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On March 8, 2024, ENHYPEN member Jake made headlines as he mentioned that he had auditioned for SM Entertainment before joining BELIFT LAB under HYBE Corporation.
GQ Australia reported that the vocalist decided to be a singer at the age of 15 after watching BTS' DNA performance at the 2017 American Music Awards. However, much to everyone's surprise, before joining the survival show I-LAND, Jake had almost signed with SM Entertainment.
The ENHYPEN member revealed that he passed every SM Entertainment audition round and awaited their final call. But because of his "impatience" and desire, he determined that signing up for a survival program would improve his chances of making his debut.
"WHAT IN A FATE WORLD IS THIS?": Fans baffled by Jake's revelation of having cleared SM Entertainment's auditions
ENHYPEN's initial growth was exponential, starting with the reality competition series I-LAND which earned them a huge fan-following. The K-pop group consists of seven members, namely Heeseung, Jay, Jake, Sunghoon, Sunoo, Jungwon, and Ni-ki.
In Korea, their first EP titled Border: Day One achieved double platinum status. Their four Korean-language albums that followed Dimension: Dilemma (their first album), sold over a million sales in October 2021.
Once the information about Jake surfaced online, ENGENEs—the official fandom name of ENHYPEN—noted that the vocalist cleared all audition rounds of SM Entertainment without any "singing background." They lauded the artist for his perseverance and determination to achieve his dreams.
Meanwhile, admirers pulled data from the records and stated that ENHYPEN member Jungwon was a former SM Entertainment trainee. Moreover, Sunoo and Jay were cast on the street by the same agency. However, they all were "fated" to be in I-LAND and debut as ENHYPEN under HYBE.
Jake told GQ Australia that the members of ENHYPEN had often talked about the difficulties of making their pandemic debut. They performed for months in deserted studios in front of a wall of cameras, a draining experience as their schedule grew progressively—and frighteningly—busier.
Jake said that as an idol in this competitive industry, there are several ups and downs. Even though he would try to brush off those "bad days" during his trainee days as an idol, they would pile up inside him. He said:
"Being in the idol industry, I’m not gonna lie, you have some bad days. During those first couple of years, I’d just hope for the best, trying to forget about it but the stress and the bad days didn’t vanish, they stayed inside me and piled one on top of each other."
Fans were left stunned as the ENHYPEN vocalist indulged in a candid conversation with GQ. Here is how netizens reacted to the fateful union of their seven beloved band members:
On March 6, 2024, Jake released his first-ever solo vocal rendition of Bazzi's I Don't Think I'm Okay on the official YouTube channel of ENHYPEN. The cover was widely appreciated by his fans.
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