Toronto’s Tricon Films & Television and Corus-owned YTV have teamed up for a supergroup-focused The Next Star competition series.

The spinoff show, unveiled Sunday night during the live finale of The Next Star on YTV, will see the TV competition series move from finding the next big Canadian singing sensation to finding a five-piece boy band or girl band worthy of being named the winning supergroup.

Jocelyn Hamilton, VP of programming and original production at Corus Kids, said the spinoff series is about taking advantage of the zeitgeist as young Canadians embrace One Direction and The Fifth Harmony.

“Many of the bands of the last couple years are a perfect spin-off for our big series, for us to potentially do this series where, when we’re travelling and we see so much talent, we find girl and boy bands and have them compete against one another,” she told Playback.

The Next Star: SuperGroup will follow the musical performance journey of 30 finalists who travel to Toronto and compete in groups of five while going through a bootcamp led by an expert panel of mentors.

The series will culminate with two groups going head to head in the live finale, where Canadian viewers will vote to determine who wins the grand prize and title of The Next Star: SuperGroup.

Marc Kell Whitehead, general manager of production at Tricon, ventured the spinoff series will have a different dynamic from The Next Star, where six kids from six corners of Canada and their solo performances encourage distinctive fan bases from regional TV markets.

The Next Star: SuperGroup, by contrast, will see YTV viewers likely to favour five kids per group performing under one banner, irrespective of where they are from in Canada.

“I may have previously looked to the top six because they’re from my town. Now I have a band of five girls or five boys, and their performance must carry through,” Whitehead said of the spinoff series, to be hosted by Jordan Francis.

The Next Star: SuperGroup will also feature coaches and industry experts like music producer Damon Sharpe, recording artist Cory Lee (Degrassi: The Next Generation, Instant Star), So You Can Dance Canada winner Nico Archambault, vocal coach Sarah Morrison, make-up artist Vanessa Jarman and stylist Corey Ng.

The series is slated to debut in spring 2014 and will wrap with a live finale event in Toronto, ahead of the summer 2014 run for The Next Star.

Pictured: The Next Star, season six, via Facebook

From Playback Online