Does JYP accept foreigners?
Official Statement
JYP Entertainment is the most open company for foreigners out there in K-pop. According to Park Jin-young, founder of JYP Entertainment, the industry can no longer rely on Korean nationals alone if it wants to stay globally relevant:
“We’re trying to figure out the next stage ... We can’t just keep sending over Korean stars forever, we need to find the next thing. Now, I want to build with foreign talent and create something with young talented kids from Japan and China.”
Park Jin-young
He’s already tested the idea out with TWICE, a nine-member girl band consisting of three Japanese, one Taiwanese and five South Koreans. Signed onto his JYP label, TWICE is now one of the genre’s hottest girl group and has already made its U.S. performance debut.
Many fear the integration of foreign talent will force K-pop to lose its quintessential Korean quality that made it so appealing and novel to outsiders in the first place. But maybe that’s not so bad after all:
“We can’t keep trying to get other cultures to love Korean stuff. Now, we have to try to understand theirs, and make something together. We owe them that, because they’ve been consuming Korean culture for so long.”
Park Jin-young
Online Auditions
It is very hard to see a foreigner passing all the JYP online auditions. Even when it happens, it doesn't guarantee anything beyond the video interview with a staff member. They will only advance to an actual in person audition if they are seriously looking at taking the attendant. At this point, they will pay the attendant to fly in and perform in front of a panelist of judges. Therefore, this process adds up pretty quickly if they do it for a lot of potential trainees!
Very few applicants ever reached that stage (perhaps one or two per year), and so far it is unknown if any online auditions ever actually joined the trainee pool. Based on that, JYP does accept non Koreans. However, JYP has yet to accept a non Asian.
Comments • 12
And, in Kpop, the look is as important as the performance itself.
Also, in general, Korea is still a very closed country. Therefore, the idea of foreigners coming in and taking their jobs is not very welcome.
It was a huge milestone when SM debuted Hangeng in Super Junior but it didn't come without struggle. At the time there wasn't even clear laws on what he was allowed or not to do as a foreigner. So he was left out of a lot of promotions or had to perform with a mask to conceal the fact that he was a foreigner (he was Chinese!).
Now it's a bit more relaxed and East Asians have a bit of easier time. A lot of agencies now have opened up to taking in East Asian foreigners because they can blend in with a group, look cohesive and pass off as “Korean”.
Looking at their history, they haven’t had the best recent experiences with foreigners anyway. The long and brutal Japanese occupation. The controversial American military bases. Past events have created a somewhat paranoid and sensitive society and the media reflects that.
Being a Twice fan, the term ‘foreign K-pop idol’ immediately casts my mind to the Japanese members, Sana, Mina and Momo:
How much flak have they gotten from nationalist K-netz and Korea’s media for just being associated with their home country? For briefly speaking their mother language to each other in a V-live that was mostly in Korean? And they’re from Japan. A fellow East Asian country.
What happens when you take someone like Lisa, from a country that has little relation to Korea and is not at their same economic level?
K-pop is marketed for Koreans. Koreans (and this is true for most places in the world) prefer their own kind to foreigners. Koreans sell better in Korea.
K-pop companies know this. As a foreign trainee, on top of the hell native trainees have to go through, you have to justify the risk the company is putting themselves in. They, understandably, care about money, and if you don’t bring something to the table that your Korean counter-parts don’t have, in their eyes you’re just a failed investment.
I don’t even need to talk about how much a non-Asian would have to go through in a completely Asian society.
If you are well gifted as a dancer or other special talent, they might employ you as a back dancer or a model. There are several other support activities that might suit you.
My guess is that your chances are better at a smaller agency rather than JYP.
> "Does jyp accept non asian people oder daek skin"
Older and dark skin? Well, your chances are really low.
But, if you do have a lot of talent, they might give you a chance.
> "Do jyp accept Indians?"
JYP auditions have no country restrictions. Anyone can try the online audition.
However, JYP has yet to have Indians idols.
> "But what if you have a. Half Asian like half Japanese or corean"
It shouldn't be a problem. JYP has a good track record of accepting eastern Asians (ex: Japanese).
> "JYP accept any Indian?"
JYP and other agencies have good track records of accepting eastern Asians (ex: Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, Taiwanese, ...). However, western Asians (ex: Indians, Arabians, Iranians, Syrians, ...) is VERY rare.