[Overall Report] YG and HAN DONG CHUL’s MIXNINE! Will an Audition Show Made by Real Pros be Different?

The key players of MIXNINE quelled our curiosity about the show. The production crew is confident that the sincerity of the contestants will be the key to the show’s success, but will MIXNINE be able to start another innovation in the music industry?

The press conference of JTBC’s MIXNINE was held at the Selena Hall of Imperial Palace, Seoul on October 27. YG Entertainment head YANG HYUN SUK, HAN DONG CHUL, YOO SUNG MO, BIGBANG’s SEUNGRI, and Zion.T came to the conference.

MIXNINE is a reality competition program on which YANG HYUN SUK visits entertainment agencies across the nation in search for new stars. It is the first program made by HAN DONG CHUL—the producer of Mnet’s hit shows such as Produce 101, Show Me The Money, and Unpretty Rapstar—since he moved to YG Entertainment.

Nowadays, there is a host of audition shows on TV, but they say MIXNINE is going to be different. YANG HYUN SUK himself visited 70 entertainment agencies and will select the final nine winners.

HAN DONG CHUL said, “You may think this is just another audition show. But, we are going to show the viewers those out there who are dreaming of becoming an idol and lead the Korean Wave. I just want viewers to see that so many young people have dreams and are working really hard to achieve their dreams.”

YANG HYUN SUK noted, “From ten years ago, before I even started doing MIXNINE, I have thought about what would it be like if I try to teach YG style to singers from other labels such as SM. And with this show, I was able to put that thought into action. This is what makes MIXNINE different from any other audition shows. That’s why I’m doing everything I can for this program.”

In the final round, two teams each consisting of nine boys and nine girls will compete for the chance to debut. Only the winning team will be able to release and promote songs. So far, it looks as MIXNINE is similar to other YG survival audition shows. Some raise concerns that male trainees have an upper hand given that there is a big gap in the sheer number of fans between boy groups and girl groups.

HAN DONG CHUL explained, “Personally, I think the girls will win. We don’t have to do anything, and they’ll win anyway. Of course, boy groups have such a big number of fans, you cannot compare them with that of girl groups. However, I want to reverse that with MIXNINE. And, if I think about the trainees on the show, I personally think the girls will win.”

The judges are all on the top of their game. BIGBANG’s TAEYANG and SEUNGRI, 2NE1’s CL, and Zion.T will come on the show as judges and help the contestants in achieving their dreams. Park Jin Yong will also appear on the show as a special judge. BIGBANG’s SEUNGRI was at the conference, and he told the press that he knows more than anyone else what it feels like to be wanting to debut so much.

He said, “I’ve been to many entertainment agencies and talked with the trainees for several hours and watched them dance and sing. Honestly, not all agencies were like YG. Most agency heads didn’t even tell the trainees off because they love and cherish them. There were those who couldn’t give a constructive criticism and treat them as if they were their children.”

SEUNGRI went on to say, “But that’s not the way to train them to become a singer. MIXNINE is not just about finding stars. It gives diagnosis. We want to help those who don’t know what they are doing wrong, and that’s why we visited those agencies. MIXNINE is about finding a star who can represent Korea and who has the skills, looks, character, personality, and specialness, and this is why we’ve tried not be influenced by YG style.”

Above all, MIXNINE will be competing against KBS’s The Unit, which launches around the same time. Both have similar formats as audition programs with slight differences in details. MIXNINE is a show in which YANG HYUN SUK visits entertainment agencies to search for stars, but The Unit is a show for idol groups that already debuted but is dreaming of making a breakthrough.

About MIXNINE being compared with The Unit, HAN DONG CHUL pointed out, “Of course, I know that KBS will be doing a program titled ‘The Unit’. But, I don’t know much about the show, so I can’t tell you the difference between MIXNINE and The Unit. It’s funny how the number of members in the debuting team is the same. How can this happen?”

HAN DONG CHUL was being careful, so YANG HYUN SUK stepped in and told the press his honest opinion. HE said, “Wineowon is managed by Mnet, and TV stations are in charge of matters related to TV programs. However, JTBC is not the main player of MIXNINE. The main player is YG, and JTBC is a platform. JTBC will not penalize entertainment agencies in any way because of MIXNINE.”

He went on to say, “What I mean by talking with agency heads is that I will be talking with them acknowledging that they are the ones that have the power to make decisions. I also know that KBS has many popular music programs. But I think MIXNINE will be just as competitive because it’s the first time that KBS tried an idol show. But this is what we’ve been doing all along. We have a lot of experience in making survival shows including BIGBANG’s survival program.”

Before the conference ended, YANG HYUN SUK expressed his personal wish. He said, “Nothing has been decided yet about the debuting team. But I do have a wish. The winning team of Produce 101 Season 1 was disbanded after a certain time. But their fans must have been sad. So is this case. I’ll be sad to winning team disband. I hope that the nine agency heads can talk things out, and allow me to shape them so that they can even do world tours.”

The first episode of MIXNINE will air at 4:50 PM on October 29.

2017. 10. 27.