Her Campus Logo Her Campus Logo
ICU (Japan) | Culture

K-POP New Survival Show “BOYS II PLANET” is Coming Soon!

Chinatsu Sato Student Contributor, International Christian University
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at ICU (Japan) chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

These days, new K-pop idol groups are debuting one after another in many kinds of ways.

One of their main ways to debut is through a “survival audition program.”

Survival Audition

in the K-pop Industry

In 2016, “Produce 101,” a survival audition program that ran for four series, was broadcast. Led by this series, the system debuting through a survival audition program has gained popularity, and now, not only Korea, but also other Asian countries such as China and Japan have many survival audition programs. (Actually, the Japanese version of Produce 101 — named Produce 101 Japan — was broadcast for three series, and all of them became trending as well) have many survival audition programs.

Produce 101 season1 (2015)
Produce 101 Japan season3 (2023)
Chinese survival audition program called “CHUANG” (2021)

Produce 101 series is made by Mnet, which is a pay television owned by CJ ENM known for its diverse K-pop content. Until now, Mnet has made survival audition programs a lot. “Girls Planet,” which was aired in 2021, got much attention from all over the world, and the next series, “Boys Planet,” was aired in 2023.

Kep1er debut from GIRLS PLANET
ZEROBASEONE debut from BOYS PLANET

This year, from July (next month!), its new series named “BOYS II PLANET” will start! Even before the program starts, it is gathering huge attention from global K-pop fans.

what is BOYS II PLANET

In this survival show, trainees gathered from all over the world compete through several missions and aim to become the next generation’s K-pop star.

As described above, the program is made by Mnet. Many of Mnet’s survival auditions are famous for the “audience voting system,” which began with Produce 101.

  • Audience-Voting System

The audience named as “Star Creators” can vote for their favorite trainees after each episode, and the vote determines the final debut members. Therefore, the audience gives it their all to support their bias. For example, they place an advertisement in the pubic to raise awareness. The system builds excitement and popularity for the program.

A trainee come to see his fan-made ad at the Korean station
  • Trainees

In the program, 140 trainees participate. Even if the trainees come from all over the world, they are separated into Planet K and C, whether trainees are from China or not. This separation was done to make two boys’ groups from each team. However, due to Mnet’s announcement to change the format, one boy group’s debut has been decided. Considering only a few people can finally debut out of 140 trainees, fans are concerned about the difficulty of supporting their bias.

  • Signal song

Most of the Korean Survival Audition Program has its own signal song. In the same way, “BOYS II PLANET” has a signal song called “HOLA SOLAR,” and was released on June 10th. You can check the trainees through the performance video prior to the streaming already! Also, each trainee’s 1-minute PR videos are on BOYS II PLANET official YouTube channel. Check them and find your favorite trainee!

HOLAR SOLAR performance video planet K
HOLAR SOLAR performance video planet C

  “BOYS II PLANET” starts July 17th. Let’s watch and don’t miss the moment of birth of new K-pop stars!

Chinatsu Sato

ICU (Japan) '28

Hi, guys! I'm Chinatsu from the ICU in Japan. It has been a year since I started writing articles at HC.
I mainly write articles about mental health and culture, like fashion and music in English and Japanese. Specifically, I'm interested in Korean culture (Korean fashion brands, K-pop).
Team ICU is trying to publish articles with high frequency, thus we want many people to see our article!💕