Are you ready to get “LOUD” with PSY & JYP?

Spearheaded by P Nation’s PSY and JYP Entertainment’s Park Jin Young (“Dream High” and “Dream High 2“), “LOUD” is the latest K-pop competition show and one of the summer’s most charming series. With 75 young men hailing from backgrounds in the United States, Canada, Japan, Brazil, Philippines and, of course, South Korea, the rivalry is fierce.

The majority of the contestants are newcomers with little or no trainee experience. The showrunners said that their goal wasn’t to produce groups with singers who were already well-seasoned idols-in-training. Rather, they want to cultivate artists the two agencies can train to be K-pop idols.

The participants include not only a range of singers, rappers and dancers, but also songwriters and instrumentalists, according to the producers.

Joo Doo Hyun highlighted his talent for choreography by dancing to Kim Feel’s “Someday, The Boy.” Koki Tanaka did a magic show. Lee Dong Hyeon played the piano and, instead of singing, he read a poem. Eun Hwi showed off his self compositions (“Isn’t This Too Much,” “Space”). And do you remember Daniel Jikal, the first contestant that was revealed with a teaser video prior to the show’s premiere? He presented “Go,” a short film he made, as well as “Ready to Go,” which he penned. 

Clearly though, they all have their eyes on the main prize. Each competitor’s goal is to land a spot in one of the two new groups that will be formed at the end of the competition.

Some of these contestants might look familiar to K-pop fans. They have singing experience, have been in other groups and/or have competed on K-pop shows. And some are already trainees. They include:

“Under Nineteen“: Kim Young Seok, a former KQ Entertainment trainee, and Lee Seung Hwan, a former member of 1THE9. 

“Stage K“: Japan’s Keiju Okamoto is a former contestant.

“Produce X 101“: Kim Min Seo competed in this competition.

P Nation: There are a handful of PSY’s trainees in this competition, including Chun Jun Hyuk, Jang Hyun Soo, Oh Sung Jun and Chae Tae Hoon (who also trained with The Black Label). Woo Kyung Joon impressed everyone with his perfect English (and Australian accent).

JYP Entertainment: Lim Kyoung Mun, Lee Min Gyu and Japan’s Japan’s Amaru Mitsuyuki all trained with JYP. And Lee Gye Hun was JYP’s 1st pick at a 2016 open recruitment. 

Child actors: Lee Tae Woo and Japan’s Haruto Maeda have experience performing.

Maknae/youngest: Canadian Korean actor Mason Moon, 14, was known as Little Nichkhun (for his striking resemblance to the 2PM idol). His younger brother, Maden, is currently making a name for himself in the entertainment industry as well. The tiniest and cute competitor won’t turn 12 (international age) until this December, but he already has a big presence on stage. (Note that in the above Tweet, JYP Trainees refers to his Korean age.) 

Have you been watching “LOUD” on KOCOWA? Who are you rooting for? And what kind of K-pop group do you hope they’ll be in?

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