At a press conference Tuesday morning at SBS headquarters in Mok-dong, Seoul, the new audition show introduced its on-air “Top Ears Delegation”: Jung Jae-hyung, Cha Tae-hyun, Jun Hyun-moo, Danny Koo, Crush, Jung Seung-hwan, OH MY GIRL’s MIMI, Park Kyung-lim and MMA star Choo Sung-hoon. The series is led by PD Jung Ik-seung.
'The Ballad of Us' hunts for the next great voice to reinterpret the life-soundtrack ballads etched in everyone’s memory. A 150-member “Top Ears” panel will scout hidden gems as contestants ― whose average age is 18.2 ― take the stage.
The show premieres tonight at 9 p.m. KST with a one-off supersized cut clocking in at 160 minutes.
A veteran of Korean variety, Cha laughed as he recalled hearing the runtime: “Two hours and 40 minutes? I thought, ‘Who are these people?’”
He quickly added, “But my takeaway was, ‘They’re that confident.’ I worried it might drag, but once we started shooting, not at all. The nine of us on the Top Ears Delegation have great chemistry ― it’s genuinely fun. I hope viewers feel that and respond to it.”
PD Jung Ik-seung laid out two rules that shaped the show: never cut a performance a contestant poured their heart into, and don’t manipulate the edit. In other words, those precious three to four minutes onstage ― which might mean everything to a contestant ― will be aired in full, without reshuffling or reframing for manufactured drama.
That commitment naturally stretches the runtime ― and adding authentic reactions from the evaluators pushes it further. Still, the team chose to go long with conviction.
“We delivered the final master in the early hours of this morning and came here feeling good,” Jung said. “We’re confident we made something entertaining. That’s why the network backed a 2-hour-40-minute slot. We did our best to make that long stretch feel like, ‘Wait, it’s over already?’ ― and I think we got there.”
Cha echoed the sentiment: “TV folks don’t take big swings lightly. If they’re programming 2 hours and 40 minutes, they believe in it. I hope this gamble pays off. It’s the premiere ― we’ve got a lot to show, and we’re feeling confident. Please look forward to it.”
'The Ballad of Us' premieres tonight, Sept. 23, at 9 p.m. KST with a special 160-minute episode.
[Photo: Baik Seung-chul]
(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Sun-ae)