The Hallyu Star

**The Hallyu Star** is a music competition which decides the South Korean entry for the HeartVision Song Contest. The contest is organized by KBS and MBC. The first edition of the competition was used for the 26th edition of the contest.

## Participation

The contest has attracted thousands of songwriters and singers due to the huge music industry of the country. This has also been a platform to rookie groups/artists to promote their music. During the first edition, the event has only limited to one night. However, due to the widespread interest of the competition, it has evolved to a two-and-a-half week event. The introduction of the groups stages and the semi-finals increased the amount of songs to 18. It is expected however for the number to grow in the future.

## Selection

The decision of the final line-up of acts lasts for a month. As an example, in the second edition of the competition, KBS has selected 8 songs internally with the help of a panel of music industry professionals, and MBC has selected another 8 songs with the same method. Then, the remaining 2 slots are given by the public. The public can give 2 songs of their choice which they think deserve to be in the final line-up. The top 5 songs suggested is sent through a panel of judges, both professionals and HVSC Korean journalists, and decides which 2 of the 5 will be part of the final line-up. It is not stated however if the songs were given by SBS, MBC, or the public.

## Hosting

Ever since the introduction of the group stages and the semi-finals in the second edition, the hosts have been solely based on 3 cities: Busan, Incheon, and Seoul. The final is usually held in the country's capital, Seoul.

## Rounds

The competition used to last for only one night, but now lasts for two and a half weeks due to the addition of stages. The added stages were the group stages and the semi-finals, with the addition of the final, which decides the representative of the country for the contest.

### Group Stage

The group stage program starts at 23:15 KST and ends at 00:30 KST.

The group stage, which was introduced in the second edition, includes 6 acts competing for the top 4 spots of their group. The top 4 is decided through a 50/50 system. One half of the results goes to a mix of a national and an international jury. Each jury member gives their top 4 acts of the group. The other half goes to the general public. Each number gets to text the number of their favorite song/s up to 20 times. Then, the televoting points are given based on the entry's percentage of the total vote. For example, if an entry scores 10% of the total vote, they will be given 10% of 111 points, which is 11.1 = 11 points. The top 4 of the combined vote moves on to the semi-finals.

### **Semi-Finals**

For this stage, the timeslots will be changing due to the results of the previous stage being revealed before the performances. The program starts at 23:15 KST and ends at 00:25 KST.

The semi-finals, which was also introduced in the second edition, includes 2 semi-finals with 6 acts as well in each. The voting system still remains the same, with the juries giving 50% of the result while the general public gives the other 50%. This time, the top 3 of each semi-final will advance to the grand final.

### **Wildcard**

This round will not be televised, but will be done online.

For this stage, the organizers will be bringing back all the acts that didn't get to qualify for the final, including the 6 eliminated acts from the GS and the 6 eliminated acts in the SF.
This round will use a 100% public voting system. Each number will be able to vote for their favorite song/s up to 15 times. The top 4 acts with the highest televoting percentage will be able to compete in the final.

### **Grand Final**

The performances day starts at 23:30 KST and ends at 00:45 KST (23rd March), while the results day starts at 23:30 KST and ends at 00:30 KST (30th March).

For this stage, the 6 acts that qualified from the semi-finals and the 2 wildcard acts will be competing for a spot in the 27th edition of the contest. The voting system will remain the same with a minor change. Instead of a national & international jury system, it will be a full international jury (an additional of 7 international juries) + a Korean jury. Each jury will be voting for their top 6, meaning they will give 2,4,6,8,10, and 12 points. Then, the televoting will still remain the same. However, if an entry scores 10% of the total vote, they will now be given 10% of 462, which is 46.2=46 points. The act with the highest combined score will be the representative of the country for the 27th edition.

## Winners

All of the representatives of South Korea will be coming from this competition.