6 K-pop fans who became stars, debuting in the same agencies as their idols, from Aespa’s Winter and Karina to Shinee’s Key and NCT’s Shotaro – who made TikToks of the group’s dances
Plenty of K-pop idols have odd scouting stories, with agency reps asking for their numbers on the street or even at school events. Some artists, though, were long-time fans of K-pop themselves before their debuts … and ended up having the good fortune of joining the same companies as the singers and bands they love!
So which K-pop stars were once lucky fans who debuted in the same company or group as their idols?
1. Itzy’s Ryujin
Itzy’s rapper and dancer, Ryujin, has the dream casting story of probably every K-pop fan: getting scouted at a K-pop event. She was spotted at a fan meeting for Got7 – a boy group under JYP Entertainment – and a staff member went up to her in front of the bathrooms and asked for her number. She spoke about the exciting occasion on a broadcast of Idol Radio in August 2020.
Though she was hesitant at first, she eventually gave out her number and lived the fangirl dream of debuting in the same agency as her idols! On Idol Radio, she even got to talk about her scouting story with Got7 member Youngjae, a host on the show, admitting that she still is a fan of their music.
5 times Blackpink’s Lisa proved she’s Thailand’s unofficial princess
2. NCT’s Shotaro
Shotaro, one of the newest members of NCT, knew he wanted to become a K-pop idol after seeing the group’s pre-existing members in a concert broadcast. According to Koreaboo, he had already been dancing professionally and, lucky for him, his dancing teacher had connections to SM Entertainment – NCT’s agency – and was able to score him an audition, which, of course, he passed.
Before joining NCT, he had also been an avid TikTok user, even doing dances to NCT’s songs. It’s safe to say he is probably the most successful NCTzen – or NCT fan.
3. Loona’s Gowon
Gowon only trained for two weeks at Blockberry Creative before debuting with girl group Loona. Like Shotaro, she joined the group after seeing the pre-existing members.
The girls were a part of a pre-debut project where each member was revealed to the public with a promotional song. According to a Naver news article, Gowon saw promotional images at a bus station and thought the project looked interesting. Luckily, she already had stellar dancing skills to back her up and she joined the company in 2018.
5 K-drama actresses who married ultra-rich husbands
4. Shinee’s Key
Since then, not only has he gotten to perform on stage with Boa, they’ve even become close friends. Boa visited Key during his military service and they even went to Jeju Island together in 2018, according to The Korea Economic Daily.
5. Aespa’s Karina and Winter
5 things to know about Park Seo-joon, Marvel’s next Korean star
It looks like Taeyeon has become a fan Winter and Karina too. She even posted an Instagram story of them, saying, “I like them too much, I’m in trouble.”
- Karina and Winter grew up listening to Girls’ Generation – it must’ve been a dream come true when they joined SM supergroup Got the Beat with members Taeyeon and Hyoyeon
- Got7’s label JYP scouted Itzy’s Ryujin at a fan meet for the boys, while Boa and Key – who joined her fan club in primary school – got so close they even travelled together