2PM Jun. K “I was a trainee for 4 years, but my part is...”

"The lyrics sheet had 'Yeah~' written in parentheses"

Jun. K, the main vocalist of the group 2PM, opened up about the part distribution he experienced during the early days of their debut. Appearing as guests on the SBS entertainment program 'Ani Geunde Jinjja' broadcast on the 6th, the members of 2PM shared behind-the-scenes stories from their debut 18 years ago.

Jun. K confessed to the situation at the time, mentioning 2PM's debut song '10 Out of 10'. He revealed that despite being the group's main vocalist, he essentially had no official parts. Jun. K explained the situation, saying, "If you look at the lyrics sheet for the music shows, 'Yeah~' was written in parentheses next to my name." He even mentioned that on the broadcast screen, he was only half-visible.

He continued by recalling the moment that made his four years of trainee life feel futile. Jun. K honestly expressed the frustration he felt at the time, saying, "I trained for four years, but the part I finally received was 'Yeah~'." He used the expression "it was absurd" to describe the fact that after honing his skills for a long time to achieve his dream of debuting, he had almost no opportunity to use his voice in the debut song.

MC Boom, sitting nearby, tried to soothe Jun. K's sorrow by countering, "No, you did have a part." Boom emphasized that because it was the only part available, Jun. K "put all of his soul into it," referring to the ad-lib part he performed. Jun. K also implied that he did his best even with those short ad-libs at the time.

Jun. K, who almost became a member of 2AM, and Park Jin-young's part distribution method

The process of how Jun. K established himself as the main vocalist of 2PM was also revealed during the broadcast. He stated that he was originally in a situation where he could have become a member of 2AM. It appears there was deliberation between 2AM and 2PM during the training process, and Jun. K ultimately decided to take on the role of main vocalist for 2PM.

The method of dividing song parts at the time also worked against Jun. K. Jun. K explained, "The way parts were divided back then was that members would each try singing once." The behind-the-scenes story is that because he was near the end of the order for part distribution, there was nothing left after the previous members had already taken the parts. In the end, he was able to secure a section to use his voice by performing the ad-libs assigned by producer Park Jin-young.

Meanwhile, the members of 2PM also talked about their performances at the time of their debut. Ok Taec-yeon and Nichkhun mentioned 2PM's unique acrobatic choreography, explaining that it was a result of producer Park Jin-young's intention to create a new style. Nichkhun added, "It seems he wanted there to be a special point rather than just dancing."

Ok Taec-yeon mentioned the situation where 2PM had to perform high-difficulty choreography as a dance group, jokingly suggesting that their brother group 2AM, a ballad group, must have had similar struggles. The members admitted that the activities were intense enough that Lee Su-ji worried, asking, "Did you ever get injured?" regarding the excessive choreography composition at the time.

2PM members and studio cast

On this broadcast, 2PM's Jun. K, Ok Taec-yeon, Nichkhun, Jang Wooyoung, and Hwang Chansung appeared as guests. Tak Jae-hoon, Lee Sang-min, Boom, and Lee Su-ji were in the studio together.