Veiled Cup (), formerly named Global Veiled Musician () was the third edition of the South Korean singing competition series Veiled Musician, and the first edition of the international version of the series that took place in South Korea, with the final held on February 1, 2026. Nine countries participated, with the preliminary round and semi-final results being decided by a professional judging panel, while the winner was decided by votes from both the professional judging panel and the viewing public. The show was hosted by Lee Da-hee.
Organized by the Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) and produced by Prism Studios, the show was split into four episodes and broadcast on SBS TV from January 11 to February 1, 2026, with the preliminary and semi-final rounds being pre-recorded and the final being broadcast live.
The winner was Laguna Diva from the Philippines, whose identity was revealed to be Arabelle Dela Cruz.
Background The show was first launched in 2018, under the name , but was rebranded as Veiled Musician for its second season in 2023. It is a web series that was released on YouTube, as well as on V Live, Naver TV and Wavve.
On May 9, 2025, it was announced that the show would expand outside of South Korea, under the brand Global Veiled Musician (later retitled Veiled Cup), and would feature representatives from Asian countries. Several media outlets, including The Korea Herald and the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU), have described the project as the "Asian version of the Eurovision Song Contest", mainly due to its similar concept of nations competing in a music competition.
Format and production Veiled Cup was directed by Lee Hong-hee and produced by Prism Studios, SBS's in-house non-fiction production company. It was filmed at the SBS Prism Tower in Sangam-dong, Mapo District, Seoul, South Korea.
The show was set around the premise of stripping contestants of all their personal identifiers, apart from the voice, and finding the best singer, with more identifiers being revealed as the show progressed. Contestants would perform their songs behind a white circular veil, with their only known identifiers being their hometown and their nickname.
Apart from a trophy, the winner of Veiled Cup would also be given numerous opportunities, including participation in a pan-Asia tour, an appearance on SBS's music program Inkigayo and a contribution to the original soundtrack (OST) of a Korean drama.
Voting system During the preliminary round, the judging panel was given a "fail" button, which the judges would press to determine a contestant's fate in the show. The criterion for the preliminary round was as follows: If none of the judges pressed the button during the contestant's performance, the silhouette light would remain white and the contestant would advance to the semi-finals. If one or two of the judges pressed the button, the light would turn yellow (if one judge pressed the button) and/or red (if two judges pressed the button), putting the contestant's advancement to the semi-finals on hold. If three or more judges pressed the button, the light would turn off and the contestant is eliminated from the round.
Participants who advanced in all pre-final rounds may only answer one question from behind the veil following their performance, while participants who were eliminated would be asked to go on stage outside of the veil to reveal their identities. Meanwhile, participants who were put on hold from advancing in the semi-finals would wait without their information being disclosed. Should the number of semi-finalists be less than fifteen, the judging panel would discuss and select additional semi-finalists among the participants put on hold. However, should the number of semi-finalists exceeded fifteen, an additional elimination round would be held, where the judging panel would discuss and make additional eliminations in order to reach the fifteen semi-finalists limit. Once fifteen semi-finalists are selected, the participants on hold are eliminated.
The format for the semi-finals was a "Veiled Triple Match", where five "mission songs" (specifically selected English-language songs) would be performed by the semi-finalists, who would be randomly placed in teams of three to perform the song together. Only one participant in each team would advance to the finals, which would be decided by the judging panel.
For the finals, the overall winner of Veiled Cup was decided by a combination of a vote from the judging panel and a public vote, wherein audiences would vote for their winner through the LiNC app or through the voting section of the show's official playlist on Spotify, which featured original songs recorded by the participants credited under their respective stage names in the show. The criterion for voting in the grand final is as follows: Professional judging panel (50%) Live broadcast votes (20%) Cumulative global online votes (20%) Music platform votes via Spotify (10%)
Host and judging panel
South Korean actor and radio personality Choi Daniel was initially announced as the show's presenter on July 12, 2025. On January 5, 2026, it was announced that actress and model Lee Da-hee would be the new host of Veiled Cup. Choi would instead host Veiled Musician, the South Korean national selection show for Veiled Cup released on Netflix from November 12 to December 31, 2025.
The show also featured a judging panel composed of well-known performers. On July 12, 2025, the first round of members of the judging panel were announced, which included singers Paul Kim, Shin Yong-jae, Ahn Ji-young (the sole member of the South Korean musical act BOL4), and Belle of Kiss of Life. The second round of judges were announced on July 23, 2025, which included Kwon Jung-yeol (the sole member of the musical act 10cm), American singer-songwriters Tiffany Young and Ailee, and Canadian singer-songwriter Henry. On October 24, 2025, it was announced that singer Miyeon of I-dle would be added to the judging panel of Veiled Cup.
On January 5, 2026, the final judging panel for Veiled Cup was announced, with Miyeon, Paul Kim, Tiffany Young, 10 cm, Ailee and Henry completing the panel. Shin Yong-jae, Ahn Ji-young and Belle would instead become part of the judging panel for Veiled Musician, along with Paul Kim, Ailee, and Kihyun of Monsta X.
List of participants Nine countries participated in Veiled Cup. Audition rounds were held in each participating country from August to December 2025. Three contestants were selected from each country to proceed to the preliminary round of the contest in South Korea, with the exception of Indonesia, which only sent two contestants.
In June 2025, Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and Taiwan were initially announced as participating countries. However, on November 11, 2025, the aforementioned countries did not appear in promotional materials, while China was added to the list of participants.
+ Veiled Cup participants Country Contestants Song Stage name Identity Haining Moonlight Yang Linfeng "Staggering" Shanghai Twist Dicey "A Soliloquy in the Light" Beijing DeokLiu Yixin "Wake Up" Borneo Mamamia Natalia "My Love in This Life and the Next" Jakarta Freedom Saniya "An Unexpected Encounter" Osaka Sunny Sora "When I Grow Up" Tokyo Trainee Jung Young-uk "Ballad of A Singer" Tokyo Honey Voice Daisuke Utsumi "I Believe" Vientiane Cupid Napha "We'll Never Be in Love" Vientiane Red Hair Jimmy "In the End" Vientiane Siren Aoy "800 Million" Ulaanbaatar Cherry Bomb D. Ariunzaya "Diva" Ulaanbaatar Gobi Bear B. Bilguun "Dream" Ulaanbaatar Korean E. Tuguldur "Nice to Meet You" Zambales Beast Garrett Bolden "Our Love" Manila Storyteller Thea Astley "Wishful Thinking" Laguna Diva Arabelle Dela Cruz "Wake Up" Gyeongsang-do Iron Voice Kim Da-mi "Unrequited Love" Gyeonggi-do Cotton Candy Lee Ju-yeon "All About You" Seoul Thirty-One Park Da-hyun "On That Day" Bangkok Makdung Tappicha Kitipanungkun "Mercury" Bangkok Soul Man Topsie Thanaphat "Ain't It A Shame" Phang Nga Bay Fighter Naratcha Dokkating "All or Nothing" Ho Chi Minh Moana rowspan="2" "Believe it or Not" Ho Chi Minh Entertainer "One Minute" Ho Chi Minh Serenade Rachel Fang "Look Into Your Eyes"
Contest overview Auditions Auditions in each country took place from August to December 2025, held through nationally televised competitions. Three contestants from each country would advance to the preliminary round of Veiled Cup in South Korea.
On August 29, 2025, Cambodian public broadcaster National Television of Cambodia (TVK) announced that it would organize Veiled Musician Cambodia, which would select the Cambodian contestants for Veiled Cup. The program was not materialized and Cambodia was not included in the show's official list of participating countries.
+ Veiled Cup national selection shows Country National selection Broadcaster Judging panel Host(s) Date(s) Main judges Guest judge(s) colspan="7" Veiled Musician Indonesia RTV Paul Kim Jevier Justin Veiled Musician Japan Tokyo MX Ryo Fukawa Veiled Musician Laos YouTube Henry Mitpasa Boudsavong Veiled Musician Mongolia MNB Ailee B. Gerelee Veiled Musician Philippines GMA Network Tiffany Young November 9, 2025 Veiled Musician Netflix Choi Daniel Veiled Musician Thailand WeTV Thanawat Prasitsomporn January 9, 2026 Veiled Musician Vietnam HTV7 colspan="4"
Preliminary round The preliminary round was broadcast on January 11 and 18, 2026. All twenty-six selected participants participated, fifteen of whom would advance to the semi-final round. However, only eighteen performances were broadcast.
As the judging panel had selected seventeen contestants to advance to the semi-finals (exceeding the limit of fifteen semi-finalists), an additional elimination round was held where two contestants would be eliminated. The contestants were divided into three groups based on their ranking in their respective national selection shows, with one being eliminated from each group. Ultimately, two contestants under the Top 3 group were eliminated, while no contestant in the Top 1 and Top 2 groups were removed.
Thailand was named as the MVP Country after all three of its participants qualified for the semi-finals. Initially, Thailand tied with South Korea for the distinction as all three participants from the latter nation also qualified. However, Thailand was selected after considering the number of "fail" votes between the Thai participants and the South Korean participants, wherein Thailand received no "fail" votes.
+ Preliminary round # Country Stage name Song Identity Result First half (January 11, 2026) 1 Phang Nga Bay Fighter "Fallin'" by Alicia Keys Advanced to semi-finals 2 Zambales Beast "Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You" by George Benson Advanced to semi-finals 3 Gyeonggi-do Cotton Candy "I Feel Love" by Thama Advanced to semi-finals 4 Ulaanbaatar Korean "Love Always Runs Away" by Lee Moon-sae E. TuguldurEliminated 5 Jakarta Freedom "Love and Let Go" by Raisa Advanced to semi-finals 6 Haining Moonlight "The Moon Represents My Heart" by Teresa Teng Advanced to semi-finals 7 Bangkok Soul Man "Mack the Knife" by Bobby Darin Advanced to semi-finals Second half (January 18, 2026) 8 Gyeongsang-do Iron Voice "If I Leave" by Sumi Jo Advanced to semi-finals 9 Laguna Diva "If I Ain't Got You" by Alicia Keys featuring Usher Advanced to semi-finals 10 Vientiane Red Hair "Love.. That Guy" by Bobby Kim Advanced to semi-finals 11 Vientiane Siren "Bloodsucker" by Cil Advanced to semi-finals 12 Seoul Thirty-One "Once While Living" by 4Men Advanced to semi-finals 13 Borneo Mamamia "My Destiny" by Lyn Advanced to semi-finals 14 Tokyo Honey Voice Advanced to semi-finals 15 Tokyo Trainee "Rush Hour" by Crush featuring J-Hope Advanced to semi-finals 16 Osaka Sunny "Wherever You Are" by One Ok Rock Advanced to semi-finals 17 Ho Chi Minh Serenade Advanced to semi-finals 18 Bangkok Makdung "Rise Up" by Andra Day Advanced to semi-finals