THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN.

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During my freshman year of high school, a close friend of mine who had just moved from Korea once told me that almost all of her Korean friends shared one dream in common: to become a K-pop star. “It’s totally crazy,” she said, “how many Korean teenagers sing and dance in the privacy of their bedrooms and attend auditions, trying to become the next BoA or Bi (Rain).” Curious, I went home that night and did an Internet search on the audition process for K-pop companies such as SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment, and YG Entertainment. Lots of results popped up–some were of anxious to-be auditionees pleading for advice via Yahoo Answers, others were in-depth evaluations of the requirements each company looked for, and even a few were video clips of our favorite K-pop artists’ auditions. So how does the auditioning process really go?

For most international K-pop fans, the auditioning process is unfamiliar territory. Aspiring singers in the United States get their contracts by forming connections (after being “discovered” at a gig or nowadays, onYouTube). The closest thing to K-pop auditions in the United States would probably be the first few episodes of American Idol.

In Korea, entertainment companies do not scour YouTube in hopes of finding the next star. They wait for their stars to come find them through auditions.

Passing the incredibly difficult auditioning process is the first step to becoming an idol in the K-pop industry. There are typically three stages to a K-pop audition: 1) the walk-in audition, 2) the “callback”, and 3) the final audition.

Typically, walk-in auditions are held every weekend in both Korea and the United States. In New York City, both JYP and SM have buildings there and hold auditions on Saturday mornings for teenagers interested in trying their hand at singing and dancing. Auditionees are encouraged to register beforehand, but they also allow you to register on the spot as well. Depending on which field the auditionee wants to try out for, they are encouraged to prepare different things such as a song to sing, a dance, or even a scene to perform for an acting audition. During the audition, the judges look for both talent and personality, as well as marketability.

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