Seungyeon Who Almost Joined Red Velvet Explains Why She Gave Up on Becoming K-pop Idol 

Initially known as a popular SM trainee who almost debuted with Red Velvet, Gong Seungyeon revealed the reason she didn’t become a K-pop idol.

On June 13, various Korean media outlets including Star News and News1 met with actress Gong Seungyeon, who will star in the upcoming film, “Handsome Guys.”

Here, Gong talked about various things, including the main reason she didn’t debut as an idol, despite training under the “Big 3” agency, SM Entertainment.

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At the time, she trained with Girls’ Generation and is actually preparing to debut with Red Velvet. While doing idol training, she debuted as an actress first and fell in love with acting, leading to her departure from SM in 2012.

Two years after, Red Velvet debuted in 2014, and fans who learned about this often convey their regrets as she could have been the next “Power Siblings” with TWICE Jeongyeon, her younger sister who debuted in 2015.

While there are idols who are also acting, Gong Seungyeon detailed the reason she gave up on becoming a K-pop idol, and rather chose to become a full-fledged actress.

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“Actually, I felt my limits while I was an idol trainee. I had many friends who were very good at it, but I was mediocre at both dancing and singing. I wanted to be special, and I thought I had to find something else to survive, so I got into acting.”

In 2012, she debuted as an actress by doing supporting roles in TV dramas including, “I Love Lee Tae Ri,” “My Lovely Girl,” “Heard It Through the Grapevine,” and “Six Flying Dragons.”

Doing this, Seungyeon realized:

“I realized acting was more fun than dancing. I felt like I would be happier if I acted, and I thought I would be less hurt. When I also decided to attend university, I naturally became distant from being a singer and I don’t regret that.”

If asked if she has any thoughts of doing music in the future, Gong Seungyeon refuted that she has any interest in it anymore, saying:

“I like acting. I was just thinking about my character a while ago, and I liked myself doing that. Recently, I even dreamed of being the character when I was sleeping. It’s fun to be able to immerse myself in a role like this, and I want to live as many different characters. It got me thinking.”

After leaving SM, she finally bagged main role dramas and became notable for her acting in projects such as “Circle,” “My Only Love Song,” and “Are You Human, Too?” “Flower Crew: Jeoseon Marriage,” “Bulgasal,” and “The First Responders.”