NiziU Returns to Korea After 18 Months With a Fox-Chase MV Teaser

NiziU dropped the first teaser for their Sour Grapes music video on the 23rd, and it ends exactly where you least expect it: member Rima, lost in her own music, gets blindsided by a fox sprinting directly at her before the clip cuts to black.

The teaser opens with the members running flat-out down a road, a fox in hot pursuit behind them. The chase builds steadily, the tension pulling tighter as the fox closes the gap, and then the whole thing pivots to Rima in her own world, headphones on, completely unaware of what's coming. It's a clean, effective bit of visual storytelling that promises the full MV has more unpredictable turns ahead.

What the song is actually about

Sour Grapes is an electronic jazz-based pop dance track built around shifting rhythms and a kitsch synth palette that makes it immediately distinct from the group's recent output. The concept draws on Aesop's fable of the fox and the grapes, the story of a fox that dismisses what it cannot reach as not worth having, but flips the moral on its head. Rather than rationalizing away a missed opportunity, NiziU's version is about charging headfirst into exactly the choices everyone else hesitates over. It's a good fit for a group that has spent this year proving itself on some of Japan's biggest stages.

The full mini-album carries five tracks: the title song, Petal's Song, emoji, Into The Dawn (titled in Korean as 새벽을 달려), and Lullaby. JYP describes the tracklist as a cohesive musical storybook, and the range of titles suggests the group is leaning into mood variety across the five songs rather than building around a single sonic identity.

Why this album matters

This is NiziU's first Korean mini-album, and only their third Korean release overall. The group debuted in Korea in October 2023 with the single Press Play, followed by a second single LOVE LINE in March 2025. The new record arrives roughly 18 months after that second release, a gap that makes it feel like more than a routine comeback.

The timing follows a significant stretch in Japan: this year alone, NiziU completed a 12-show arena tour across five cities, then played both Kyocera Dome Osaka and Tokyo Dome. They also earned a Japan Record Association Gold Disc certification during the run. Arriving in Korea on the back of that momentum, with a mini-album rather than a single, signals that the group is ready to plant a bigger flag in their home market.

Sour Grapes releases across major streaming platforms on the 28th at 6 p.m. KST.