American music entrepreneur Scooter Braun is to join the Japanese talent discovery show “&Audition – The Howling.” The show is set to determine the final members of Hybe Labels Japan’s first Japanese boy band.
Braun will be joined in the final episode of the show by chart-topping Korean rapper Zico and Japanese mega producer Imai Ryosuke. A global online voting process is also underway, through the “&Audition” community section on Hybe’s Weverse fan platform.
The boy group is to consist of nine members. The TV show will eliminate six contestants, with the winning remaining five joining the four debut members.
Braun has successfully launched the careers of stars such as Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande. He became CEO of Hybe America and board member of Hybe Corporation, after the Korean label behind K-Pop giants BTS acquired his Ithaca holdings.
The final round of “&Audition – The Howling” will be broadcast live on Hybe Labels Japan’s official YouTube channel at 3am Eastern time (midnight PT) on Sept. 3. Behind the scenes footage of the final episode will also be available later.
Zico is a chart-topping singer, rapper and music producer under his own label Koz Entertainment He has multiple hits including “Summer Hate,” “Human,” and “Being Left.” His 2020 hit “Any Song” was that year’s most streamed, and downloaded track in Korea. The song also accumulated over 133 million streams on Spotify as of July 2022. His next effort is mini album “Grown Ass Kid.”
Braun is also the founder of SB Projects, a diversified entertainment, and media company that has produced hit shows and films. Braun is also a prolific investor in tech companies including Spotify, Uber, Dropbox, Lyft, Pinterest and waze.