Fans have really been enjoying K-Pop music without Western influences.
— home to some of the industry’s biggest K-pop acts — to broadcast an American competition show to form its first U.S.-based K-pop group.
The group, called NCT-Hollywood, will be made up of American men aged 13 to 25, and will be the latest subunit of SM’s group NCT. The 23-member collective is an umbrella group made up of various units:According to the announcement, the show won’t just be an-like offshoot. Though contestants will be American, they’ll be fully trained in the rigorous K-pop style.
“I look forward to making an unconventional audition show that all music fans around the world can enjoy,” Lee said in a statement. “I hope the audience enjoys watching the journey of new stars being born in Hollywood, that will be promoted as NCT-Hollywood in the global market in the future.” Still, the news didn't quite receive the fanfare that one might have expected from fans. Yes, making localized K-pop groups has been a well-known longtime goal of Lee's. And yes, this could be a way to make K-pop an even more powerful, globalized industry and even gain NCT more fans. But many are equally wary of the move, which they see as SM prioritizing making newer groups instead of promoting the ones they already have. Others worry that transplanting K-pop into the U.S.