On the March 4 broadcast of tvN variety show You Quiz on the Block, Yoon Hee Jun, head of SM Artist Development Center, who has developed idols at SM Entertainment for 22 years, appeared as a guest.
On that day, when Yoo Jae Suk asked, “There’s a rumor about the ‘SM look,’ that is, an SM-preferred face. Is that true?” Yoon denied, saying, “There are no standards or guidelines about appearance within our company.”
She emphasized, “Honestly, as staff, it’s a bit hesitant to appear on camera, but talking with Yoo Jae Suk on “You Quiz” felt like it would clear up a long misunderstanding. SM does not select trainees based solely on looks. It’s absolutely not true,” and lamented, “There are actually people who didn’t apply to SM because of that misconception.”
Each year, about 150,000 people apply to be SM trainees. From roughly 150,000 applicants, about 2,000 pass the first round through video monitoring, 500 are selected in the second round, and only about 10 become final trainees. On average, 13 trainees pass per year, which is a success rate of about 0.00867%.
When asked about the criteria for trainee selection, emphasizing that it’s not appearance, Yoon said, “What we look for most is potential for growth. Next is grit. We focus on whether this person can make it or not. Those two are the most important.”
She also named EXO’s Kai, NCT’s Doyoung, and RIIZE’s Wonbin as idols who showed exceptional grit. Yoon said, “I think they’re really tough. Kai is so intense that staff struggle. He doesn’t go home. Staff even give up leaving for the day. When he practices, he doesn’t leave the practice room and keeps doing the same thing again. Even if told to stop, he says, ‘Just one more time,’ and that ‘one more’ becomes 10 or 20 times.”
Regarding Doyoung, she shared, “Just a few days ago, he came to the company on his first day of military leave saying he had to practice singing. He hadn’t been able to practice for about 50 days and was worried. So, he came to the vocal practice room on his first military leave day and practiced.”
About Wonbin, she praised, “We cast him after seeing a photo, but he had never really experienced singing or dancing properly in his life. Yet he improved very quickly. If you watch his first video, you see him timidly watching the seniors from the corner, then all of a sudden, he moves forward confidently. It’s not easy.”