R U Next? (; stylised in all caps) was a South Korean girl group reality competition series organised by Belift Lab and JTBC.
Promotion and broadcast
On June 1, 2023, JTBC and Belift Lab announced that they have begun filming for the new survival program R U Next?, which aims to create the agency's next global girl group. The contestants will be assessed through seven rounds. On the same day, Girls' Generation's Choi Soo-young was confirmed as the show's host. On June 7, the official Twitter, Instagram and Weverse accounts for R U Next? opened and the first set of promotional posters were posted. An article was also released on the same day confirming the show would be containing seven missions and would also air through Wavve and Netflix in South Korea and Abema TV in Japan from June 30, at 8:50PM KST. On June 9, former Miss A member and actress, Bae Suzy, was confirmed to sing the signal song for R U Next?. It was released on June 12 at 6:00PM KST. Profiles of the twenty-two contestants were revealed on June 16, with individual profile photos and introduction videos.
Final lineup
After the performances of the final round, the six-member final lineup was decided by have two members being selected by the public, and four being selected by the company's producers. Wonhee and Youngseo became the first two members after attaining the top two places in the voting, while the label voted for Minju, Iroha, Moka and Yunah to become the next four members to join the lineup, forming the girl group I'll-It, the first girl group under BeLift Lab, and in turn, the third girl group to debut under Hybe, after Le Sserafim and NewJeans.
Cast
Host
Choi Soo-young
Coaches
Park Gyu-ri
Lee Hyun
Jo Kwon
Kim Jae-hwan
Aiki
Vincenzo
Mandu
Guests
Baekho - special coach for Round 2 (Episode 2-3) Jay Park – special coach for Round 3 (Episode 4) Enhypen's Heeseung & Jungwon – special coach for Round 4 (Episode 5-6) Woozi - special coach for Round 4 (Episode 5-6) Shin Kung - special coach for Round 6 (Episode 9)
Contestants
Profile
The ages of all contestants are presented in accordance with the international age system as of Episode 1 (June 30, 2023).
Missions
Round 1: Tryout
Episode 1-2
The try out is the gateway to see if you have the potential to become a member. The trainees have been divided into 7 different units with 3-4 members per unit. The tryouts will be evaluated within each unit. Each unit will be evaluated by the coaches after their performances. The unit members will then each be divided into three levels: HIGH LEVEL (H), MID LEVEL (M), and LOW LEVEL (L).
Round 2: Death Match
Episode 2-3
The theme of the mission is the debut title tracks of the 4th generation idol groups of HYBE. Within the three levels formed, 2 units will be formed. Two units will perform together with the same song. The unit that wins will get a benefit of extra points. Starting from this mission, there will be eliminations. Trainees in the Low Level will become elimination candidates.
The coaches chose the 1st and 2nd places by level after Round 1. The 1st and 2nd place of each level has the advantage of choosing the members of their unit. In selecting the songs the Low Level team chooses first, however higher teams can push aside the lower ranking teams if they want to select the same song.
A mini mission was carried out to decide the killing part for each song. Each contestant will carry out an expression audition in front of a camera to see how well they can leave an impression with the first verse of their mission songs and test their expressive skills. The contestants will vote amongst themselves to choose who gets the killing part.
Each coach will give scores to the individual trainees from 1 - 100 (up to a total individual score of 700). The average of the individual scores will be the overall team score, where higher team score will be the winner for each song. The winning unit receives an extra 50 points added on their individual score.
Color key
Bold denotes the contestant who picked the team members.
Round 3: All-Rounder
Episode 3-5
The contestants will be divided into 3 units of 7 members each, regardless of their level. The three unit will be performing two different genres, heel choreography and hip-hop. Each song for the heel choreography will include a mission prop.