Ninety One
Ninety One or 91 is a Kazakh boy group formed by JUZ Entertainment in 2015. The band consists of five members: A.Z., Alem, Ace, Zaq, and Bala. Ninety One is the pioneer act of a new musical genre called Q-pop which could be called a symbiosis of Western and Asian pop music. The group was produced by Yerbolat Bedelkhan, a member of the Kazakh music unit "Orda".
History
2014: KTI-boys
The group was founded in 2014, based on the "K-Top Idols" project, the main goal of which was creating Kazakhstan's first idol group. A.Z. and ZaQ were the winners of this project. BALA and ALEM were cast via a separate audition. ACE joined the group after training for 2.5 years at the S.M. Entertainment agency in South Korea.''Q-POP''
The term "Q-pop" was first coined in 2015 by the fanbase of Ninety One - "Eaglez". Fans pointed out the differences they saw in a newly-founded Asian pop genre compared to other countries pop music. The letter "Q" originates from the way country's name, "Qazaqstan", should be written according to the Latin script of Kazakh.2015 - 2016: Debut EP">Extended play">EP "Aıyptama!" and hostility towards the group
After a year and a half, band decided to change their name to "Ninety One". The new name refers to the year 1991 when Kazakhstan won its independence from the former Soviet Union. The name "91" carries the meaning of independence and creative freedom.On the 1st of September, 2015 Ninety One released their debut single Aıyptama!. Music video for the song was released on October 8, 2015. Aıyptama! led the charts of Kazakhstan's music channels for 20 weeks. On December 1, 2015, they released their first EP, also called Aıyptama. This mini-album consists of 6 songs.
On June 2nd, 2016 they released a music video for the song "Qaıtadan", which is currently the chart leader on Gákký TV.
Music video for "Qalay Qaraisyn", their third song, came out on the 11th of December, 2016. Song was included into the soundtrack of the movie "Гламұр для дур" directed by Askar Uzabaev. The song lasted 20 weeks on the 1st place of the Gákký chart.
Public's response
Ninety One, despite immediately winning the hearts of a young, mainly female, Kazakh audience, were met with a huge wave of hostility from the mainstream public. A lot of local celebrities openly bashed and humliated them, going as far as to say Ninety One were corrupting their youth. Make-up, earrings and dyed hair on men were borderline offensive to the eye of a typical Kazakh. Group's style was considered against their mentality. And while having nothing against their music, local "activists", enraged by the group's appearance, tried everything in their power to bring the group down.Apart from receiving various insults and death threats, Ninety One also had to physically defend themselves from some overzealous anti-fans.
First Tour "#91"
On the 21st of June, 2016 Ninety One held their first solo concert in the city of Karaganda as a part of "#91" tour.A big number of group's concerts were cancelled due to the "public's" demand. Protests were held against the group. Staff members and Ninety One themselves couldn't enter the concert venues.
On the 23rd of July and up until the 5th of August, 2016 Ninety One and a music group Orda went together on tour around China. They gave an interview for a Kazakh magazine "Xalhar".
2017: Second album - "Qarangy Zharyq" (Darlight/Dark light) and the movie "91"
On July 2nd JUZ Entertainment announced Ninety One's second tour. JUZ Tour 2k17 was bigger and included even more cities. Tour was successful with no major interferences from anti-fans."Mooz" and the movie "91"
"Mooz" came out on the 21st of August 2017. "Mooz" is an official ost to Ninety One's biographical movie "91".On the 24th of August, movie «91» was released. Directed by Askar Uzabaev and produced by Assel Sadvakasova and Yerbolat Bedelkhan, this movie has become an acting debut for the members who had to play themselves on the big screen.
"91" showcases the difficulties group has experienced: Ninety one's pre-debut and early debut days were marked by the huge backlash they've received from anti-fans and general public.
And while some people could argue that it's too early for the group to have a movie dedicated to their story, director Askar Uzabaev was confident that the movie needs to be shot. Director even managed to persuade the group's own producer - Yerbolat Bedelkhan, who once was opposed to the idea as well.
Movie "Ninety One" entered the top three Kazakhstani streaming products; for the premiere weekend movie collected 32,672,000 tenge.
2018 - 2019: "Dopamine" album and documentary "Петь свои песни" (English: To sing your songs)
On the 25th of June, 2018 Ninety One released "E.Yeah", the first song of their new album "Dopamine", quickly followed by "All I need" released on the 8th of August.The third song of the album - "Boyman", came out on the 24th of October. "Boyman" said to be a tribute to a famous Kazakhstani figure skater Denis Ten, whose death has deeply affected Ninety One members, as well as the whole of Kazakhstan.
International expansion
On the 15th of March, 2019 on the national Korean TV-channel MNET came out another episode of a popular musical game show "I can seee your voice" but this time around a Q-POP boy group Ninety One made their guest appearance. Group has won the show and got to perform with the popular K-POP group Mamamoo. At the end of the show, they've also performed their debut song "Ayiptama".After the show aired Ninety One released their song "Ayiptama" as an exclusive digital single on Korean musical streaming platforms.
Documentary "Петь свои песни" (To sing your songs)
Documentary film by Katherine Suvorova "Петь свои песни", looks into the reasons behind protests against the group and cancellations of their concerts. These events reveal a huge layer of social and cultural conflicts inside the Kazakhstani society -conflict between the urban and rural life, between traditionalism and globalization, between the vertical line of political authority and personal freedom.
Film explores these themes through conversations with the band members themselves, their opponents and supporters. Kazakhstani political and cultural scientists, media experts and art historians also explain why do people of Kazakhstan protest against Q-pop.
Social impact
Ninety One have made a huge impact on the Kazakh language.Despite receiving multiple recommendations to switch to English or Russian, members of Ninety One are certain that their actions help popularise their country and language.
On the 29th of March, 2018 a member of Ninety One - ZAQ, who's a part of the youth party Жас Отан, gave a speech on the IV Congress of Zhas Otan.
An extract from his speech, translated:
"If we not only want our rich history to be preserved, but for it to be desirable for the youth, we need to take into account the interests of young people and adapt our culture to modern trends. Ninety One brought forward a new trend - Q-POP, with the idea of moving our cultural heritage, beauty of the language to the new level. We want to bring Kazakh language to the global scene, and latin script suits this purpose well. Our songs come out written in latin script and, thanks to that, our international listeners have gotten interested in learning more about our country and Kazakh language. They've started learning our language and they've left us videos with messages in Kazakh."
Apart from the effects on the language, Ninety One and their producer - Yerbolat Bedelkhan have made a big impact on culture. Genre Q-pop is now considered the most popular musical direction amongst the youth in Kazakhstan.
Projects
Producer of the group, with the help of a Kazakh TV channel, decided to create Kazakhstan's first rap show.On the 25th of May, 2018 came out the promotional video for "Qara beri". Members of Ninety One - Zaq and A.Z were mentors on the show.
As Yerbolat Bedelkhan said in his interview for NTK:
"- The main goal of the project is to show people of Kazakhstan that we do have hip-hop! That our youth can and wants to write rap in Kazakh. In the 21st century we need to prove that our language can be modern."
Rapper "Ne1tron", winner of the show, signed his contract with Juz Entertainment on the 21st of February.
On May 1, 2019, Yerbolat Bedelkhan together with Salem social media announced a casting for the show "Project X".
"Project X" is a new reality survival show, main goal of which is to create the next boy group of Juz Entertainment. New group should give a healthy competition in the genre of Q-Pop.
Out of more than 2000 people that have applied for the show, only 400 people were invited to the offline casting.
First episode of the show came out on the 27th of May.
Members
- Alem – main vocalist, composer
- Ace – vocalist, lead dancer, composer, visual
- A.Z. – leader, lead rapper, lyricist
- Zaq – main rapper, main dancer, choreographer, lyricist
- Bala – lead vocalist, kenzhe, composer
Discography
Studio albums
Extended plays
Singles
Videography
Music videos| Title | Release dates |
| Aiyptama | October 8, 2015 |
| Qaitadan | June 2, 2016 |
| Qalai Qaraisyn? | December 12, 2016 |
| Su Asty | May 1, 2017 |
| Yeski Taspa Bii' | June 5, 2017 |
| Bayau | July 10, 2017 |
| Mooz | August 21, 2017 |
| Ah!Yah!Mah! | December 31, 2017 |
| E.YEAH | June 25, 2018 |
| ALL I NEED | August 8, 2018 |
| Why'm | January 1, 2019 |
| Men Emes | August 1, 2019 |
| Bári Biled | August 8, 2019 |