NCT’s Haechan Reveals What Happened At His SM Audition—For The First Time

Among the few idols who’ve passed SM Entertainment‘s toughest “Saturday Audition,” NCT‘s Haechan made the cut. Although he revealed how he got the audition, he recently shared the details of what happened during it.

In Haechan’s NCT 24hr RELAY CAM, he decided to use his one hour slot to share stories he’d never shared before. He said, “I’ve already told you how I got to do the SM audition, but I haven’t told you about what I actually did at the audition.”

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Despite the moment being eight years ago, Haechan still remembered all the people who were auditioning and how they were split into groups.

It was 2013… There was a long queue. Ten applicants auditioned at a time. The judges asked each applicant to sing.

— Haechan

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The sheer amount of people didn’t bother him. Haechan gave it his all. He said, “My turn finally came, and I started singing. I was not at all nervous because I thought, ‘Even if I fail, I have nothing to lose.’”

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When “the judges let other applicants go, except [him],” Haechan did begin to feel a bit nervous about what was happening. He admitted, “I felt my heart pounding.” It turned out that he was doing well.

The judges wanted to hear more of Haechan, who sang Huh Gak‘s “Hello” to show off his low range, and Son Seung Yeon‘s “Ugly Duckling” to show off his high notes.

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He once again satisfied the judges, who then asked, “‘Can you show us some dance moves?’” Haechan didn’t back down from the challenge and bust out dance moves that he could now poke fun at for being embarrassing.

I don’t know what I was thinking, but I confidently said, ‘Of course I can.’ I just danced randomly. It’s embarrassing to say, but it was not even ‘freestyle’ dance.

— Haechan

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Haechan’s audition didn’t seem like much to him but caught the company’s attention. Less than a week later, they contacted him to say, “‘We’d like to see more of your potential.’” The news was more than welcome.

His mother didn’t waste any time pulling out all the stops to help him prepare. Haechan said, “My mom was excited about the news and got me pretty clothes and helped me do my hair. She even applied sunscreen on my face.”

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At the second audition, Haechan did the same thing that he did for the first—except with a camera.

There was a camera filming me. They asked me to introduce myself, sing a song, and dance in front of the camera. They took some pictures of me after that.

— Haechan

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Since then, those moments have become part of what made him the NCT member he is now. Watch him recall the auditions here.