Alongside vocal and dance, Kpop trainees have to learn many other surprising things.
To look perfect in front of the public, many Kpop idols need to train for a very long time. However, this training process includes more lessons than just singing and dancing.
Basic lessons
Becoming a Kpop idol is no piece of cake, and the life of Kpop trainees is full of studying, practicing, sleeping, and repeating all of these many times over. Often, these trainees would practice 6 times a week and 10 hours a day, and in most entertainment agencies, they would need to exercise, learn English, eat, attend rapping lessons, have free practice time, then attend dancing lessons.
You may be wondering why eating is on the list, and the answer is that trainees need to maintain a perfect body should they appear on television. In particular, entertainment agencies often closely supervise their trainees’ weight and force them to follow diets. There are even dishes that are completely forbidden to Kpop trainees.
In addition, to become Kpop idols, trainees need to give up a lot of things, including their privacy, studies, friendships, and even time spent with their family. Their schedules are also filled with exams and evaluations, which requires them to have strong mentalities.
Selfie lessons, Tik Tok lessons, flashlight endurance, and many more
If the aforementioned are just the basics that Kpop trainees need to cover, then below are some additional lessons that are specific to different agencies.
Trainees under Starship Entertainment have to take these special lessons. In a recent interview, IVE members surprised the MC and fans by revealing that they underwent selfie classes to improve their selfie skills ahead of debut. According to IVE’s leader Yujin, she was not good at taking selfies before so her task was to take two pictures of herself every day and send them to the company for evaluation.
Another unique lesson that IVE had to take is filming TikTok. The girls were required to shoot and edit TikTok videos themselves, and were assessed by the company for their facial expressions and effects.
Getting used to the camera flash is also a skill that idols need to have. Former Crayon Pop member Way once revealed that idols needed to learn a lot of things to be deemed qualified for a debut, such as managing facial expressions, getting used to all the bright flashes. There are some companies that even make the trainees go into a small black room to practice the ability not to blink when standing in front of flashes.
