ITZY’s Lia Reveals Why She Chose JYP Over SM, And The Reason Is Surprisingly Simple

ITZY‘s Yeji and Lia were the guests in episode 3 of Things That Make Me Groove. Along with the hosts, Super Junior‘s Kyuhyun, WINNER‘s Mino, and Sech Skies‘ Jiwon, their group was the union of every generation of K-Pop as well as the three big companies, YG, SM, and JYP.

Your browser does not support video.| 채널 십오야/YouTube

After noticing this, Jiwon mentioned he had heard one of the ITZY members had auditioned for SM before joining JYP.

Your browser does not support video.

Lia answered that she was the one who auditioned, and Kyuhyun couldn’t help but be confused. There’s no way SM would have rejected Lia, so why wasn’t she in SM?

Your browser does not support video.

Lia revealed that while she was studying abroad in Canada, she went to SM’s global audition and passed. However, her parents were against her becoming an idol at such an early age, so she returned to Canada to finish her studies.

Your browser does not support video.

Since she had already passed once, it was likely that SM would welcome her back with open arms, especially since she left with no hard feelings. When Kyuhyun asked why she had chosen JYP over SM, Lia decided to open up and reveal the entire story behind her choosing JYP over SM.

I’ve never said this anywhere before.

— Lia

Your browser does not support video.

After she graduated high school, Lia returned to Korea to audition again at SM. She also decided to open up her options and was going to go to all the big companies, including JYP, and JYP’s open auditions happened to be the first audition she went for. Needless to say, she passed with flying colors.

Your browser does not support video.

For further clarification of why JYP comes first, let’s say that Lia was going to an audition in a couple of days, and the first company with auditions in the coming week was JYP, and SM and YG were later in the week. With Lia’s talent, she could pass any audition on her first try, so in a remarkable role reversal, it was first come, first serve for the entertainment companies. JYP just happened to be first.

Your browser does not support video.

Kyuhyun couldn’t help but be shell-shocked at the small but impactful reason. To him, it seems that SM also needs to pay attention to dates instead of just focusing on talent. It’s possible that many talented people didn’t go for SM simply because they were accepted into another company a few days earlier. Kyuhyun isn’t a part of SM’s executive team, but his thought process and despair over losing a talent like Lia is proof of his loyalty to his company (although that loyalty might be because he has stocks in the company).

Your browser does not support video.

Knowing that she was a coveted talent by multiple big-name companies is proof of her incredible talent, and MIDZY are so happy and proud that Lia has found her home in ITZY.