Is YG’s New Boy-Group Their Secret Weapon?
Through a post on YG Entertainment’s blog YG Life on October 29, Yang Hyun-suk revealed a boy-group debut survival program called “YG Treasure Box” is due to air as a means for the company to decide the members of their next-generation boy-group, which includes the infamous Bang Ye Dam. Yang Hyun-suk explained that ‘YG Treasure Box’ is a phrase often used by fans as a complaint that once YG artists conclude promotions once, they are locked in, and it is used in a negative manner not only by fans, but also the media.
He continues, “‘YG Treasure Box’ has the format of unveiling every single male trainee of YG who hasn’t yet been introduced, and monitoring the judgements and selections of the viewers through the broadcast will be applied to the selection criteria. There are a total of 29 YG male trainees who will be revealed through the ‘YG Treasure Box’ broadcast, and most of them are between the ages of 14 and 19. As the number of participants is much higher than when BIGBANG, WINNER, and iKON were selected, the competition is higher than ever.”
Filming for the show started on November 16 and was available through V Live and YouTube for fans to enjoy every week. On February 7, after the show has finished airing its last episode with a 7-membered debut group, Yang Hyun-suk went back on his words and decided to launch ‘TREASURE 13’, the group that combines 7 members of TREASURE and 6 members of MAGNUM from ‘YG TREASURE BOX’ through the agency’s official blog.
However, Treasure 13 debuted with the name TREASURE because one of the members decided to leave. TREASURE made a debut on August 7, 2020, with 12 members. Their fandom name is called TREASURE MAKER or TEUME.
Treasure Profile
Treasure Profile
| Name | Choi Hyun-seok |
| Birthdate | April 21st, 1999 |
| Age | 19 |
| Blood Type | A |
| Nationality | Korean |
Facts:
- 5th overall standing of the male group in Mixnine
| Name | Kim Jun-gyu |
| Birthdate | September 9th, 2000 |
| Age | 18 |
| Blood Type | O |
| Nationality | Korean |
Facts:
- Modeled and acted as a kid
| Name |
Yook Jae-hyeok
|
| Birthdate | July 23rd, 2001 |
| Age | 17 |
| Blood Type | O |
| Nationality | Korean |
| Name |
Bang Ye-dam
|
| Birthdate | May 7th, 2002 |
| Age | 16 |
| Blood Type | A |
| Nationality | Korean |
Facts:
- Winner of K-Pop Star 2
- Appeared on Mnet’s debut survival show for the JYP boy group, Stray Kidz
| Name |
Haruto
|
| Birthdate | April 5th, 2004 |
| Age | 14 |
| Blood Type | B |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Name |
Park Jung-woo
|
| Birthdate | September 28th, 2004 |
| Age | 14 |
| Blood Type | O |
| Nationality | Korean |
| Name |
So Jung-hwan
|
| Birthdate | February 18th, 2005 |
| Age | 14 |
| Blood Type | B |
| Nationality | Korean |
Facts:
- Used to be a part of K-Tigers, a Korean Taekwondo Dance team
Magnum Profile
| Name | Park Ji-hoon |
| Birthdate | March 14th, 2000 |
| Age | 18 |
| Blood Type | B |
| Nationality | Korean |
| Name | Yoshinori |
| Birthdate | May 15th, 2000 |
| Age | 18 |
| Blood Type | A |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Name | Ha Yoon-bin |
| Birthdate | December 11th, 2000 |
| Age | 18 |
| Blood Type | A |
| Nationality | Korean |
| Name | Mashiho |
| Birthdate | March 25th, 2001 |
| Age | 17 |
| Blood Type | AB |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Name | Asahi |
| Birthdate | August 20th, 2001 |
| Age | 17 |
| Blood Type | AB |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Name | Kim Do-young |
| Birthdate | December 4th, 2003 |
| Age | 15 |
| Blood Type | B |
| Nationality | Korean |
YG Treasure Box
Like previous YG boy-groups, Yang Hyun-suk plans to debut the trainees he has accumulated through another debut survival program. The program presenting their debut is called YG Treasure Box. Yang Hyun-suk explained that the phrase is taken from term fans and the media used to describe how YG promotes their artists. YG will use that phrase as a program title and broadcast a show containing the debut selection process through missions and turmoils of the members. He also added, “We will use web-based platforms such as VLIVE and YouTube to make it easier for global fans to access the show and will additionally use various platforms including TV broadcasting”.
YG Treasure Box premiered in November of 2018, just four years after their last survival show, titled Mix & Match, aired in preparation for IKON’s debut. The goal was for a debut in 2019 with a group made up of 5 members but was then changed to accommodate 7 spots by the ninth episode. 29 trainees under 4 different units participated in the survival show, coming from both Korean and Japanese nationalities. The four different units are Treasure A, made up of trainees who have trained the longest; Treasure B, made up of trainees who are street cast and known for their visuals; Treasure C, made up of trainees who are younger in age, and Treasure J, made up of all the Japanese trainees.
|
Name
|
Birth Date
|
|
Lee Mi-dam
|
October 27, 1997
|
|
Lee Byeong-gon
|
March 5, 1998
|
|
Kim Seung-hoon
|
February 26,1999
|
|
Choi Hyun-seok
|
April 21, 1999
|
|
Kim Jun-gyu
|
September 9, 2000
|
|
Bang Ye-dam
|
May 7, 2002
|
|
Kim Do-young
|
December 4, 2003
|
Treasure B
|
Name
|
Birth Date
|
|
Park Ji-hoon
|
March 14, 2000
|
|
Wang Gun-ho
|
May 8, 2000
|
|
Kang Seok-hwa
|
December 1, 2000
|
|
Ha Yoon-bin
|
2000
|
|
Jang Yoon-seo
|
December 11, 2001.4.4
|
|
Yoon Jae-hyeok
|
July 23, 2001
|
|
Kim Seong-yeon
|
June 18, 2002
|
|
Gil Do-hwan
|
August 26, 2003
|
Treasure C
|
Name
|
Birth Date
|
|
Kim Yeon-gyu
|
May 3, 2004
|
|
Park Jung-woo
|
September 28, 2004
|
|
Lee In-hong
|
November 12, 2004
|
|
Yoon Shi-yoon
|
January 8, 2005
|
|
Jung Jun-hyeok
|
January 17, 2005
|
|
So Jung-hwan
|
February 18, 2005
|
|
Kim Jong-seob
|
November 19, 2005
|
Treasure J
|
Name
|
Birth Date
|
|
Kotaro
|
June 17, 1999
|
|
Yoshinori
|
May 15, 2000
|
|
Mashiho
|
March 25, 2001
|
|
Mahiro
|
March 28, 2001
|
|
Keita
|
July 4, 2001
|
|
Asahi
|
August 20, 2001
|
|
Haruto
|
April 5, 2004
|
For 9 weeks, they were made to compete with each other in a mixed-unit fashion with mission songs, such as 1:1 battle, mixed unit, and group position missions. The songs include BTS’s DNA, iKON’s Dumb&Dumber, Wanns One’s Boomerang, EXO’s Growl and more. Through the missions, YG picks the top-performing trainees as the treasure’s current line-up, the line-up that is ensured a place in the final group that will be debuting. By the last episode, through a position battle mission divided into three positions, vocal, rap, and dance, four of the best-performing trainees in each position battle are picked as the trainees ensured a place in the final team. In the days to come, YG reveals the rest of the trainees who made it to the debut group.
In a last-minute twist, with all the 7 members in Treasure announced, YG revealed that he planned to debut a second unit, under the group name Treasure 13. YANG HYUN SUK explained, “the most frustrating fact while we were proceeding on ‘YG TREASURE BOX’ was that I can’t get every promising trainee into the little boat, despite the acknowledgement of their potential”. He added, “I decided to select 13 final members by getting another boat”, revealing the reason why he selected 7 TREASURE members and announced 6 additional members for another group.
The members of Treasure selected through ‘YG TREASURE BOX’ were Bang Ye-Dam, Haruto, So Jung-hwan, KIM Jun-gyu, Park Jung-woo, Yoon Jae-hyeok, and Choi Hyun-Seok. The 6 members of Magnum are Ha Yoon-bin, Mashiho, Kim Do-young, Yoshinori, Park Ji-hoon, and Asahi.
The goal of creating two units under one team is for YG to able to show more sides of the trainees they had under their the wing and also to give all the members more time to appeal to the public and fans. Yang Hyun-suk revealed, “the first combination I wanted was a team with 13 members. To be precise, I plan to make the 13 selected members make a debut as a team of 13, with the name ‘TREASURE 13’. The reason why I divided them into two teams rather than selecting them as ‘TREASURE 13’ is because based on my previous experience when forming iKON, when a team is formed with over 7 members, the parts and roles each member will take within a song reduces significantly, so they will have to come down the stage after performing only a few bars, which is a clear drawback and limitation”
With the second group, Magnum, Yang Hyun-suk aims to “put emphasis on each individual’s capabilities through the group activities of ‘TREASURE 13’ along with the two teams’ separate acts”. YANG Hyun-suk explained, “the 1.5-liter double sized bottle of luxury wine is called ‘magnum’” and added, “I used this as the team name with the hope that the entire globe will be drunk on the team’s music and since magnum is also used as a term for firearms, I’ve registered trademark on the team name after thinking that it would fit a male group rather than a female group”.
Treasure 13, with both of the units, is expected to make a debut sometime in the second quarter of 2019. Yang Hyun-suk plans to let Treasure 13 grow fast anf aggressively through constant and consistent promotions of new songs, unlike his lax treatment of previous groups. Treasure 13 surely will be an idol group that maximizes YG’s production resources rather than becoming self-producing idols such as BIGBANG, WINNER, and iKON, something quite different but not any less than should be expected from a Big 3 company.
So what do you think of Treasure? Don’t forget to keep updated about TREASURE’s latest news by staying tuned on Channel-Korea. Make sure to check out other articles about TREASURE or your favorite groups. Cheers!
