Idol trainees usually have the desire to join big entertainment companies because that’s how they can gain more attention.
There are many currently popular K-pop idols who have experienced failure in auditions held in the past by big entertainment companies namely SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment, and JYP Entertainment. They switched to other companies during their trainee period and achieved even greater success.
Recently, (G)I-DLE’s Miyeon told the story of her audition for YG Entertainment back in the day when appearing on the YouTube show “Lee Mujin Service.”
Miyeon recalled, “I auditioned for the first time in my first year of middle school, and I made it up to the third round. Although I was nothing special, I made it to the third round but ultimately didn’t pass the final round. I thought I had to seize this opportunity, so I went to meet the CEO, and begged. I handed over a new demo CD and it was accepted.”
Miyeon spent five years as a trainee after passing the YG audition in her first year of middle school. Later, she moved to Cube Entertainment and made her debut as a member of (G)I-DLE after failing to debut under JYP Entertainment.
Netizens left comments such as “She got the ultimate revenge against YG,” and “Thank you for letting us see (G)I-DLE’s Miyeon.”
IU is another famous case of being overlooked by a big entertainment agency. IU was eliminated in a past audition held by JYP Entertainment. Park Jin Young, the head of JYP, reportedly said, “I regret it to the point of wanting to bang my head on the ground,” and even jokingly threatened to punish the audition staff when he found out about it.
Afterwards, IU passed the audition for Loen Entertainment after multiple attempts and debuted in 2008.
In particular, JYP is famous for missing out on numerous idols who have become top stars now. BTS’s J-Hope also participated in JYP auditions but didn’t debut under JYP. He showed his dancing skills for three hours in an audition at Big Hit Entertainment and ultimately debuted as a member of BTS.
JYP missed out on not only IU and J-Hope but also EXID’s Hani, Hyolyn, actress Min Hyo Rin, and Highlight’s Lee Gi Kwang and Yoon Doo Joon. However, Park Jin Young appeared on KBS2’s “Happy Together” in the past and said, “It’s regrettable, but we can’t guarantee that they would have succeeded if they were in our company. It’s because they met with producers and did music over there, so they might have found a better match and succeeded.“
Lee Hyori was scouted by SM Entertainment before her debut. She was an S.E.S. trainee, but she quit her trainee life at SM due to the tight schedule and hardships. Afterward, Lee Hyori did not give up her dream of becoming a singer and joined DSP Entertainment, debuting as a member of Fin.K.L.
Sunmi also had an experience of auditioning for SM. Sunmi revealed that she auditioned for SM in the sixth grade of elementary school, and just when she was contemplating whether to become a trainee or not, an SM staff member recommended her to switch agencies and audition for JYP, so she joined JYP.
Source: Nate
