YG Entertainment announces its '2023 YG National Audition Tour' in Korea

YG Entertainment will be holding its first domestic audition tour in 4 years, '2023 YG National Audition Tour'.

The agency confirmed on December 7, "The '2023 YG National Audition Tour' will take place from January 7 through February 12, 2023." The audition tour will stop in 6 cities across South Korea including Daejeon, Daegu, Kwangju, Busan, and Seoul. Anyone born after the year 2004 and before 2012 can audition regardless of gender or nationality.

Meanwhile, the last time YG Entertainment held a domestic audition tour was in 2019. The major entertainment agency is currently home to Big Bang, BLACKPINK, WINNER, iKON, TREASURE, and more.

Source: https://www.allkpop.com/articl…al-audition-tour-in-korea

Quote from bartkun

is there even a point of it?

unless they have timeline set for Baemon debut

and they need another batch of trainees which will be stuck in dungeon for 5-6 years

fresh meat for the grinder? lol

someone has to keep those dungeons warm

Quote from Rainbowlicious

I can audition! LMAOOO

I'm still so scared about that minimum age though...that's extremely young 😬

I often question what makes people choose YGE over other companies...their treatment is unfair, especially for their female contractors...

you do realise it's only for training though right? I mean Jihyo started at 8 so...

Quote from Rainbowlicious

It's still way too young...Jihyo was also the one that all said that there were a lot of things that she couldn't do because she started training at such a young age. When her friends would be hanging outside of school, she would be training to be an idol. I think 13-16 is a more acceptable training age imo. Let them be kids!

Luckily, these companies won't even let you audition at that age anymore. It's still so young today though...

2023-2012 is eleven hmmm....

I've always said this with training and debuting young and so forth - no one is forcing them to train or be idols or whatever - it's entirely their own choice (and maybe their parents). One has to want to do that at that age and pass those auditions and so forth before one even starts the training process and remember one can always drop out (obviously depending on the trainee debt)

it is young but there are also lots of people who start their hobbies (and eventually careers) as athletes, musicians, actors, models etc etc at that age

and with jihyo in particular she's a success story - she's the leader/main vocal in one of the top kpop groups so if one looks in hingsight - yes she sacrificed lot but to her wasn't it worth it? hingsight is 20/20 but without all that training would Jihyo even be the main vocalist or even in Twice???

Quote from Rainbowlicious

If it's really something that they want to pursue then it's something I want to pursue and I have no problem with that. But I feel like you don't have to be someone who hasn't even come close to touching puberty to start training. They're not training for the Olympics where people dedicate a lot of their life to doing what they want to do and the window to actually become an idol is so slim that if you're someone who wants to try to debut, you would have to ask yourself if it's really worth it. To sacrifice so much of your young life to enter an industry that is so saturated that where even if you're talented, visuals and personality seem like they matter more today.

It's not necessarily good for you when you're going through extreme diets just to look PRETTY and not usually to help your performance (these other industries are different. No one cares about beauty in the entertainment industry as much as South Korea). And at that age, your body is still developing. And as a trainee, you're practically forced to go through extreme diets. They don't always tell you directly which is wear the misconseption is but you have weekly weight evaluations and if you didn't meet the expectation, you were in danger of being omitted from training. And I couldn't imagine what it would do to your self esteem when you're not only judged on your performance but your weight and looks that you can't control. And the amount of idols that are forced under PS or told to get it, at least, that are under 18-20 is a lot. Your body isn't fully developed until then so it's illegal to give a minor PS without parent consent. There's more chance to develop scars if you get work done as a child.

It's so messed up that if you know you fit KBS, that you have a higher chance to debut than someone who doesn't yet is more talented. Jihyo was perfectly talented but she already had a disadvantage because her features were considered "strange" and "ugly" and she was considered too "fat". And imagine being at a healthy weight, get told that your fat and then it messes up your whole self esteem. That's going to effect a young mind even more. Remember that as children, we soak everything around us. And if we're told something unrealistic, then we grow up believing that. For some reason, kids and teenagers are more prone to pleasing others because we want validation to feel okay. When you're being told the opposite everyday and then you don't have the time to get that lifeline, that can be damaging. There's a certain point that people start to not care but it's a long time down the road because you're still building who you are.

But if they are willing to go through the sacrifices, the pain, the damage...if it's something they really want, then I say go for it. But in the end, you really have to think to yourself "is it really worth it? Is this what I really want?"

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I agree with everything you said my friend and I would never put my own children through that - but other people might think differently - I don't judge others according to whatever standards I hold in terms of kpop and training and thus if other people and their parents wish to undertake such grueling training and so forth who am I to say otherwise

I certainly don't think there's a one size (or "age") that fits all criteria - some people might need some more training compared to others (or more training in specific things) and thus a longer training period is required thus it is up to the individual (and their parents) to consider what is in their best interests