Is the metaverse interesting?ask korea

Girl’s Re:verse, Kakao’s singing show, is the familiar “survival” format of reality TV. Thirty singers are eliminated over time until the last five of her form a band. But the contestants — all members of her established K-pop band or solo her artists — compete, joke, and hang out as avatars in a virtual world called W. of lava) or go all the way.

With W, the limits of imagination are few. It takes contestants from the open ocean to palaces like Versailles to desert landscapes. His one of the avatars is a chocolate princess born in a cocoa tree. The other has red devil horns. Peng Su, a popular blunt penguin mascot in South Korea, is also among the judges.

According to the show’s producer Son Su-jung, the contestants were involved in the creation of their avatars. It’s also one of her points to break away from the industry’s constant beauty standards by having K-pop singers (so-called “idols”) judged by her talent rather than her looks. said. (Even though they are avatars, they all have big eyes and heart-shaped faces.)

The show also allows you to drop your sophisticated public persona and relax and crack a joke. I hope you can let go.

The glitches were still unresolved in the recent tapings. Support staff were in and out of the cubicle to help the singers with the equipment. The first episode had at least one accident of hers. The contestant yelled as the judge repeated the same question to her.

But some things about reality TV haven’t changed. It turns out that even Avatars are encouraged to snipe their competitors.

“Look at the green light,” the producer said into the contestant through the microphone, and the avatar stared back at him from the screen.

“Who do you think did the worst?” he said. “Speak like you’re gossiping about someone.”

By Jin Yoo Young and Matt Stevens © 2023 The New York Times

This article was originally published in The New York Times.