'Girl Spirit' explores little-known idols
A dozen singers from different girl groups starring in JTBC’s new singing competition show “Girl Spirit” pose during a press meeting at Bitmaru in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Monday. From left are Seung-hee of CLC, Jinsol of April, Dawon of Cosmic Girls, Sungyeon of Pledis Girlz, So-yeon of Laboum, Kei of Lovelyz, Seunghee of Oh My Girl, Minjae of Sonamoo, UJi of Bestie, Sojung of Ladies’ Code, Hyemi of Fiestar and Bohyung of Spica. / Courtesy of JTBC
By Kim Jae-heun
Cable network JTBC’s new singing competition show “Girl Spirit” premiered Tuesday, shedding light on relatively low-profile K-pop singers, recording a low viewership of 1.4 percent according to Nielsen Korea.
Despite the disappointing ratings, the competition program pitching singers of lesser-known girl groups against each other still became the talk of the town. It topped the Good Data Corporation’s survey asking what is the most-anticipated upcoming TV shows on Tuesday. SBS’s current hit drama series “Doctors” and tvN’s “Hey Ghost, Let’s Fight” followed “Girl Spirit” in the ranking.
The show features 12 main vocalists from different groups such as Kei of Lovelyz, Minjae of Sonamoo and Seunghee of CLC. Most of the singers and their groups are not very familiar to the public, compared to big-name acts such as Girls’ Generation or 2NE1.
“I started Girl Spirit to shed light on hidden vocalists,” said producer Ma Gun-young during a press meeting at Bitmaru in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Monday.
“Our show focuses on one singer at a time, as many of them barely grasp a chance to show off their talents on a solo stage. Audiences can also discover their new favorite girl groups.”
In the first episode, Bohyung of B2M Entertainment’s Spica performed “Lonely Night” and Uji of Bestie from YNB Entertainment covered “8282” from K-pop duo Davichi.
However, the winner’s title went to young singer Seunghee of WM Entertainment’s Oh My Girl which debuted in April 2015. The results came as a surprise, as many of the participants expected a win for a veteran idol like Bohyung of Spica or Sojung of Ladies’ Code, who have years more music industry experience.
One of the five mentors for idol singers, Seo In-young, also said she personally held high expectations for Bohyung, Sojung and Uji, whom all have been singing in their groups for more than three years.
Other mentors, or “gurus” as they are called in the show, include former idol singers from the 1990s such as Jang Woo-hyuk of H.O.T, Chun Myung-hoon of NRG and Lee Ji-hye of S#arp as well as singer-turned-entertainer Tak Jae-hoon.
The show’s champ title is given to a singer who receives the most audience votes as the producer decided not to accept votes by text message.
“It is hard to judge somebody, and to make sure we judge our singers fairly to the fullest, we decided not to adopt a text message voting system. Each singer and group has different sizes of fandom and their popularity might affect fairness in weighing the singer’s actual vocal skills,” said Ma.
“We also screened our audience to receive only those who have studied vocals before or are currently taking lessons privately. One hundred percent of the votes come from the scene in real time.”
The producer also distinguished his series from other singing competition shows featuring star vocalists prevalent on Korean TV.
“Many of the singing competitions cast star singers or at least fairly known musicians,” said Ma. “We wanted to break that rule and shed light on those K-pop singers who barely get any chance to perform alone despite their average 790 days of training before debuting. They put so much effort while fighting against stereotypes that form about idol singers. The girls are not even allowed to have phones to call their parents and they give up many things for their dream.”
The show airs every Tuesday at 10:50 p.m.