Company behind BTS to form new girl band
Big Hit Entertainment, home to K-pop sensations BTS, is calling global auditions to launch a new girl band, in conjunction with its label Source Music.
The auditions are taking place in 16 cities worldwide in the United States, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam and Thailand.
The auditions will be used to select members for a new girl group, aimed to debut in 2021.
Big Hit chief executive and founder Bang Si-Hyuk and chief brand officer Min Hee-jin are leading the project, with Bang overseeing all elements of production and Min focusing on creative direction and branding.
The new band will be Big Hit’s first girl group since Min joined the company in January. Min previously worked at Korean record label and agency SM Entertainment, where she worked on projects for girl groups Girls’ Generation, f(x) and red velvet.
Big Hit Entertainment, home to K-pop sensations BTS, is calling global auditions to launch a new girl band
Founded in 2005, Big Hit focuses on music production, artist management and publishing. The company is behind artists Lee Hyun and Tomorrow X Together (TXT). The company’s most famous creation, BTS, recently broke more box-office records with tour film Bring the Soul: The Movie.
Big Hit has enjoyed a profitable 2019 so far, generating revenues in six months that almost surpass last year’s total. The company recently announced plans for a BTS TV series and added to its partnership with game publisher Net Marble, acquiring music gaming company Superb.
The full list of audition dates and locations can be found below, with more information available via the Plus Global Audition Twitter and Instagram pages.
Los Angeles, New York City: 5 October
Perth, Singapore: 12 October
Melbourne: 13 October
Busan, Gwangju, Osaka, Sapporo, Taipei: 19 October
Seoul, Tokyo, Kaohsiung: 20 October
Hanoi, Bangkok: 26 October
Ho Chi Minh: 27 October
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13 dead in blaze at unlicensed Hanoi venue
An investigation by the Hanoi fire brigade has revealed that up to 80% of karaoke bars in the city fail to meet fire safety standards, days after 13 people were killed in a blaze at a venue on Tran Thai Tong Street.
Reports in local media suggest the fire, on Tuesday (1 November), was sparked by welders working on a sign at the unlicensed bar, with the victims – among them 11 government officials – likely suffocating in windowless karaoke rooms, which spanned eight storeys.
At a press conference yesterday, Hoang Trung Hai, the city’s party committee secretary – or local representative of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) – said the venue had a single fire exit, in common with the Colectiv nightclub in Bucharest, which was destroyed by a blaze last October.
“The karaoke bar had one fire exit at the back, but I think the victims did not know how to reach it, and gathered in one room”
“The karaoke bar had one fire exit at the back,” he told reporters, “but I think the victims did not know how to reach it, and gathered in one room. They did not know how to handle the situation.”
According to the fire brigade, of the 988 karaoke bars in Hanoi, up to 787 lack fire certificates, reports VietNamNet.
Lieutenant-colonel Bui Quang Viet, the deputy head of the Hanoi fire and rescue department, says firemen battling the Tran Thai Tong blaze struggled to reach the fire because the building was covered in huge signboards. All the city’s bars will now be inspected to check their compliance with fire safety regulations, says Bui, which require that all walls, rooves, exit routes and wall displays must be fire resistant and that signs must not cover the whole building or block the exits.
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