VERY X 1000 HARD. PERIODT.

ALERT : DON'T BLAME ME FOR ANYTHING.

*I'll also be using a lot of second person*

🥂First of all Everything in life is only achieved by hardwork and sincerity. That marks the beginning of my rant 🥂

I've seen nearly atleast 200 questions all over quora asking about auditions. Before jumping into that , do you people really think kpop is all hunky dory? Colourful? Just singing and dancing? If yes then Lmao your living under a big rock.

You’re not seeing the black hole behind those colours ,

You’re not seeing the tears behind that smile,

You’re not seeing the blood behind that makeup,

(Jihyo- former jyp trainee ,

Training period : 10 years)

Idol life is extremely tiring so is the trainee life. It's not that easy to get into K-pop. People Literally train for almost 5–6 years to debut , trainee life might be one of the toughest , Korean entertainment in general is not like the other entertainment industry it's damn difficult to get into it.

SELECTION PROCESS :

◍ ETHINICITY:

if you believe it or not this plays a very important role more than anything. You should be a Korean to get into the company easily. The second consideration might be for east Asian. Then comes the other Asians but they are very rarely considered. So then comes the people from other continents who just have 5% chance or even less. Mostly big companies would not accept foreign trainees even if they did, debuting is damn difficult. Only small companies might accept them but it might be mostly for / viewed as clout.

Who are to be blamed? No one.

It's not wrong , hear me out. For us we might not differentiate between Momo and jihyo but for koreans they will definitely view Momo as Japanese and therefore as a foreigner.

Now let me give an example, I live in a country which is very very diverse, now among the actors existing we do have a few foreign artist who are sometimes looked down upon. This doesn't mean they are disrespected , it's just that people Definitely think there are so many talented actors in our country who deserves chance to shine who deserve to act in a movie made in their own country where they live.

Here is the thing, That fact is true. We can't deny it. Eveywhere ethinicity is given more importance. This is reality. So please keep this in mind while auditioning.

( Bang Chan : former jyp trainee ,

training period : 7 years)

◍ TALENT/ VISUALS :

I will never raise my hands towards the demanding nature of Korean beauty standards, this is because not just the Korean entertainment but To be honest Entertainment industries in general is demanding. The idols who are now pointed as visual holes are definitely not average looking for sure. All the singers, actors that we see are definitely attractive atleast most of them are.

For the selection process to be more easier you either should have extraordinary visuals or you should be extremely talented. The mix of two that might come to be extremely lucky for you.

After you pass the audition , now comes the trainee life.

( Jennie : former YG trainee

Training period: 6 years)

TRAINEE LIFE:

◍ Sacrifice : you should be ready to sacrifice everything. By Everything I mean everything. Family , friends , home every damn thing.

◍ ACCEPTANCE:

Accept the fact that it's not going to be easy no matter what. You have to first fight the million people to get into the company and then there you have to top among those thousand People. You have to Accept your life as it is, No other go. They'll make the trainee starve for days , practice for hours , If this is your goal you need to do all the sacrifice.

Peers will hate on you , will speak bad about you but you need to accept every shit cause you’ve signed up for it. I know I’m being insensitive but this is the truth. every trainee already know what they might face as an idol , we're seeing so many examples so you shouldn’t complain. There are so many trainees who leave the company in the middle , it's that difficult. And not all the trainees are gonna be selected , Out of those 100 trainees only 10–12 will debut. So you gotta be neutral about the results.

( Suho : former SM trainee

Training period: 6 years)

◍ OVERALL PERSONALITY:

The company will definitely design a personality for you which would not be entirely fake for sure, They'll just make up ways to cover your flaws. Trainees are trained in such a way to make them appealing to the public. They have to mould themselves , change themselves, Have to change their entire persona Which isn't easy at all.

◍ COMPETITIVE :

Trainees have to be extremely competitive. If the company sees any flaw in you or notes that your being laid back during the training they'll Definitely send you out for sure. You have to practice a lot , work hard , Have to compete with others. Be extremely good at what ur doing should always be in top 10. And all this isn't easy.

( Seulgi : former SM trainee

Training period: 7 years)

◍ APPEARANCE :

of course it's of the most important things. As I told The idols who now many people call visual hole are definitely better looking and not average at all. That's the reason why they got accepted. You have to diet for sure , maybe even starve . You have to on vigorously exercise, have to maintain a perfect or close to perfect body and fit the beauty standards accurately or partially.

( Chaeryoung : former jyp trainee

Training period: 5 years )

After training , comes idol life which we are all familiar with.

You gotta be thick skinned , ready to accept the Reality

You gotta accept not all the fans are gonna love you

You gotta accept that your expected to be perfect.

You gotta accept that your gonna get hate for every little mistake you commit.

People will assume your sexuality

People will call you overrated

People will call you a visual hole

People will call you a attention seeker

People will call you talentless

You have to accept all this

But no matter what , don't give up

Stay strong

Stay supportive

Stay together

Everything will succeed, have hope

Entertainment industry is a dark place. More like universe , you either shine or get lost in that black hole , so you have to work as hard as possible to be a shining star.

I really hope you people don't think it's easy to be a trainee , it might be more worse than the idol life. As idols atleast you have fans as trainees you literally have no one , maybe friends? But they are fellow trainees as well.

And for the people trying to audition Just think about the merits and demerits before doing anything in life and analyse whether you'll be able to sacrifice everything. But once you've decided , never give up.

I really have no clue if I've answered the question properly. But I think I've tried my best.

~a loyal taehyung simp

I’ve never been a trainee myself, but (unfortunately) I have heard many idols, ex-idols, and ex-trainees speak about their experiences (including blackpink, a member from crayon pop (you might not know them though…), and others). I also answered a similar questions, so I am just pasting what I said here because the same info applies.

Before you read this, I have to say one thing: If you really want to be a Kpop idol with all of your heart, don’t let anything get in your way. Work hard, believe in yourself, and constantly strive to be the best version of yourself. Show everyone who you are and what you can do. Confidence if key, no matter how talented or beautiful you are. Always be confident and proud of yourself, and if you aren’t, don’t be afraid of getting help because that can lead down a very dark road if you don’t.

_______

This post is harsh, but if you’re seriously thinking about going into the Kpop industry, it would seriously be doing you a lot of harm if people sugarcoated everything for you.

• One of the main things you need wherever you audition is confidence. If you don’t, it will show in your singing, your dance, and even your behaviour and how the people judging you see you.
• You need to work incredibly hard and have incredible determination to even have a slight chance of debut. You also need an extremely thick skull when it comes to criticism and be willing to work and train as hard as you can until you fix your mistakes if you don’t want to slip behind/blend in with all the other trainees, especially in major companies.
• You should go for some of the more well known and popular companies, like JYP, SM, YG (But don’t go to yg yet if you don’t have to… they are terrible at managing their groups) because you have a higher chance of being paid as a trainee and probably/maybe will have a lesser chance of… mistreatment, if you know what I mean. Sometimes the bigger companies can be safer than very small and struggling companies.
• Also, different companies will want different things. for example, JYP value personality and uniqueness far more than plain skill and looks. YG artists have strong images (and girlcrush concepts if you’re a girl) and amazing stage presence.

Looks

• 50kg or less, not up for negotiation in any company you go to. Preferably closer to 45kg. (Be prepared to go on insane diets where you are basically are forced to starve yourself if you are too ““”overweight”””
• In most companies, you unfortunately must live up to Korean beauty standards or get plastic surgery on your face
• As for visuals and personality, it really depends on which company you go to. For example, JYP values good personality and making sure you can truly express yourself through dance, singing, etc. YG trainees generally have a stronger hiphop-y thing going on and the women/girls have strong ‘girlcrush’ vibes. From what i’ve seen, RBW (you probably don’t know them, but Mamamoo is my all time favourite group haha) idols/artists generally have absolutely incredible vocals and are absolute beagles.
• I can’t stress this enough though: Beauty won’t get you very far in the Kpop industry. Sure, it’ll open doors, but you have to be willing to work insanely hard, and by that I mean staying up until 2–4 in the morning practicing after your classes end at 12PM just to keep your spot in that company. (That was from jennie/lisa’s stories of YG, but SM in particular is known for its gruelling training program.

Trainee Life

• Oof. It is hard and strenuous no matter where you go. Especially in the major companies (speaking mainly from what Lisa (Blackpink) and Jennie have said about the YG system), expect to have 12 hour classes that end at 12:00. Trainees frequently then stay up until 2–4 in the morning practicing what they have learned/fixing their mistakes until the moves are as natural as breathing (or try to). they then get up… around 8? I forget, it’s probably earlier though.
• No dating, expect to hand in your cellphone (some trainees find ways to sneak in a second phone in though), extreme diets, cameras in the dorm, harsh instructors, very competitive environment, curfews, and much more. Sometimes you aren’t even allowed to convenience stores if you are supposed to dieting because people thing you will try to buy snacks.
• It is freaking intense. Are you sure you want this? Seriously - think it over very hard, because if you decide halfway through training that you don’t want to do this anymore, you could have just wasted a whole lot of money and time you could have spent doing other things.
• That being said, if you are strong and resilient and determined enough to make it through and debut, it can be a very rewarding experience.

Other

• Smaller companies can be horrible. In a lot of them, you don’t get paid and you have to get part-time jobs on top of the inane training. You may also be at risk of physical and sexual assault.
• If you’re not good enough in the company’s eyes? They point all your flaws (which they do anyway, of course) very harshly and kick you out.

Important.

• So many Kpop idols have gone though hell and back just to debut. Even then, not many Kpop groups get massive success, and those groups end up disbanding, or just remain inactive until their contracts are over because their company doesn’t have enough money to support them.
• Strength of character and determination are everything. Why do you want to be a Kpop idol? What is your drive? Because you’re a superfan of multiple groups and think it would be cool/fun? You’re not going to get anywhere. Now, I don’t know you, but you have to be insanely passionate about something that is not just “I love kpop and really really want to be a kpop star too.”

Now, I don’t mean to scare you and I’m not saying you shouldn’t audition and become a Kpop idol - lots of other people have gone through it and survived, but it really is survival of the fittest, and you really have to think about whether or not it’s worth the risk.

Also……. be forewarned that haters will hate on you and try to tear you apart for every little mistake you make. Every single idol and performer/singer around the world deals with this, so make sure you can handle it. Don’t let people tell you that you aren’t good enough, because it will be your downfall if you start believing them. Be determined and always strive to be the best version of yourself you can and never give up. :)

First.. It's not allow to say my company name straightly..

Anyway I was a trainee since 2016. I auditioned when I was 15. Although I am a foreigner. I born in Japan so It's really hard for me.

There are 25 trainee in the company and only 6 members are with me. Anyway I am not the maknae. I am the oldest one anyway. Now I am really relax than before because I fixed my self and all. I got nearly three years to be fluent in Korean. And also Bit Chinese. I am ok with Japanese and bit English so now I an learning Tagalog for my hobby.

I have really cute 6 girl around me. I am the elder and maknae is 15 years old now. I am foreigner but I have most of the responsibility than others. I am vocal and visual anyway so I have to do practices every day. Not now I will tell you when I was 15 situation..

There are some trainees when I came there . They really mad with me that days. But fortunately now they are debuted..Because I am a foreigner. I was really good at my skin and also vocal and also bit raps. But not good at dancing. .

I was 64 kg ( 😂 ) when I was 15 so can you imagine my body? So I had a different type of schedule than others.

Wake up at 5 am. So I have one hour for get ready for my daily schedule. After that 6 am I am usually go to gym and doing my hella work, out. For the first time I couldn't even breath because my tummy got hurt so much. After that 7 am my breakfast. It s an APPLE. After drink some water I have to go my korean lessons at 7.30 to 10'30. They usually teach their cultural things etc. After that we can have a green tea without any sweets.. 11 . My vocal training till 1 pm.

After that my lunch. Two potatoes with butter?

Ok then again 1'30 have to learn instruments playing.. till 3'30.

After we can gef another green tea without any sweets. ( this schedule was only for me) again 4 - 6 pm yoga lessons.6 -8 dancing practices.

I don't know how to dance at the first. I am so bad. And I am not flexible. But they went hard on me so now gladly I can split too. Hhhhhhahahahaha..

After that 8 pm I had my precious dinner. Wow. That was sometimes a yogurt or.protein shake. Again 8.30 we have to go our action classes and also personality lessons. Anyway they tought about how to care about our skin .. after that we have to check our weights every day.. usually my schedule was finished at 12.

Again I have my home work so I did them too. My korean lesson .! I have to repeat it once again . So I am usually sleeping at 2am. Great I got only 3 hours for my sleep.

I got exhausted..and Normally you know.I am girl so sometimes we have to face sone issues but no they didn't give me any excuses. Anyway I lost 8 kg per one month

NOW

I am 47 kg. And waist is 27 . Height is 170.1 cm. Plae skin and perfect

Vocal 100%

Rapping 50%

Dancing 80%

Visual 100%

And also a proud mom of 6 girls..😂

Fluent in English,Korean, Japanese.

Bit Tagalog and Chinese.

I am living in our studio with my babies.

Good luck and thank you. 💖

Students

6am-7am: Learn Korean or a another class

7am-7:30am: Get ready for school. Your company will have you attending either an arts school or an international school.

7:30am-8am: Travelling to school. Trainees usually take public transport, but their manager does sometimes drop them off.

8am-3pm: Attending school. It will also be likely that you will also have vocal and dance classes in the school that you go to.

4pm-8pm: Training in the company. Depending on what your strengths and weaknesses are, your classes will be different. You’ll receive vocal classes, rap classes and dance. For most trainees, dance classes are longer and have more importance placed on them.

Non-students

6am-10am: Classes. These would be like language classes, manners and etiquette, acting and modelling. Usually these classes occur only once a week, so you’ll have different classes each day, However, some trainees will be in the gym, or practicing as well.

10am-8pm: Practice. These are your vocal, rapping and dance classes.

All trainees:

8pm-8:30pm: Dinner. This will be provided by the company, and it’ll most likely be very healthy or little food. Trainees do not get to eat take-away food.

8:30pm onwards: This is the trainee’s ‘free-time’. However they expect you to be practicing and doing homework.

12am-2am: Within this time period, most trainees will go to bed. However, its not uncommon for trainees to continue practicing and not get any sleep.

It SUCKS. Their childhood is destroyed, their personalities are destroyed. They have to go on extreme diets from a very young age ( take somi, wonyoung, yeri, Tzuyu for an example) and they aren’t even fat! Twice’s momo had to go on a very extreme diet, predebut where she only drank water for days! And cried on a bridge (I forgot the name but it was famous for committing suicide) . Redvelvet members also go on extreme diets. Just look at Wendy and joy. Besides that, they are brainwashed and have to deal with sexism and racism. Plus, the training for being an idol is hard. Very hard (like SM entertainment). Even after all that, you aren’t really sure if they’ll debut or not. Best example? Future 2ne1.

Well some of there vlog videos would give a good scope of how they go about their day, it also depends on the idols interests and hobbies

• Morning

Obvious they wake up and shake themselves out of sleep

Then depending on the idol before anything else they either workout

Sit around

Or have breakfast

Then after that they freshen up and go on with the rest of their day doing whatever they have planned for it, they could either spend the day at home

Or spend the day out going to places like restaurants or just some outdoor place

And after the day is over they freshen up once again and for some before going to bed would do there usual skincare routine

And some others would go to bed

Its all up to them if you want to see in full how idols spend their day on their days off you can look on their official group or personal youtube channels there's tones of them

Thats all

✨

🤍˚✧

Chaewon ! ࿐*✧･ﾟ:*
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꒰🤍꒱ Welcome to Moonlqvs answer

꒰💿꒱ What is it like to be a K-Pop trainee? What are their training schedules like, what are their dorms like, etc.?

୨⎯ ੈ✩‧₊° ⎯୧

theres a lot of different schedules I guess depending on the company.

Minu from kpop group boyfriend shared that Trainees go to the company as early as 10am and stay as late as midnight. If they’re still studying, they head over as soon as class is finished and they stay in the practice room until just before the last bus departs.

They have a strict timeline that they have to follow everyday for up to six days a week. The first thing they do is to hand over their devices so they can concentrate on practicing.

There’s a time table on the wall too that’s for the week or the month. You would take lessons that are scheduled. During individual practice, you’d prepare for other lessons.

— Minu

He also states that for Starship Entertainment trainees, they needed to write down their experiences in a physical notebook. The trainee manager is in charge of going over their thoughts and monitoring their growth.

You also write a practice journal. It’s kinda like a diary. You will write things like what you practiced and felt during the day.

— Minu

Many other things are strictly supervised. None of the trainees are allowed to have social media pages—though they secretly set one up. Even more constricting is the company’s fixation on dieting.

Body weight is tightly supervised. It’s tight for boy groups and even worse for girl groups. You weigh yourself in the morning and regularly, your body weight is strictly monitored.

— Minu

Minu personally saw instances where people were taken to the hospital because of the effects of the unhealthy lifestyle that comes from being a trainee.

“ In terms of meal plans, it’s mostly diet food such as chicken breast and salad. Some people dance the whole day for practice and don’t get enough sleep. They refuse to eat even diet meals to keep their bodies in shape. I’ve seen some of those extreme cases who fainted and were taken to the hospital.”

— Minu

Another ex Kpop idol shared on YouTube what her schedule looked like

now this could be a very outdated schedule as I believe a lot of company’s have come under fire for risking the health and safety of trainees so I think they have changed some things but it’s probably mostly the same.

also here are some leaked schedules from trainees of different company’s

• SM entertainment

5:00 am - 7:00 am: Wake-up time

8:00 am - 3:00 pm.: School schedule (schedule differs from school to school)

2:00 pm - 11:00 pm: Training time for those going to school (training ranges from 8 to 10 hours while for those who don't, it can be 14 hours.)

11:00 pm - 1:00 am: Sleeping time

Trainees eventually go to school because education is still necessary in spite of undergoing training. They have various classes like singing, rapping, dancing, etiquette, and even language classes, too.

• unknown agency

6:30 am - 7:00 am: Wake-up time

8:00 am - 1:00 pm: School

1:30 pm - 2:00 pm: Meetings

2:00 pm - 8:00 pm: Practice/Training

8:00 pm - 8:30 pm: Dinner

8:30 pm - 10:00 pm: Evaluations + Extra training

10:00 pm -1:00 am: Practice/Training

1:00 am - 3:00 am: Extra allotted time (work on fault points, working out, working on schoolwork)

3:00 am - 3:30am: Usual sleep time

the schedules differ from company and trainee especially if your a trainee that goes to school compared to trainees that don’t. Now days though not many people become trainees when out of school as company’s mainly look for younger trainees.

୨⎯ ੈ✩‧₊° ⎯୧

Imagine being a kpop star.

You look like this:

You can sing like this:

Rap like this:

Dance like this:

You perform at this:

.

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It all seems too good to be true, right?

Well . . . it sort of is.

Imagine living in a world where all you do is sing and dance.

Imagine being so sore, yet still having to practice the same thing you’ve been practicing over and over again.

Imagine not being able to cry in front of anyone because you’re supposed to be professional.

Our goal was to debut together. I really believed that she would debut.

-Sana from Twice after Momo’s elimination

Being a kpop trainee is hard work. You don’t have time to do what you like to do. You have to train continuously. It’s exhausting.

And to top it off, most trainees don’t even get to debut.

What the companies and the idols show you is the tip of the iceberg. There are so many survival shows that show what trainees have to go through to debut, but sometimes, those aren’t even that accurate, shown by the rigged Produce series.

Those kids had dreams. Some of them were supposed to debut. But they didn’t.

The producers crushed them.

I’m not saying that the members of the Produce groups don’t deserve their spot. They do. In fact, all of those talented trainees deserved to debut, but only the lucky few did so.

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Debuting is a race—it’s a competition, and you can get swallowed by the sea of hopeful trainees the second you mess up once.

There are kids train for one year, others train for almost ten.

And don’t even get me started on the extreme dieting, plastic surgery, and hate idols receive when they debut, especially if they’re from a big company.

Big3 privilege?

I thought ‘privilege’ meant being handed something without doing anything for it.

I didn’t know ‘privilege’ meant training all day, the pressure of living up to your company’s name, the mountain of hate, and so much more.

If that’s what privilege means in some of you guys’ books, then I guess my whole life has been a lie.

Sure, idols under the Big3 usually get instant success, but that doesn’t mean they did absolutely nothing. In fact, a lot of big companies’ training systems are more strict than smaller companies because there are so many trainees.

So, respect your idols, they went through a lot.

After all, put yourself in their shoes and you’ll understand how they must feel.

Hi, I'm not sure what tips you need (for auditioning? Or maybe you're already a trainee) but I'll just put them here. Keep in mind, I am no longer a trainee.

1. Keep in mind that being a trainee isnt all that sunshine and rainbows. Yes, it's a dream for many, but espically for more younger people, being a trainee is not what you might expect. I always wanted to become a trainee, but I had to leave due to harsh training, toxicity throughout other trainees, and unhealthy wieght loss.
2. Be confident. When you're auditioning, it's important to have the skills and talents, etc, but also it doesn't really matter if you're all shy and reserved. You want to be confident you can make it as a trainee, yet not be too cocky.
3. Don't sacrifice your health (mental and physical) yes its important to do your best, but your health should always be top priority.
4. Be yourself. I know this is probably obvious, but some people fake their personality so they can get accepted.
5. Don't worry if you can't master everything. When I was first auditioning I was really scared about messing up, but the whole point of being a trainee is so you can pratice and improve over time. And even if you're a trainee, know that it's okay if you aren't as quick as others, everyone learns at a differnt speed.
6. (If you aren't Korean) Get used to speaking Korean. It's okay if you arent 100% fluent, but some basic knowledge is important for communication. Also get used to the formalities used in Korea.
7. If you want to keep pursuing being a kpop idol, don't give up. There are tons of popular kpop idols who have been rejected by many Entertainment and even got kicked out. What I'm saying is, just because you get rejected or get kicked out, that doesnt mean you don't have potential.

I was a Trainee for _ _ for 4 years. I left late 2019

I’m a foreigner so I didn’t go to school. so I’d say my Trainee days were kinda Normal and easier than the korean ones because I had more time to practice.We were separated into groups and the trainees from different teams could interact sometimes but everyone busy practicing.I lived in dorms with few other trainees and they were kinda luxurious for a trainee dorm.They also paid for my flight to Korea and picked me up at airport. I also had free access to my phone but i had to hand them over while training. The manager is kind(I guess because we were younger) but also strict and scary when needed.

I woke up EARLY.VERY EARLY. Like 5–6 AM and trained by myself until the trainers came in. After the trainers come training becomes more harsh and brutal with straightforward comments and criticisms. We also recieve language class, debate classes ,songwriting and producing classes and consulting. We can not go to the main building as we please.We get short breaks in between. Normally we train uptil 9–10 PM but during monthly grading we praticed until4–5 AM. We also had to diet. We weren’t practically forced but they told us to maintain our weight and not gain too much so that when we dance it’d be easier and more flexible. I recieved at least 76,000 won from my family a month and I only needed to use them to buy clothes, sanitary pads and transport.

When you are a trainee what matters is not just singing,dancing or looks. They judge you for your personality. We didn’t wear much makeup to gradings and needed to manage to be beautiful even without makeup. We also needed to be polite and respectful and extremely cautious of what we would say. Moreover we should have immense stage presence and make the judges aware of it. The judges are perfectionists. They don’t hold back. Only the most perfect were chosen to stay and others were given warnings until they get kicked out. I can’t say more than this.

I only know what a day in the life of a JYP trainee (with school) is like because of Quora User (please follow her, she is amazing). She is a former JYP trainee and she posted what a day af JYP is like. I will write this in my own words.

5:00am: get up, stretch, practice, go to school, etc

8:00am: school (you can drop school but I don’t exactly recommend it because if you don’t debut, there aren’t many jobs you can do without a degree, etc)

4:00pm: getting back from school, eating

5:00pm: training (dancing and singing with a little bit of rap, but in JAEDA’s second year of being a trainee, she didn’t learn rap anymore)

10:00pm: I think like free time and going to bed, etc

Remember, this is not from my experience. It’s from Quora User. She was a trainee at Cube too if you’re interested in that. She talks about the JYP food system, dorms, etc. She’s really helpful if you want to be a JYP trainee.

Have a wonderful day

This I know In Covid-19

Get up 7:30 a.m. Make your own breakfast then get ready in 20–30 minutes. Travel to jyp building. Change your clothes and do streches and etc. During this pandemic the jyp cafeteria is closed so order your food and eat it at the cafeteria where the seats are during the lunch time. Dance class then Korean and vocal classes and then at 7–8 p.m. go to home, shower then cook your dinner that is mainly the job of elder people in the dorm. Do whatever you want your school homework or use your phone then sleep by 10 or 10:30

If there was no pandemic the daily schedule includes school, dinner at the jyp cafeteria, return home at 9 or 9:30.

Honestly it really varies between companies. There are, however, a couple things you can definitely count on in every single one:

• being closely monitored for height, weight and figure. the company may also ask you to go under the knife (it’s extremely rare to have a natural-looking idol, unless s/he is 12. as an entertainer you need to be attractive, so it only makes sense to look as beautiful as possible) but that will probably be covered in the contract.
• years and years of training (people say the average is 2–5 years, but it’s starting to vary a lot. some train for months, others almost a decade. it all depends on the company’s decisions, often regardless of whether the trainee is talented enough or not. foreigners can expect to train a lot longer than native Korean speakers though.)
• lots and lots of dance, vocal and variety practice. it’s like going to an arts school (which many trainees do anyway, at Hanlim or SOPA or elsewhere) but more regimented. you’ll also be expected to be able to speak multiple languages at least conversationally.
• no dating, no social media. no exceptions for the former, and virtually none for the latter. they’re seen as distractions from the path to debut.

This is mostly my opinion, formed after long discussions with fellow kpop fans. In truth, there is no way to know for sure unless you become a trainee yourself or have a close relative/friend as one.

Regarding what Luicrist said above, it makes sense that SM would be harsh on their trainees because they have dozens of them (wide crop to choose from). However, you should really take all accounts with a grain of salt. The experience is different for everyone. Nevertheless, it’s almost certain that trainee life is very hard.

I’m currently training at home as well to hopefully become a trainee sometime next year so I can tell you what my current schedule is at the moment.

DANCE:

I’ve been focusing on dance and I know that the typical amount of dancing a trainee does is usually at least 5–6 hours. I get my dance practice through a number of methods;

I use an online dance platform called STEEZY Studio, which is about $20 a month for unlimited in-home video classes. I also joined an urban/hip hop dance team that meets every Sunday from 4–9 pm but the season hasn’t started yet so it’s not reflected on my schedule. From that same studio, I’m taking hip hop/urban classes for about 1–2 hours after school as well, so when I say ‘dance’ it could be any sort of practicing that relates to dance.

To someone first starting out as a from-home trainee, I would say just find good, reliable dance platforms that work for you and help you improve. If you learn well from Youtube, start with Youtube, if you prefer being taught by someone, look for classes at a studio. I started exercising around the same time I started dancing and it helped me gain confidence and strength to improve.

I’d also recommend installing a mirror in your room and/or recording yourself every few days after working on pieces in order to see yourself. Due to body-image issues I never used to look at myself on camera but after I got over the fear, that’s when I started really seeing improvements after a while.

KOREAN:

I’ve been learning Korean for almost two years. I started first with Duolingo’s free Korean course which was awesome and I think a good starting point. I’d recommend taking notes on each lesson and memorizing the vocabulary words to get the most out of the resource. However, the lessons are very brief and skip over key grammar points so take this with a grain of salt and make sure you’re finding other ways to learn Korean outside of Duolingo.

After that, I started with Talk to Me In Korean’s online classes which I think are the best way to learn. They go through everything in-depth and start from the very basics in order to grow confidence in speaking, listening, and reading.

DISCLAIMER AND ADVICE:

It took a lot of convincing from my parents to establish the idea that I would be putting all my time and effort into this, and for them to put money towards learning but with time they came to support it.

Also, a reminder that everything takes a lot of time and while you’ll constantly feel like giving up because you’re working so hard by yourself at home to get somewhere that feels so far away, you can do it, just don’t give up and as long as you’re better than you were yesterday even by %1, it will count.

Progress is not an uphill journey, improvement is sneaky and takes a while to kick in, so even if you feel like you’re working really hard and it’s not showing, don’t give up. I promise it’s just waiting to pop up one day out of the blue and show itself.

Don’t rush the process, I tried to audition for things after less than a year of dancing and while it was a good push, it stressed me out before I was ready.

Here’s my current schedule if it helps give you an idea:

(Monday-Friday):

MORNING

5:45 = Wake up

6:00 - 7:00 = Breakfast, clean, journal, cook, get dressed

7:00 - 9:00 = Korean lessons

9:00 - 11:00 = Morning school

11:00 - 12:00 = Lunch

AFTERNOON

12:00 - 3:00 = Afternoon school

3:00 - 4:00 = Workout

4:00 - 5:00 = Dinner

EVENING

5:00 - 8:00 = Choreography learning and practice

8:00 - 10:00 = Foundations practice session

11:00 = Goodnight!

(Saturday + Sundays):

MORNING

5:45 = Wake up

6:00 - 7:30 = Breakfast, clean, journal, cook, get dressed

7:30 - 9:00 = Korean lessons

9:00 - 9:30 = Morning workout

9:30 - 11:00 = Foundations practice session

11:00 - 11:30 = Lunch

AFTERNOON

11:30 - 3:00 = Choreography practice and learning

3:00 - 4:00 = Workout

4:00 - 5:00 = Dinner

EVENING

5:00 - 9:00 = Freestyle and open-ended practice

9:00 - 10:30 = Korean study session

11:00 = Bedtime

***This is by no means me telling what you should do, it’s your path and your dream, this is merely what I’ve been doing for the past year and a half.***

Don’t overwork yourself too much. I had to learn that even idols get breaks when they need them sometimes and allow yourself the moments to mess up and feel down because there’s only one way up.

Much love and good luck with your journey!

There are actually many videos related to this on YouTube from ex-trainees where they talk about the things they experienced whilst training and what they would do on an average day. Here are a few I suggest you watch:

Her name is Jessica Lee and she actually featured on a show called ‘Idol School’ and started training in 2014. She gives a great overview of things she had to do whilst training.

Another video I suggest you watch is:

Her name is Grace and she was supposed to debut with a girl group, we don’t know who they are unfortunately. Grace has been on ‘Unpretty Rapstar’ and her Youtube channel is quite popular!

Video 3:

Soobeanie actually managed to debut in a girl group called Blady. She has since left the group and now focuses on Youtube. She has a lot of experience in the K-pop industry and has a lot of interesting videos.

Hope these videos help!

If you want to know about this topic in detail then watch Grazy Grace’s channel on YouTube, but basically what they do is they go to school in the morning, if they're still in school, then immediately afterwards they head straight to go practice. They practice singing, dancing, rapping, some even practice songwriting skills and have language lessons (usually Korean (if foreign), Japanese, English, and sometimes Chinese). They do all this until like 11pm to around 12 am, then some of them decide to stay behind and practice some more until like 1 to 2am. Then they head back to their dorm (where some of them practice even more) and then go to sleep and repeat the routine.

I believe they have monthly evaluations, where they're supposed to record themselves singing and dancing, etc. So the CEO (or whoever's in charge) can review and critique them. Sometimes the CEO will come in and watch them him/herself then will critique them. I believe all of this goes on until their contract runs out and they decide not to renew, they get kicked out by the company, or they debut.

(I may be wrong about this, or this may specifically apply to one story I've heard, but I think they practice singing, dancing, etc. The first half of that time with a trainer, choreographer, etc. Then the next half, by themselves.)

I’m former jyp and sm trainee. 2 years at jyp and 2 years at sm. For me, it was so hard at the first time because I’m a foreigner. And I didn’t know korean well. So, I need to take korean class when I was trainee. Because of I’m still a student, they send me to the school there. After going back from school, there will be several practices and classes. On weekend, you may have some activities. It’s become routine and I was like, this is more easy for me than at the first time. Yes, they are strict. You will never get enough rest. You need to diet and practises everyday to keep your body fit. You’ll be given a dorm where you need to share with a group of people. Maybe you’ll getting bullied if you’re chubby, non-asian and foreigner. Your schedule was so packed. You can’t have any media socials. And you can’t use phone. You need to bring your own saving money to buy what you want because they only serve you place to live, foods and training classes. The other stuffs you need to buy it by yourself. Some trainees were working part-time job at the restaurant and somewhere to get extra money. Become a trainee is not easy like what people think. But if you’re confident that you can go through all of this, you may complete your trainee years easily.

Helllllllo! So glad I came across this. It mainly depends on the company on what we do every day! While under MKE During summer, we would wake up anywhere between 4–7 and get ready and dance practice for a while, lunch and then classes on Korean (If foreign), singing, acting, and rapping (If a rapper for said group, most trainees take this class though) we would get back to eat/sleep anywhere between 9pm- 12am on Average.

During the school year it is WAY different. I woke up at 5am to get ready for school, my members were all older than me, but we all had school. we would leave early (around 1 pm) and come change into practice clothes, practice, Classes were shortened, and came back and did homework, went to bed on an average at 12–1am each night.

Monthly Evals, Oh I HATED those

We would chose one song as a group to dance, sing/ overall perform. (the first one we did was NCT 127, Fire truck.)

We were also evaluated as separate people too. I was a rapper/singer so I HAD to do 3 different performances.

In our Korean Class, we were quizzed once a week on our Korean.

I hoped this helped

Not a lot.

1. Your own toothbrush, at-home slippers, etc. Definitely bring a smartphone, you won’t be able to use it much but when you are allowed then it would be great to contact your family.
2. Bring some clothes that you wear on a daily basis (white t-shirts etc), and especially exercise tops and leggings. You will need them a lot since you have training every day, which leaves you sweaty af. You want to prepare all the clothes because branded sportswear like “Nike” are way more expensive in SK.
3. Something that will comfort you and give you hope. A stuffed animal, or a book, or a ring from your mother or something. The trainee process is hard and you will need that when you are alone and feeling weak.
4. Personal protection. Bring a pocket knife or butterfly. If your company doesn’t allow them, then it’s okay. Just hand it to them and when you get a break you can take it back.
5. Deodorant, dry shampoo, and other “quick fix” cosmetics. You will be in training for maybe 14 hours a day. By the end, you will be very tired and sweaty, so these will help you get more rest while still looking good.

There are definitely more but I can’t think of any rn. I’ll add more if I think of some.

don't fall for most of these lies 😭😭 I was a trainee for a smaller company (none of these known companies), it is known that you are not allowed to mention what company you were. you can be stuck in a lawsuit for life for breaking a rule, even after. only if you are currently in another company (even then, you cannot mention what company you are CURRENTLY in, unless you debutted.). It is private matters to what happens SPECIFICALLY (you can talk about it (that's just basic human right) but what the company does or planning, is NOT allowed.) in the company is not allowed. that is including what your schedule is, WHO teaches you, what they are like (looks). You can mention how long or whatever, but reading these replies (answers) there are SO MANY holes in the fairytale they write 💀💀

Bullying is rare in bigger companies. You have to uphold a “reputation” because you are in the most reputable company. could you be a bully before? yes you could. But you will have to be expected to respect every trainee in your dorms or company. Imagine bullying another trainee and they debut? that's f**king embarrassing. You can be kicked out too. BUT the exceptions are that your family has money. companies will not care. But then again, no one's a b***h.

Well, the sweet life of K-pop that we see on camera, everyone knows it’s a lie, cause behind all those smiles all these K-pop idols are fighting with so many things that we can’t even imagine. The hardships as an idol and a trainee are equally terrifying.

From my point of view, I think that it’s extremely tiring and hard to be a K-pop trainee. There are so many standards in which you have to fall in. (I’m gonna give an example of Jihyo from Twice. She was criticized so much for her body and visuals. Momo from Twice lost around 15lbs in a week just to debut in Twice, practically starved herself!). All these unrealistic Korean beauty standards are just absurd! So, even as a trainee your visuals play a huge role and everything related to it. It’s not easy to maintain that 45 kg ideal weight all the time. Trainees are encouraged to do (more like made to do) extreme diets and hard exercises.

Other than this, there are strict evaluations, which is like kind of a right thing to do. But due to such strict criteria, trainees work so much harder than they actually should. All day long, they keep practicing, just so they can perform better. Like from morning till night they practice on their dancing and vocal skills. And now put the school work on top of it too. Just imagine how hard it is to go through this hectic and pressurizing schedule almost everyday! (Jimin from BTS told that he was used to practice till 3–4am in the morning, then sleep for a little bit, before going back to the practice at 6am. Then he sang for an hour and then went to school. This chain continued like this. Like imagine having such a life where you have to overwork yourself and everyone also knows about how dreadful Jimin’s diet was!)

And the last thing really would be the stress of the uncertain future. These trainees work so hard day and night, but at the end of the day they don’t know whether they will ever get a chance to debut or not. This is really the biggest stress, as the trainees give their everything for doing their best, but they still can’t know whether they are good enough to debut or not. There still maybe so many trainees out there, who have 0% chance of debuting, but they are still trying. Many who might have given up.

Trainee life without a doubt is extremely hard and stressful. This is all what we are made to see and the overview. I can bet that the real trainee life is way worse and horrific than this. It’s not easy to be a K-pop trainee or idol, it’s indeed very difficult.

(P.S: The examples I gave are the ones I knew about. Like I know there might be many other examples, but these are the ones I’ve read about and know them with a 100% surety. Also actually I stan these groups that’s why I know better about them. Hopefully you’ll all understand :))

Here is what I could find. I am not sure on SM's routine but perhaps it could similar to this.

8 a.m. : School attendance
As most of k-pop trainees are students, they should go to school in the morning. They try not to skip breakfast if possible because it’s important for them to manage their health. At their school, they take classes just like the other ordinary students, but they usually listen to music during break time to make preparations for their weekly test. They sometimes write song lyrics, while there are also some passionate trainees who practice singing and dancing at their school.

5 p.m. : Go to practicing room
After school is over, trainees go to their practicing rooms. The first thing they do when they arrive at their practicing rooms is give their cellphones and diaries to people who manage them. They get their cellphones back after they finish all the daily lessons because cellphones could be a distraction while practicing. And k-pop trainees usually keep a diary every day to record their learning process. K-pop agencies offer dinner to their trainees, but trainees usually can’t eat much because they have to watch their figure.

6 p.m. : Take lessons
After dinner, k-pop trainees take various lessons including singing lessons and dancing lessons. The most basic and important lesson is a singing lesson, and trainees usually take lessons from their vocal trainers one on one. And k-pop trainees practice dancing at least more than one hour every day.

K-pop trainees should take language lessons too. Korean trainees learn various foreign language including English, Chinese and Japanese, while foreign trainees learn Korean. To k-pop trainees, language lessons are as important as singing and dancing lessons because k-pop idols these days should be very active in a variety of foreign countries. That’s why they take intensive language lessons.

That’s not all. They also take personality educations and sex educations. And on the day when they don’t go to school, they do volunteer works too.

10 p.m. : Personal practice
K-pop trainees usually finish their daily lessons at 10 p.m. They can go home at that time. However, many of k-pop trainees don’t go home and stay at their practicing rooms to do personal practices. K-pop agencies do not force their trainees to do personal practices, but k-pop trainees voluntarily do personal practices because they have to survive in the fierce competition. Becoming a k-pop trainee doesn’t guarantee debut, and only a few trainees who are better than the other trainees can get an actual chance to make a debut.

12 a.m. : Go home
K-pop trainees go home late at night. When they arrive home, they write in their diaries because, as I said, k-pop trainees usually keep a diary every day to record their learning process. And after several hours of sleep, yeah, they have to follow the same daily schedule.

All credit goes to K-pop Trainee’s Daily Schedule

I don't not own this information it comes from http://kpopbehind.com

edit 06:35 oct 19 2020

Hi this is quick edit I wanted to add. I am sure you wanted to know how it actually feels instead of schedule so I am adding both!

I was on google doing some research about SM Trainee life and I came across I few stories that seem legit. I think you should really check them out.

KPop Secrets! - SM Trainee Life

This next one is a must read and a real eye opener

Confessions of an EX SM trainee | K-Pop Amino

This one is the same as the first one or they're just similar.

My Son's Life as a Biracial Trainee | K-Pop Amino

I am not sure if this person was a trainee or they are talking on behalf of stories of SM

What It Takes to Be a K-pop Idol: Background and My Take

Even if you think these are fake. You can always search the stories of former sm k-pop stars, Luhan and Kris Wu. Back then, chinese members of the group faced discrimination. And years after you would think they would change but I haven't seen any. Even some of the chinese NCT members are shown blatant unfairness. Like less lines or never being the center in tv appearances.

I know a lot of foreigners who aren't even asian want to become trainees. But it will be even more challenging for someone who isn't asain. Even non-korean asians are mistreated so imagine how they would treat someone who isn't asian at all.

SM mainly believes that visuals are key and that talent can be made. In some cases talent is crucial to SM but nowadays visuals is more important to them. I hope these stories are a real eye opener for you.

I am sure you heard of Acopia before? It's like a kpop trainee camp. It's where you can get discovered by kpop ent companies. It's not as hard as SM and I heard it's fun.

Here is what there schedule looks like.

As you can see it's kind of a camp than a trainee lifestyle. It's a learning experience.

Acopia's team is pretty chill and nice and accept everyone no matter what race. Since quarantine is a thing they offer on line classes.

No it is not hard to be a trainee at all……if you do not mind signing away your life. Or if you are too young then your parents or even just one parent can do that for you like my father did. You will have to be “on” 24/7, perform perfectly on command, maintain ideal weight, and “proper attitude’ which means you listen to every word spoken to you by trainers, obey every order, and never ever speak your mind. If for some reason you cannot do those things then expect punishment. I was born in the mid-1990s and between the ages of 12–15 when I was dumb enough to think being famous was cool I was under contract at a mid-sized company. Thanks to my father I spent three years getting at most 5 hours of sleep per night, two small meals a day (if I wasn’t punished by having those restricted), got punished physically 2–3 times a week, easily ran hundreds of kilometers (I wasn’t naturally skinny), spent hours kneeling to “meditate” on my mistakes, and struggled to write many many “reflections” or apology letters with my non-dominant right hand. I am left-handed and the trainee school tried like hell to make me right-handed. I got punished for the dumbest things like using my left hand or not speaking properly because while I am half Asian Korean is NOT my first language. Once I was made to lay face down on the practice room’s floor to be whacked with a baseball bat three days in a row because I could not do the entire dance routine perfectly and the only reason I didn’t get hit the fourth day is because I refused to get down the fourth day and ran out of there. I still had bruises on my butt and legs from the first three “punishments” and couldn’t fathom getting beaten anymore. I had practiced no less than 8 hours a day since I still had to go to school (international school since I am US citizen) and yet somehow I still was not doing the routine to satisfaction. Keep in mind that in addition to going to school I also had to take classes to learn (perfect) Korean, voice lessons, and dance classes along with lectures on how to behave. Tall for my age and long-legged me was to be the main dancer and lead vocals, so I really had to be perfect. My fourth screw-up didn’t go over well at all. Instead of getting beaten again, I got off with being suspended from practice until I ran 15 kilometers (I deliberately took three days to do this so I could rest) and wrote yet another reflection on what I did “wrong” ie not accepting another beating. Another time I sneaked out of the dormitory at night because I wasn’t allowed to eat but I was hungry so I went for a snack at the convenience store. When I got back and wouldn’t say where I had been I was hit on the head and whacked with a baseball bat.

I saw my father sometimes and spoke to my mother who did not live in Korea never since cellphones were monitored. I was saved at age 15 from that torturous existence because I was born with a heart defect that started to cause problems necessitating a surgery. I could still dance but could not keep practicing for 10–12 hours a day if I wanted to live to be old enough to write this post. I have never quite forgiven my father for signing me up for that hell because I feel like he did it more so to spite my mother than any concern about what I would go through. I highly doubt he read the contract in its entirety. I’m glad my health failed and the group I was to be a part of did not debut because I would still be living in hell aged 26.

I used to be a trainee at one of the big 3 companies, I won't mention the name. So a typical trainee day consists of 10+ hours of training depending on whether you go to school or not.

If you are a school student then you have to work harder. You have to get up early , as early as 5–6 am and get ready for school and then go to school, after school you usually come back between 3–5 pmAfter freshening up we used to head straight to our trainee building to train, there every trainee has different schedules according to their speciality, my first class used to be of dancing which lasted for 1–3 hours varying at times, then we used to have dinner break of 1 hour ,but I usually used to have had my dinner on my way back from school so this used to be my free time. After the dinner break the practice started again , I used to have vocal classes of 2 hours usually and then at 11 we used to have some discussions after which we were free to do whatever we want to , some days I used to return to my dorm to sleep /study but that was rare, otherwise we used to practice further by ourselves in whatever field we thought we were lacking, this finally got over at 2–3 am and then used to head back to sleep or in my case sometimes study. On Sundays we had off day, we could do whatever we want to , but still we either used to go to the building to train or study / do our homework.m on some days we had outings when we used to go to amusement parks ,movie theatres etc. Being a school student while training is really tough , cuz sometimes I had to manage doing my homeworks and study in between the training . But I enjoyed it. All I have to say is , if you are dedicated and are ready to do hard work then all of this will be worth it . All the best .