The K-pop industry is no stranger to stories about how tough it can be for idols before they debut. Behind the glamour and global stardom lies a notoriously competitive system where young trainees are pushed to their limits. But over time, as K-pop has gone international and idols have found support in millions of fans worldwide, the industry has slowly started to leave behind some of its harsher, more conservative practices.
TXT’s Soobin and Taehyun
Recently, TXT leader Soobin shed light on just how intense those trainee years were. In a now-viral clip from a Weverse livestream, he revealed that both he and his bandmate Taehyun were subjected to physical punishments while learning choreography. According to Soobin, this all happened when they were still kids. “This was when me and Taehyun had just been dancing for a week or two we were both extremely young kids, 8th and 10th graders who couldn’t even stretch our arms out properly…the seventeen hyungs do really hard choreographies, right? And they suddenly asked us to dance to this song and it’s not even like the teacher taught us the choreography, they told us to learn it ourselves by watching the video so me and Taehyun watched the video at 0.5x to learn the choreography and it seemed reallllly tough, so it was a given that we wouldn’t be able to dance well to it.”
To which Soobin added, “(Sighs) Taehyun ended up saying it but we did get hit back then…we got hit while we learnt it…” The leader further admitted that some other trainees actually had it even worse than them.
While the revelation was shocking for many fans, Soobin reassured them that the industry is no longer the same. “They had physical punishments back then but if they physically punish someone now, they’d get in huge trouble,” he said.
For MOAs (TXT’s fandom), the livestream was a mix of emotions — heartbreaking to hear what their idols endured as middle schoolers, but also relieving to know the industry has made progress since then. “This is actually so heartbreaking and I hope him and everyone else who endured this treatment have healed and are okay… that company can go to h3ll like,” was one comment under the post. One more comment said, “I’m glad they talked about it, people need to realise what this industry is like. I’m glad they’re not beating people up any more, but that doesn’t mean they’re not being treated harshly anymore :(.” Another concerned fan wrote, “This is so upsetting how was this allowed???”
TXT, short for Tomorrow X Together, is a five-member boy band under Big Hit Entertainment — the same label that launched global icons BTS. The lineup includes Yeonjun, Soobin, Beomgyu, Taehyun, and HueningKai. They officially entered the K-pop scene in 2019, with their debut EP The Dream Chapter: Star, fronted by the energetic title track Crown.