HYBE & Geffen Announce Global Girl Group Audition Program 'Dream Academy' & Netflix Docuseries - 20 Contestants Revealed!

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Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief HYBE Corp., the K-Pop powerhouse behind BTS, and the U.S.’s Geffen Records are to bring their global girl group audition efforts to Netflix as a docuseries that will launch next year. The two music companies announced the 2024 series and a companion-piece online show that kicks off on Thursday as their “The Debut: Dream Academy” moves up a gear. Having begun the selection process in November 2021 and screened some 120,000 submissions from young women hopefuls from around the world, they have now narrowed the field to just 20 candidates.

HYBE and Geffen Records have revealed the contestants of its upcoming audition programme, The Debut: Dream Academy.At a press event in Los Angeles today (August 28 PT), HYBE chairman Bang Si-Hyuk and Interscope Geffen A&M Records CEO John Janick revealed the 20 idol hopefuls who will be competing for a place in an upcoming global girl group.The group of contestants hail from 12 different countries – including Korea, Brazil, the US, Sweden and more – and were picked from a global audition that started in November 2021.The 20 young women will participate in The Debut: Dream Academy, premiering September 1 at 8am PT on YouTube, which will run for 12 weeks and decide the upcoming girl group’s final line-up. In addition, the group’s development process will also be documented in an upcoming as-yet-untitled Netflix series, set to debut in 2024.“I have wanted to form an international group based on K-pop methodology for a while,” Bang Si-Hyuk said at the press event.

Hybe, the K-pop giant behind bands such as BTS, are looking to manufacture a new girl group and that process will be turned into a Netflix music docuseries.

K-pop agency HYBE and Geffen Records will be hosting an audition programme to launch their new girl group.Back in November 2021, HYBE announced its plans to debut a new girl group that will “transcend national, cultural, and artistic boundaries” in collaboration with Universal Music Group’s Geffen Records, and held auditions across South Korea, the US, Japan, the UK and Australia in 2022.The agency has now shared that it will be hosting a new audition programme titled The Debut: Dream Academy, through which the upcoming girl group’s line-up will be decided. The show will be unveiling its contestants next Tuesday (August 29), and premiere on YouTube from September 1.HYBE has also released a clip of some of its artists, including Tomorrow X Together, fromis_9, LE SSERAFIM and ENHYPEN sharing video messages to the show’s contestants.“I’m sure they’re excited but nervous at the same time with a big challenge.