Producers Scout for K-pop Talent With U.S. Appeal During KCON Fan Festival in Los Angeles

'Girls Planet 2027' TV show marks collaboration between KCON producer CJ ENM and music powerhouse Republic Collective

In a makeshift audition booth assembled in a far corner on the ground floor of the Los Angeles Convention Center, a steady stream of K-pop lovers took their shot this past weekend.

As part of the annual KCON Korean entertainment and culture festival, producers of a hit Korean talent competition series held auditions on Aug. 14-15 for the upcoming season of “Girls Planet,” a making-of-the-band story in which viewers will vote on the members of a new all-female K-pop group.

Veteran South Korean TV producer Kim Sinyoung is chief producer of “Girls Planet 2027” and the previous three seasons of the “Planet” competition series. He was on hand at KCON in downtown L.A. to keep an eye on the turnout for the open-audition opportunity at the three-day event produced by CJ ENM, the same company that produces “Girls Planet” and also owns Mnet, the South Korean network on which it originates.

The stakes are high for Season 4 as Mnet has partnered with music industry powerhouse Republic Collective to bring a twist to the competition series. This time around the focus will be on assembling a K-pop group designed to appeal to U.S. and Western audiences. Republic is home to many of the biggest acts in contemporary pop, rock and country music. Which speaks volumes about their interest in tapping into K-pop’s sunny vibes and fierce fandoms. Republic will collaborate with “Girls Planet” team to promote the band and a global rollout of the group’s debut project.

“The reason why we are teaming up with Republic collector is to create a girl group targeting the U.S. market directly. So that’s the biggest difference with the previous season,” Kim Sinyoung told Variety.

Mnet’s “Planet’ music competition has traveled beyond Korea as a success in Thailand and Japan, among other markets. In Japan it airs on the popular free streaming platform Abema.

Kim Sinyoung said he has learned key truths about talent and stardom by through his work on the “Planet” series. Musical talent is essential, he observed, but it’s only one element that an artist aka “idols” in the slanguage of K-pop) needs to ascend to true stardom.

“Skills like singing and dancing are very important [to win] this talent show. But more important are a strong character and personality to grab the attention of the audiences,” Kim Sinyoung said. “So we are now really trying to figure out when we do the auditions — we are trying to see their character, not only the skills like a singing and dancing.”

The show plans to hold ore auditions later this year in New York and London, and Kim Sinyoung also plans to return to Los Angeles for a talent scouting trip. Through a translator, Kim Sinyoung reinforced the qualities that he will look for in selecting “Girls Planet” contestants.

“He’s looking for something that makes audience fall in love with the applicants,” he said. “There could be a lot of things that people like to get into someone. It could be their skill sets are like super talented, or someone has their own like personal history, or just their character or their charm. That’s what he’s looking for.”

Like its predecessors, “Girls Planet” will begin with a field of 100 contestants that will be winnowed to about 20. CJ ENM press reps emphasized that there’s been no decision yet on the number of members in the “Girls Planet’ creation.

The series in the past has typically spanned 10-12 episodes per season that run on a weekly basis. The finale episode airs live, much like ABC’s “American Idol” and NBC’s “The Voice.” The “Planet” series finales have a compelling horserace aspect because the public votes are tallied live, Kim Sinyoung said. Previous seasons of the show have been determined by the votes of more than 7 million viewers.

“It gives the feeling of watching the presidential election — like a vote count,” Kim Sinyoung said.

The “Planet” series has a solid track record of launching K-pop acts in recent years. Kim Sinyoung is grateful that he was able to parlay his childhood love of MTV and music competition TV shows into a career as a producer. During his college years Kim Sinyoung studied in New York (“Where I really loved to see Variety magazine,” he noted) before returning to Korea to work his way up in the competitive arena of music-related TV. As such, he’s been perfectly positioned to see the impact on the nation from the explosive global growth of K-pop, Korean movies and TV, beauty products, food and cultural exports (which include “K-pop Demon Hunters”).

Kim Sinyoung attended the first KCON gathering in Los Angeles, more than 10 years ago. The event was significantly smaller in size and scope back then.

“At the time, there were not many audiences like this,” he said, gesturing to the crowds of fans gathering in clusters inside the L.A. Convention Center. “So it’s very surprising to see this much of a crowd here lining up” to audition for “Girls Planet, he said. “I’m very happy to see that.”