By Jessie Yeung, NCS
Seoul, South Korea (NCS) — Seven women sit in a room, ready for his or her title to be referred to as. All of them are younger, slim and attractive, ranging in age from 14 to twenty, with shiny hair and flawless pores and skin. Anticipation hangs in the air, and nerves are written plain on their faces.
They’re about to seek out out which amongst them will make the reduce to be in South Korea’s latest K-pop group – a dream shared by numerous younger hopefuls throughout the nation, and more and more the world, as the multibillion-dollar business surges in international recognition.
But it’s a long, grueling path to get into that room. The women have spent months or years coaching in singing, dancing, rapping and performing – all whereas following demanding train and weight loss program regimens.
Several have given up their formal training or left households a whole bunch of miles away. And in the fast-moving world of K-pop, the place stars pattern younger and teams usually disband after only a few years, some women really feel like that is their solely shot.
“In the idol world, 18 is very old … so if I miss this opportunity, I worry whether there will be another place other than this company that would accept me,” stated 18-year-old Ah-In Lee, considered one of the seven remaining trainees at K-pop firm MZMC.
NCS’s Kyung Lah was granted unique entry to MZMC’s remaining week of coaching earlier than launching its first-ever group for a documentary aired on “The Whole Story With Anderson Cooper.”
MZMC founder and CEO Paul Thompson, an American who has written and produced a whole bunch of K-pop songs, estimates they went by way of hundreds of auditions earlier than choosing about 30 women as official trainees – of which now solely seven stay.
The relaxation both dropped out or have been reduce throughout month-to-month evaluations that gauged if trainees have been bettering quick sufficient.
These eliminations are the norm in the large K-pop machine, which stands other than different music industries worldwide for the scale of its artist growth and manufacturing applications. Agencies don’t simply prepare and choose stars – they dictate their schedules, put together their public debuts, handle their media appearances and concert events, encourage on-line fan interactions, and even oversee many elements of the stars’ private lives.
The United States as soon as had the same model of this method in Motown, with the label scouting younger expertise all through the Nineteen Sixties and ‘70s and teaching them how to perform – but it disappeared “because it’s too costly,” Thompson stated.
But in South Korea, it has flourished – MZMC is a comparatively small firm. Thompson estimated bigger labels can signal a whole bunch of trainees earlier than whittling them all the way down to a remaining choice.
One of those seven women at MZMC is Brittney Jang, a soft-spoken 20-year-old who grew up in the US earlier than returning to her birthplace of South Korea to pursue her K-pop desires. The oldest of the trainees, she appeared assured about her possibilities of making the remaining 5 – maybe as a result of she knew what was at stake.
If she isn’t chosen, “that means that I can’t become an idol,” she advised NCS, utilizing a time period generally used for K-pop stars. “This is my last chance.”
Relentless coaching and strain
For the women each day begins with two hours in the gymnasium earlier than a full day of courses together with vocal and dance classes. Younger members like 14-year-old Liwon Kim attend half a day of standard college earlier than going straight to coaching, which can final till midnight.
Some don’t even dwell with their households, as a substitute staying in dormitories – like 17-year-old Rana Koga from Japan, the solely non-Korean trainee.
The strain can be relentless, with scrutiny of their look, in addition to their abilities. Part of this displays the tradition in South Korea, the place rigid beauty standards have historically valued truthful pores and skin, slender physiques and hyper-feminine options. Plastic surgical procedure procedures like double-eyelid surgical procedure are so frequent they’re usually supplied to youngsters as commencement items from dad and mom.
Beauty requirements are even increased for K-pop stars.
“The word is idol,” argues Thompson, the MZMC founder. “Nobody wants to idolize someone who reminds them of yourself. You want to look up to someone and say, ‘I want to be like that person. Look how pristine and perfect they are.’”
But the demand for thinness can flip darkish.
“Definitely, people have been cut (from training programs) for their weight,” stated Amber Liu, a Taiwanese-American former idol turned indie artist. “I developed a very unhealthy habit of just starving myself … I was 16, I didn’t know what to do.”
Min, one other impartial musician who used to be a part of K-pop group Miss A, advised NCS 100 kilos (about 45 kilograms) is taken into account the commonplace weight for a feminine idol.
Those expectations colour the every day lives of the MZMC trainees, who intently observe their consumption and weight.
“I have to eat while lessening the amount of food and calculating the nutritional value and calories. That’s a bit difficult,” stated Lee, the 18-year-old trainee, guffawing as she listed pizza as a favourite meals.
But, she added, “you could say that (appearance is) the most important thing for an idol because it’s a job where being seen is the most important thing.”
Thompson, the CEO, stated the company measures the trainees’ physique mass index twice a month. “We provide them with roasted chicken and boiled eggs and things like that…They’re eating enough,” he stated, defending the weight loss program as key to the group’s “visual aesthetic.”
He additionally insisted that the company doesn’t push any trainees into cosmetic surgery, saying he valued their musical skills first and foremost.
Still, the thought lingers in the women’ minds.
Seoyoung Yun, a 16-year-old trainee, is energetic and assured, sporting black hair reduce into fashionable bangs – and has long performed with the concept of getting cosmetic surgery on her eyes.
“My job is one that needs to be loved by the public, so if the public wants or needs me to show a prettier side for my debut, I think it’s okay to do so,” she stated.
Her father had beforehand objected, and she appeared swayed for a second, musing that being “confident in my natural self” may win her followers who “appreciate that authenticity.”
But in the finish, her imaginative and prescient of stardom is successful out.
“If it’s plastic surgery that doesn’t deviate too much from my current appearance, then yes,” she concluded. “If it’s for success, then I think it’s okay to do it.”
The value of fame
Even when a bunch is finalized and makes its public debut, the strain doesn’t ease. If something, the stakes develop increased.
Of all the teams that debut the saturated market, lower than 1% obtain the degree of world fame set by now-household names like BTS or Blackpink, stated Woonghee Kim, MZMC’s casting director.
And recognition brings its personal limitations. Fervid superfans of high-profile teams usually pore over members’ appearances, performances, and private lives. Perceived “bad” habits corresponding to smoking or consuming can earn widespread public backlash, forcing stars to dwell underneath strict guidelines.
That even extends to relationship. In previous years, offended followers have turned towards artists who publicize their relationships. Last 12 months, K-pop singer Karina of the lady group Aespa needed to submit a handwritten apology on-line after confirming her relationship with an actor, which prompted followers to threaten “declining album sales and empty concert seats.” Just weeks later, the relationship ended.
Experts have beforehand advised NCS the phenomenon is partly because of the business being constructed round the followers, who generally make charitable donations in celebrities’ names, or pay for impartial adverts selling excursions or albums. But this excessive loyalty additionally means artists and businesses are tightly tied to fan calls for and wishes.
“There’s certain things like that, we train the girls to be aware,” Thompson stated. “If you’re going to do these things (dating or drinking) when you’re older, you have to be more private about it.”
Some businesses have relaxed their guidelines lately, after a spate of high-profile deaths highlighted the psychological well being toll on idols.
Yun, the 16-year-old, skilled a panic assault in 2023 after surviving three years of month-to-month eliminations. She was capable of take 4 or 5 months off from coaching to recuperate, and hasn’t skilled additional assaults since returning, her father advised NCS.
Despite the immense pressures of the job, it stays a lifelong dream for a lot of aspiring stars as the business expands.
After breaking into the US market with Psy’s 2012 hit “Gangnam Style,” K-pop has gone globally mainstream, with Blackpink acting at Coachella and BTS incomes 5 Grammy nominations over the years. K-pop has all the time been considered one of South Korea’s greatest cultural exports, and that affect has solely swelled as different bestsellers – starting from Okay-dramas to Okay-beauty – swept the world in the so-called “Korean wave.”
For the seven women in that room, the likelihood to hitch this globe-spanning, culture-defining business lies simply on the different aspect of the door – the place Thompson and different MZMC executives will reveal their fates.
One by one, the women have been referred to as in – reacting with shock, pleasure, and some tears. By the finish of that day, the new lady group was born: VVS, named after a uncommon grade of diamond, anticipated to make their official debut in early 2025.
Lee, Koga, Jang, Kim and remaining member Jiu Moon had all made it. But the temper was bittersweet, with two of their pals being reduce, together with Yun.
The two eradicated trainees ultimately discovered different pathways, with Yun as a substitute pursuing a solo rap profession. But in the cutthroat world of K-pop, it’s anybody’s guess how far they may go.
“We will achieve a certain level of success. We will find the right fan base and the right people that will enjoy our music,” Thompson advised NCS, quickly after naming the remaining lineup.
“Does that mean we’ll be Blackpink?” he added. “Remains to be seen.”
This article has been up to date.
The-NCS-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.