Five aspiring boy band members from the UK, a house in Seoul’s popular Itaewon district and training at one of Korea’s top K-pop talent agencies – that’s the recipe for Made in Korea: The K-Pop experience, a new BBC reality show.
The show follows a group of young people aged 19 to 23 through a rigorous 100-day training process, which leads them to their debut as a band called Dear Alice.
Made in Korea explores the global interest in K-pop and curiosity surrounding the industry model that has spawned a number of brilliant, compelling and highly skilled artists such as BTS, Blackpink, Seventeen and Twice.
The results speak for themselves. Taylor Swift may have been the world’s best-selling artist in 2023, but four of the top ten best-selling artists globally in 2023 were Korean, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.
South Korea’s top K-pop music agencies are known for their rigorous and lengthy training programs, which have sometimes been criticized for being exploitative of talent. Disillusioned artists have complained of being overworked, underpaid, abused and unprotected by contracts that fail to manage their careers fairly and responsibly.
Criticism of such practices has led to unionization and some improvements in conditions for artists. However, as members of the world-famous girl group Blackpink and others have attested, the training required to reach the heights of success in the industry remains extremely rigorous and time-consuming.
A ‘unique’ experience
Despite claiming to be a “one-off experiment” with its British members, Made in Korea isn’t the first time non-Korean hopefuls have faced the K-pop training machine. Several non-Koreans make up some of K-pop’s most popular acts, including Blackpink, which features a Thai member, and Seventeen, which has members from China and the US.
Their inclusion is part of a strategy to help K-pop groups connect with overseas fans and communicate in languages other than Korean during international performances.
In a similar experiment to Made in Korea, Netflix has also just released Pop Star Academy – KATSEYE. The documentary follows a collaboration between HYBE (a leading Korean talent agency and creator of global sensations BTS) and American record label Geffen Records as they work to create a girl group made up of women from different countries.
The Korean talent agency that has agreed to work with the British creators of Dear Alice is SM Entertainment. One of several leading agencies in South Korea, they have been churning out successful acts since the mid-1990s. Like their counterparts HYBE, YG and BigHit Entertainment, SM is a one-stop shop that takes talent from casting to training, production and management.
With an “unwavering commitment to excellence,” such agencies hire and manage only the best. They have been quick to adapt and promote their acts’ appeal across borders, releasing songs in English to improve accessibility for English-speaking fans, who make up a large proportion of K-pop’s 200 million global following.
SM’s website makes a subtle nod to previous criticism of the industry’s methods by declaring its commitment to “setting the gold standard for responsible management in the industry.” That doesn’t mean a soft approach to raising chart-topping talent, however.
Hwang Jeong-hyeon/BBC/Made in Korea Ltd/Hwang Jeong-hyeon
The secret of success
The first episode of Made in Korea sees the five boys face an “evaluation” after a challenging first week of training by SM Entertainment’s formidable Hee Jun Yoon, known for her no-holds-barred criticism.
After watching the group’s first performance, during which their choreography is poorly synchronized and their singing is far from perfect, Yoon tells them, “You don’t know the difficult situation you’re in right now.” She threatens to not watch any future performances unless they make considerable improvements. Completely demoralized, the five members come away from the experience having glimpsed the harsh reality of what it takes to succeed in the K-pop industry.
The negative feedback is not surprising. A Blackpink documentary released on Netflix in 2020 leaves the viewer with the impression that those who survive the “trainee system” must possess an extraordinary degree of mental resilience – perhaps in addition to their vocal talent and ability to learn choreography.
Being successful in this industry means being able to push yourself to limits that most people would never imagine. It also requires artists to avoid any behavior that could lead to a scandal that could destroy their reputation.
Taylor Swift’s fans are unfazed by news of the singer’s tumultuous love life, and fans of other global artists are relatively accepting of the often relatable imperfections displayed by Western artists. But K-Pop artists are contractually bound to remain squeaky clean. They are rarely, if ever, allowed to date publicly or engage in unsavory behavior, which can include even minor offenses like vaping indoors.
For years, BTS remained relatively scandal-free. But in August, one member, Suga, fell off his e-scooter in Seoul and failed a breathalyzer test, incurring charges of drunk driving. The incident created significant waves and led to a public apology in the hope that the group can rebuild public trust.
If Dear Alice passes the training and assessment, it is unclear whether it will be held to the same moral and behavioral standards required of groups composed predominantly of Korean members.
However, if SM Entertainment wants to put its name behind the group’s management, there’s no doubt that these five youngsters will have to learn to bounce back from harsh criticism and show a willingness to learn and improve to a level beyond anything they’ve achieved before.
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