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Manila Bulletin devider Entertainment devider Music and Concerts devider Filipino Sophia Laforteza wins spot in HYBE, Geffen Records' global girl group search

Filipino Sophia Laforteza wins spot in HYBE, Geffen Records' global girl group search

Published Nov 18, 2023 07:08 am

Sophia Laforteza from the Philippines has won a spot and will debut in the global girl group under leading Korean entertaiment company HYBE and Geffen Records.

The live finale of "The Debut: Dream Academy" Program to pick the members of the global girl group was held on Nov. 17 (Nov. 18 in Manila) in Los Angeles.

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New girl group Katseye will debut under HYBE and Geffen Records (HYBE, Geffen)

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Sophia from the Philippines (HYBE, Geffen) Dream (5).jpeg

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Daniela (HYBE, Geffen)Dream (4).jpeg

Lara (HYBE, Geffen) Dream (6).jpeg

Yoonchae (HYBE, Geffen)Dream (3).jpeg

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The members of the debuting global girl group (HYBE, Geffen)

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The top 10 contestants (HYBE, Geffen)

The top 10 contestants competed to win in the six-member global girl group named Katseye during the program, which was simultaneously live streamed on HYBE Label’s YouTube Channel (Global), Weverse (Global) and ABEMA (Japan).

“The Debut: Dream Academy” project will debut an international girl group in 2024. This notably represents the first time a US-based, truly global girl group will be created and modeled based on the world-renowned K-pop training and development system, under which the contestants have been quietly training over the last year in Los Angeles.

The first to be called to be a member of the debuting girl group was Laforteza, 20.

Laforteza will be a member of Katseye along with Lara Rajagopalan, 17 (US); Daniela Avanzini, 19 (US); Manon Bannerman, 21 (Switzerland); Megan Skiendiel, 17 (US); and Yoonchae Jeong, 15 (South Korea).

The final lineup of contestants was determined by a combination of early votes and real-time votes during the live finale, as well as the evaluators’ scores.

HYBE is the parent company of K-pop groups BTS, Seventeen, ENHYPEN and Tomorrow X Together.

Related Tags

HYBE x Geffen Global Girl Group Audition
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