Somi Reveals She Used To Be Scared Of (G)I-DLE’s Soyeon

These days, (G)I-DLE fans know Soyeon as a total sweetheart. However, when soloist Somi first met her on a survival show, she was actually scared of Soyeon. Somi revealed the story of their relationship in a new “IDDP” episode for 1theK Originals.

Before Somi was the star soloist behind “Birthday,” “What You Waiting For,” and new hit “Dumb Dumb,” she first debuted as a member of the temporary girl group I.O.I. I.O.I was formed through the first season of Mnet‘s Produce 101, and over the course of the show, Somi fast became the most popular contestant. In the finale episode, she finished in first place with a staggering 858,333 votes.

While Somi remains close with her fellow former I.O.I members to this day, she also befriended several Produce 101 contestants who sadly didn’t make it into the lineup. In a new episode of 1theK‘s “IDDP,” Somi read a fan-made online profile about herself which named some of the contestants she was closest with: CLC‘s Eunbin,

soloist Park Soyeon,

and (G)I-DLE‘s Soyeon.

However, Somi’s friendship with Soyeon wasn’t BFF-at-first-sight. In fact, Somi revealed to 1theK, “To be honest, I was scared of Soyeon.”

Recalling the story of how they met five years ago, when Somi was just 14 and Soyeon was 17, Somi explained that she used to think Soyeon was “very scary.” During the contestants’ first episode introductions, Soyeon’s very first line on Produce 101 was, “I’m the female monster“—a lyric from her cover of 4MINUTE‘s “Crazy.” From then on, she went to show off her cool and powerful side with her intense rap talents, which may be why Somi found her intimidating at first.

However, Somi went on to reveal that one day, she saw Soyeon practicing with her hair in pigtails wearing a cartoon hairpin. That image changed Somi’s perception of the (G)I-DLE star; “I thought, she has a girly side to her,” she explained.

With that in mind, Somi was able to pluck up the courage to approach Soyeon—and when she did, she realized how wrong she’d been about her. “She’s really tender-hearted and so girly,” Somi gushed, adding, “We grew close really quickly.” The rest is history, and to this day, they remain an adorable pair of friends.