Nina was born on February 27, 2005 in Seattle, Washington. Her parents decided to name her Nina because '27' in Japanese sounds similar to Nina. (Hence we celebrate the 27th of each month as Nina day!)
Her journey began by flying off to Sendai for her regional auditions where she was told by J.Y. Park, "You're totally a star." With her stellar vocals, star quality, and certainly a lot of hard effort, she placed 9th to land a spot as the main vocalist of NiziU.
Regional Audition - August 3, 2019
Vocal: Brand New Day - Rei Yasuda
Dance: What is Love? - TWICE
Tokyo Audition - December 2019
Vocal: I'll Be Back (Jpn ver.) - 2PM
Dance: Dalla Dalla - ITZY
Star: Radio Show
Team Performance: Dalla Dalla - ITZY
Korean Audition - Spring 2020
1st Mission: Attention - Charlie Puth
2nd Mission: Dance the Night Away - TWICE
3rd Mission: Icy - ITZY
4th Mission: Boom Boom Boom / Make you happy - NiziU
9-member global girls group NiziU is formed following the conclusion of Nizi Project. Their pre-debut song Make you happy was released just 4 days later on June 30, now having over 300M views on its M/V.
NiziU make their official debut with their iconic song Step and a Step, now having over 120 million views on its M/V.
NiziU makes their appearance on the NHK show as the fastest group since debuting, at only 29 days. They performed Make you happy.
NiziU's first ever independent live concerts. Traveled around 7 cities and did 16 performances, in order of Fukuoka, Hokkaido, Miyagi, Tokyo, Osaka, Aichi, and concluding it with Hyogo. Nina performed a vocal performance with Riku and Miihi, singing Never Enough from The Greatest Showman. It was the best performance EVER period. Nina stated that one of her favorite moments are when she is performing in front of WithU in live concerts.
After completing 16 arena performances for Light it Up, NiziU was the fastest girls group to perform on the Tokyo Dome since they debuted. They performed their new songs, Blue Moon and Already Special for the first time in Tokyo Dome, showing off Nina's stellar vocals through these ballad songs. Nina performed the song Nobody alongside Rima and Miihi, for their special Nizi Project performance.
Mayuka and Nina. Usually seen as the calm and kind members. Surely nothing can go wrong... right...? Well, not when you add a spice known as Rima :D.
"That was LIT", "It passed the vibe check", "I am funny when I am English." These are just some of the incredible quotes left by the wise human known as Nina Hillman on that day, which shall be passed down to future generations.
The legends have come. Words cannot do them justice on how cute, funny, and chaotic these two individuals can be when together. Your eyes and ears will be fulfilled with joy, from their beauty and humor respectively.
Nina appeared as a guest to celebrate the opening of the Harry Potter Studio Tour Tokyo. She is a proud Ravenclaw :D
Iona seemed VERY jealous of Nina.
The theme of 2023's concert is as the name implies—a summer festival. COCO! nut is refering to their 2nd album and its title song COCONUT, as well as "Summer is here" as in ここ夏. They performed in 7 cities and did 15 performances, in order of Saga, Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima, Aichi, Miyagi, and Hokkaido. This was their first ever concert with a live band, and Nina alongside her members performed all of the new songs from their new album (except Short Trip 😭). Nina alongside Mayuka and Rima performed their unit song JUMP, which they wrote their own lyrics for.
JUMP IS A BOP... or should I say, "It was LIT. It passed the vibe check."
The legends are back once again. And oh boy, did they not disappoint. I guarentee all I-WithU could go ramble about this for hours, but if you have the time, please have a look at their chaotic livestream for yourself from HERE.
Nina's first official vocal cover to be uploaded on YouTube! According to Nina, she chose to cover this song because she used to listen to this song from IU during tough times in Nizi Project. Click HERE to listen to it for yourself!
WithU: "Nina do you like hotdogs?"
Nina: "Obviously, why wouldn't I? I'm American."
Since it was a solo livestream, we got to see a lot of NiziU Nina, known to be calm and collected. However, we got a glimpse of the American gurl Nina Hillman that we have only previously seen with Rima. Please check it out for yourself by clicking HERE to listen to it for yourself!