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A2K (also abbreviated as "America2Korea") is a 2023 American reality competition show. The series was a joint project between JYP Entertainment and Republic Records.The goal of the series was to create the first American girl group using the rigours K-pop training system.
| A2K | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | America2Korea |
| Genre | Reality competition |
| Created by | |
| Directed by |
|
| Judges | Park Jin-young |
| Theme music composer | Park Jin-young |
| Opening theme | "Ready for the World"[1][2] |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original languages |
|
| No. of episodes | 22 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Production locations |
|
| Editors |
|
| Running time | 25–50 minutes |
| Production companies | |
| Original release | |
| Network | YouTube |
| Release | July 14 – September 22, 2023[3] |
| Related | |
| Nizi Project | |
The series revolved around JYP Entertainment founder Park Jin-young as he picked members for an American girl group from the United States and Canada through an evaluation process.
The winning contestants from A2K went on to form the girl group VCHA.[4][5]
On June 29, 2023, A2K was announced to be broadcast digitally through JYP Entertainment's YouTube channel from July 13, 2023, with new episodes being released on Mondays and Thursdays at 6:00 p.m. (PT) or 9:00 p.m. (ET).[6]The series finale officially aired on September 22,2023 at 6PM PT.
Background
editFollowing Republic and JYP's initial strategic partnership in 2020 with Twice, the collaboration was extended on February 10, 2022, to include JYP groups such Stray Kids and Itzy as part of the alliance.[7]
On March 15, 2022, JYP Entertainment officially launched their North American label, JYP USA, following its expanded strategic collaboration with Republic Records.[8]
On July 25, 2022, both J.Y. Park and the CEO of Republic Records, Monte Lipman made an official announcement in a virtual press video that was released via JYP Entertainment's YouTube channel.[9] It was revealed at the end of the video that parents could submit the application on behalf of their child(ren). Five contestants from each audition city were selected to move on to the live audition stage. Contestants from the United States and Canada who were born between January 1, 2005, and September 1, 2010, were eligible to submit their applications to attend the audition in one of the five US cities that were held in September 2022.[10]
| City | Submission Deadline | In-Person Audition |
|---|---|---|
| Atlanta | September 3, 2022 | September 10, 2022 |
| Chicago | September 7, 2022 | September 14, 2022 |
| New York City | September 10, 2022 | September 17–18, 2022 |
| Dallas | September 13, 2022 | September 20, 2022 |
| Los Angeles | September 16, 2022 | September 23–25, 2022 |
Episodes
edit| No. | Title | Filming Location(s) | Duration (mm:ss) | Original release date | Views (millions) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Start of A2K" | Dallas, US Chicago, US | 30:20 | July 13, 2023 | 5.7 |
| 2 | "Show Your Talent" | Chicago, US Atlanta, US New York City, US | 38:39 | July 17, 2023 | 4.6 |
| 3 | "The Final Contestants" | Los Angeles, US | 27:57 | July 20, 2023 | 2.9 |
| 4 | "The LA Boot Camp Begins" | Los Angeles, US | 27:35 | July 24, 2023 | 2.9 |
| 5 | "Dance Evaluation Continues" | Los Angeles, US | 29:26 | July 27, 2023 | 2.4 |
| 6 | "Show Your Passion" | Los Angeles, US | 31:06 | July 31, 2023 | 2.3 |
| 7 | "Vocal Evaluation Starts" | Los Angeles, US | 32:16 | August 3, 2023 | 2.5 |
| 8 | "Vocal Evaluation Rankings" | Los Angeles, US | 31:33 | August 7, 2023 | 2.2 |
| 9 | "Star Quality Evaluation" | Los Angeles, US | 35:17 | August 10, 2023 | 2.1 |
| 10 | "Star Quality Evaluation Rankings" | Los Angeles, US | 33:11 | August 14, 2023 | 2.0 |
| 11 | "Character Evaluation" | Los Angeles, US | 30:25 | August 17, 2023 | 1.9 |
| 12 | "Character Evaluation Rankings" | Los Angeles, US | 26:30 | August 21, 2023 | 1.6 |
| 13 | "The Showcase Begins" | Los Angeles, US | 29:44 | August 24, 2023 | 2.2 |
| 14 | "The Showcase Performances" | Los Angeles, US | 36:44 | August 28, 2023 | 2.5 |
| 15 | "LA Boot Camp Rankings" | Los Angeles, US | 33:43 | August 31, 2023 | 2.4 |
| 16 | "Korean Boot Camp Begins" | Seoul, South Korea | 44:04 | September 4, 2023 | 2.7 |
| 17 | "Individual Performances Continue" | Seoul, South Korea | 45:27 | September 7, 2023 | 2.2 |
| 18 | "Individual Evaluation Rankings" | Seoul, South Korea | 50:51 | September 11, 2023 | 2.1 |
| 19 | "Team Evaluation" | Seoul, South Korea | 45:18 | September 14, 2023 | 2.4 |
| 20 | "Team Evaluation Rankings" | Seoul, South Korea | 37:09 | September 18, 2023 | 2.2 |
| 21 | "The Grand Finale Begins" | Seoul, South Korea | 48:36 | September 20, 2023 | 2.4 |
| 22 | "The Final Members" | Seoul, South Korea | 50:37 | September 21, 2023 | 2.7 |
Contestants
edit| Name | Birth Date (Age) | Residence | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stage | Full | ||
| Cristina | Cristina Lopez Sandiford | May 11, 2005 |  Atlanta, Georgia
|
| Melissa | Melissa Kadas | July 22, 2005 |  Brampton, Ontario
|
| Lexus | Lexus Vang | November 22, 2005 | Milwaukee, Wisconsin
|
| Savanna | Savanna Collins | July 26, 2006 | Fort Lauderdale, Florida
|
| Kaylee | Kaylee Lee | November 24, 2009 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
|
| Camila | Camila Ribeaux Valdes | August 10, 2005 | Montreal, Quebec
|
| Kendall | Kendall Ebeling | June 1, 2006 | Fort Worth, Texas
|
| KG | KG Crown (Kiera Grace Madder) |
June 17, 2007 | Los Angeles, California
|
| Yuna | Yuna Gonzalez | April 28, 2005 | California
|
| Gina | Gina De Bosschère | July 15, 2009 | |
| Mischa | Mischa Salkin | August 2, 2009 | Florida
|
Summary
edit- Color key
- Got the stone after evaluations
- Got the stone after revaluation
- Got the stone later
| Phase 3 | Outcome | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contestant | Dance | Vocal | Star Quality | Character | Overall | Individual | Team | Finale | Attitude | Overall | |
| Lexus | 3 | ■ | 4 | 1 | 6 
|
7 | 8 | Won | 1 | 1 | Vcha
|
| KG | 8 | 3 | ■ | ■ | 8
|
3 | 6 | Lost | – | 2 | Vcha
|
| Camila | 7 | 1 | ■ | 3 | 1
|
2 | 3 | Won | 3 | 3 | Vcha
|
| Savanna | 4 | ■ | 3 | 4 | 4
|
5 | 4 | Won | 2 | 4 | Vcha
|
| Kaylee | 6 | 6 | ■ | ■ | 7
|
4 | 1 | Lost | – | 5 | Vcha
|
| Kendall | 2 | 5 | 2 | ■ | 5
|
1 | 7 | Lost | 4 | 6 | Vcha
|
| Cristina | 1 | ■ | ■ | 2 | 3
|
6 | 2 | Lost
|
|
Eliminated | |
| Gina | 5 | 4 | ■ | ■ | 2
|
8 | 5 | Won
|
|
Eliminated | |
| Yuna | ■ | ■ | 5 | 5 | 10
|
9
|
9
|
Eliminated | |||
| Melissa | ■ | 2 | 1 | ■ | 9
|
Withdrawn[a] | |||||
| Mischa |
|
■ | ■ |
|
11 | Eliminated | |||||
Showcase
edit| Team | Original artist(s) | Song | Contestants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Team A | Wonder Girls | "Be My Baby" | Camila |
| KG | |||
| Cristina | |||
| Team B | ITZY | "Wannabe" | Kendall |
| Kaylee | |||
| Savanna | |||
| Mischa | |||
| Team C | TWICE | "The Feels" | Melissa |
| Lexus | |||
| Yuna | |||
| Gina |
Team Battle
edit- Color key
- Eliminated
| Team | Result | Original artist(s) | Song | Contestants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marteami | 3rd place | TWICE | "Alcohol-Free" | Lexus |
| Kendall | ||||
| Yuna | ||||
| Back Dawgz | 2nd place | Stray Kids | "Back Door" | Camila |
| Gina | ||||
| Cristina | ||||
| SP3KTRUM | Won | NMIXX | "Love Me Like This" | KG |
| Savanna | ||||
| Kaylee |
Final mission
editRound 1 Individual song
edit| Team | Result | Original artist(s) | Song | Contestants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TOPIC | Won | Original Song (Produced by JYP & David Stewart) |
"Know Me Like That" | Gina |
| Lexus | ||||
| Savanna | ||||
| Camila | ||||
| Clover | Lost | Original Song (Produced by JYP & Space Primates) |
"Go Getter" | Kaylee |
| Kendall | ||||
| KG | ||||
| Cristina |
Round 2 Common Song
edit- Color key
- Final member of Vcha
- Eliminated
| Team | Result | Original artist(s) | Song | Contestants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clover | Lost | Original Song (Produced by JYP & Cirkut) |
"Y.O.Universe" | Kaylee |
| Kendall | ||||
| KG | ||||
| Cristina | ||||
| TOPIC | Won | Gina | ||
| Lexus | ||||
| Savanna | ||||
| Camila |
Notes
edit- ^ Due to personal reasons, as broadcast in Ep. 16.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "READY FOR THE WORLD". ASCAP Repertory. June 30, 2023. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
- ^ "READY FOR THE WORLD (SIGNAL MUSIC)". ASCAP Repertory. June 30, 2023. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
- ^ "FY23 Q2 Earnings Call". JYPE. JYP Entertainment. August 18, 2023. Retrieved September 1, 2023.
- ^ "JYP Entertainment, Republic Records announce U.S. girl group VCHA". Korea JoongAng Daily. September 22, 2023. Retrieved September 22, 2023.
- ^ "Meet VCHA, the New Girl Group Formed by JYP's 'A2K' Audition". Teen Vogue. September 22, 2023. Retrieved September 22, 2023.
- ^ Aniftos, Rania (June 29, 2023). "K-Pop Competition Series 'A2K' Gets Premiere Date: Watch the Trailer". Billboard. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
- ^ Benjamin, Jeff (February 10, 2022). "JYP & Republic Expand Strategic Partnership to Include ITZY & Stray Kids: Exclusive". Billboard. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
- ^ Voon, Talia (March 15, 2022). "JYP Entertainment officially steps into the US market with JYP USA launch". Bandwagon Asia. Bandwagon Pte Ltd. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
- ^ Benjamin, Jeff (July 26, 2022). "'A2K' Competition To Create American Girl Group With K-Pop Model & Top Global Labels". Forbes. Retrieved July 26, 2023.
- ^ Yeo, Gladys (July 26, 2022). "TWICE's agency JYP Entertainment and Republic Records to launch new North American girl group under 'A2K' project". NME. Retrieved September 22, 2023.
External links
edit- Official website (in English)