[K-pop Kritic] K-pop Education on the Rise: The Case of World K-pop Center (Pt. 2)
Who's Auditioning Who?
In the first part of this episode, K-pop Kritic invited you to think about the rise of “K-pop education” and its implications for the future trajectory of K-pop, introducing World K-pop Center (WKC) as a notable new player in the field. Today, let me delve a bit deeper into WKC’s latest and perhaps most ambitious K-pop project: “Click the Star.”
According to WKC, “Click the Star” is a global K-pop audition project that will be held in 32 countries, eventually culminating into the birth of 32 girl groups united under the name “BlingOne,” sharing each other’s song repertoire and fan base. The very first season kicked off last year in Peru to much fanfare, and auditions are already underway in Mongolia, China, and Indonesia. Upon the successful conclusion of the first season, three members—Kenny, Abigail, and Ruby—have officially debuted as BlingOne with their first digital single “Kiss & Call” on June 27th, 2024.
I was lucky enough to be invited to BlingOne’s debut showcase and press conference, which was held on June 26th, 2024—a day before BlingOne’s official debut.
When I arrived at the center with my colleague (an excellent anthropologist who also researches K-pop), one of the staff kindly greeted us and led us to a table in the front, to my surprise. The pink banner hanging on the wall reminded me of the Produce 101 franchise, which rocked the world of K-pop to its core at its heyday in the mid-2010s. As I looked around observing the other guests and journalists, I wondered: how did we get from there to here?
Global K-pop audition projects have been on the rise with cases like A2K (JYP and Republic Records) and Dream Academy (HYBE and Geffen Records), but WKC’s project seems different in that the emphasis is on the collaboration between two nation-states (South Korea and Peru) rather than between two record labels or entertainment companies. As you can see in the picture below, the Peruvian ambassador was at the event in person to congratulate the debut of BlingOne members himself.
Based on the words of WKC staff, the ambassador had also invited the three members to the Peruvian embassy and treated them to traditional Peruvian food, hoping to encourage them throughout their training process at WKC. While heartwarming, this episode shows how K-pop is becoming more and more enmeshed in the realm of public diplomacy and international relations, either by the willful participation of global fans or the purposeful cultivation of partnerships between public actors. It is also true that WKC’s eyes are set on countries that have been relatively excluded from the K-pop industry’s vision, making them a “blue ocean” for K-pop and localized K-pop groups.
About a month has passed since BlingOne Peru’s official debut, and the members have made several media appearances on a range of channels and shows in both Korea and Peru. The ship seems to be sailing smoothly for now. But as the project progresses, each country will present a unique configuration of challenges for WKC, which was indeed a concern the WKC staff shared with me in his interview. My job here is not to speculate but to critique, so I ask: who is auditioning who at Click the Star?