A2K
A2K (America2Korea) is a Korean-American audition project produced by JYP Entertainment and Republic Records.
The music survival show features a group of selected talent from America as they audition and train to debut in JYP's new global girl group. As with their previous competition show Nizi Project, a pendant is used for evaluation.
The winners formed the group VCHA.
Contents
Information
- Announcement Date: July 25, 2022
- Audition Period: September 2022 (Atlanta - September 10th, Chicago - September 14th, NYC - September 17th & 18th, Dallas - September 20th, LA - September 23rd–25th)
- Broadcast Period: July 13, 2023 – September 21, 2023 (22 episodes)
- Broadcast Time: Mondays and Thursdays at 9pm ET/6pm PT
Audition
Each participant that passes is given a cross-shaped pendant necklace with four hollowed parts.
Below the final qualifiers shown on the program that were selected out of all the girls who auditioned.
| # | Participant | Age | Audition City | Vocal Audition Song | Dance Audition Song |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Camila Ribeaux Valdez | 17 | Dallas, TX | Adele - "Easy on Me" | ITZY - "DALLA DALLA" |
| 2 | Kendall Ebeling | 16 | — | ||
| 3 | Lexus Vang | 16 | Chicago, IL | Selena Gomez - "Love You Like a Love Song" | |
| 4 | Melissa Kadas | 17 | Miley Cyrus - "Wrecking Ball" | — | |
| 5 | Cristina Lopez Sandiford | 17 | Atlanta, GA | Selena Gomez - "Love You Like a Love Song" | ITZY - "DALLA DALLA" |
| 6 | Savanna Collins | 16 | New York, NY | ||
| 7 | Kaylee Lee | 12 | Miley Cyrus - "Wrecking Ball" | ||
| 8 | KG Crown | 15 | Los Angeles, CA | Julia Michaels - "Issues" | — |
| 9 | Mischa Salkin | 13 | Miley Cyrus - "Wrecking Ball" | — | |
| 10 | Yuna Gonzalez | 17 | — | ITZY - "DALLA DALLA" | |
| 11 | Gina De Bosschere | 13 | Adele - "Easy on Me" |
Los Angeles Training Camp
Evaluation Tests
| # | Participant | Dance Test Song | Rank | Vocal Test Song | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Camila Ribeaux Valdez | ITZY - "ICY" | 7 | Whitney Houston - "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" | 1 |
| 2 | Cristina Lopez Sandiford | ITZY - "SNEAKERS" | 1 | Adele - "All I Ask" | — |
| 3 | Gina De Bosschere | ITZY - "SNEAKERS" | 5 | Adele - "Hello" | 4 |
| 4 | Kaylee Lee | TWICE - "What is Love?" | 6 | 6 | |
| 5 | Kendall Ebeling | Nayeon - "Pop!" | 2 | Whitney Houston - "I Have Nothing" | 5 |
| 6 | KG Crown | J.Y. Park - "FEVER" | 8 | Adele - "Easy on Me" | 3 |
| 7 | Lexus Vang | Stray Kids - "Sin Menu" | 3 | Mariah Carey - "Always Be My Baby" | — |
| 8 | Melissa Kadas | Wonder Girls - "Like This" | — | Keyshia Cole - "Love" | 2 |
| 9 | Mischa Salkin | ITZY - "ICY" | — | — | |
| 10 | Savanna Collins | NMIXX - "O.O" | 4 | Adele - "Easy on Me" | — |
| 11 | Yuna Gonzalez | miss A - "Good-Bye Baby" | — | Mariah Carey - "Always Be My Baby" | — |
| # | Participant | Star Power Test | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Camila Ribeaux Valdez | Self-written rap | — |
| 2 | Cristina Lopez Sandiford | Self-written periodic table rap and science experiments | — |
| 3 | Gina De Bosschere | Tells about the different places she's lived as a news reporter | — |
| 4 | Kaylee Lee | A combination of Taekwondo and dance, "anmoo" in Korean, she coined as Taekwonmoo. She also ate Warheads, a very sour American candy | — |
| 5 | Kendall Ebeling | Showed art pieces while making a dog pendant | 2 |
| 6 | KG Crown | Sang a self-mix of an original song and ITZY's "SNEAKERS" while on keyboard then dribbled a basketball | — |
| 7 | Lexus Vang | Did ballet to Giselle and Nayeon's "POP!" | 4 |
| 8 | Melissa Kadas | Sang an original song about her dad that she wrote when she was 13 | 1 |
| 9 | Mischa Salkin | Ballet/contemporary dance | — |
| 10 | Savanna Collins | Flute performance followed by surprise gymnastic performance with a return to the flute to finish | 3 |
| 11 | Yuna Gonzalez | On a red carpet runway, modeled clothes she created and/or upcycled to match various K-Pop outfits as shown on a monitor | 5 |
| Character Test | ||
|---|---|---|
| # | Participant | Rank |
| 1 | Camila Ribeaux Valdez | 3 |
| 2 | Cristina Lopez Sandiford | 2 |
| 3 | Gina De Bosschere | — |
| 4 | Kaylee Lee | — |
| 5 | Kendall Ebeling | — |
| 6 | KG Crown | — |
| 7 | Lexus Vang | 1 |
| 8 | Melissa Kadas | — |
| 9 | Mischa Salkin | — |
| 10 | Savanna Collins | 4 |
| 11 | Yuna Gonzalez | 5 |
Final Evaluation
| Team A CKC |
Team B Naekkeo |
Team C LGYM |
|---|---|---|
| Wonder Girls "Be My Baby" |
ITZY "WANNABE" |
TWICE "The Feels" |
| Camila Ribeaux Valdez (L) | Kendall Ebeling (L) | Melissa Kadas (L) |
| KG Crown | Kaylee Lee | Lexus Vang |
| Cristina Lopez Sandiford | Savanna Collins | Yuna Gonzalez |
| — | Mischa Salkin | Gina De Bosschere |
Pendant Battle
The necklace received for passing the first audition can now be filled with four jeweled pieces: yellow for dance, green for vocal, red for star power, and blue for character. The girls who can fill all four pendant slots will be able to proceed to training in Korea.
The character pendant was given to members who showed dedication, focus, drive, and self-discipline. Evaluation criteria included an in-depth interview, trainers' votes, and fellow contestant votes.
| # | Participant | Dance | Vocal | Star Power | Character | Ranking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Camila Ribeaux Valdez | Acquired | Acquired | Acquired | Acquired | 1 |
| 2 | Cristina Lopez Sandiford | Acquired | Acquired** | Acquired | Acquired | 3 |
| 3 | Gina De Bosschere | Acquired | Acquired | Acquired | Acquired** | 2 |
| 4 | Kaylee Lee | Acquired | Acquired* | Acquired | Acquired** | 7 |
| 5 | Kendall Ebeling | Acquired | Acquired | Acquired | Acquired** | 5 |
| 6 | KG Crown | Acquired | Acquired | Acquired | Acquired** | 8 |
| 7 | Lexus Vang | Acquired | Acquired** | Acquired | Acquired | 6 |
| 8 | Melissa Kadas | Acquired** | Acquired | Acquired | Acquired** | 9 |
| 9 | Mischa Salkin | Acquired** | Acquired | 11 | ||
| 10 | Savanna Collins | Acquired | Acquired** | Acquired | Acquired | 4 |
| 11 | Yuna Gonzalez | Acquired** | Acquired** | Acquired | Acquired | 10 |
* - Earned via discussion after the evaluation.
** - Earned at the final evaluation.
Korean Training Camp
Missions
The trainees are given various missions to test their skills and improve themselves. They are ranked following each mission, and those who receive the lowest rank two times will be disqualified. The trainees spent six months training on their own prior to the start of their evaluations.
Mission 1: Individual Level Test
| # | Participant | Song | Ranking |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Camila Ribeaux Valdez | Ariana Grande - "One Last Time" | 2 |
| 2 | Cristina Lopez Sandiford | J.Y. Park - "Swing Baby" | 6 |
| 3 | Gina De Bosschere | Wonder Girls - "2 Different Tears" | 8 |
| 4 | Kaylee Lee | Nayeon - "Pop!" | 4 |
| 5 | Kendall Ebeling | Sunmi - "24 Sigani Mojara" | 1 |
| 6 | KG Crown | LeAnn Rimes - "Blue" | 3 |
| 7 | Lexus Vang | Wonder Girls - "Like this" | 7 |
| 8 | Savanna Collins | Stray Kids - "Sorikkun" | 5 |
| 9 | Yuna Gonzalez | miss A - "Bad Girl Good Girl" | 9 |
Mission 2: Team Mission
The trainees are put into three groups to perform together. Members of the winning team automatically receive stones. The remaining trainees would receive stones if ranked within the top six. The trainees were given one month to prepare for the mission.
| Marteami | Back Dawgz | SP3KTRUM | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TWICE "Alcohol-Free" |
Stray Kids "Back Door" |
NMIXX "Love Me Like This" | |||
| Kendall Ebeling | 7 | Camila Ribeaux Valdez | 3 | Kaylee Lee | 1 |
| Lexus Vang | 8 | Gina De Bosschere | 5 | KG Crown | 6 |
| Yuna Gonzalez | 9 | Cristina Lopez Sandiford | 2 | Savanna Collins | 4 |
| Winner: SP3KTRUM | |||||
Mission 3: Final Missions
The trainees are put into two groups to battle against each other.
Team Mission Song Battle
| Clover | Topic |
|---|---|
| "Go Getter" | "Know Me Like That" |
| Kendall Ebeling | Camila Ribeaux Valdez |
| KG Crown | Savanna Collins |
| Cristina Lopez Sandiford | Gina De Bosschere |
| Kaylee Lee | Lexus Vang |
| Winner: Topic | |
Debut Song Battle
| Team | Team |
|---|---|
| "Y.O.Universe" | |
| Kendall Ebeling | Camila Ribeaux Valdez |
| KG Crown | Savanna Collins |
| Cristina Lopez Sandiford | Gina De Bosschere |
| Kaylee Lee | Lexus Vang |
| Winner: Topic | |
Overall Rankings
| # | Participant | Mission Rankings | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |||
| 1 | Camila Ribeaux Valdez | 2 | 3 | 3 | |
| 2 | Cristina Lopez Sandiford | 6 | 2 | ||
| 3 | Gina De Bosschere | 8 | 5 | ||
| 4 | Kaylee Lee | 4 | 1 | 5 | |
| 5 | Kendall Ebeling | 1 | 7 | 6 | |
| 6 | KG Crown | 3 | 6 | 2 | |
| 7 | Lexus Vang | 7 | 8 | 1 | |
| 8 | Savanna Collins | 5 | 4 | 4 | |
| 9 | Yuna Gonzalez | 9 | 9 | 13 | |
Pendant Battle
The necklace they received for passing the first audition and the three triangular jeweled pieces they received during season 1 can now be upgraded one stage higher. Four additional silver-colored jewels can be attached to the outside of the existing pieces.
| # | Participant | Pendant 1 | Pendant 2 | Pendant 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Camila Ribeaux Valdez | Acquired | Acquired | Acquired |
| 2 | Cristina Lopez Sandiford | Acquired | Acquired | — |
| 3 | Gina De Bosschere | Acquired | Acquired | — |
| 4 | Kaylee Lee | Acquired | Acquired | Acquired |
| 5 | Kendall Ebeling | Acquired | Acquired | Acquired |
| 6 | KG Crown | Acquired | Acquired | Acquired |
| 7 | Lexus Vang | Acquired | Acquired | Acquired |
| 8 | Savanna Collins | Acquired | Acquired | Acquired |
| 9 | Yuna Gonzalez | — | — | — |
