BigHit Entertainment Will Have An Important Role In The Next Season Of Produce

The Produce series of survival shows have become a staple of Mnet’s programming over the past few years. Each season has generated an enormous amount of buzz and the group that forms as a result of the show ends up being instantly popular among fans.

The inaugural season, Produce 101, formed the eleven member girl group I.O.I. They didn’t have lengthy contracts so they only released a few singles but many of the members are still active in the industry today in groups like Weki Meki, PRISTIN, Gugudan, DIA and WJSN. Another former member, Chung Ha, is a successful soloist.

The second season is affectionately called “Broduce 101” because its goal was to form a boy group. The resulting group was Wanna One who have now just disbanded after approximately sixteen months together during which they became one of the most popular acts in Korea. You can find out where their former members are planning to go here:

Wanna One’s Plans After Disbanding, Everything you need to know

The most recent season was entitled Produce 48 because of the show’s collaboration with the Japanese girl-group and brand AKB48. In this season, half of the trainees were Japanese and half were Korean and the group that resulted has recently debuted under the name IZ*ONE. You can watch their debut song “La Vie en Rose” here:

The newest season, Produce X 101, was teased at the conclusion of Produce 48 in December. The teaser didn’t give away much information besides the name:

More information has surfaced recently however. BigHit Entertainment, the agency of BTS and TXT, is confirmed to be involved in the project.

CJ E&M own the television channel Mnet which airs Produce. CJ recently announced their plans to form a joint venture with BigHit Entertainment called “Belief” which will be primarily owned by CJ.

It has been announced that CJ will be managing the affairs of the winning trainees but BigHit will be producing the music for the group and likely the original songs used for assessment during the show.

So although this new boy group won’t be an official BigHit artist, they will be producing their songs which can only mean more great music for everyone.