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Twice members before the fame: how Jihyo, Nayeon, Sana, Tzuyu and the other Korean and Japanese idols made it into K-pop’s favourite nine-piece girl band

Twice members before the K-pop girl group’s debut. Photos: @idolspredebut; @FYTWICE; @FrenchNayeon @dahyunniepics/Twitter
Twice members before the K-pop girl group’s debut. Photos: @idolspredebut; @FYTWICE; @FrenchNayeon @dahyunniepics/Twitter
K-pop idols

With members from South Korea, Japan and Taiwan – chosen from Mnet reality show Sixteen, JYP auditions, dance competitions and viral videos – nine-piece girl group Twice surely boasts K-pop’s most fateful origins story

K-pop girl group Twice made a glamorous return to the public eye this year with a new album “Eyes Wide Open” – an extra special moment marking the group’s fifth anniversary.

The nine faces of Twice. Photo: JYP Entertainment
The nine faces of Twice. Photo: JYP Entertainment

To celebrate this milestone, we take a look at Twice before they grabbed the public’s love with catchy songs like TT and Likey, and recall the unlikely circumstances which formed the group and set them on their road to fame.

They were discovered at a young age

Even by K-pop standards, the nine girls in Twice started young. Jihyo is famous for her 10-year training at JYP after she entered the 1st Junior Naver Child Acting Star competition at age nine. Throughout her early years she was lucky enough to train with some key players from K-pop’s second generation of stars, OG girl groups like Wondergirls and Miss A.

Nayeon also caught the eyes of casting directors when she entered a child modelling competition, but her mother declined the initial offer for a shot at fame. However, Nayeon took another chance and applied for the 2010 JYP 7th Open Audition in secret, winning second place out of 30,000 applicants. During her trainee years, she went on to model for brands like Smart School Uniform and appeared in the drama Dream High 2.

An international cast

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One of Twice’s USPs is its international pedigree: Mina, Sana, Momo and Tzuyu are all non-Korean members of the group and each has her own story to tell that brought her to Korea.

Mina learned ballet for 11 years at Tokyo's prestigious Obayashi Sacred Heart School. She only came to like K-pop in middle school when she began practising MV dance moves with a friend. Still, she might never have expected to be approached by a casting manager while she was shopping with her mum at Osaka’s Hankyu Umeda Store. She dropped out of school and started training in 2014.

Another Japanese member, Sana, attended a dance academy in Osaka since sixth grade and was also asked by a JYP casting manger to try out for a global audition.

Momo, from Kyoto, started dancing when she was three years old and even appeared in Korean singer Lexy’s music video Ma People. After seeing her dance video online, JYP contacted her for an audition and she made it as a trainee.