Jessi Turned Down A “Big 3” Company After Passing Her Audition

Veteran soloist Jessi has seemingly done it all in her nearly two decades as an artist, from being a member of two hip-hop groups and a special project group to building a successful solo career.

Moving from the U.S. to Korea at 15 years old, she debuted in 2005 and hasn’t looked back as she’s remained a constant figure in the Korean music scene, but her career almost looked entirely different.

Jessi | @jessicah_o/Instagram

After moving to Korea, Jessi enrolled at the popular international school, Korea Kent Foreign School, and found herself with a few soon-to-be-famous classmates.

Fellow students included Girls’ Generation‘s Tiffany, CSJH‘s Stephanie, and Jessica Jung.

Girls’ Generation’s Tiffany (left) and Jessi (right)

On MBC‘s Radio Star, Jessi shared that, as a trainee, she was considered for two girl groups: Girls’ Generation and CSJH (also known as The Grace).

Jessi had passed an audition at SM Entertainment, and during her 2020 Showterview episode with Girls’ Generation’s Tiffany, she further revealed that she was offered a position in Girls’ Generation at the same time as Tiffany.

(From left to right) Girls’ Generation’s Yuri, Tiffany, Seohyun, Hyoyeon, Sooyoung, Taeyeon, Sunny, and Yoona | @GirlsGeneration/Twitter

Although she passed the audition and was eyed for two of the company’s girl groups, she unexpectedly turned the “Big 3” company down. She shared that there were two reasons she declined SM Entertainment’s offer.

The first reason was that she felt she didn’t fit in. Her second reason was hilariously candid, as she declared to the Radio Star hosts that she would have “clashed” with CSJH’s Stephanie had she joined the four-member group, explaining that the two often “clashed” in school.

If I had been at SM, I would have become a member of Girls’ Generation or CSJH. But I wouldn’t have fit in. If I were in CSJH, I would have clashed with Stephanie. We went to the same school and actually clashed.

— Jessi

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During her Showterview episode with Tiffany, Jessi also revealed that the company she decided to train with instead of SM Entertainment had “no direction,” noting how different it was from the “Big 3” company.

Jessi spilled more on the additional plans SM Entertainment had for her, had she decided to sign with them. Check out more on that in the article below!

Jessi Reveals She Could Have Debuted In Girls’ Generation