Honestly, the judges lineup alone already has us intrigued.
Filipinos are known for many things, including slaying in international music competition shows. Recently, JL Gaspar made it to the final lineup of AHOF after he won Universe League and became the top contestant in terms of votes in the process. We know a K-pop survival series hates to see a Filipino coming.
The list of Filipinos reaching 1st place in survival music shows gets longer by the day. And that looks to continue with the upcoming competition survival show Be The Next: 9 Dreamers which is set to give us the next global pop idols. Oh, and did we mention that it’s being filmed in the Philippines with an A-list K-pop mentor lineup? Yeah, this one is about to be good.
THE NEXT DREAMERS
TV5 and MLD Entertainment are joining forces for Be The Next: 9 Dreamers, a new K-pop reality survival series. The show is going global with its scope and ambition as it brings together 75 aspirants from the global auditions held in 2024, with trainees from the Philippines and beyond. Think of it like our very own Produce series and in the same vein as Dream Maker. Each week, the contestants will train and perform as work towards becoming the top 9 trainees. Those trainees will then form a new 9-member global boy group.
Helping the dreamers along the way is an esteemed A-list panel of mentors and judges from the K-pop world. Namely, EXO’s Chen, AB6IX’s Park Woojin, Bang Yedam, HORI7ON’s Vinci, Hyebin (formerly of MOMOLAND), MLD performance director Bae Wan Hee, and producer Bullseye will serve as the show’s judges. With mentors like these, the trainees have a lot to learn from. And yes, they all flew to the Philippines to film the series and work with the mentees face-to-face.
Of course, a show loaded with this much star power needs a talented host, which is why Sandara Park will serve as the show’s host. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen Dara on local TV, with her last local competition series stint being Pinoy Boyband Superstar, so it will be nice to finally see the idol regularly on our screens again. First, they hold global auditions and bring all the trainees to the Philippines, then they secure all these K-pop stars to participate. Okay budget.
Be the NEXT: 9 Dreamers premieres this February 8, 7 PM, on TV5. The show airs regularly every Saturday and Sunday, with weekday catch-ups every 11:30 PM. If you’d like to meet the show’s trainees and potentially have a new fave to root for, check them out here.
Originally published on Nylon Manila.
