The Real Winner of 'K-Pop Star'?

SBS's Survival Audition, ‘K-Pop Star’ is considered as "clean audition." There has been not much debate about the result so far, and the viewer’s get the feeling that the contestants are evaluated fairly. Why is it? Is it because of the outstanding singing ability of the contestants? Maybe so. But another, more important aspect of ‘K-Pop star’ is that the audition is completely controlled by the three big labels of K-pop, SM, JYP, and YG. The viewers, naturally, are somewhat isolated between the contestants and the big companies.

The irony of the singing competitions that have been held for the past several years in Korea is that the winners are not the ultimate winners. Except Huh Gak, the winner of Superstar K season 2, numerous winners of the competitions have not been so successful in the real K-pop market so far. With the prolonged exposure during the competition, audiences lose interest in the contestants in many cases. Then, who are the real winner of these shows? It has been the judges and mentors, who gained reputation as a specialist, and having keen power of judgment and ability to discover a raw talent and cultivate it. On the other hand, as the judges and mentors are human, their emotions have always become a problem, their preference for certain contestants being the keenest issue and point of debate.

What K-Pop Star’ attempted is replace the place of individual judges and mentors with the company. Now, there is no room for individual preference or emotion. Although there are individual judges, they only represent the "policy" of their company. The result is therefore viewed as the company's decision and the viewers have no choice but to accept it. It is the company who will take the contestants and make them into a K-pop star, anyway.

Tags
K-Pop Star
SM Entertainment
JYP Entertainment
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