August 20, 2013
In response to Tiffany’s previous post about YG Entertainment's upcoming survival show WIN (Who is Next?), I’ve decided to provide my own counter argument to her theory of how the whole thing is going to go down.
We’ve all seen music survival shows from Kpop Star to The Voice and so on, all of which centered around the same main idea: you compete for the top and hope to win the grand prize of becoming the ultimate star. However, YG plans on mixing things up a little bit by limiting the competition within the company itself. I, personally, think this is bad idea. Of course, I don’t want to make this out to seem like some huge blood bath and over exaggerate what could turn out to be your normal everyday survival show. So here’s why I think this could pose a problem.
For starters, most of the participants have already been training under YG with the hopes of one day being able to debut as an idol group. It’s no secret that there is some competition behind the scenes when it comes to trainees and the desperate climb to the top. However, YG is planning on making every bit of this aspect publicized and turning it into a game, adding more stress to their already hectic lives as trainees. There’s also the added fact that the team will lose publicly whereas normally, their loss at debuting is completely silent which helps dull the pain. This adds to their feeling of shame and flushes years of training down the toilet.
There's also the issue concerning three of the participants, Kang Seung Yoon, Lee Seung Hoon, and Goo Joon Hee, having already participated in music survival shows only to be put to the torturous process once again and at least one of them is bound to lose due to being put on opposing teams. That would mean that they would have lost in a publicized competition, not only once, but twice. That's gonna put quite the dash on their hopes of idoldom.
However, there can be a plus side to all of this some of which actually coincides with Tiffany's optimism in her post.
1) Through making the whole process a show, YG will be able to garner a lot of attention towards the winning group before they even review. This will help ensure their popularity and prevent them from flopping like most rookies who debut throughout the year.
2) Now this is probably a huge stretch but if both teams have an almost equal amount of popularity as the show progresses, there will be a chance that the losing team might not disband and we'll be able to see them sometime after WINNER debuts. Though we know that YG will continually postpone it, which is why the possibility is dim but a girl can dream.
I'm not going to deny that this show is probably going to be extremely intense and grab my attention like no other. I just feel really bad for the contestants and the hell they're being put through.
I'm totally agree with you, this is really hard for them. I don't really like the concept, but in the same time I can't stop be interested in the show, because I love those boys and I was waiting for their debut since so long. I can't choose between them, I love B.I since Indian Boy, and I love LSH and KSY since their participations in the survival shows. I didn't know who was GJH but he is an awesome dancer and singer.
ReplyDeleteYou forget about Song Minho, he was a trainee with Block B, almost debuted with them, but at the end, was evinced. Debuted with the band BoM, but the band was not really famous, so they disbanded. (honestly, I didn't think this band suited him well, so I'm glad he became a trainee under YG).
It's not the first time YG's doing something like this, he did it for BIG BANG with SO-1 (Hyunseung), so this kind of program is not really knew. What changing is, instead of 1 or 2 members , it will be a whole group who will lose.
But I believe in YG, and I know almost all of them will debut soon or later. (At least I can see the potential of some of them, and I know they'll debut in WINNER or not)
I'm really concerned about Kang Seung Yoon, because if his team loose, it will be because of public choice, right? But after he will continue as a solo artist. I think it will be hard for him, if it happened, because, his team members will not debut, his band might disband, and he will still face the public as a loser but a winner as a solo. So weord and confusing I think.
You do make a good point with Song Minho. I was mainly considering competition shows but he also faces some hard trials after debuting, disbanding, and fighting to debut again.
ReplyDeleteI realize YG has done something similar in the past but the stakes are kind of upped here because of how many of the trainees have already gone through hell to debut by either failing in competition shows, only getting a taste and then having to disband, only having small roles in the industry as a whole rather than something bigger, or going through a survival show only to do it again.
I do think that the losers might see a chance at debuting sooner or later but with the way YG manages, after WINNER's debut, it'll be forever until we can see them due to how much they like to postpone comebacks and debuts.