Last season of 'K-pop Star' to air
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From left, Park Jin-young of JYP Entertainment, Yang Hyun-suk of YG Entertainment and Yoo Hee-yeol of Antenna Music pose during a press conference for “K-pop Star: The Last Chance” at SBS in Seoul, Monday. / Yonhap
By Kim Jae-heun
“K-pop Star,” a survival audition TV show on SBS, announced Monday that it will name its sixth season “The Last Chance” as this will be its final season.
“The main reason to end the audition show is something all three judges agreed upon,” said Park Jin-young, the head of JYP Entertainment and one of the three participating judges, along with YG Entertainment’s Yang Hyun-suk and Yoo Hee-yeol of Antenna Music. “As things settled down throughout the last five seasons, we saw the participants’ performances and our commentary became mundane and repetitive. We decided it was about time to take a break.”
“Usually the viewership of a television series goes down when it gets to its fifth season but our show’s ratings actually went up and we were worried because we knew the show had to come to an end,” Park said.
Producer Park Sung-hoon added that it was a miracle the show lasted this far with the three judges who also hold leadership positions in the country’s top entertainment companies.
The producer revealed that the last episodes will be open to any participants from amateurs to professionals including those who are contracted to an agency or have debuted, but failed and disappeared. Also, the winner will no longer enjoy the privilege to choose one of the three judges’ agencies to join.
“It was my idea that we give a chance to everyone who dreams of becoming a K-pop star. Even if you debut, there is less than a five percent that you will be successful. Like our title says, it’s the last chance and I want as many hopefuls as possible to come and audition,” Yang said.
“It will be fun to watch JYP and YG trainees compete against each other here,” he said.
The other reason Yang decided to adopt the new rule is that while watching other TV competition shows, he spotted some unknown musicians that could be successful if they train at YG.
“In the last five years, we searched for an artist who could become a true global K-pop star in Asia and North America. But we faced several obstacles and one of them was that artists were training at the wrong entertainment companies,” Yang said.
As for the reason for the absence of a globally successful K-pop star, Park explained the gap between his work in the office and in the studio for the show.
“To be honest, I really focus on the artists and their music when I am shooting for the show as a judge. But when I am in the office, I have to think commercially, such as how well they will sell and how many advertisements they could appear in. They have to become an actor at a certain point. And when I bring the show winner to my company, I realize there is a gap (between ideal and reality). So I will be more of myself in the office when I shoot the last episodes this time,” said Park.
The show’s first season aired on Dec. 4, 2011, with original judges Park, Yang and BoA from S.M. Entertainment. Yoo replaced BoA in season three.
The final season of “K-pop Star” will begin auditions at the end of May and air in November on SBS.