K-pop supergroup Twice’s talent agency and Republic Records are holding auditions to create an American girl group.
JYP Entertainment and the label are collaborating to create “the first American artist made out of a K-pop system” and will begin by holding auditions across the country, beginning in September, for their new project, titled ‘A2K’.
In a video unveiling the plan released on Monday (25.07.22), two of the executives involved in the new show explained their rationale behind to look stateside for their next act.
Park Jin-young, the founder of JYP Entertainment - who gave the world Stray Kids, Twice and ITZY - said: “The name of this project is ‘A2K’, which is an abbreviation of ‘America2Korea’. So the final artist that comes out of this procedure will be the first American artist made out of a K-pop system.”
“It’s like talented artists who goes through a training system like an Olympic gymnast will go through. That’s the K-pop artist that the global audience fell in love with because of their dedication, their discipline and their hard work and the values they carry. That’s what separates them from a lot of artists.”
He added: "This is the biggest project ever for me and JYP Entertainment.”
Monte Lipman, the founder and CEO of Republic Records said: “We are going to find, identify and curate this incredible talent coming from America, but we’re applying the K-pop system, the JYP system in developing a supergroup, which we’ve never seen before.”
The auditions - which are open to American and Canadian nationals between the ages of 12 and 16 - will take place in five cities across the United States, such as Atlanta, Chicago, New York City, Dallas and Los Angeles. Successful applicants will be invited to attend a bootcamp in Los Angeles to see if they get an invitation to JYP Entertainment’s offices in Seoul for the final round.
