Kep1er: Challenges, milestones and more!

Of course, if we want to talk about Kep1er's story, we have to start long before the debut:

In January 2021, the channel Mnet announced a new survival show: Girls Planet 999. The channel is known for broadcasting such shows, but this one particularly attracted a lot of attention. It was produced by Mnet itself, as well as the four seasons of the Produce series: Produce 101, Produce 101 Season 2, Produce 48 & Produce X 101.

These were audition shows in which trainees competed against each other in several rounds. The 11 to 12 winners made their debut together and were active as a group for a predetermined period of time (2 to 3 years). The show gave rise to successful project groups such as Wanna One and IZ*ONE!

The show aired from 2016 to 2019. After the fourth season, however, it came to light that the viewers' votes had been manipulated and the winners had already been decided before the finale. As a result of the Produce scandal, the show was officially canceled. 

Girls Planet 999 was Mnet's first attempt at producing a new audition show, just over a year after Produce was canceled.

In this show, 33 Chinese trainees (C-Group), 33 Japanese trainees (J-Group) and 33 Korean trainees (K-Group) competed against each other.

In July, the various groups were introduced through a performance video for “O.O.O,” the show's theme song. Afterwards, a video of all 99 trainees appeared together. Each group had a center that introduced the individual performances:

• K-Group: Kim Dayeon
• C-Group: Shen Xiaoting
• J-Group: Ezaki Hikaru

The three also open the video together with all 99 trainees. 

Do the names sound familiar? That wouldn't be surprising since both Dayeon, Xiaoting and Hikaru made it to the top 9 and debuted as members of Kep1er!

Before that happened, they had to prove themselves like the other trainees and survive several rounds. They covered songs, created their own choreographies and rap lyrics, practiced from early in the morning until late at night and finally showed the result of their efforts on stage.

Right from the start, viewers were allowed to vote for their favorites and after each round, those with the fewest votes were eliminated. In the first elimination, 45 trainees, almost half, were sent home!

At the beginning of the show there was still a cell system. The trainees were divided into groups of three, each consisting of a K, a C and a J trainee. In the first two eliminations, the votes of the cells were added together and only the cells that had the most votes together advanced. Whether a trainee gets kicked out or progresses also depends on his cellmates. In between, the trainees were allowed to form new cells. By the way, this cell system was the biggest difference between Girls Planet 999 and the Produce seasons. However, it was abolished after two eliminations. So in the second half of the show everyone was only responsible for themselves.

Right from the start of the show it was clear that the project group would consist of nine members. It was also clear early on how long the group would be active together before breaking up like IZ*ONE, Wanna One or I.O.I: two and a half years.

These are the nine trainees who emerged victorious from the show and are now known as Kep1ers:

Some of the members have previously been active as idols and actresses or have taken part in other audition shows.

The most famous example is Choi Yujin, who debuted in 2015 as part of the girl group CLC. When she joined Girls Planet 999, it had been almost a year since CLC's last comeback and she assumed there wouldn't be another one. In fact, CLC was officially dissolved in May 2022.

Kang Yeseo began an acting career in 2010 at the age of 5 and was part of the children's group CutieL. In 2019, she was also introduced as the new member of the girl group Busters. When it reorganized in 2020, Yeseo left the group again.

Kim Dayeon was previously seen in Produce 48 - Season 3 of the Produce series. But she was eliminated very early on. The same applies to Shen Xiaoting, who competed in “Produce Camp 2020”, a Chinese variant of Produce 48, in 2020. Xiationg was also a competitive dancer and won a gold medal at a dance competition in Shanghai, for example.

Like Xiaoting and Dayeon, Mashiro was already known to some viewers through another survival show: Stray Kids. The show initially featured a group of female JYP trainees, some of whom debuted in ITZY in 2019. Mashiro was also among the trainees, but left the label shortly afterwards.

Before we continue, let’s briefly explain the name “Kep1er”.

Girls Planet 999 viewers were able to submit suggestions as to what the new girl group should be called before the finale. The decision fell on “Kep1er”. The name is based on the planet “Kepler” and the astronomer Johannes Kepler. This continues Girls Planet's theme of planets and universe.

Furthermore, “Kep” comes from the English word for “keep”. He stands for the girl group keeping their dreams. And the 1 symbolizes that the nine members merge into one.

The name was announced in the finale and caused a lot of discussion for fans who initially had a hard time getting used to it. What do you think of “Kep1er”?