Mnet's K-pop girls competition show unveils first lineup of contestants

First set of participating girl group members and solo artists were revealed through a surprise performance video [MNET]

Mnet's upcoming girl group idol competition show "Queendom: Puzzle" has unveiled the first lineup of 13 girl group members and solo artists who will compete against each other in the show.

The two surprise performance videos released on Thursday revealed the first two subunits from the show, PICK on the top and PICK-CAT, with six and seven members each.

PICK on the top consists of Nana and Wooyeon from Woo!Ah!, Soeun and Jihan from Weeekly, Jiwon from Cherry Bullet and Lee Ji-woo from tripleS, while PICK-CAT includes Yeeun, formerly from girl group CLC, Yeoreum from WJSN, Yuki from Purple Kiss, Sangah from Lightsum, Riina from H1-KEY and Chaerin and Bora from Cherry Bullet.

The two subunit teams are seen performing unreleased tracks, "Charismatic" and "SNAP," in contrasting concepts.

"I'm very nervous as it is my first time joining a survival show," Nana from Woo!Ah! said in a press release. "I will try to unleash my charms that I wasn't able to in Woo!Ah!."

Another set of special performance videos will be released on Thursday on Mnet's weekly music show program "M Countdown" (2004-), which will also be the day when the second lineup of "Queendom" will be revealed.

The cable network also shared on Thursday that two former-girl group members, Lee Chae-yeon from IZ*ONE and Haein from Laboum will be leaving the show for personal reasons, with no current plans to add new members. Media reported that the two singers had already filmed some episodes of "Queendom" before leaving.

"Queendom: Puzzle," the third entry in Mnet's "Queendom" series of idol completion show, features where girl groups and artists compete by releasing songs at the same time.

While the previous seasons saw entire girl groups or solo artists competing with each other, "Queendom: Puzzle" will feature girl group members and solo artists forming different subunits "like a puzzle" as the program process, competing for a spot in a project girl group that Mnet will debut after the final episode. "Queendom" (2019) featured girl groups such as Lovelyz, Mamamoo and (G) -DILE, and "Queendom 2" (2022) featured girl groups including Kep1er, Viviz, Loona and WJSN.

Taeyeon from Girls' Generation will host the show.

Mnet also made counterpart shows for boy groups, "Road to Kingdom" (2020) and "Kingdom" (2021).

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]