MIX & MATCH’s KIM DONGHYUK Joins iKON as Last Member… Birth of Unprecedented Boy Group
[OSEN=오민희 기자] There was no exception. The long journey of “MIX & MATCH”, a survival audition program to select the members of YG Entertainment’s next-generation boy group, has come to an end, with original YG trainee joining iKON lastly. PSY expressed his confidence in iKON, saying, “iKON got all, energy, diligence, and talent. iKON will be the icon of the music scene upon their debut. Your hard work so far will pay off”.
In the last episode of cable channel Mnet’s MIX & MATCH aired on the 6 in the afternoon, behind story of the final match was depicted. As PSY and Bang Ye Dam encouraged the contestants of the show, all nine trainees prepared a satisfying performance, working so hard until the very last moment.
Leader B.I was sad about the end, so he planned time with all the other members after the final match. They couldn’t speak anything for a while, knowing that “today is the last day for all of us together”. JUNG JINHYEONG said, “I don’t wanna part from members, as well as from iKON”. BOBBY and SONG YUNHYEONG said, “At first, I didn’t imagine I would ever become this much attached with the others. Now, all of them feel like my real brothers”.
As a result of combining judges’ scores and result of viewers’ vote, KIM DONGHYUK was selected as the final member of iKON. KIM DONGHYUK was praised for his talent to take the No.2 in judges’ scores, and No.3 in viewers’ vote. He could join iKON, as expected by many.
MIX & MATCH has drawn much attention so far, by depicting intensive competition of six contestants except for B.I, BOBBY, and KIM JINHWAN whose debut was already confirmed, to take only four vacancies left for iKON. The match between Team B members who appeared in “WIN: WHO IS NEXT” last year and three new-face trainees attracted big attention on-line.
Final seven members of iKON have been confirmed by combining the result of judges’ vote, global pre-vote held in Korea, China, and Japan, on-site vote at the final match, text-messaging vote, and mobile messenger vote. The result was announced on YG’s blog, from the 4 at 0am. KOO JUNHOE, SONG YUNHYEONG, and JUNG CHANWOO have been announced as iKON members one by one.
At time when the confirmed members were announced on YG blog, its server was down because of too much access. Plus, “YG LIFE”, “iKON”, “KOO JUNHOE”, “SONG YUNHYEONG”, “JUNG CHANWOO”, etc. have dominated real-time search word list of search engines, proving the public’s high interest in iKON.
iKON, a new boy group with “Show Me the Money 3”’s winner BOBBY and B.I who has been recognized for his talent in writing songs like WINNER’s “empty”. Music fans are already paying keen attention to iKON.
2014. 11. 7.
