Dreaming of becoming labelmates with your favorite K-pop groups BLACKPINK and TREASURE? Well, your chance is here as YG Entertainment has officially announced the 2024 YG NATIONAL AUDITION TOUR.
The large-scale audition tour is scheduled to kick off on January 13, 2024, and run until February 18, 2024. It will span across eight cities, including Jeju, Gwangju, Jeonju, Busan, Daegu, Daejeon, Wonju, and Seoul.
YG Entertainment announces a large-scale audition tour until they find the successors of BIGBANG and BLACKPINK, starting on January 13th. pic.twitter.com/pdaO9e2aTI
— Kpop Charts (@kchartsmaster) December 4, 2023
The audition welcomes young participants residing in South Korea that are born between 2006 and 2013. Additionally, there are no gender or nationality requirements. Notably, interested applicants can choose among four categories: singing, rapping, dancing, and visual.
As for the audition process, it will involve both pre-registration and on-site registration. Aspiring participants can pre-register by accessing the QR code on the official poster and submitting the Google Form application form 10 days prior to the audition date in each region. Meanwhile, the on-site registration is also available until 4 PM on the audition day.
What’s next for YG Entertainment?
As one of the biggest management labels in the K-pop industry, the audition tour is already gaining significant interest. Especially since YG Entertainment appears to be keen in looking for talents that could follow the footsteps of their iconic groups such as BIGBANG and 2NE1.
However, the sudden announcement also caught some confusion among the netizens as it came after the recent debut of BABYMONSTER. Furthermore, the agency has earlier confirmed that the rookie idol girl group won’t be participating in music shows to promote their debut single “Batter Up.” Because of that, fans are lamenting that the agency should focus first on prioritizing their newest act instead of looking for more potential artists.
Aside from that, the past two years have also seen the departure of several artists from YG Entertainment. Between 2022 and 2023, BIGBANG members Daesung, Taeyang, and G-Dragon, as well as the group iKON have left the agency.
Currently, YG Entertainment is home to acts AKMU, Sechkies, WINNER, BLACKPINK, and TREASURE. Recently, the label confirmed that all four members of BLACKPINK have renewed their contracts for group activities.
Featured image: BABYMONSTER makes their debut with ‘Batter Up.’ Credit: Twitter/BABYMONSTER