There are many agencies in South Korea that train and create idols groups, and one of the mainstream and probably the most popular agency for its training system is SM Entertainment. SM Entertainment has created SM Rookies which has many trainees who are ready to be part of the next idol group. In this article, Channel-Korea will explain to you the details of SM Rookies and their trainees! So, stay tuned!
What Is SM Rookies?
SM Rookies is a group of pre-debut trainees formed by South Korean entertainment agency SM Entertainment in 2013. The trainees are trained and prepared to debut as part of the next idol group in South Korea. The project has produced popular idol groups such as Red Velvet and NCT. The first batch of rookies debuted as members of the girl group Red Velvet in 2014. The second batch of rookies debuted as members of the boy group NCT which consisted of various subunits, the 1st subgroup is NCT U, debuted in April 2016, the 2nd subgroup, NCT 127 in July 2016, and the 3rd subgroup, NCT DREAM in August 2016.
SM Rookies’ Appearance
Even though they are still trainees, the SM Rookies members are very famous and they have even appeared at various events before they officially debuted as idols.
Television Shows
Before their official debut, they were introduced through various TV shows. This aims to attract the attention of fans.
Mickey Mouse Club
The Mickey Mouse Club is the long-running American sketch variety show and ended its run in 1995, but the show has launched the careers of several huge stars such as Justin Timberlake, Ryan Gosling, and Britney Spears. The teenagers in South Korea also have the chance to get a similar boost to stardom, as the Disney Channel in South Korea has given them a platform to show off their skills by rebooting the classic show.
In 2015, members of SM Entertainment‘s pre-debut group SM Rookies appeared on South Korea’s variety show The Mickey Mouse Club. The boy group consisted of Mark, Donghyuck, Jaemin, Jeno, and Jisung and the girl group featured Lami and new SM Rookie members Herin, Hina, and Ko-eun. Herin is a bubbly girl from England, Hina is a dance prodigy who can speak both Korean and Japanese fluently, and Ko-eun has excellent singing and dancing skills and also amazing flexibility.
Super Junior‘s Leeteuk was the MC of the show, and it included musical performances, games, and skits. It has two pilot episodes and ten episodes in the series. The first episode of The Mickey Mouse Club aired on July 23rd, 2015, on the Disney Channel.
MBC’s Show Champions
SM Rookies members also appeared as MCs on the music show MBC’s Show Champion. On January 16th, 2015, Do-young and Jae-hyun were introduced and became the new MCs on the music show MBC’s Show Champion.
EXO 90:2014
In 2014, members of the SM Rookies appeared on the reality show Exo 90:2014. Exo 90:2014 is a reality TV show of South Korean popular boy group Exo. The first episode of the show was aired on August 15th, 2014, through Mnet and hosted by Jun Hyun-moo. In this show, EXO members made a cover and remake music video of the most popular K-Pop songs from the 1990s. SM Rookies members also got to participate in the music videos and also perform live in the show.
Hope by H.O.T
The song is sung by SM Rookies’ Johnny, Jae-hyun, and Do-young. Do You Know by Jo Sung-mo
The song is sung by SM Rookies’ Wendy. I’m Your Girl by S.E.S
The sung is sung by SM Rookies’ Mark, Haechan, Yeri, Koeun, Yerin, Mina, and Lami.
