(G)I-DLE’s Soyeon Reveals She Was Unhappy As A Contestant In “Produce 101″—Here’s Why

(G)I-DLE‘s Soyeon recently made a solo comeback with her song “BEAM BEAM.”

In interview with kizzle, she promoted her track and discussed everything from doing ballet as a kid to the things that make her happy today. Here, she also looked back on her past where she touched on her experience as a survival show contestant.

(G)I-DLE’s Soyeon

Soyeon joined Mnet‘s Produce 101 in 2016 as a CUBE Entertainment trainee. She was immediately considered one of the best rappers in the show.

Despite her success, ending the program at 20th place, she was not happy while competing.

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Do you know Produce 101? I was in that program. I wore a pink school uniform and danced like this. When I did that, the reality hit.

— Soyeon

She felt constrained by the atmosphere and rules of the show as she was not allowed to perform the type of music that she likes.

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I wanted to do music, but here, I had to do something they told me to do. And I was thinking, ‘Is this what a singer is?’

— Soyeon

Later that year, she decided to join a vastly different survival program: Unpretty Rapstar 3. She reconnected with her roots by immersing herself in a hip hop environment. In the contest, she was tasked with writing her own raps and performing in front of fellow contestants and live audiences.

Soyeon said that she finally “felt better again” by participating in the program. She had a successful run as she finished second runner-up.

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So I joined one more program, Unpretty Rapstar. When I rapped, I felt better again. And my happiness level increased.

— Soyeon

Thanks to this show exclusively for female rappers, she retrieved her confidence.

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These experiences helped make her the Soyeon that fans know and love!

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Check out the full video below!