17 Idols Who Auditioned For Different Positions Than Their Current Official Position

Trained for one position, ended up with another.

These idols auditioned for one position but debuted with another.

1. Red Velvet’s Seulgi

Seulgi originally entered for her vocal ability rather than her dancing. Before Wendy joined SM Entertainment, she was slated to be the main vocal of the girl group.

2. BIGBANG’s Taeyang

BIGBANG‘s Taeyang had auditioned to be a rapper and had originally trained to debut as one, but ended up debuting as a vocalist.

3. MAMAMOO’s Moonbyul

During the filming of Idol Dream Operation Team (IDOT), Moonbyul revealed that she had auditioned and originally trained to be vocal. When she got put into the line-up for MAMAMOO, however, there were four members and 3 power vocals. Due to this, Moonbyul was assigned to be a rapper.

4. Cosmic Girls’ EXY

Exy used to be vocalist until she had vocal cord nodules. Because of this, she was told not to strain her vocal cords, which lead her to learn about rapping. Since then, she has written and rapped her own lyrics for WJSN.

5. (G)I-DLE’s Soyeon

During Soyeon‘s introductory video for (G)I-DLE, she reveals that she started auditioning for companies as a vocalist. She confesses that she auditioned for over 20 companies as a vocal but never got called back. Soyeon then decided to switch things up and audition as a rapper, claiming she had always been interested in rap. After she started audition as a rapper, she started getting callbacks. Since then, she stuck with rap.

6. SEVENTEEN’s Woozi

Woozi was originally supposed to be part of the performance team rather than the leader of the vocal team. When he started getting more interested in composing and when he discovered Garage Band on Wonwoo‘s laptop, he started making music and moved over to the performance team.

7. SEVENTEEN’s Hoshi

The opposite of Woozi, Hoshi was originally part of the vocal team. Actually, Woozi and Hoshi switched to their teams at the same time. Hoshi has stated that if possible, he would like to sing and train as a vocal one day.

8. f(x)’s Luna

Luna was originally meant to debut as the main dancer of f(x) rather than the main vocal. Amber also said in an interview that she was intimidated by Luna when she first met her because she was the only girl trainee who was popping and locking. (Watch the clip below at 1:30)

9. f(x)’s Amber

Amber revealed during an episode of Radio Star that she had passed the auditions for SM Entertainment for her singing. Many were surprised and asked why she did rap. She explained that because f(x) had no rapper originally, they assigned her the role. (Watch the clip starting at 0:23)

10. PENTAGON’s Wooseok

Wooseok originally entered CUBE Entertainment for modeling. When he decided he wanted to be an idol, he originally started training as a vocal before finding his talent as a rapper.

11. PENTAGON’s Yan An

Yan An originally trained to be a rapper but debuted as a vocalist.

12. PENTAGON’s Shinwon

Like YanAn, Shinwon was training to be a rapper before switched to vocals.

13. GOT7’s Jackson

Jackson was originally training to debut as a vocalist. During his training, however, he found rap and switched over to rapping.

14. NCT’s Jaehyun

In pre-debut songs with SM Rookies, NCT‘s Jaehyun was a rapper. When he debuted, however, he debuted as a vocalist. He has adlibbed rap in some songs with NCT, but his official position is a vocalist.

15. TWICE’s Jihyo

Jihyo was originally training to be a main dancer rather than a main vocal. During an episode of Happy Together, a pre-debut video of Jihyo dancing ballet is shown, which proves that she’s had the talent for dance ever since she was young.

16. ASTRO’s Rocky

ASTRO‘s Rocky originally trained to be a vocal rather than a rapper. Fans were shocked to hear Rocky take some of Jonghyun‘s parts (including the final high note!) when the group covered SHINee‘s “Replay.”

17. NCT’s Mark

NCT‘s Mark auditioned for SM Entertainment by singing Bruno Mars‘ “Grenade” and passed for his vocal ability. Now that he debuted, however, he is one of the main rappers of NCT.