On the afternoon of November 24th, SM’s BoA, YG’s Yang Hyun Suk and JYP‘s J.Y. Park attended the official press conference for SBS‘s“Survival Audition K-Pop Star”, which took place at the SBS headquarters in Seoul.
When asked if there were any contestants that stood out in her memory, BoA answered, “To be honest, there were a lot. There were two contestants that I can recall clearly. One of them was physically disabled and it would’ve been difficult for him to dance, but his efforts moved me to tears.”
“When we mentored the contestants, I gave one contestant some advice and the next day, his singing improved to an extent that was impossible to put in words. Seeing things like that gave great joy to the producers, as it was these moments that gave them hope of digging up truly hidden talents. Although I’m a singer, for a moment I was able to feel the bliss that the show’s producer felt,” she added.
With regards to being part of the judging panel of the contest, CEO Yang Hyun Suk revealed, “Contestants who could’ve gotten first place in other singing programs were cut. Also, contestants who we weren’t fully convinced with proceeded to the top rounds. I think our vision is a lot different to that of the mass public. (The final contestants) aren’t like former ‘Superstar K’contestants Kang Seung Yoon and Kim Eun Bi, who we signed into our agency last year.”
He continued, “I think the course of explaining our different vision is one of the fun elements of the show. To be honest, we even signed a contestant who was eliminated from the preliminary rounds of ‘Superstar K3′”.
J.Y. Park stated, “For JYPE, we’ve never contracted former contestants or winners from other audition programs, simply because they weren’t who we wanted. The winners expressed their desire to enter our company, but we didn’t want them with us, so we didn’t sign a contract. However, for ‘K-Pop Star’, we’re not even in the final rounds and we already have five contestants who we’d like to sign with.”
He added, “If there were two sentences that we said the most in the auditions, it would be: ‘You sing really well, but we will not accept you to the next round”, and “You sing terribly, but we’ll accept you to the next round’. The contestants who were really good at singing but were imitating the voice of an already existing singer were all eliminated. We wanted to listen to new voices.”
Yang Hyun Suk said, “If you look at how manager Gus Hiddink managed to raise the status of Korean soccer, you’ll know why we did what we did. Out of all the players in the professional soccer league, Hiddink didn’t choose the best players — he chose those who had the greatest potential. To be honest, it’s difficult for anyone to maintain their popularity in the music industry with vocals alone. We’re looking for someone with a voice that has yet to be seen in the industry.”
Yang Hyun Suk also expressed that he feels a good bond between J.Y. Park and BoA after endless hours of judging together. “During our last press conference, I remember joking about how I was worried because I wasn’t close with BoA. …However, after numerous recording sessions and rigorous 17 hour schedules, I feel I’ve become a lot closer with BoA and J.Y. Park.”
He laughed and added, “We didn’t talk that much, but seeing her today like this was very welcoming. The last time we saw each other was actually this morning.” It was reported that the three judges as well as MC Yoon Do Hyun were still on set of the show at 4 AM earlier that day.
In related news, the final winner of “K-Pop Star” will receive prize money worth $260,000 USD along with a contract to produce an album for the worldwide market. They will also receive an additional price of CF contract and a brand new car.
The first broadcast of “K-Pop Star” is scheduled to air this coming December 4th at 6.40 PM KST.
