Which 4th-generation idol, evolving alongside their fans, would you like to see?

Article published: November 28, 2023

Original source: https://jmagazine.joins.com/forbes/view/338790

English translation: plaveintl

Idol Champ wrapped up 2023 with a vote using 'growth' as keywords. Despite the challenges faced by the relatively new 4th-gen idols who broke into the global K-pop scene and the disruptions caused by COVID-19, these idols started their journey with considerable pressure. Yet, they're leveraging the success path paved by their seniors and the surge of new media post-pandemic to achieve rapid growth.

Behind their flashy success lies intense competition. Becoming an idol in the K-pop era is now as challenging as grabbing a star from the sky. After debut, these groups, armed with exceptional skills, engage in fierce but friendly competition. Could the 4th-gen idols be learning and growing together through this positive competition?

In this context, a vote was held to identify the 4th-gen idols who've grown together after friendly competition. The vote took place on the Idol Champ app, where K-pop fans worldwide are active, from October 24th to November 7th, spanning about two weeks. There were a total of 20 teams as candidates, from those already recognized as global stars to newcomers who recently debuted. When the vote started, two teams led the race. Eventually, PLAVE emerged victorious with around 90% of the votes, totaling 29,842 out of the overall votes.

PLAVE, a rookie boy group that debuted in March of this year, consists of five members: Yejun, Noah, Bamby, Eunho, and Hamin. The group's name, a combination of 'Play' and 'Rêve' (dream), signifies creating a new world to fulfill their dreams. All members are virtual idols, their appearances are implemented in an animated form. While not everything is virtual, they utilize real voices and movements of actual people, employing real-time rendering technology to express them as 3D characters. To prevent collisions between members during broadcasts, they introduced a self-developed interference prevention algorithm. With a completely new concept, PLAVE garnered significant attention, achieving over 3.2 million views for their debut music video and drawing fans from 35 countries to their first video call fan event, marking a successful start.