12 Unbelievable K-Pop Facts That’ll Make You Go “WHAT?!”

1. Red Velvet’s Irene is 8 years older than Yeri

If this age gap isn’t surprising enough, keep in mind that  Irene is also older than many of her seniors. This includes HyunA, Sunmi, 5 Apink members, 3 Girl’s Day members, 2 SISTAR members, and all but one of MAMAMOO‘s members, among others. She is only one month younger than CL!

2. KARD’s Somin and TWICE’s Jeongyeon are related.

Jeongyeon is the niece of Somin‘s father’s younger brother’s wife. This makes them cousins by marriage! They are also the same age and get along together well.

3. BLACKPINK’s 5th member debuted in another group.

There were originally going to be 9 members in BLACKPINK, but this number eventually got cut down to 4. Among these 5 members who did not debut with BLACKPINK was a trainee named Miyeon, who has now gone on to debut as a member of (G)I-DLE.

4. SHINee’s Taemin is only 25 years old, but he has 11 years of work experience.

Taemin was born on July 18, 1993. That made him one of the youngest trainees to ever make his debut, back in 2008. Other young debuts currently include Wonder Girls‘s Ahn Sohee (14), BTS‘s Jungkook (15), and IU (15).

5. BOYSTORY and HI CUTIE are two of the youngest idol groups on the K-Pop scene.

At the time of their debut, HI CUTIE has an average age of 12.6 years old, while BOYSTORY’s average age is 13.

6. The Honey Popcorn members all used to be adult video actresses.

This Japanese membered girl group created quite the stir when their formation was announced. Prior to becoming adult-film-actresses-turned-idols, Yua Mikami, Miko Matsuda, and Moko Sakura were part of different Japanese girl groups.

7.  Park Joon Hyung is the oldest active K-Pop singer.

The leader of g.o.d, Park Joon Hyung, will be turning the big 5-0 this July! He is also older than two of “The Big 3’s” founders, Park Jin Young (JYP Entertainment)and Yang Hyun Suk (YG Entertainment).

8. The Boyz’s “farm boy” Joo Haknyeon has a rich family.

During Produce 101, Joo Haknyeon had a “farm boy” image. When the average city-dweller thinks of a farm, they may picture a modest barn with livestock milling around. Joo Haknyeon’s family, on the other hand, operates a commercial farm with thousands of pigs. It must have made them very wealthy folks because they allegedly own several residences in addition to their Jeju Island farm. Fans have nicknamed Joo Haknyeon “Jeju’s Paris Hilton”!

9. BIGBANG’s G-Dragon trained for 11 years before debuting.

G-Dragon spent 5 years as a trainee in SM Entertainment, where he specialized in dance before leaving to discover himself. After he found his love for rapping he joined YG Entertainment then continued to train until he made his debut 6 years later, with BIGBANG in 2006.

10. TWICE’s Jihyo trained for 10 years before debuting.

G-Dragon isn’t the only trainee who worked his tail off for a decade! Jihyo also spent most of her young life as a trainee before making her debut in 2015.

11.  MOMOLAND’s Nancy is the youngest member but has the most experience.

Nancy may be the maknae, but in terms of experience, she’s actually MOMOLAND‘s veteran! She trained for 6 years before debuting.

12. Minzy (former 2NE1 member) has a famous great-aunt.

Fame seems to run in Minzy’s family, because her great-aunt was the famous folk dancer, Gong Ok Jin, who was best known for her “hunchback dance”.