NI-KI

Background

Nishimura Riki popularly known as Ni-ki, was born in Okayama, Japan. He is a Sagittarius, and first became known for his on-stage performance with SHINee, where he captured the attention of promoters. Riki has an older sister and also a younger one; his father is a businessman, while his mother is a homemaker. Since childhood, Riki has been interested in dancing and singing. He started to dance when he was three and entered an artistic academy when he was five. Soon, he began imitating Michael Jackson from DVDs alone and succeeded in impressing his family. As well as ‘Little Michael Jackson,’ Riki has been called ‘Super Dancer.’

From 2016 to 2017, Riki was a backup dancer for SHINee. A big fan of the South Korean rapper, songwriter, and actor, Key, Riki once partnered up with him for a popular show. In 2020, Riki competed in the survival competition series “I-Land,” which featured 23 male trainees, and aired weekly from June 26 to September 18 of that year. In the last episode of the series, Riki won fourth place. The top contestants were Riki himself, Yang Jung-won, Lee Hee-seung, Jake, Jay, Park Sung-hoon, and Kim Sun-oo. The seven youngsters then became known as the boy group ENHYPEN.

ENHYPEN first became known when the group launched their extended play, “Border: Day One.” The E.P. charted at number 39 on the ‘Japanese Oricon 2020 Yearly Album Chart’ and number two on the ‘South Korean Gaon Album Chart,’ with 318,528 copies sold domestically in one day. It became the highest-selling album launched by a K-pop group in 2020. Later that year, they were winners of the ‘Next Leader Award’ at “The Fact Music Awards,” and in February 2021, the record received ‘Platinum’ certification from the Korea Music Content Association (K.M.C.A.), the group’s first official achievement in the country.