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| JYP Entertainment founder Park Jin-young, left, poses with 16 candidates of "Twice" during a press conference on April 29. / Courtesy of CJ E&M |
By Kim Jae-heun
JYP Entertainment's debut project for new girl band, "SIXTEEN," on music channel Mnet is forcing too much competition for what Park Jin-young, the host of the program and founder of the company, said was not an auditioning program.
"This is not an audition. Feel comfortable and have self-esteem in what you do," said Park during the contestants' third mission which aired on Tuesday to decide the second round of dropouts among the 15 performers. The first eliminated member was Chaeyeon, who was a great dancer but failed to show her charm in the second mission to shoot an album jacket cover.
The reality survival show premiered on May 5, telling the story of 16 JYP trainees competing for places in the new girl band Twice. Park said he is looking for stars who can not only dance and sing, but also have personality and charm. Some participants like Jungyeon, Nayeon, Minyoung and Jihyo have been training for more than six years with JYP.
"I once thought JYP would not be the right place for me, because my debut kept getting postponed," said Jungyeon in a scene during the first episode. Jihyo, who has been a JYP trainee for 10 years, also revealed that she did not want to participate in the show at first because she was expected to make her debut beforehand with Jungyeon, Nayeon and Minyoung.
The program also included nine junior trainees such as Mina, who has been training only for a year, as she attempts to grasp the chance to become a member of JYP's first girl band in five years. The last female group under its umbrella was MISS A.
Park adopted a competition system to divide the participants into two groups _ "majors" and "minors." He provided the majors a nice dorm, big van and premium practice time from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Minors live in a dirty dorm and can only practice when the majors are done. Now the contestants who were friendly before the show started have become rivals as the competition heats up.
JYP said that SIXTEEN would adopt new ways to pick out candidates who have the JYP- charm, so they can become an upgraded version of a JYP girl band.
However, the program so far has mimicked formats from other cable shows on Mnet. A system to hand out missions in every episode and eliminating the members according to the judge panels' decision is a clichéd format that has been adopted by every audition program in Korea and other parts of the world. Individual's interview scenes in between missions is a favorite of the survival show "Korea's next top model."
"I want to test many things to learn more about each candidate, such as their personality, personality, wisdom and flexibility. A real star should not be all about singing," Park said.
So far, two members have been eliminated. One looked cold and stiff in her photo, while the other was too nervous and forgot her dance moves on stage.
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