With the growing number of pop groups emerging from different corners of the world, it has also become harder to create a unique mark on the global scene.
But a certain boy group caught my attention as I was scrolling down on Instagram. Through reels, the members showed the realities of being an idol trainee. To my surprise, they were Filipino trainees preparing for their debut.
New: ID is a rising P-pop group composed of five former contestants from the Philippine survival program Dream Maker. The members—Wilson, Macky, L, Thad, and Jom—have sharpened their diverse skills throughout their “survival journey” and continued to hone them with a series of training for one year in South Korea.
In an exclusive interview with Manila Standard Entertainment, then members of New:ID opened up about their worries and struggles before their debut.
Maki, the vocalist of the group, shared how they almost lost their hope of debuting one day as it had already been a year since they started their training in South Korea.
“Of course, we couldn’t help but be scared because we didn’t know if we would debut or not. It had already been such a long time,” he said.
On the other hand, New:ID’s youngest member, Jom, pointed out his worry if they would be able to make it to the top as they weren’t the winning group.
“I worry that we might not become popular because we weren’t the winning group. But now, I don’t think about it anymore because I’m thankful that we were able to debut even though it rained,” added Jom, referring to Typhoon Carina which hit the country last week.
On July 25, the five-member group debuted, and Thad, its leader, couldn’t help but feel overjoyed that all their hard work paid off and came to fruition.
“Of course, we are very thankful to those who waited for us because our fans have been waiting for more than a year since Dream Maker ended,” he stated.
“And now that we are ready to showcase the talent we learned from our Korean mentors, we are very excited for you to see our future performances,” added Thad.
Meanwhile, L, the main vocalist of the group mentioned the “pressure” they felt but emphasized that they are now “prepared” for their debut with all the musical training they underwent for one year.
“There is a lot of pressure on us. But we trained for one year to improve our talents and skills. And after one year of training, I think we are now ready to show those who have been waiting for us that we are prepared,” he said.
Delving into their training, the group’s performance leader, Wilson, spoke on behalf of the members about how intense their training was to the point that they felt “unmotivated”.
“For me, in my opinion, it was really hard and very exhausting every single day because every single day, we tried to give our best to prepare for our debut. And we literally trained every single day for one year to debut in the Philippines. We had dancing lessons every day and vocal lessons,” explained Wilson.
Being the leader that he was, Thad used their hardships as a strategy to promote themselves. Through a series of reels, they showed the realities of being an idol trainee—from having voice and dance lessons to being unable to be with their family during special occasions.
“We didn’t expect it to become trending and viral. At first, we weren’t serious about it; it was just for fun. Then, as it gained traction, we felt pressure because our next content might not trend. But we helped each other figure out what to release,” added L.
Many fans found their strategy amusing and even waited for more similar content. Now that they have finally debuted, the group revealed that they would release content showing the realities of being idols.
The group is currently in the Philippines to promote their debut single “Ghost”, which they described as their song to let people know about their group and that they deserve the chance to debut.
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