energy stage presence, brought that energy to bear on a different corner of Joo Young-hoon's catalog. And D82, whose name itself suggests a specific aesthetic vision, rounded out a lineup with enough contrast to keep the competition genuinely unpredictable.

What a Win Would Mean for NEXZ

NEXZ's request to Park Jin-young was partly a joke. But it was also a statement of intent. The group entered Immortal Songs not as observers but as competitors — and made clear from the start that they came to win.

A victory on Immortal Songs, particularly on a debut appearance, carries real weight in the Korean entertainment landscape. The show draws a multigenerational audience that extends well beyond the typical K-pop demographic. Winning in that context signals an ability to connect with a broader public — not just fans who already know the group, but casual viewers who decide to pay attention for the first time.

For NEXZ, who are still in the process of building their Korean fanbase alongside a committed Japanese following, that kind of mainstream moment would be significant. Whether the outcome matched the ambition, the group's performance — their precision, their cultural ease, and Yuu's perfectly timed deal-making — made clear that NEXZ arrived at Immortal Songs ready to be taken seriously.

The Joo Young-hoon special wraps with this second installment. With one vote reportedly separating the finalists and the NEXZ deal with Park Jin-young still on the table, the episode promises precisely the thrilling conclusion that has kept Immortal Songs compelling through 755 episodes and beyond.