K-Pop Idols Who Were Once A Trainee of SM Entertainment

Before becoming a successful artist in the K-Pop industry, many hardships and struggles will go along the way. They have probably thought that becoming a trainee in their dream company will be the path to stardom. Sadly, not everyone makes it to the cut. But rejection leads to redirection! Here are some of the most successful trainees who were once a SM Ent. trainee.

Billlie Tsuki

The idol who killed her performance due to her facial expressions and dancing, Tsuki of Billlie, was the only one out of 20,000 foreign applicants who got into SM Entertainment. She became friends with aespa‘s NingNing.

PENTAGON‘s Jinho

He was already a member of SM Entertainment’s music project group titled SM The Ballad, together with Super Junior‘s Kyuhyun, TRAX‘s Jay Kim, and SHINee’s Jonghyun. Once rumored to be a part of EXO and became a trainee of CUBE Entertainment. He’s now the main vocalist of PENTAGON.

Kep1er Chaehyun

Center and main vocalist of Kep1er, Chaehyun trained under SM Entertainment for 4 years at the age of 15. After the videos of her singing skills went viral many fans assumed that will be a member new of SM Entertainment’s newest girl group, aespa. She trained alongside Karina, Winter, and Ningning.

Park Ji Hoon

Soloist and former Wanna One, Park Ji Hoon was once a trainee of both SM Entertainment and Fantagio, before debuting under Maroo Entertainment. He made his debut in 2017 with Wanna One and his solo debut in 2019.

Cosmic Girl/WJSN Yeonjung

The powerful vocalist and maknae of WJSN, Yeonjung was once a trainee of the entertainment company before joining Produce 101 as a trainee of Starship Entertainment. She is known to be a close friend of a Red Velvet member, Yeri.

BIGBANG G-Dragon

One of the most successful idols of all time, BIGBANG‘s G-Dragon was a trainee under SM Entertainment for about 6 years, He focused on dancing before his love for hip-hop. G-Dragon then joined YG Entertainment to train as a rapper. And the rest is history.