Young contestant from New Jersey wows judges

Yoo Jei on "K-Pop Star 5" / Courtesy of Soompi

Amid a general slump in audition programs, “K-Pop Star 5” is showing its contestants have plenty of talent.

Yoo Jei, 15, from New Jersey, is an example. On Dec. 6, she sang Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind,” wowing the judges.

Judge Park Jin-young, head of JYP Entertainment, said the performance was the best he had seen on the show in the past five years.

Judge Yang Hyun-suk, head of YG Entertainment, and Yoo Hee-yeol of Antenna, also praised Yoo’s performance.

Yoo said she chose the song because she hailed from New Jersey, a train ride from New York.

“I really love New York,” she said. “ I wonder what it would be like to live somewhere so grand.”

The audition program, which airs on SBS, has been holding preliminary auditions in Korea and around the world since May. The show returned to the screens on Nov. 22.