Will the debut team of “Girls Planet 999” become a Hallyu girl group, following IZ*ONE’s footstep?

“Girls Planet 999” is having their final live show tonight where 9 out of 18 trainees will get to debut.

Mnet’s “Girls Planet 999: The Girls’ Saga” (hereinafter referred to as “Girls Planet 999”) final live show will be held on Oct 22nd. Fans are excited for the creation of a new project girl group from Mnet’s survival show, which will receive the baton of I.O.I and IZ*ONE.

99 people from three countries, Korea, China, and Japan, participated in “Girls Planet 999”, which began broadcasting in August. The final live broadcast will feature 18 surviving trainees after fierce competition. Shen Xiaoting, Kim Da-yeon, Mashiro Sakamoto, Hikaru Ezaki, Choi Yoo-jin, Yurina Kawaguchi, Nonaka Shana, Fu Yaning, Seo Young-eun, Su Ruiqi, Kim Chae-hyun, Kang Ye-seo, Huening Bahiyyih, Wen Zhe, Kim Bo-ra, Huang Xingqiao, Kim Soo-yeon, and Guinn Myah are on the final live participation list.

They will be divided into two teams of nine people and compete with the original new song “Shine”. “Shine” is an up tempo dance-pop song that contains the message of “I want to be a star and shine now for you who have always protected my dreams and led me like a light.” All 18 people will also perform a joint performance with the midi-up pop ballad song “Another Dream”, which expresses their gratitude for the Planet Guardians (fans of the show).

There will be nine members in the “Girls Planet” debut group. Only half of the 18 participants on the final stage will be qualified for this project girl group. The debut team will be determined by summing the results of the first vote held over the past week and the second vote held during the live broadcast.

The debut group will have an active period of two and a half years. CJ ENM explained to E-Daily, “We will sign an exclusive contract with the members of the debut group of “Girls Planet 999” for two and a half years. We will fulfill our responsibilities to support the activities of the debut team.”

IZ*ONE, which was previously born through Mnet’s “Produce 48,” also had two and a half years of activity. IZ*ONE, the debut team from “Produce 48” which is a Korea-Japan joint survival project, actively traveled between the two countries during its activities and played an essential part in the Korean Wave craze. IZ*ONE sold more than 500,000 copies with a single album. Given that “Girls Planet” is a program in which not only South Korea and Japan but also Chinese trainees participated, fans are excited to see how the debut group will perform in South Korea as well as abroad in the future.

The program did not create much attention compared to the “Produce” series, with the average audience rating remaining in the 0~1% range. However, throughout the broadcast, it has been consistently listed in the CPI entertainment category, and overseas responses such as the mission songs ranked first on the Japanese music chart, raising expectations for its future performance.

According to Mnet, more than 2.6 billion program-related posts have been uploaded on the platform TikTok by Oct 12th, and the cumulative number of related videos exceeded 400 million on YouTube. The show can be evaluated as succeeded in capturing the hearts of the so-called “generation Z” (the younger generation born between the mid-1990s and early 2000s). For example, boy group ENHYPEN has been showing its stable growth after debut thanks to the support of global fandom, even though Mnet’s “I-Land”  survival show, from which the team was selected, remained in the 0~1% rating range.

Fans are also paying attention to whether there will be domestic participants who make their “redebut” through “Girls Planet.” Among those on the final stage, Choi Yoo-jin (CLC), Kang Ye-seo (Busters), and Kim Bo-ra (Cherry Bullet) have already been active as other girl groups’ members. Throughout the competition, they showed off their “experienced” stable skills and have advanced to the finals.

The trainees have expressed their desire on the day ahead of the final competition, saying, “I want to meet fans in person through concerts, fan meetings, and fan signing events after debut, communicate with them, and stand on the stage together.” Mnet also raised the heat by releasing photos of the participants’ rehearsal stage. The final live broadcast starts at 8 p.m., 20 minutes earlier than the original broadcast time.