Singer Lee Seung-Chul explained the reasons for eliminating contestants, their stories and excluding age on 'The Scout: The Reborn Star'.
ENA's new entertainment program 'The Scout: The Reborn Star' (hereinafter The Scout) unveiled itself. The first broadcast of 'The Scout' on the 8th is a growth-oriented music project in which top experts in the music industry directly discover 'raw gems whose talents have not yet been fully realized' and present them with new directions and possibilities.
'The Scout', which illuminates the process of participants who once challenged their dreams or have been honing their skills in their respective places standing on stage again, suggests that the harmony they will create, blending different genres and experiences, will bring a depth differentiated from existing auditions. It is also notable that it is a growth-oriented music project that captures the process of discovering raw gems whose talents have not been realized by top experts in the music industry, presenting new directions and completing them into global stars through a professional and systematic multi-care system.
Beyond simple skill competition, the 'developmental format' in which mentors directly discover and nurture participants' potential, the narratives created by mentors who have built positions in their fields working closely with participants, and the structure that focuses more on the degree of change and potential than initial skill—a growth itself—diverge from previous audition programs and present a new paradigm.
"What elimination in music? There are choices. There is no single answer in music. It's not the study of sound but the joy of music. It's not math—how can you eliminate someone with scores?"
The 'three no's' structure—no eliminations, no backstories and no age—is the core of 'The Scout'. Why did the show boldly abandon the surefire hits of existing audition programs and present a shock that runs counter to dopamine? Lee Seung-Chul, who has served as a judge on numerous audition programs, cited the 'participants' rather than the program or viewers as the reason.
"If you give the same mission song to a contestant who hits high notes flamboyantly and a contestant who sings more reservedly, of course the high notes win. As a senior, it was heartbreaking to see kids living as unjustly eliminated because of matchups or inappropriate song choices."
In Lee Seung-Chul's philosophy, 'The Scout' built an environment where a participant's fate is not decided by a single-stage result. Emotional marketing elements like age and backstories are reduced through blind tests, reinforcing the belief that success can come solely from the participant's skill. "The conditions for a star that the public goes crazy for are either visuals or vocal ability, one of the two. Emotional-marketing frames become poison when the kids later work as professionals. My principle is to look only at the voice and star quality."
There are concerns that without the tension of elimination things might become lax, but Lee Seung-Chul looked further ahead. "Producers see how desperate and relentlessly hard a participant works. There was a contestant who commuted daily from Cheongju to Seoul and lost 25kg. When you feel someone making dramatic progress while receiving care, their eyes change first. Receiving care lets them prove to themselves how far they can change. 'Trust yourself and keep trying'—that is the strongest motivation we give."
The biggest benefit that 'The Scout' contestants gain through this process is the label of being from 'The Scout'. "The era when you could long-run on singing ability alone is over. 'The Scout' is not simply a show that teaches singing; it is a place that crafts true all-rounder icons who can shake popular culture. I want the kids who complete their training here and go out into the field to be sent into the world in a perfect state that won't be outperformed in quality even when matched against idols from major agencies."
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