Former Kpop trainee, “I gave up under intense pressure. Chinese trainees are not treated well”
A Chinese netizen revealed the full extent of their stressful training period in Korea and urged fans to treasure their idols.
Recently on the Chinese social media Zhihu, an anonymous account discussed his time as a Kpop trainee in Korea, saying, “I used to be a trainee. However, I gave up after a short time due to intense pressure and slim debut opportunity.”
The poster also added, “When I first came to Korea, I struggled a lot due to the language barrier. In addition, Chinese trainees are not treated well nor held in high regard, so the Chinese idols who made it must be extremely talented.”
“It was never easy to be a trainee. Before debut, trainees like me received no payment, no well-equipped dorm, nor traveling fees. Therefore, we walked to and from the practice room most of the time. Training was hard as hell, and I remembered practicing everyday for over 12 hours, only to face surprise assessments from about 6 different mentors. On the worse days, we were called awake at 6 AM for vocal tests, and if we didn’t do well then we were forced to work on it during the weekends,” the netizen wrote.
According to this person, the diet for trainees was also extremely strict, and they were only allowed to eat veggies with the exception of special company events. Homesickness was also a huge issue, especially for trainees from overseas.
Then, the former trainee added that debuting is a completely new challenge, saying, “Korea is extremely strict with its artists, so if you want to debut, you have to always listen to your agency. Some trainees had to sign 10-year contracts with their company, only for the company to terminate one-sidedly if they can’t debut within a set time period.”
Korean agencies often force their artists into default images, and artists would listen to them in order to gain a debut opportunity, the former trainee also said. They disagreed with this trend, and decided to give up in the end due to intense pressure.
Finally, the alleged Chinese trainee talked about how fans should treasure their idols, saying, “It’s already hard enough to debut under small companies, and the competition at large agencies is simply insane. YG Entertainment doesn’t even accept Chinese trainees! In the end, they would only focus on trainees and artists that can generate good profits. Therefore, please treasure your favorite idols, for you’d never understand the pains they have been through in order to debut and stand on stage.”
Source: Zhihu
