BTS label Hybe and Geffen Records’ combined search for next K-Pop girl group has narrowed down the competition with its first round of eliminations.
19-year-old Adéla and 14-year-old Hinari are the first two contestants to be cut during the audition process, titled “The Debut: Dream Academy.” The audition program, which will be documented in a new Netflix series, initially welcomed 20 hopeful performers from around the world, with Adéla hailing from Slovakia and Hinari hailing from Japan.
During the auditions, contestants will complete three missions, with the first mission splitting the young women into four teams consisting of two dance teams and two vocal teams as the group showed off their vocal and dance capabilities.
After the first mission aired on YouTube last week, fans voted on WeVerse and YouTube for their favorite contestants, as well as which two contestants they thought should be eliminated. Adéla and Hinari’s elimination was announced Friday morning on YouTube.
Following the eliminations, the remaining 18 contestants traveled from Los Angeles to Korea in order to prepare for the second mission, which is set to take place at Korea’s Training & Development (T&D) facility, a well-known training spot for numerous K-Pop stars.
The contestants, who were unveiled by the labels in late August and have been training in Los Angeles over the past year, were narrowed down from over 120,000 submissions sent in by applicants since the companies announced the joint venture in November 2021.
The official logline for the Netflix series is as follows: “A years-long process of creating a one-of-a-kind girl group will be the subject of an upcoming Netflix untitled documentary series. With unprecedented access, the series will be a compelling portrayal of the journey to global stardom, including insight into the unique training and development program from Hybe and Geffen Records.”
