SHINee‘s Taemin was the most recent guest on soloist Lee Mujin‘s popular musical variety program, Leemujin Service, and while on the show, he discussed his famous SM Entertainment audition, his trainee days, his solo debut, and more.
SHINee’s Taemin | @xoalsox/Instagram
Taemin recently made his highly anticipated solo comeback with his fourth mini-album, Guilty, and looked forward to showing off his vocal talents even more by appearing on Leemujin Service.
Fans and fellow idols alike celebrate the SHINee member for his incredible talents, but on the show, he revealed he wasn’t always confident in his skills, and worked tirelessly to become the artist he is today.
| @mujin_plz/Twitter
In elementary school, Taemin attended an open audition for SM Entertainment, preparing to wow the talent scouts with his impressive dance skills.
Taemin’s audition video is well-known, as it showed the confident elementary school student boldly crossing a taped line on the floor that they were instructed not to cross, instantly claiming the spotlight.
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Taemin unexpectedly revealed that up until the dance portion of the audition, he thought he had already failed.
While he had prepared to dance, he admitted he didn’t prepare a song to sing.
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He made the decision to cross the line because he was angry with himself while thinking he wouldn’t pass the audition after the vocal part.
Taemin recalled that when he was informed he had to sing, he panicked and decided to sing the South Korean national anthem, Aegukga.
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After singing, he hilariously shared that he apologized and thought he was “doomed.”
Even worse, I sang and then danced. At the moment, I was like, ‘It’s over. I’m doomed. I have to go home now, it won’t work.’
— SHINee’s Taemin
Luckily, Taemin passed the audition and officially became a trainee, debuting with SHINee in 2008.
During the episode, Taemin revealed more about his trainee days and the critical training lesson he never participated in.
Check out more in the article below!
SHINee’s Taemin Debuted Without Ever Participating In One Key Training Lesson