APPRECIATION Six years with SM Rookies

[yerm]

On December 3rd 2013, the first batch of SM Rookies were introduced by SM. Seulgi, Jeno and Taeyong were the first people to be SM Rookies and now each of them is a star in their own groups. Let's appreciate all our SM Rookies, past and present!

2013 - The first Rookies

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So, what did these three do as SM Rookies? We all know them as iconic members of Red Velvet and NCT, but what about before they debuted? Seulgi featured in a dance cover of S.E.S's "Be Natural" with future SM Rookies member Irene, shortly before SM announced she would debut in Red Velvet. She also appeared in the introduction video for the SM Rookies exhibiting her dance talents. Jeno appeared in some videos with the younger SM Rookies boys and starred alongside them in Mickey Mouse Club and performed stages with them at the SM Rookies show. Taeyong was the star of the SM Rookies, getting his own song "Open the Door" uploaded to the SM channel and featuring in Red Velvet's single "Be Natural" as a rapper. A talented dancer, rapper and visual, Taeyong has always been popular with fans and still is now. He also appeared in EXO 90:2014, most prominently in the video for "Yo".

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On December 10th, we met three new SM Rookies. Irene was the oldest SM Rookie and featured with Seulgi in the "Be Natural" cover, soon becoming the leader of Red Velvet. Jaehyun, who has the most tragic profile photo (I mean... look at it...) shined in EXO 90:2014 in the music video of "Hope" and appearing on the track itself. He also performed a duet of "A Whole New World" on Mickey Mouse Club. Lami was only 10 years old when she was introduced - a whole 12 years younger than Irene. She is still a member of SM Rookies to this date and appeared in a handful of videos including with Girls' Generation's Tiffany. Lami's most prominent appearance was on Mickey Mouse Club, though she hasn't appeared in any SM content since December 2015.

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It's December 17th now, and three more boys are introduced! Jisung was the youngest male SM Rookie, born in 2002. He appeared as a young Yunho in "Champagne", showing he was a little dancing machine. He also appeared in Mickey Mouse Club along with Mark, who was the first international trainee introduced. Mark was raised in Canada - something SM would never let you forget. A rapper and aspiring song-writer, Mark soon became a key SM Rookie and after debut would be one of the most recognisable talents in NCT. Now Hansol... the tale of Ji Hansol... he was the oldest male trainee until Taeil was introduced and his dancing skills were pushed most by SM. He appeared in EXO 90:2014 and in dance performances such as "Bass Bot", so fans were surprised that he basically disappeared after the debut of NCT. They often asked where he and fellow trainee Johnny were, so when Johnny finally debuted fans began to worry more. Hansol appeared in J-Min's "Shine" music video, Lay's "I Need U" and performed as a backing dancer for Taemin but ultimately left SM to appear on The Unit in 2017. He made the final group - UNB and promoted with them until their contract ended. He is currently a member of NewKidd.

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To end the year on December 24th, SM introduced three more international trainees with profile photos nearly as tragic as Jaehyun's. Ten is currently the only Thai idol at SM and was promoted for his amazing dance skills. Currently, he promotes with WayV in China but was also in NCT U and has two solo SM Stations to his name. Johnny was raised in Chicago and is at least eight foot tall. He became a trainee in 2008 and subsequently is close to EXO, as he trained with them. Yuta is currently SM's only debuted Japanese idol (Shoo is half-Japanese so fight me) and is also a dancing king. All three of these boys featured in EXO 90:2014 and have grown so much as members of NCT. God bless our international members.

2014 - The first graduations

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On March 14th 2014, Wendy was the first SM Rookie of the year. Introduced prior to releasing "Because of You" for the OST of Mimi, Wendy was a Canadian-raised trainee with a powerful voice. Soon after, the SM Rookies project was formally launched on the SM YouTube channel and with its own website (that is now dead).

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2014 was really the year of vocal legends! Donghyuck, who now goes by the stage name Haechan, was introduced July 17th and his relationship with Mark was emphasised by SM. Appearing in Mickey Mouse Club, he was the only male trainee to have a solo - "You'll Be In My Heart" from Tarzan - and was regularly teasing Mark throughout the show. Now, he's the maknae of NCT 127 and one of the main voices in NCT Dream. He's a star, that's for sure!

In August 2014, the first graduations from SM Rookies were Irene, Seulgi and Wendy who debuted in Red Velvet with hidden trainee Joy. We're down to one female trainee

2015 - Wait SM has women?

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Meet Doyoung - the vocalist who is the younger brother of actor Gong Myung. He was introduced January 16th 2015 prior to him becoming an MC on Music Champion with fellow trainee Jaehyun. Doyoung also featured in a duet on Mickey Mouse Club, singing "Beauty and the Beast" with his sweet honey vocals.

And this is the part where H+ user yerimmie talks about Yeri. So... she's technically not an SM Rookie. I mean, I hate to admit it too but SM revealed she was an SM Rookies member only because she was sighted filming the Ice Cream Cake MV and immediately afterwards they said she was debuting with Red Velvet. That doesn't really count for me because she didn't even get a profile picture. There we are, Yeri talk out of the way. Now it's time for...

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IT'S NANA!!!!!! Jaemin was introduced in April 2015. Wikipedia says he was "formally" introduced so I guess he was in stuff before April? Idk I only know women. Anyway, our lovely angel Nana appeared in Mickey Mouse Club too with the younger SM Rookies boys and was an absolute delight. Honestly if you haven't watched Mickey Mouse Club and you stan Jaemin... watch it. He's a whole cutie. Stan Jaemin.

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Okay are you ready for me to hype my daughters? LET'S GO! I've talked a lot about Mickey Mouse Club in this thread because I've seen it more than any other human, but these three ladies were introduced just before the beginning of the show (July 9th) because they would be key cast members! From right to left because y'all forget they exist: Hina is (most likely) Japanese-Korean and is a whole dancing queen. She won a lot of the competitions on the show and is seriously so cute. Koeun is the oldest female trainee now Red Velvet have graduated and she's also been training longest. She's been stuck in SM since 2011... like can you imagine? She's most likely the leader of the new girl group and is a talented singer, dancer and Mark slanderer. You might have seen her in Yesung's "Paper Umbrella" with the short hair. Stan her. And lastly, dearest Herin. She's left the K-pop path now, though she also entered Idol School without success. She was also an amazing vocalist and is my local girl!

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On October 13th, we met the lovely Taeil before he would release the classic OST song "Because Of You" which you absolutely do know if you stan NCT, because they used to clown him for it. Taeil solo when? Idk, shall we blackmail SM to get it?

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To end a wonderful year of SM Rookies content, December 18th we were introduced to Kun from China! SM has history with Chinese trainees so people weren't really surprised when Kun appeared on the Chinese version of NCT U's "Without You" only to basically disappear until Jungwoo and Lucas were introduced. Now, he's the leader of WayV! Go Kun!

2016 - The boys graduate

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Oof why is this pic so huge... stan Winwin I guess. Anywho, we met Winwin on January 5th 2016 and shortly afterwards, a new boy group was announced. I don't have the emotional strength or energy to explain the mess that is the NCT concept but basically most of the boys debuted throughout the year in NCT. Winwin got to do a flip. It was cool.

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Okay women time. On September 19th, we met two new girls! Yiyang (left) and Ningning (right) were both Chinese trainees and as is SM tradition, Yiyang left for China in 2018. She's even signed to Tao's company. The irony. But we still have vocal legend Ningning! Hopefully! Yiyang, Koeun, Hina and Ningning appeared in a show called My SMT where they challenged each other every episode but the whole China-Korea drama got it cancelled and now we've not seen two of them since 2016... yikes.

To end the year, Johnny finally got confirmed to debut in NCT 127 in the new year. Nice Johnny. You got debut.

2017 - Luwoo?

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SM remembered the good old days of when they used to actually promote their SM Rookies boys and introduced Lucas and Jungwoo in April 2017, who they would promote along with Kun throughout the year until both debuted in NCT 2018. Lucas appeared in Ten's music video for "Dream in a Dream" doing dance and Jungwoo was the male lead in Yesung's "Paper Umbrella".

2018 - More Chinese boys

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July 17th 2018, we got three new SM Rookies - Yangyang, Hendery and Xiaojun. All three were Chinese and were slated to debut in the fabled Chinese NCT unit that became WayV. They even got some cute teaser videos as SM Rookies, yet they still couldn't afford to have Xiaojun entirely in frame for his profile picture.

2019 - Where the heck are we?
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The first thing I want to clarify is that random toddlers appearing at concerts are not SM Rookies until SM formally introduces them. They may be SM trainees, but they're not included here. So basically, we have four SM Rookies right now - Koeun, Hina, Ningning and Lami. SM announced next year they intend to debut a new girl group and boy group, so those four will probably debut then. I do find it sadly amusing that one of the first SM Rookies introduced is still there...

Happy six years of SM Rookies! May you guys not be Rookies soon!

 

[grainy]

read this just for your side comments

 

[yerm]

read this just for your side comments

Omg bless you

 

[camille]

This is so long and detailled... The dedication!! Queen of promoting smrookies!

 

[yerm]

This is so long and detailled... The dedication!! Queen of promoting smrookies!

This is proof I will procrastinate anything if I can do random SRG promo instead Thanks Camille!

 

[dnb]

Great post!

 

[Nieve]

Thanks op, it's nice to remember all the smrookies and yeah some of these pics don't make the boys justice

I'm anticipating SM's new GG, I wonder why they haven't introduced any of them this year

 

[yerm]

Thanks op, it's nice to remember all the smrookies and yeah some of these pics don't make the boys justice

I'm anticipating SM's new GG, I wonder why they haven't introduced any of them this year

It's SM, they're terrible at managing women

As a Snufkin enthusiast, I have to say I appreciate your username

 

[Kami]

i'm gon get Lami outta there

 

[yerm]

i'm gon get Lami outta there

Me too if they still haven't debuted by this time next year

 

[lofti]

I'm so happy SRG is finally confirmed to be debuting. It's been hard SRG fans but we finally made it

 

[Mina]

lmaaoooo the comments. We're waiting for SMNGG and Taeil solo!

 

[punknight]

Amazing text!! Thanks, op!
this made me realize that 2013-2018 SM has posted every year something about rookies, now we need this tradition to happen again this december

 

[Bellamy]

WOW nice post!!!! and your comments were on point:dogeLaugh: Well i hope SM remember they still have the twitter account and start using it for our girls.

 

[yerm]

WOW nice post!!!! and your comments were on point:dogeLaugh: Well i hope SM remember they still have the twitter account and start using it for our girls.

Well if they don't, I'll fight for that url when Twitter frees up inactive @s

 

[lovenatu]

Oh wow! I can't believe that it's been 6 years! I remember when Taeyong was first revealed, he created quite the fuss because of his looks. I honestly didn't think I would become a stan of any of them but look at me now

 

[anh]

 

[fullofjoy]

❤❤❤