Season 2 of 'I-LAND' to air in April next year to find members for new girl group

The teaser image for ″I-LAND2: N/a″ [CJ ENM]

The second season of the famed audition program "I-LAND" will air in April next year to find members of a new girl group that K-pop agency WakeOne plans to launch.

The new season, titled "I-LAND 2: N/a" completed its global audition tour on Oct. 9 in 10 countries and received more than 20,000 applicants, Mnet said.

As this is a project we've been preparing for a long time, we are putting our best effort into it," Mnet said in a press release. "We hope that everyone will join us in witnessing the journey of these new stars from their inception to debut."

Producer Teddy will join this season as the audition's chief producer. Teddy produced numerous hit songs for K-pop artists like Blackpink, Big Bang and 2NE1 and was also named as one of the "50 Greatest Producers of the 21st Century" by Billboard in 2021.

WakeOne, a K-pop label under CJ ENM, manages K-pop artists, including boy band ZeroBaseOne, girl group Kep1er, singer-songwriter Kim Jae-hwan and ballad duo Davichi.

The first season of "I-LAND" was held in partnership with K-pop powerhouse HYBE and led to the formation of boy band Enhypen.

The joint venture named Belift Lab founded by HYBE and CJ ENM, which owns Mnet, was sold to HYBE last August, and Enhypen is now wholly managed by HYBE.

The first season of "I-LAND" was nominated for the Best Non-Scripted Entertainment award at the International Emmy Awards in 2021, one of the world's most significant awards in the television industry.

To find out more about Enhypen, visit Celeb Confirmed!

BY LEE CHAE-MIN [lee.chaemin1@joongang.co.kr]