THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN.

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The elation that a prospective K-pop star may feel from passing a difficult audition does not last long. Yes, they have the luxury of knowing that they are talented enough to be accepted into an elite entertainment company as a trainee, but their debut and eventual success is by no means guaranteed. By signing a contract with the entertainment company, they are signing away things that we, as K-pop fans, take for granted. Things like personal freedom, sleep, and even the ability to carry on a romantic relationship, in some cases all become sacrifices simply for the chance to pursue their dreams of debuting and becoming that entertainer who stands on stage every night, facing thousands of screaming fans.

I have mixed feelings about the training period. As a seasoned K-pop fan, I find myself taking the dancing and singing skills idols display for granted. But every once in a while, I stumble upon an article about how INFINITE doesn’t have any furniture in their living room so they can have dance practices at night or T-ara’s Jiyeon waving to fans half asleep or a picture of BEAST’s Junhyung curled up sleeping on the floor of their practice room. Those articles always remind me about how tough idol life truly is, but what’s astounding is that before they became idols, life was even tougher.

As soon as a successful auditionee enters the training period, they are thrown into a sea of competitors who are just as (if not more) talented than them. They endure long dance sessions, singing practices, and even acting classes just to win the right to debut first. At the same time, they are expected to balance school with this demanding schedule–most trainees are high school students. In order to debut first, trainees push themselves to and past their limits, trying to excel and show their company that they are ready to debut.

A trainee can be dropped by their company at any point in time if they are not good enough. They perform for the company’s president on a regular basis, who then points out their strengths and weaknesses. If they are on par with the company’s expectations, they are allowed to continue training with the hopes of K-pop stardom a little closer. If they are not, trainees are dropped without a second chance.

Trainees train almost nonstop for an average of two to five years before being allowed to debut. 2AM’s Jokwon is the longest JYP Entertainmenttrainee to date–he trained for seven years before debuting. The goal of the training period is to build up a potential K-pop group member’s stamina in terms of both singing and dancing. If they start out with weak voices, the company focuses on improving their vocal abilities. Take Taemin of SHINee for example–the guy had no vocal parts in SHINee’s earlier songs, but SM Entertainment has begun to dole out small vocal parts to him these last two years. On the other hand, uncoordinated trainees undergo the same process to gain dancing skills. Kyuhyun, the maknae of Super Junior, is clearly a talented vocalist, but his dancing skills were not up to par withEunhyuk and Donghae‘s during songs like Sorry Sorry and It’s You. Howev