"Come here." J. Y. Park utters the command with a slight hand gesture, and the girl on stage gasps and rushes to retrieve her pendant. Wearing the necklace, she goes to JYP's judging table and allows him to place a stone in one of its slots as inspiring music plays. This scene happened countless times throughout JYP Entertainment and Republic Records' collaborative survival show, A2K. Each time it did, viewers were watching a young girl coming one step closer to her dreams.
A2K stands for America to Korea. The idea of the show was to take young singers and dancers from America and train them the same way k-pop idols train, in order to create an international girl group. The show was divided into several sections. First, there were six audition sites across the United States where multiple girls came to present a dance performance and a vocal performance. Of the many girls who audition, only the eleven were able to perform in front of JYP and move on to the LA boot camp to compete on the survival show. The boot camp consisted of four evaluations: dance, vocal, star quality, and character. The girls had to prepare solo performances for each of the first three categories, and the last evaluation was conducted partially through interviews and partially through voting from the other contestants. The boot camp concluded with three unit performances, and it decided who would go to Korea for further training. Those who made it to Korea had to present three more performances that, along with character feedback from coaches, decided who would be in the final debut lineup.
In terms of setup, many viewers were happy with A2K. Many were happy to see that only those who actually made it to the boot camp had their auditions shown, out of respect for those who might not have been at their best when they performed. Viewers also liked that the number of girls to debut was undecided, giving everyone on the show the chance to debut together, if they all made it through each evaluation. This approach made the show seem like less of a competition and encouraged teamwork among the contestants.
In the end, only six girls made it to the final lineup; one did not make it to Korea, another chose to drop out after the boot camp portion of the show, one was eliminated after the second Korea evaluation, and two made it through each evaluation but were not chosen for the group. As with any survival show, each contestant was talented, and there are people who don’t agree about who should’ve been picked. Most viewers agree, however, that leaving a 13-year-old to stand alone as the only girl not picked to go to Korea was cruel. Some have also accused J.Y.Park of favoritism towards certain contestants. Whether this is true or not, each of their talents speak for themselves. Everyone was worthy of being there and worthy of J.Y.P.’s praise, even if it may have been given disproportionately.
There were commendable aspects of the show as well as those that could’ve been done better. What made A2K most memorable for me was the contestants. Each of them seemed so genuine and kind. These girls were determined, and they were real. Seeing how nervous they were around J.Y.P., how they practiced and worked out details late at night over Oreos, how awestruck everyone was driving through Korea for the first time, it was easy to see that they were just ordinary teenage girls. From the way Kendall nearly forgot her necklace after the first dance evaluation before Kaylee reminded her to the way Christina laid herself across the floor in the practice room in Korea to study lyrics, I couldn’t help but think that they looked just like my friends and I. There was something so natural about them, even as they were doing something so amazing. In scenes like the one of KG sitting by a window overlooking the city, practicing guitar on a peaceful night until her hands couldn’t stop shaking, I was inspired. Watching these ordinary, amazing girls chase their dreams made me want to chase mine. Whatever else you have to say about A2K, this can’t be denied.
A2K stands for America to Korea. The idea of the show was to take young singers and dancers from America and train them the same way k-pop idols train, in order to create an international girl group. The show was divided into several sections. First, there were six audition sites across the United States where multiple girls came to present a dance performance and a vocal performance. Of the many girls who audition, only the eleven were able to perform in front of JYP and move on to the LA boot camp to compete on the survival show. The boot camp consisted of four evaluations: dance, vocal, star quality, and character. The girls had to prepare solo performances for each of the first three categories, and the last evaluation was conducted partially through interviews and partially through voting from the other contestants. The boot camp concluded with three unit performances, and it decided who would go to Korea for further training. Those who made it to Korea had to present three more performances that, along with character feedback from coaches, decided who would be in the final debut lineup.
In terms of setup, many viewers were happy with A2K. Many were happy to see that only those who actually made it to the boot camp had their auditions shown, out of respect for those who might not have been at their best when they performed. Viewers also liked that the number of girls to debut was undecided, giving everyone on the show the chance to debut together, if they all made it through each evaluation. This approach made the show seem like less of a competition and encouraged teamwork among the contestants.
In the end, only six girls made it to the final lineup; one did not make it to Korea, another chose to drop out after the boot camp portion of the show, one was eliminated after the second Korea evaluation, and two made it through each evaluation but were not chosen for the group. As with any survival show, each contestant was talented, and there are people who don’t agree about who should’ve been picked. Most viewers agree, however, that leaving a 13-year-old to stand alone as the only girl not picked to go to Korea was cruel. Some have also accused J.Y.Park of favoritism towards certain contestants. Whether this is true or not, each of their talents speak for themselves. Everyone was worthy of being there and worthy of J.Y.P.’s praise, even if it may have been given disproportionately.
There were commendable aspects of the show as well as those that could’ve been done better. What made A2K most memorable for me was the contestants. Each of them seemed so genuine and kind. These girls were determined, and they were real. Seeing how nervous they were around J.Y.P., how they practiced and worked out details late at night over Oreos, how awestruck everyone was driving through Korea for the first time, it was easy to see that they were just ordinary teenage girls. From the way Kendall nearly forgot her necklace after the first dance evaluation before Kaylee reminded her to the way Christina laid herself across the floor in the practice room in Korea to study lyrics, I couldn’t help but think that they looked just like my friends and I. There was something so natural about them, even as they were doing something so amazing. In scenes like the one of KG sitting by a window overlooking the city, practicing guitar on a peaceful night until her hands couldn’t stop shaking, I was inspired. Watching these ordinary, amazing girls chase their dreams made me want to chase mine. Whatever else you have to say about A2K, this can’t be denied.
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