aespa’s Winter recently opened up about her debut journey and even shared a fun story about her brother almost becoming the SM star instead of her!
On July 1, Winter appeared on the YouTube show Salon Drip 2, where she shared some behind-the-scenes stories about her life before and after debut.
Winter, who’s from Gyeongsang-do, joked about city life, saying,
“People in Seoul are kind,”
To which host Jang Do Yeon quickly replied,
“There are lots of bad people too.”
Winter laughed and said,
“There are many.”
As she talked about aespa’s strong concept, Winter recalled her trainee days with Ningning, saying,
“We were part of the pure and cute group. When we were told we’d be recording Next Level, we thought it was a remake of an OST.”
Winter also shared that she joined SM Entertainment in 2017 and trained for three and a half years. But getting in wasn’t easy.
“I auditioned for SM three times,” she said.
“At a dance festival, they actually tried to cast my older brother, who just came with me. But I did better than him,” she laughed,
“Even though I still failed that audition.”
Eventually, other companies showed interest in her, and she was about to sign with someone else. But then SM called.
“I was talking to someone at SM and told them I might join a different company. That’s when they asked me to come in one more time. Since SM was the company I really wanted, I went back — and that’s how I ended up debuting in aespa.”
Fans were surprised and amused to hear that Winter’s real brother was almost an SM trainee first, but in the end, Winter stole the spotlight — and now she’s a K-pop star loved around the world.
Source (1)
