A2K

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***America2Korea***, stylized as ***A2K***, was a survival show created by JYP Entertainment and Republic Records to form a global girl group trained in JYP Entertainment in South Korea. The show premiered on July 13, 2023 on YouTube with the episode "The Start of A2K".

It ended with a two-part series finale on September 20th and September 21st of the same year with the episodes "The Grand Finale Begins" and "The Final Members", respectively. In the final episode, it was announced the the contestants that would be debuting, with no definitive member amount being defined, resulting in the six-member girl group VCHA.

## Concept

On July 25, 2022, JYP Entertainment and their producing partners Republic Records released a trailer for the upcoming survival show titled "A2K". The show aspires to create the first American girl group that will be trained through the K-pop system and promote in both South Korea and the US.

The auditions were held in five cities from the USA: Dallas, New York, Chicago, Atlanta, and Los Angeles, in chronological order. After the initial eleven contestants were chosen by Park Jin Young himself, they were put through various challenges with the goal of collecting four stones: one for dance, vocal, star quality and character quality. The contestant who collects all four stones gets a chance to progress and go to Korea where they will continue their training before debut.

In Korea, the contestants went through a 3 month intensive training to obtain 4 extra stones for their upgraded pendant, going through four missions: individual level, tem evaluation, character evaluation and the final mission. The contestant who were deemed fit to debut into the final group after an evaluation meeting of the JYP Entertainment team, would join the final lineup in the announcement after the last stage.

## Phase 1: Five-City Audition Tour

### Format

The contestants were required to be prepared with at least two (2) songs each for the singing and dancing auditions, respectively. The talents were expected to perform for 30 to 90 seconds. Some talents were only asked to sing or dance to one song. Some talents also had the option to perform an original rap instead of a song.
If the contestants choose to perform a song from the approved list (as follows), the talents will either sing or dance solo in a style of their choosing to the song with a backing track (provided on the day of the audition). If the contestants choose to perform other songs excluded from the approved list, the talents will either sing a cappella (without music) or dance solo in a style of their choosing to the song with a backing track (played from their phones).

### Stage 3 (JYP Hero)

Both Stage 1 (J1) and Stage 2 (J2) of the audition were judged by the members of staff and EVPs of JYP's Artist Training Centre. The contestants who passed and advanced from both stages managed to perform in front of Park Jin-young. The contestants who passed this stage received a pendant with four empty slots to be filled.

### Episodes

 2
 3

## Phase 2: LA Boot Camp

### Format

The boot camp was held for 6 days, one month after the regional auditions. The contestants who managed to fill all 4 empty slots with 4 different stones will become the final candidates to go to Korea Training Centre. The number of contestants going to Korea can be varied.
The talents were evaluated based on 4 criteria: "Dance", "Vocal", "Star Quality" and "Character". The talents' "Dance", "Vocal" and "Star Quality" were evaluated after completing the individual missions, while their "Character" were evaluated based on the feedback and opinions collected from the trainers, the staff, and fellow talents.

### Individual Evaluation 1: Dance

For the dance evaluation, yellow stones were awarded to 8 contestants, and no additional stones were awarded to the remaining 3 contestants after the evaluation meeting.

### Individual Evaluation 2: Vocal

For the vocal evaluation, green stones were awarded to 5 contestants, and an additional stone was awarded to one contestant after the evaluation meeting.

### Individual Evaluation 3: Star Quality

Although all contestants managed to receive the red stones, only the Top 5 performances of the day were chosen and ranked.

### Individual Evaluation 4: Character

Three evaluation criteria used to award the blue stones are as follows:

1. In-depth Interview
2. Trainers' Vote
3. Fellow Contestants' Vote

J.Y. Park invited Jeff Benjamin, a K-pop columnist based in New York, to interview the contestants in groups in-depth. Four contestants placed first for receiving three votes each from their fellow contestants.

### Group Evaluation: Showcase

The teams were announced in Episode 11. The name of the leader assigned to each team is bolded in text. Nichkhun from 2PM was the special judge alongside [J.Y. Park. Some stones were awarded directly to the contestants after each team performance, while additional stones were also given during the announcement of the final rankings.

## Phase 3: JYP Training Academy

The debut preparation procedure started on 17 April 2023, about 6 months after Phase 2, and spanned 3 months to decide the members of the American debut team. The contestants must fill four additional empty slots using stones awarded through three performance-based evaluations and an attitude evaluation.
Each contestant also owns a character book that can be filled with stickers received from teammates and trainers to represent their weekly attitude. The qualities and attributes that J.Y. Park is looking for are as follows:

1. Honesty
2. Diligence
3. Humility

A contestant will be eliminated for ranking last twice throughout the evaluations.

### Mission 1: Individual Evaluation

The individual level test took place at the Lotte World Tower's 76th floor, two weeks after the contestants' arrival in Seoul, South Korea.
The top four contestants were brought into the studio to record the show's theme song.

### Mission 2: Team Evaluation

The evaluation took place at a venue near Han River. The name of the leader assigned to each team is bolded in text.
The members of the team who placed first were all given a stone, while the members of the two remaining teams received their stones on a ranking basis. Yuna Gonzalez (9th) was eliminated for ranking last in two rounds.

### Mission 3: Grand Finale

The final mission took place at a Korean broadcasting station and was hosted by Hyun Mo Ahn (special MC). J.Y. Park also invited Sunmi and Gabee (the leader of dance team "La Chica") as the special judges.
The name of the leader assigned to each team is bolded in text.

### Attitude Evaluation

Each week, contestants provided 1 to 3 teammates who gave a positive influence on them with friendship stickers to be attached on their character books.
As the Top 3 contestants for the interim evaluation, Camila, Lexus and Gina received rewards to experience Lotte World Adventure, an amusement park based in Jamsil, Seoul.

## Cast

### Judges

* Park JinYoung
* Jeff Benjamin (Episodes 11 and 12)
* Nichkhun (Episodes 13, 14 and 15)
* Sunmi (Episodes 21 and 22)
* Gabee (Episodes 21 and 22)

## Videos

* A2K EP.1 "The Start of A2K"
* A2K EP.2 "Show Your Talent"
* A2K EP.3 "The Final Contestants"
* A2K EP.4 “The LA Boot Camp Begins”
* A2K EP.5 "Dance Evaluation Continues"
* A2K EP.6 “Dance Evaluation Rankings”
* A2K EP.7 "Vocal Evaluation Starts"
* A2K EP.8 "Vocal Evaluation Rankings"
* A2K EP.9 "Star Quality Evaluation"
* A2K EP.10 "Star Quality Evaluation Rankings"
* A2K EP.11 “Character Evaluation”
* A2K EP.12 “Character Evaluation Rankings"
* A2K EP.13 "The Showcase Begins"
* A2K EP.14 "The Showcase Performances"
* A2K EP.15 “LA Boot Camp Rankings”
* A2K EP.16 "Korean Boot Camp Begins"
* A2K EP.17 "Individual Performances Continue"
* A2K EP.18 “Individual Evaluation Rankings”
* A2K EP.19 “Team Evaluation”
* A2K EP.20 "Team Evaluation Rankings"
* A2K EP.21 "The Grand Finale Begins"
* A2K EP.22 "The Final Members"