On Saturday 14th April, UK’s A2 Entertainment teamed up with Toronto based Nu-Lite Entertainment to find the UK’s most talented person or group.
The winner would win a roundtrip airfare and hotel from London, United Kingdom to Toronto to perform along side the next “THE ACADEMY OF HEROES” Concert in Toronto, Canada.
(L to R) Emmalyn Estrada, J.Reyez, Lydia Paek and Tommy C
The judges for this event included popular online Korean Canadian artist J.Reyez who has more than 45 million views on his channel. Lydia Paek, a Korean American songwriter for YG Entertainment who is also a member of Quest Crew who won the third season of America’s Best Dance Crew. As well as Tommy C, a popular online singer who has written for German Idol star Adrian Bujapi, and Emmalyn Estrada, an up and coming singer from Vancouver, Canada.
Menace2Dennis also judged and hosted the event. The co-founder of Nu-Lite Entertainment, he and his company have revolutionised the online music industry. Nu-Lite Entertainment develops and manages talents, also works as a major booking agency.
The afternoon started off with a meet and greet with the judges. UnitedKpop managed to have a quick chat with both J.Reyez and Lydia Paek about their view on Kpop as well as receive a shoutout from both.
This trip was Lydia’s second time in London. When asked which Kpop artists she listens to, she said she “doesn’t really listen to anyone but YG”. Listing YG artists such as BIG BANG, 2NE1, Se7en and Gummy. She mentioned her closeness with 2NE1 and how their bond strengthens every time they spend time together. Lydia goes back to Korea every month to teach YG trainees singing and dance.
The trip was also the second time in London for J.Reyez. He mentioned how he didn’t really like anyone but BIG BANG because of how “Americanised” they were. When he asked me which artists I listened to, I mentioned Jay Park and he followed on with how he likes Jay Park for breaking boundaries in Korea by swearing for example!
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egwHLdHMfCE
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmxNzTILcOc
After the meet and greet, the talent search began as each contestant performed in a bid to perform alongside the judges in the ACADEMY OF HEROES concert in Toronto.
httpv://youtu.be/AzGyq_arG-Q
Following the contestants’ performances, each judge took to the stage to give their own performances.
First up was Emmalyn who showed off her powerful vocal chords performing Beyoncé’s ‘Love On Top’ amongst other songs.
Next was Tommy C.
Afterwards was Lydia who gave top notch performances including Beyoncé’s “Party”.
Next up was J.Reyez.
Finally, all four judges performed together including a performance of Taeyang’s “Wedding Dress”.
The winner was announced to be CJ Idos who performed a beautiful rendition of Bruno Mars’ “Grenade”.
Congratulations to CJ!
You can check his stuff out on YouTube and the rest of our photos here.
