Want a shot at K-pop stardom?
Leave the imaginary microphone at home when you audition. Don’t wear any make-up. No shorts and sandals.
Look at a music score or lyric sheet while you sing? Chances are you’ll stand no chance at all.
How were the 1,000 hopefuls at the Alpha K-pop auditions prepped for this? Well, they weren’t.
But it’s a given in the K-pop world that you must have a feel for what’s right at auditions.
The hopefuls turned up at the Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS) on Wednesday.
While some impressed, more than a handful committed audition boo-boos, said K-pop mogul Eric Yun.
The CEO of Alpha Korea, who used to manage Korea’s biggest girl group, Girls’ Generation, had flown in from Korea for the search.
There were two other judges, Mr Ethan Lee and Ms Carrie Hwang, who respectively marketed and trained Super Junior and Girls’ Generation in Korea.
The aspiring stars could sing, dance, act or do a catwalk. But they had just one minute to prove they had the chops.
Mr Yun told The New Paper that he liked the “confidence and enthusiasm” of the hopefuls, who also included those from the region.
But he said: “There were things that they shouldn’t have done and, also, should have done in order to ace the audition.
“For example, girls should come without make-up as we like to see what they look like bare-faced.”
Added CEO of Alpha Entertainment Alan Chan, who was also present at the audition: “In Hong Kong where we did the auditions last year, we had to ask some of them to remove their make-up on the spot so we could really see their faces.”
Said Mr Chan: “Plastic surgery is an option if we feel that cosmetic enhancements are needed, but we do not encourage it as it is, after all, a cost to the company.”
Those who make the cut will receive a five-year contract with Alpha Entertainment and be part of a K-pop group comprising Korean and Asian members.
Results will be known in a month.
The Alpha K-pop audition is one of two local K-pop talent searches to be held in two months.
The other search, the JYP Alpha auditions, will be held on Jan 14 and 15.
How can the hopefuls who didn’t ace the Alpha-K-pop cut redeem themselves at next month’s audition?
Mr Chan supplied a how-to-ace-a-K-pop audition video for The New Paper readers that can be watched on TNP’s website or by scanning the QR code included in this story.
And Mr Yun, recalling the Alpha K-pop audition, gave more tips.
Not singing from a lyric sheet is a given.
“Quite a lot of people did that,” he said.
Of course, make yourself heard. Believe it or not, some hopefuls mumbled or were barely audible.
Avoid over-the-top dressing, “like nightclub dancers”. But don’t turn up in shorts and sandals, please: Under-dressing is viewed as a sign of disrespect to the judges.
Added Mr Yun: “For girls, it’s better to wear a skirt as then we can see their feminine side. Of course, if they feel more comfortable dancing in pants, that’s okay too.”
The biggest boo-boo to avoid: A security blanket.
Mr Yun said: “The one thing I’m baffled about is why some of the singers hold up imaginary microphones when they sing. It’s not very natural.”
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