Former Coed School Member Sungmin Opens Up About Why He Thinks His Group Was "Never Going To Succeed"

Former K-Pop idols Sungmin and Taewoon spoke up about their rocky debut in one of the only co-ed K-Pop groups ever, Coed School.

Coed School debuted in 2010 with a revolutionary concept of mixing guys and girls in one group. They consisted of female members Soomi, Hyoyoung, Hyewon, and Chanmi and male members Kwanghaeng, Yoosung, Kangho, Noori, Taewoon and Sungmin.

Though they stood out in the saturated market with their mix of members, Sungmin was not surprised that they did not make it big. The group disbanded in 2013 without any major hits. Their sub-units, SPEED and 5Dolls, disbanded two years later. Sungmin and Taewoon revealed their thoughts on this in an interview with Singosik ~ The return of idols!

Taewoon began the conversation with the topic of his speedy debut at just 21 years old. Rather than training for a long period of time as most idol aspirants do, he and the rest of the team were on a path to debut almost right away.

We made a debut after six months? Eight months? I think I made a debut in November or something when I was still 21 years old.

— Taewoon

Taewoon in Coed School | *MBK Entertainment*

Coed School actually debuted in September 2010 with the song “Too Late.” They closely followed this single with their better known track “Bbiribbom Bberibbom.”

Because of their young ages, lack of training, and chemistry as a group, Sungmin said he should have known that they had a steep road ahead of them. Though fans would agree otherwise, he personally thought that they were lacking “skill-wise.”

Now that I think about, there was no way we were going to be successful. Because we had no base skill-wise.

— Sungmin

He added, “They pretty much got random people on the street and put us on stage together.”

Moreover, because of their short training periods, they needed to work twice as hard as usual, something that was notably difficult for new trainees.

They made us practice all day for seven or eight months.

— Taewoon

Despite not becoming A-list singers, Coed School still left their mark in the K-Pop industry with their unique concept of integrating males and females into the same group. Other groups that followed this concept were KARD, Triple H, K-TIGERS ZERO, and more.