JYP Entertainment and Republic Records are planning to launch the world’s first North American girl group created via the K-pop system, according to a joint statement given by the two labels on Monday, July 25.
According to Republic Records’ CEO Monte Lipman, the two labels seek to find, identify and curate talent from America by applying the JYP system in developing the supergroup. In a video released on the official YouTube channels of the two companies on Monday, Monte Lipman said that this is something we have never seen before,”
The “K-pop system,” explained by the founder and chairman of JYP Park Jin-young, is much like “a training system similar to that of an Olympic athlete. The K-Pop system is a systematic process through which selected, talented artists go.”
In order to search for members for this upcoming global group, the two labels will be holding the first round of auditions in North America, which has been dubbed America2Korea or A2K, in September.
A2K or America2Korea will be held across five cities in the United States: Atlanta on Sept. 10, Chicago on Sept. 14, New York on Sept. 17 and 18, Dallas on Sept. 20 and finally, Los Angeles on Sept. 23 to 25.
Park will be sitting in on all of the auditions.
Those artists who pass the first round of auditions will be invited to Los Angeles for the second round, where the judges will further narrow down participants to the semi-finalists. Those who pass will train at JYP Entertainment in Korea. afterwards, these contestants will again be scaled down to the final members. The group will debut in the United States, and the said group will release all its music under JYP Entertainment and Republic Records.
“A2K is the biggest project ever for me and JYP Entertainment,” said Park, founder and chairman of JYP entertainment.
JYP Entertainment and Republic Records have worked together several times over the past few years.
