Audition TV series winners emerge as top K-pop stars

Jung Seung-hwan / Courtesy of Antenna Music

By Kim Jae-heun

Jung Seung-hwan, Antenna Music’s singer who has just made his debut, topped seven online music charts instantly after he released his first mini-album “The Voice” last week.

Not even Yoo Hee-yeol, founder of the record label and a singer-songwriter, expected such a surprise achievement for this young ballad singer.

“I never expected Jung to sweep the charts,” said Yoo during a press conference for the mini-album release at Ilchi Art Hall in Gangnam, Seoul, last Wednesday. “I made a bet with people in the office that Jung’s track The Fool would rank eighth and my bet was the highest.

“I think Jeong’s strength lies in his delivery. There are a lot of vocalists who can sing better than Jeong. But as I said during the K-Pop Star series audition, Jeong has that delicate difference from other singers in singing the lyrics as if they are his own story. His gestures while singing are just incredible,” said Yoo.

Jung first appeared on the K-pop scene through the TV competition series “K-pop Star: Season 4” on SBS in 2014. Since his first appearance in the series, he was called the next performer to continue the tradition of popular ballad singers, like Sung Si-kyung, Lee So-ra and Lee Seung-hwan. Jung finished as a runner-up on the TV program with one of his best performances with the rendition of singer Kim Jo-han’s “I Want to Fall in Love,” which shot to No. 1 on Gaon Digital Chart.

Like Jung, more survival competition TV show participants are having a bigger presence in the K-pop scene.

Heize / Courtesy of CJ E&M

Rapper Heize is one of the hottest in the industry currently, who is also sweeping the charts with every digital single she releases — be it a collaboration with other musicians or just herself as a soloist.

Heize rose to stardom after starring in “Unpretty Rapstar 2” last year. Although the female rapper lost in the semifinal, she became more successful than any other participants. She has collaborated with popular R&B singer DEAN and K-pop star Chen of EXO.

Heize’s recently released digital single “Star” has ranked No. 1 on three major online charts including Melon, Genie Music and Mnet as of Tuesday along with her previous hit songs “Do Not Come Back” and “And July.”

Kim Feel / Courtesy of CJ E&M

Kim Feel is another singer from a reality TV survival show on Mnet “Superstar K,” who joined the top 10 musicians with his track “Seongbuk-dong” included in his second extended play release “From Feel,” released on midnight, Tuesday. Kim’s new song is currently ranked at No. 1. The 31-year old singer-songwriter finished as a runner-up in season six of Superstar K in 2014 and consistently made appearances on TV shows, including “King of Masked Singer” on MBC and “Immortal Songs” on KBS. Kim also participated in various original sound track albums for TV series such as “Punch,” “Reply 1988” and “Memory.”

“One of the major reasons the singers from audition TV programs have such huge success on digital charts is because they appeal to audience solely with their vocal skills in the first place. They did not become famous for their appearance or other talents,” said music critic Kim Yoon-ha. “Also singers earn their name value through the appearance on survival TV shows, which makes people search for their music after the show is over. TV shows have a great influence on the popular music industry in Korea,” Kim said.