BTS' label launches auditions for an Indian girl band: Are you ready to rock?
Auditions for an Indian girl band, being launched by the Korean powerhouse behind K-pop superbands such as BTS, Seventeen and KATSEYE, are on, across multiple cities in India. Read on to know the details.
The last time there was an attempt to launch a girl band in India was over two decades ago, when the girl band Viva was born. Despite considerable excitement about the band, it never had a release after their second album in 2003, though the members did carve careers as solo artistes.
Indian music lovers have forever been thirsting for a proper band culture, particularly a girl band that could measure up to international standards. The concept never really caught up, there has been no girl band of note in the mainstream pop scene since Viva. That scene could change now.
In what could mark a pivotal shift in India’s global music ambitions, auditions are being lined up for a new-age girl group in the country.
WHEN AND WHERE DO AUDITIONS TAKE PLACE, WHO'S ELIGIBLE?
The auditions will be held from March 31 to July 31, 2026, and female talent across India who are born between 2005 and 2011 are eligible to take part. In-person rounds will be held across cities like Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Pune, aims at decentralising the audition process.
There is a facility to submit forms online, and talents required to be showcased by applicants during the auditions include vocals, rap, dancing, acting and modelling.
The audition details and forms are now available on the company’s official website. Details on the schedules will be updated.
Check out the following link for details on how to apply: https://india.hybeaudition.com/
The effort is to address a structural gap in the Indian music scene, adding that India has long had the ambition and talent but lacked a "consistent pathway to the global stage," said CEO Damien Woochang Lee of HYBE India, who are behind launching an all-girl band in the country. The audition, he said, is the starting point of building that bridge.
For music buffs, the news would come as an exciting one because HYBE are originally a Korean powerhouse behind K-pop superbands such as BTS, Seventeen and KATSEYE.
The process to launch an all-girl band in India will introduce a training-to-debut pipeline similar to the K-pop system that has proven export-ready in the K-pop scene.
In the Indian context, the multiple-city in-person rounds aim to create a concept rooted in "harmony in diversity", packaging India’s linguistic, cultural and regional multiplicity for a global audience.
WHY AN INDIAN GIRL GROUP, AND WHY NOW?
The decision to debut with a girl group isn’t incidental; its data led.
Research conducted with Nielsen – including a nationwide quantitative study and deep-dive qualitative insights across six cities revealed a strong aspiration among young Indian women for relatable, aspirational role models in pop culture, as per the BTS’ parent company.
In India, where female-led pop acts have historically struggled to scale beyond Bollywood playback or indie circuits, this could mark a format shift. If it clicks, this could give India a pop culture the music industry has lacked despite its massive youth demographic.
India has exported playback singers and indie acts, but never a pop group trained for international markets based on Gen Z identity. A successful Indian girl group with global reach could open doors for similar acts, much like how BTS did for Asia in the global pop.
For now, the auditions are just beginning.