BLACKPINK’s Jennie Reveals What Jisoo, Rosé & Lisa Were Like When They Joined YG Entertainment

It’s already been four years since BLACKPINK debuted, but Jennie seems to remember the group’s pre-debut stories like they were yesterday. In an interview with ELLE magazine, Jennie revealed what her fellow members were like when they first joined the company.

Jennie was the first member of BLACKPINK to join YG Entertainment. After moving back to South Korea from New Zealand at the age of 14, she auditioned for the company with Rihanna’s “Take a Bow”. As we all now know, her audition was successful, and she became a trainee in 2010.

The next member to join the company was Lisa—and she made quite an impression on young Jennie. Lisa also auditioned in 2010 at an open call in Thailand. The only applicant to make it through, Lisa soon became an official trainee in 2011.

According to Jennie, young trainee Lisa was a “tall girl with a perfect body”. The thing that struck Jennie most was Lisa’s aptitude for dance, and her uncanny ability to learn choreography routines almost instantly. Lisa revealed she was “always singing and dancing as a child”, and the years of practice definitely paid off.

She started dancing like a robot—she memorized everything in seconds.

— Jennie

After Lisa came Jisoo, the eldest member of BLACKPINK. Jisoo joined YG Entertainment in August 2011, passing her audition at the age of 16.

Jennie revealed that despite joining later than many trainees, Jisoo was adamant not to fall behind. She went on to say that Jisoo’s determination kept up her motivation as an existing trainee.

[Jisoo] came in, eager to learn everything and catch up to everybody, which was really motivating for me as well.

— Jennie

Last but not least, Rosé didn’t join the company until 2012. At the age of 15, she auditioned at an open call for YG Entertainment in 2012, beating out 700 other auditionees for a spot as a trainee.

Although she was the last to join her groupmates, her impact was just as important. Jennie explained that through Rosé, the BLACKPINK members learned the true reason behind becoming musical artists. In turn, Rosé explained that Jennie helped her out with the cultural differences between Australia and South Korea.

[Rosé] gave us the meaning of what music was supposed to do.

— Jennie

Although competition between trainees is often fierce, according to Jennie, the BLACKPINK members had nothing but love for each other from the start. They lived together long before their debut, bonding every night over ordered food, scary teacher stories, and the shared hardship of training.