K-Pop Audition and Competition Shows

By: Catherine Wang
As the K-Pop industry continues to expand, competition between artists has also increased. The desire to create a group or promote a solo artist that will appeal to the public has become the sole goal of the industry. From this goal, K-Pop audition and competition shows have been created. Dating back to the 1970s, these shows are a relatively new type of show. However, they have found great success within the global audience, inciting more and more people from around the world to participate. Participants take part in these shows in order to achieve their dreams.

One of the pioneers of these audition type shows was MBC with the shows College Music Festival and Riverside Song Festival starting in 1977 and 1979. These two shows allowed amateur musicians to showcase their skills and talents. Another show that started around the same time was KBS National Singing Contest in 1980. These shows fostered many young artists into the success they know today. Although the two MBC shows have already ended, their legacy lives on in the numerous audition shows that came after.

The 2000s gave birth to three new shows, namely Mnet’s Superstar K, MBC’s Star Audition: The Great Birth, and K-Pop Star by SBS. Superstar K began in 2009 and many famous celebrities have come out from it. For example, Seo In-guk, winner of the first season went on to launch both his singing career and acting career, finding great success in the field of acting. He has stared in many shows and films such as Reply 1997. Star Audition: The Great Birth started in 2010 and ended in 2013. One of the top 5 of the 2nd season of this show was Eric Nam. He went on to have a successful singing career and now performs all over the world. K-Pop Star launched in 2011 and released its last episode in 2017. Sam Kim was the runner-up in the 3rd season of this show. He signed under Antenna Music and made his debut in 2016. He has since worked with artists such as Zico, Crush, and Loco. This new generation of shows proved to have immense popularity in South Korea with many of the participants going on to have successful careers.

The Produce 101 franchise is currently one of the largest and most popular audition shows in South Korea. The popularity of this franchise has spread all over Asia with China having seasons and Japan planning to start a season. The 1st season of Produce 101 featured 101 female trainees and produced the group I.O.I. Wanna One of the 2nd season was made up of boy trainees and won many awards in various music award shows. The 3rd season was called Produce 48 and included 48 trainees from Korea and 48 Japanese trainees from AKB48 and its sister groups. The final group debuted as IZ*ONE with 12 members. The 4th season, Produce X 101, is currently airing and is planning to debut an 11 member boy group. One of the factors contributing to this show’s great popularity is the role of the audience in deciding the fate of the group. Called “national producers,” the audience members take on the responsibility of voting for the member they want to debut. These votes partially determine the final lineup of the group. This system encourages audience participation and keeps viewers drawn in.

All in all, K-Pop audition and competition shows enjoy extensive popularity both in and out of South Korea. The success of both these types of shows and the artists coming out of the shows promotes participation in these shows by artists in order to make a debut or get their name out there. This demonstrates the impact of these shows on the popular music culture of South Korea.