5 K-Pop Idols Who Nearly Gave Up On Their Dreams When They Were Trainees

K-Pop idols have to go through a lot on their journey to debuting, as many idols have come out and revealed that they almost quit their dreams due to how stressful their trainee days were. Here’s a list of a few idols who nearly gave up on their dreams when they were trainees.

1. Sana (TWICE)

Before her debut with TWICE, Sana had a pre-debut appearance in GOT7‘s “A” music video.

While Sana received a lot of praise for her beauty during this time, she has admitted that this was around the time when she almost gave up on being an idol. During this time, Sana stopped managing her weight and was ready to quit pursuing her dreams of becoming an idol. However, after appearing in GOT7’s music video, she started to gain some more motivation and kept pursuing her goals of becoming an idol.

2. Seulgi (Red Velvet)

Seulgi was a trainee for 7 years, and she had many moments where she almost gave up on her dreams of becoming an idol. One of the biggest things Seulgi struggled with was her confidence, as she started to feel insecure after seeing how talented some of the trainees were at SM Entertainment.

I was picked by the agency for my singing talent, but I couldn’t sing. As I watched other singers who are better than me, I began to feel insecure. Then to make things worse, I developed vocal chord issues.

— Seulgi

It even got to the point where Seulgi would only practice by herself, as she started to hate her voice.

I started dancing because I couldn’t bear singing anymore. I would only practice singing in a studio where no one else could hear me. That’s how much I had come to hate my voice.

— Seulgi

Seulgi then started to question if she was on the right career path, as she felt that her singing wasn’t improving. Thankfully, her mother was able to help her get through this slump.

3. Jeongyeon (TWICE)

Jeongyeon once had doubts about becoming an idol when she started working at a bakery.

“To be honest, I almost quit being a trainee in the past. I wanted to work at a bakery.”

— Jeongyeon

It got to the point where Jeongyeon even started thinking about opening up a bakery.

“Working at the bakery matched with me very well. I almost thought about making my own bakery!”

— Jeongyeon

However, Jeongyeon didn’t end up switching career paths, as she remained a trainee, and eventually debuted as a member of TWICE.

4. BM (KARD)

A few months before his debut with KARD, BM considered leaving his company. During the time, BM felt that nothing in his life was working, and he felt that it was because he hadn’t debuted yet. He even asked the CEO of his company if he could break his contract.

I straight up asked her, ‘Hey, can I leave? Can I pay you back for the training fees?’

— BM

However, shortly after this, the company CEO ended up putting BM into the debut lineup for KARD, and he stayed at the company.

5. Jihyo (TWICE)

Jihyo was a trainee for 10 years and has had many difficult moments leading up to her debut. One of the most difficult things she had to endure is when her debut teams would disband. Before TWICE was formed, Jihyo was supposed to debut in a group called 6MIX, but they ended up disbanding. This is the moment when Jihyo considered quitting.

Right before I debuted, I wanted to quit. Before TWICE, there was this team that I was a part of. When that team disbanded, I just wanted to give up.

— Jihyo

Luckily for Jihyo, she was given another chance to debut through the show SIXTEEN.