JYP, SM and YG join ‘Survival Audition K-pop Star’

By Kwon Mee-yoo

There are many talent shows on the small screen these days. Amateurs show their singing and acting skills, while stars foray into fields other than their expertise such as skating or dancing.

A new audition program is aiming to find the next generation K-pop star. SBS’ “Survival Audition K-pop Star” is drawing attention because JYP Entertainment President Park Jin-young, YG Entertainment CEO Yang Hyun-suk and singer BoA are judges. Three top agencies in Korea, JYP, SM and YG, have joined the search for the next big thing in K-pop.

The show’s producer, Park Sung-hoon, said at a press conference last week that he wants to overcome the limitations of other talent shows in creating real stars with the help of these agencies.

“These three agencies know how to discover and train the top stars. I want to find real K-pop stars and that’s why we are working with SM, YG and JYP,” he said.

“K-pop Star” will put its contestants in groups and train them. “Other talent shows focus mostly on singing ability, but we will consider singing, dancing and even composing.”

The three entertainment companies have distinctive characteristics, heightening the expectation of the gems they will unearth.
JYP’s Park said they are not television personalities and will focus on finding the next Wonder Girls and Big Bang. “We will choose the people we would usually select at our auditions.”

Park said he prefers “good-natured” applicants. “Singers from JYP might not make people laugh at variety shows, except for Jo Kwon of 2AM, but they are all sincere and modest. They also need talent ― it could be singing, dancing, expression or something unique to the person.”

However, Yang said he likes more charismatic people. “An upright character should form the basis of them, but I prefer someone who can captivate audiences,” he said. “The viewpoint of a producer and viewers might be different as well as that of the three judges. But I hope we can find talent undiscovered by their parents or themselves.”

Yang also said that the winner might not make their debut right away. In fact, Kang Seung-yun and Kim Eun-bi, finalists of “Superstar K2,” joined YG Entertainment but are still trainees.

“Many contestants of talent shows gain popularity while on the program, but they don’t do well after making their debut as professional singers. There are so many good vocalists on the Korean music scene and just singing exceptionally is not enough,” Yang said. “Yes, the winner can release an album but they might need more training after the first album.”

BoA, the only non-producer judge, could not attend the press conference due to a concert in Japan. She said she would find someone with passion and guts as well as distinct individuality, in an earlier press release.

“K-pop Star” also encompasses the recent spread of Korean pop culture to Europe and South America. Hit show “Superstar K” held auditions in the United States, China and Japan, but “K-pop Star” offers regional preliminaries in Europe and South America for the first time for a Korean talent show.

The first overseas audition was Monday in Buenos Aires, Argentina and the production team will travel to New York, Los Angeles, Paris and Beijing.

“We expect to find rough diamonds in France and Argentina as it is the first time to hold K-pop auditions there,” the show’s producer said.

According to Park Sung-hoon some 2,000 people applied for the U.S audition and about 80 percent of them were foreigners, not Korean-Americans. Paris and Buenos Aires received some 500 applications each, while Beijing already has more than 6,000.
“I think the time has come for blue-eyed or dark-skinned people to become stars in Korea,” he added.

Local auditions will be held in October and the program is scheduled to air in December.

For more information, visit http://tv.sbs.co.kr/kpopstar.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2012/01/201_94307.html