Global K-pop audition ‘Click the Star’ launches in Korea, Indonesia and South America

The global K-pop audition project, “Click the Star,” spanning 32 countries, launched its Korea, Indonesia and South America seasons simultaneously on Thursday.

“Click the Star” is a worldwide audition project that forms K-pop girl groups composed exclusively of members from each participating country. The initiative also focuses on building local fan bases and educational infrastructure, with songs recorded in both Korean and the local language.

“Click the Star Peru” and “Click the Star China” wrapped up in 2023 and 2024, respectively. In Peru, girl group Blingone was invited by the embassy to perform at an APEC summit event. In China, top-tier members were selected from 260,000 applicants and have already made their debut.

Each country’s Blingone unit will perform the same debut track as part of the Blingone project. Plans are underway to unite global K-pop fandoms through upcoming joint concerts and a world tour. To expand K-pop education, the World K-pop Center also plans to establish overseas branches in each of the “Click the Star” host countries.

Applications for “Click the Star” auditions are open online via the official platform and are accessible to K-pop fans worldwide. The application period began Thursday and will remain open through June. After the first-round online auditions, the process will continue with national finals, a final showcase and a Korean debut survival round, through which debut members for each country’s Blingone unit will be selected.

“Just as the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup brought together people of all ages, ‘Click the Star’ will ignite K-pop’s integration into local cultures across the globe,” said the audition’s organizer, the World K-pop Center. “The unique nature of this season, including the unified South America lineup, is expected to transcend previous influences and resemble a continentwide K-pop World Cup.”

BY KIM MIN-YOUNG  [kim.minyoung5@joongang.co.kr]