BTS members before the fame: how J-Hope, RM, Jin, V, Jungkook, Jimin and Suga signed with Big Hit En

Publish date: 2024-07-29

Let’s start with Jin, the hyung – older brother – of BTS. He discovered a passion for acting when he watched the drama Queen Seondeok. In particular, he was inspired by Kim Nam-gil, who played a starring role as Bidam, and decided to pursue acting as his major at Konkuk University. (The Queen Seondeok actor also recently confessed that he’s become a fan of BTS.)

Back when he was a secondary school student, Jin got scouted by SM Entertainment, one of the biggest K-pop agencies in South Korea. The teenage Jin mistakenly assumed that the proposal was a scam, however, so he declined. He eventually signed and made his debut with Big Hit Entertainment.

Suga (Min Yoon-gi, 1993)

Suga spent most of his life in his hometown of Daegu. Just like how Jin became motivated by Kim Nam-gil’s acting, Suga dreamt of becoming a rapper after listening to the song Fly by Korean alternative hip-hop group Epik High. He joined hip-hop crew D-Town in 2010 at age 17, even participating in producing the song 518-062 that commemorates South Korea’s Gwangju Uprising, or the Gwangju democratisation movement. The number 518 refers to May 18, when the uprising took place, while the number 062 represents the relevant city code.

In the same year, Suga participated in Big Hit Entertainment’s audition “Hit It”, winning second prize in the competition. This eventually led him to joining BTS under the name Suga.

J-Hope (Jung Ho-seok, 1994)

Before he was J-Hope – a stage name he got by combining the J from his last name Jung with the word hope – he performed as a street dancer in his hometown of Gwangju and attended Gwangju Music Academy, which TVXQ’s Yunho and 2NE1’s Minzy also attended.

But before dreaming of becoming a professional singer or a dancer, J-Hope even considered becoming a tennis player back when he was an elementary school student.

RM (Kim Nam-joon, 1994)

RM was formerly known as Rap Monster, but his monstrous skills go beyond that of K-pop – his IQ is 148 and he ranked within the highest 1.3 percent in the country in Korea’s College Scholastic Ability Test, the nation’s university entrance examinations.

RM owes some of his career success to the rapper Sleepy, who is one half of the hip-hop duo Untouchable. During an interview with Section TV, RM shared how Sleepy name-dropped him to a producer at Big Hit Entertainment after being impressed by his rapping.

Jimin (Park Ji-min, 1995)

Jimin studied contemporary dance at Busan High School of Arts. He told BTS Japan Official Fan Club Magazine that he has liked dancing since grade eight, and that he practised every day at the academy after school.

A teacher of his eventually suggested that he pursue his passion further by attending a Big Hit Entertainment audition, during which he sang the hit I Have a Lover by 90s and 00s rock diva Lee Eun-mi, he said during an episode of BTS Kkul FM, a video series posted to BTS’ official YouTube channel, BangtanTV.

V (Kim Tae-hyung, 1995)

Born in Daegu and raised in Geochang in Gyeongsang province, V hails from a family of farmers and originally began learning the saxophone with his father’s encouragement. He even considered becoming a professional saxophonist.

V signing with Big Hit Entertainment was something of a happy accident: he attended an audition in Daegu to support a friend, but an agency staff member noticed him and suggested that he audition on the spot, which he did. Even more surprisingly, his impromptu audition was a success.

He could have gone with Lex, Six or V as his stage name, but he finally landed on V.

Jungkook (Jeon Jung-kook, 1997)

Like many K-pop idols, Jungkook appeared on the popular audition TV programme Superstar K, during the preliminary round of season three. The 15-year-old Jungkook performed This Song by 2AM.

Although he didn’t make it to the next round – in fact, the footage wasn’t even aired on the show itself in the end – but he ended up getting calls from seven different entertainment companies.

Jungkook was inspired to join Big Hit Entertainment after seeing fellow member RM perform. “I ended up [at Big Hit] because Rap Monster was so cool,” he confessed during an episode of New Yang Nam Show.

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