Loud (TV program)
Loud is a 2021 South Korean boy group survival reality show organized by JYP Entertainment and P Nation. It was a collaboration between Psy and J.Y. Park to form 2 boy groups: one under JYP Entertainment and another one under P Nation. The program involved 75 contestants from different countries with artistic talents competing for a spot in one of the 2 groups. The program premiered on June 5, 2021, and was broadcast every Saturday at 9 PM KST on SBS. During the finale on September 11, two groups were formed, with P Nation's group, TNX, later debuting in 2022, and JYP's group, KickFlip, debuting in January 2025.Promotion and broadcast
Auditions for the program opened on November 2, 2020, and closed on January 31, 2021, aiming at boys born after 2000 regardless of nationality.
On April 26, 2021, the program was reported to premiere on June 5, 2021, on SBS.
On May 6, the profile photos for J.Y. Park and Psy were revealed along with the premiere time, which would be on June 5 at 9 PM KST. On the same day, the first contestant, Daniel Jikal, was revealed through a teaser clip.
On May 20, the other 74 contestants were revealed through teaser clips, including former 1the9 member, Lee Seung-hwan, and Mason Moon's brother, Maden Moon.
On May 27, 2 contestants, Ham Mo-hyeob and Riku, left the program early due to their decision to withdraw from the program. As a result, the program would start with 73 contestants instead of the original 75.
On July 24, Lee Seung-gi joined the program as Special Agent, a unique position whose task is to provide the remaining contestants with warmth, guidance, and support as they prepare for the finale.Concept
Unlike other Korean survival shows, this program aims at boys who are not trainees under an agency, though there are still some boys who are trainees under JYP Entertainment, P Nation, and other entertainment agencies. The program also seeks contestants with artistic talents in various fields, including art creativity, singing, dancing, rapping, songwriting, arranging music, and playing musical instruments.Episodes
The program started with an interview in 2020 involving producers J.Y. Park and Psy explaining the concept of the program. On April 8, 2021, they entered Loud Center at Cosmo 40 in Incheon for a tour. In Loud Center, contestants perform for their entry in front of the two producers. The next day, the first contestants enter Loud Center and meet J.Y. Park and Psy for the first time. They learn about the rules and procedures of the program.
In the first round, each contestant must show two performances, a charm performance and a skill performance, to appeal to the producers. Each producer has three buttons on his chair, each making the chair move up one step. Once their chair reaches Level 3, they can press the Pass button. The first producer to press this button gets priority in scouting the contestant for their agency. If both producers press their Pass buttons, the contestant passes to the next round. Six contestants performed in this episode.Episode 2 (June 12, 2021)
The first round continues with performances by more contestants. Three contestants perform. Five trainees under P Nation and three under JYP Entertainment are introduced, displaying two group performances - one for each agency. All trainees in Loud Center become contestants and can only continue as trainees under the agencies if they pass the first round. The episode shows the performances of three trainees.Episode 3 (June 19, 2021)
The first round continues with performances by 5 other contestants. After the 5th and 17th overall contestant performed, unaired performances by 18 contestants were shown with agency shown on each of them. The first round ends with Zo Doo-hyun and Nam Yun-seung being cast to JYP Entertainment after getting their second chance. Of all 73 contestants, 35 moved on to the second round while the other 38 failed the first round, resulting in them being eliminated. After the first round, Loud Center was moved into Alpensia Resort in Pyeongchang, Gangwon for the second round. In the second round, remaining contestants are split into 16 teams of 2 or 3 according to their new agency and perform a cover song. The team with the highest score wins and the member of the losing team with the lowest individual score will be nominated for elimination. Among the 8 nominees, the 5 nominees with the lowest total score will be eliminated. 2 teams performed first in this episode.Episode 4 (June 26, 2021)
The second round continues with performances by 8 other teams. At the end of the fifth battle, both performing teams were tied with a score of 191, so a new rule was added. If both teams of a battle are tied, all individual scores will be added up and the team with the highest total individual score wins and moves on to the third round. The episode ends with the results of the global fan poll from the previous week, with Lee Gye-hun taking 1st place.Episode 5 (July 3, 2021)
The second round continues with performances by 4 other teams. After the last battle, 3 out of 8 nominees were safe, which were Na Yun-seo, Lim Kyoung-mun, and Keiju Okamoto respectively. After the second round, all remaining contestants moved to JYP Entertainment, where they will be trained for the third round. Before the remaining contestants moved to JYP Entertainment, Loud Center was moved into Namdong Gymnasium back in Incheon for the rest of the program before the live rounds. In the third round, Park Jin-young will divide the contestants into teams and assign them into one of these three categories: Creative Music, Creative Dance, and Idol Group. At the end of each performance, Psy will score them out of 100 and each will be ranked individually by Park Jin-young. The team with the highest score on each category will be exempted from elimination and the contestant with the lowest ranks of their category will be nominated for elimination. The episode ends with the results of the global fan poll from the previous week, with Lee Gye-hun staying in 1st place.Episode 6 (July 10, 2021)
The third round continues with the result of the final team from the last episode. After the result of the final team, teams from the second and third categories perform. After the last performance, Psy will randomly choose 2 out of 6 nominees to be safe and move on to the next round, which were Zo Doo-hyun and Kim Jeong-min respectively. The episode ends with the results of the global fan poll from the previous week, with Lee Gye-hun staying in 1st place.Episode 7 (July 17, 2021)
After the third round, all remaining contestants moved to P Nation, where they will be trained for the fourth round. Before the fourth round, all remaining contestants will do a mini-mission, where they will showcase their hip-hop skills, whether it is rap, dance, or sing. In the fourth round, Psy will divide the contestants into teams and assign them into one of these two categories: Creative Music and K-Pop Group. At the end of each performance, Park Jin-young will score them out of 100 and each will be ranked individually by Psy. The team with the highest score on each category will be exempted from elimination. Three contestants from the second-place team and the third-place team with the lowest ranks from each team of their categories will be nominated for elimination. The episode ends with the results of the global fan poll from the previous week, with Lee Gye-hun staying in 1st place.Due to the 2020 Summer Olympics, this episode was delayed to 10:20 PM KST to avoid scheduling conflicts. The fourth round continues with performances by the remaining teams. The 3 nominees who will move on to the fifth round are Kim Min-seoung, Jang Hyun-soo, and Kim Dong-hyun. After the fourth round, it featured an appearance by Lee Seung-gi who will not only be the host of the finale but also the "Super Agent". The episode ends with the results of the global fan poll from the previous week, with Lee Gye-hun staying in 1st place.Episode 9 (July 31, 2021)
Due to the 2020 Summer Olympics, this episode was delayed to 10:45 PM KST to avoid scheduling conflicts. The episode starts with a flashback from the premiere episode. Later, the contestants meet Lee Seung-gi, the Super Agent. 3 days later, the fifth round begins. In the fifth round, 22 contestants are split into 3 groups and perform individually according to their voting rank. There will be a maximum of 10 finalists for each company. If each company has less than 10 finalists, those who don't have a casting card will be given a chance to do so. When the number of finalists for each company exceeds 10, those who don't have a casting card are eliminated. 5 contestants from Group 1 performed first. The episode ends with the results of the global fan poll from the previous week, with Lee Gye-hun staying in 1st place.Episode 10 (August 7, 2021)
Due to the 2020 Summer Olympics ending the day after, the rest of this program has returned to its normal schedule. The fifth round continues with individual performances by the remaining Group 1 members and Group 2. By the end of this episode, there are 4 finalists under JYP Entertainment while P Nation has 6. The episode ends with the results of the global fan poll from the previous week, with Keiju Okamoto replacing Lee Gye-hun in 1st place.Episode 11 (August 14, 2021)
The fifth round continues with individual performances by Woo Kyung-jun of Group 2 and all Group 3 members. After the final performance, Psy and Park Jin-young will deliberate and pick one or two nominees or neither to join the casting teams. Psy chooses Jang Hyun-soo and Koki Tanaka into his team while Park Jin-young only chooses Kang Hyun-woo leaving Lim Kyoung-mun, Kim Min-seoung, and Lee Su-jae to be eliminated. By the end of this episode, there are 9 finalists under JYP Entertainment while P Nation has 10. The episode ends with the results of the global fan poll from the previous week, with Lee Gye-hun replacing Keiju Okamoto in 1st place.