‘PRODUCE 101 JAPAN SHINSEKAI’: Struggles, Tears, Stunning Reversals & Standout Moments on the Road to the Gripping Finale
Categoria: Musica
One of the biggest differences between this season and the past three seasons is that this is now a global audition.
Por Billboard | 01/06/2026
PRODUCE 101 JAPAN SHINSEKAI , the fourth season of the audition survival show that brought us the artists JO1 , INI and ME:I, has been available for viewing, free of charge, since March 2026, exclusively on the Lemino streaming service. It will culminate in the debut of a 12-person global boy band with members chosen through voting by Japanese viewers (Kokumin Producers) and, for the first time on the show, global viewers (SEKAI Producers) as well. One of the biggest differences between this season and the past three seasons is that this is now a global audition. The show accepted applications from everyone, regardless of nationality or birthplace (with the exception of a small number of areas). In addition to attracting trainees from around the world, it is also being streamed globally via the global K-pop content platform Mnet Plus, and votes can also be cast from anywhere. The show’s overall emcee, trainee supporter, and KOKUMIN Producer representative is Dean Fujioka. This season, he is joined for the first time by a SEKAI Producer Representative, Choi Soo-young (from Girl’s Generation). The votes of KOKUMIN Producers from Japan and SEKAI Producers from other countries are counted together to launch a boy band that reflects a more international perspective. There are already plans for the band to make its debut simultaneously in both Korea and Japan. In each of its past seasons, PRODUCE 101 JAPAN has had 101 trainees. Of these, 11 would go on to become debut members. During the first episode of this new season, though, the show announced that 22 global participants have been added, bringing up the number of participants to 123. Of these, 12 will be chosen to debut. In an unexpected twist, unlike in past seasons, the participants didn’t start as trainees, but as trainee candidates. They found themselves suddenly faced with a level placement test, so there was struggle and drama right out of the gates. This season has already brought us several standout scenes. Episode 6 presented the first half of “POSITION BATTLE: OPEN ROUND.” After the first round of rankings were announced, the 50 remaining trainees were divided into nine teams to compete in the event. In previous rounds, trainees were able to pick their own fields of expertise, like vocals, dance, or rap. But as Dean Fujioka explained, “Today, the borders between vocals, dance, and rap are gone. We’re in an age of all-rounders, where people aren’t hemmed in by the idea of fixed positions.” This time, the battle used an OPEN ROUND approach. It judged the trainees’ ability to handle self-production, including song arrangement and structure. It was a vivid example of how the updates the show had made to its judging approach in order to produce a global boy band for today’s era. The nine teams competed, each with their own song, and the two top trainees and the top trainee for each of the nine songs in the group battle were selected as leaders. One particularly dramatic scene unfolded for the