"There is no controversy over the devil's editing and voting"... Le Seraphim and New Jeans to find a girl group this year, 'RU Next'

"It's not a finished form, but you'll see the process of growing trainees, even if they're young and immature, please look at them carefully. This is my mother's heart."

Although it is an audition program, it is approached as a character documentary. JTBC's new entertainment show 'R U Next?', which emphasizes a fair voting system, focuses on human charm. Le Seraphim, Who will be the trainee who will debut as the Hive Next girl group of New Jeans?

On the morning of the 30th, a production presentation for JTBC's new variety show 'R U Next? Producers Yeji Lee, Producer Seonhyung Kim, Sooyoung Choi, Gyuri Park, Hyun Lee, Kwon Jo, and Aiki attended the event.

'RU Next' is a survival program that selects members of Hive Labels' next girl group. It contains the process of 22 trainees from Belief Lab participating in a total of 7 round missions, which are essential gateways to becoming an idol.

On this day, PD Lee Ye-ji said, "From the time of planning, the focus was on 'youth'. We thought about how to show it like a character documentary. Also, while making the program, we thought about how to show our human charm. This is our unique difference." revealed

PD Kim Seon-hyung said, “When I said that it was a character documentary, I was talking about the approach. In a situation where there are so many audition programs and there are so many participants, there are cases where we don’t pay attention to the human charm. I want one person to be seen as precious,” he explained.

He added, "Each person is precious. Charms, specialties, things that this friend is good at or lacking are data used to form a character, so I have a desire to capture them one by one without missing them."

Regarding the reason for selecting Choi Soo-young as the MC, PD Lee Ye-ji said, "I am glad that he will empathize with and understand the participants' feelings and will do a good job as a signboard (of the program) with a sense of ownership. "I am satisfied. I am satisfied. The coaches are also people I love. I think the combination is fresh. It is a combination I have not seen before. The most important thing is professionalism, and each of them has excellent capabilities."

Choi Soo-young made her debut in Japan through an audition program before Girls' Generation's debut. He said, "In 2002, I appeared in a program that became the beginning of a famous survival program in Japan. I was a participant who participated in that audition." It seems to have gotten better after losing. It seems that it has become a system where the unique individuality can survive well. In particular, I can feel the love of our production team for these children. We cannot make them look negative even once."

Girl group Girls' Generation member and actor Choi Soo-young will host the program as a solo MC. He said, "Wouldn't it be a privilege given to me to see the birth of a next-generation world-class girl group from the beginning? They do not compete as individuals in individual battles like other survival pros, but the relationship in which they grow together, solidarity and encouragement at the same time as competitors is a growth drama. I think it's the same. As a senior and a colleague, I watch it every day as if I'm watching a youth drama. As I progress, I get healed and receive good stimulation."

Regarding the comparison between SM Entertainment and Hive, Choi Soo-young said, "I have never experienced Hive. I am an MC, but if I go through it, I think we can compare the systems. But (SM and Hive) are both big companies. It's nice to see the concentration of care from the outside as well. I felt a lot of love when I was at SM, so I thought that companies leading the K-pop industry were different."

Park Gyuri, a member of the girl group Kara, grew up as a wild horse, a free-range idol. He said, "When I was a trainee, I didn't receive as much care as I do now. Looking at the Hive trainees, I thought they were receiving systematic and well-organized care. I feel that they are well managed in detail from beginning to end under a systematic system." .

In past audition programs, the vote manipulation controversy became an issue. 'RU Next' conducts global voting through Weverse and Toss. Regarding this, PD Kim Seon-hyung said, "The public vote has become important. How the ratio will be reflected varies from round to round. There were problems with voting in the previous audition program. 'RU Next' is also an in-house survival program, and the opinions of fans and viewers are important." I think the voting format itself is transparent, so I don't think anything I'm concerned about will happen."

'R U Next' will be broadcast for the first time at 8:50 pm on the 30th.

Reporter Kang Min-kyung, Ten Asia kkk39@tenasia.co.kr