Hola Amigos!
Where are all my Pick Me fans at? This time around we are going to be talking about the Korean reality TV show that has given opportunities to many new idols in the past three years!
If you don’t know what I’m talking about, here’s a brief summary: Produce 101 is the first reality TV competition show created by the South Korean entertainment conglomerate CJ E&M. The first season called Produce 101 aired in 2016 casting 101 girls from different agencies in South Korea. The second season hit the TV screens back in 2017 casting 101 boys from different Korean agencies as well. From these two seasons we got the group winners I.O.I - the girls group with 11 members and Wanna One - the boys group with the same amount of members.
The franchise has been so successful that it has repeated the same concept in China, Thailand and then in 2018 bringing on board both Japan and South Korea with Produce 48. You might have heard about Pick Me recently as it's behind a creation of popular new girls group IZ*ONE.
The funny thing about this reality TV show is that there are no judges. All decision making lies in the hands of the TV audience that votes for their favourites. This is a very smart move as it guarantees the popularity of the finalists.
Let’s take a look at each of the competing groups individually:
Produce 101 | Season 1: With their song Pick Me the show started their promotion becoming a big hit with the song and the choreography involved.
The group that came out of the first season, I.O.I, debuted with their first single Dream Girl. Sadly, this group disbanded in less than a year after but good news is that we still get to admire our beautiful Chung Ha that was discovered thanks to the show.
Produce 101 | Season 2: The promo song was called It’s Me (Pick Me) - a tune very similar to the one from the very first season. The song was a huge hit and it got us obsessed so we still listen to it every now and then.
The boys band that came out of Season 2 was called Wanna One. They debuted with the song Energetic, which became an instant hit. Thanks to their hard work and surprisingly growing fame, they are still around producing quality music if you ask me.
Produce 48 | Season 3: The Third Season aired in Korea that joint efforts with a few agencies in Japan. This season was all about 48 Korean girls competing together with 48 Japanese girls. Their promotion song, Nekkoya (Pick Me), was a huge hit as well. The tough part about this season was watching Korean girls trying to learn Japanese lyrics and the same went for the Japanese girls.
At the end, the group that came out of this season is known as IZ*One consisting of 12 members out of which there are only 3 of Japanese descent. Way to go girls!!! The group just recently debuted with their extremely catchy single La Vie En Rose. Let's see what the future holds for IZ*One. Are they going to be the new Twice or will they follow the same path as I.O.I? The best of luck for them.
Besides those 3 groups we’ve got so many others that came out of the different seasons; I.B.I, Rainz, MXM and JBJ would be the most popular ones. Most of them are known as project groups and do not have the extended contracts that would guarantee a proper promotion of their work. Most of the members of the above mentioned groups belong to different agencies. The group’s promotion would be controlled by a single agency but at the end of the show each member would go back to their original home.
From all of these, my favourites would be JBJ which stands for Just Be Joyful ( super cute and cool name, don't you think?) Under Fave Entertainment JBJ released their single Flower, which I fell in love with from the very beginning. Immediately after that they announce their disbandment last April yet they continued working on different projects like New Moon that was released just before their seperation.
Below is the Flower’s music video for you to enjoy one more time. Honestly, it's one of my favourite videos when it comes to colour, concept and choreography. These guys deserve a second chance for sure.
Then recently we’ve learned that Kenta and Sanggyun stayed together as JBJ 95 which is crazy, surprising and super cool to hear for any JBJ fan. Here’s their single, Home, performed as a duo that was released on October 30th. I’d say that these two kids have a lot of work to do but I can see a long and successful career. We can’t wait for more!!
I invite you guys to check on other songs from all of these groups, the whole album from JBJ 95 is actually quite emotional, songs from MXM like Checkmate have a good tune to enjoy dancing or doing some chores (maybe?), and Wanna One, what can I say from them?
Go ahead and check them all out, hope to see you guys in the next entry...
Adios, Besos!
JorgeAO