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For this week’s Spotlight, we had you guys vote for which group had your favorite 99-line, and this time it was Else who came out on top, winning the vote for BAE173’s Hangyul and J-Min! To celebrate this win, we’re going to give a brief introduction to these two beloved stars, and hopefully get new fans curious about the rest of the group!
Starting with Hangyul, he has a very unique and somewhat sad back story, both as an idol and as a regular person. Hangyul was actually abandoned at birth, but fortunately he was adopted by a loving family at age 7, so he now has not only two caring parents, but two big brothers. Hangyul has revealed in the past that his dream to become a singer started as he wished for a way to thank his family for all their love, and wants to repay them by taking care of them.
That being said, even though he started his dream with good intentions, that did not mean it was going to be an easy one. Hangyul would end up spending a total of 4 years and 2 months just as a trainee, and end up going through a series of unfortunate events. He first debuted on September 1st, 2017 as part of a sub-unit called IM, which was meant to proceed a group debut for boy group, IM66 - however the group failed to garner any popularity, fading out silently.
In his second attempt at debuting, he participated first in the survival show, The Unit, in which he ranked 13th, and then he competed again in Produce X 101, this time ranking 7th and actually making it into the team, X1. X1 would go on to debut on August 27th, 2019, with the promise of a 5 year contract, but a scandal would break revealing that the votes for the show had been completely rigged, and the group would end up disbanding in just 5 months.
Hangyul revealed in an interview that he was completely shaken at this time, and had really begun to question whether it was time for him to give up his dream or not… But Else are grateful that he didn’t! After trying and training for a few more months, Hangyul would end up debuting as part of BAE173 on Nov 19th, 2020, and just under 2 years later, he would end up being appointed as the new leader of the group in April 2022.
After years of continuous trying, Hangyul’s endless hard work and tenacity are clearly the reasons he was able to ultimately succeed at his dream. It seems like all the misfortune that Hangyul faced finally got him to where he was meant to be, and we’re sure he was able to make his family proud, just as he wanted.
While Hangyul’s story was very eventful, J-Min’s is much simpler by comparison. J-Min, who currently serves as the Main Rapper,a Vocalist and a Dancer in the group, is known to have had a different trainee experience. Though he did hop around companies a bit, spending time in both RBW and Goodluck Entertainment, when he finally settled in at MBK Entertainment (the parent company to BAE173’s label, Pocket Idol Studio), he only trained for about 2 months before his debut!
His short trainee period shows just how talented he is, and how strong of an impression he leaves on people at a first glance. And J-Min leaves a strong impression on his fellow teammates too, he’s known for being the mood maker of the group, always making the other members laugh, but they also recognise his talent, especially when it comes to freestyle rapping.
It seems like J-Min will be following in Hangyul’s footsteps this year though, he’s been revealed to be part of the line-up for the upcoming MBC survival show, Fantasy Boys, set to start in February or March 2023. It’ll be interesting to see how he performs throughout the competition and if he can rank high, just like his bandmate.
Today we’ve only introduced you to 2 of the 9 talented men that make up BAE173, so let us know which of the members you’d like to see us cover in future!
Thank you to all the Else who participated in this week’s vote, we hope to see your continued enthusiasm in future too! Let us know what your favorite 99-line moment is in the comments on the Kooky app!
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Writer: Han (O.L)
Editor: Han (O.L)