Inside The Cut-throat Battle To Build K-pop's Next Superstars

Seoul, May 6 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 6th May, 2021 ) :Thirty teenagers, thousands of hours of training, dozens of shattered dreams: it all comes to a head next week when the Blitzers will be launched into the cut-throat K-pop market, hoping to become the next BTS.

An all-male septet -- like the musical phenomenon that topped the US Billboard charts last year -- their three years of training are being distilled into three minutes of music and dancing that will determine whether they are a hit, or just another nowhere band.

The routine, always intense, is punishing in the weeks running up to their debut: gym sessions, singing lessons, promotional shoots, and around 10 hours of dance practice into the early morning.

The programme leaves them less than five hours sleep a night in bunk-beds in their shared Seoul house -- the empty berths tombs for the hopes of those expelled after failing to make the cut.

In a dedicated, mirror-lined rehearsal studio, the seven survivors stood poised for the opening bars of their first single, "Breathe Again", outnumbered by managers, trainers and choreographers.

The moment it came over the speakers they launched into high-energy lockstep moves, spinning each other around with military precision.

"Though I want to hold your hands I can't come near you/Because I'm stuck unable to move," sang 17-year-old lead singer Cho Woo-ju as he jumped off a human staircase formed by his bandmates.

As the song reached its climax they came together in a line-up, simultaneously throwing trademark K-pop poses.

But the response was underwhelming. "It was just a warm up for you guys, right?" said a dance instructor. "Let's do it for real now.""Yes!" the boys responded with a unanimous shout.

"We practise our dance moves until we synchronise them perfectly," said backup singer Jang Jun-ho.