DAY6’s Young K Was Told He Would Debut In A Band At The Worst Possible Time

Five months after DAY6‘s Young K completed his mandatory military service, he released his first full solo album, Letters With Notes.

DAY6’s Young K | @day6kilogram/Instagram

To celebrate his solo comeback, Young K appeared on the popular musical variety program Leemujin Service and discussed his musical past, trainee days, and his creative process.

During the episode, Young K opened up about how his career in K-Pop began as he told host Lee Mujin about being scouted by JYP Entertainment.

DAY6’s Young K | @mujin_plz/Twitter

Young K revealed he was formerly in a jazz band “a long time ago” and played the tenor saxophone before performing in the musical trio 3 Degree with his friend Don Lee.

While studying in Toronto, he participated in contests but shared he was unable to make the JYP Entertainment audition in Korea.

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The company reached out to him later to invite him to participate in their global auditions, which he passed with a performance of Maroon 5‘s hit song “Sunday Morning.”

Young K shared that he didn’t initially train to be in a band and didn’t expect to be approached with the offer to join DAY6, which was originally formed under the name 5LIVE before member Dowoon joined.

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Like fellow JYP Entertainment trainees, Young K was preparing his dancing and singing talents and was training in acrobatics.

Young K admitted he was “really bad” at acrobatics but was determined to conquer his fears after the recruiting team’s leader told him he needed to try harder.

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Young K set up a mat and practiced backflips in the dance practice room for “several hours every morning.”

He recalled numerous painful failed attempts that occurred over the two weeks he focused on backflips until he finally succeeded.

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Excited to show the recruiting manager, he approached them to demonstrate, but they were already looking for the then-trainee to deliver other news.

The recruiting team told him to share his news first, and Young K excitedly informed them he knew how to do a backflip.

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Young K remembered that they told him his “congratulations” before asking, “You can play the guitar, right? How about doing a band!”

Young K agreed, but the suggestion couldn’t have come at a worse time for the DAY6 member, who realized the hours spent practicing acrobatics were no longer needed. He admitted that doing a backflip was the “scariest fear” for him.

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Young K doesn’t regret the experience and instead positively views his backflip practice as an obstacle he was able to overcome.

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Check out Young K’s full account of the experience in the video below!