How Hoshi and Woozi ended up in VU and PU

Wednesday, January 6th, 2021 06:17 pm
hwarium: (Default)
[personal profile] hwarium
originally a question on CC. I finished answering. I checked the word count. I sighed and opened dreamwidth.

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helloo i read your meta and have also heard about this a lot,, but they said that hoshi was supposed to be in vocal while woozi in performance but then they switched? does that mean that predebut woozi was a better dancer than hoshi and hoshi was a better vocalist than woozi? and it was bec woozi composed and hoshi choreographs that they switched? bec i know that theyre both good dancers and singers but i dont see a reason why woozi was in performance even if hes a good dancer if he has always been a better vocalist then hoshi? like they say that hoshi’s the fourth best vocalist after woozi so if woozi’s a better vocalist than him why was woozi originally in performance even though hes already better in singing? sorry if this is confusing

Not at all! I get that you're asking about predebut roles right?

My thoughts about what you said other people said (hah) - is that it was just an impression from predebut/17project moments that grew into a fact over time (this happens everywhere, uncertain opinions become popular and then all the modifiers and conditionals are cut out to make the opinion shorter and easier to read, and it gets passed on). I can tell you what I know for sure and then give you my ideas!!

  • Woozi always studied music and knew how to play many instruments, but "He did not believe those around him when they said he was a good singer"

  • Hoshi joined Pledis a year after Woozi, so Woozi is the senior + was supposed to debut in 2012 as part of Tempest (along with Seungcheol)

  • If you watch 17TV, Woozi choreographs a lot of team performances and is Center for many choruses (even now tbh!) . He also teaches the others and leads them in dance practices. e.g. this video (highly recommend youtube channel 17TVkor for 17TV highlights!! You'll even see Dino teaching choreo and uh, some teenage shenanigans that might be unbearable to watch haha)

  • Woozi only started producing in high school when he met Bumzu. For more background you can read the manifesto, esp the part where Bumzu realizes Woozi did not need to be taught.

  • the original "We're going to make it shine" vocal video had Woozi, DK, Seungkwan and Hoshi (July 2014)

  • Bumzu (who was their vocal coach) commented that Hoshi was very passionate about singing + Hoshi said himself if he wasn't PU he would want to be VU. (twitter)

  • Hoshi also main vocal'd a lot in 2014 + did the high notes >>> hahahaha e.g. One Direction One Thing Cover

  • 17 Mixtape + 17Project team battles had a lot of different combinations (e.g. No Flex Zone with Dino + Wonwoo + Mingyu)

  • in April 2012, Pledis announced a new boy group with 17 members that will be divided into different teams that will promote separately in China, Japan and Korea (this was the era of EXO-K and M)


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My impression is that the HHU/VU/PU split came very late into planning, trainees dropped in and out, debut got pushed back, but also the market changed. Massive groups /were/ viable (Super Junior, and then SNH48, and then Apeace but companies quickly realised the Jpn model of idols won't catch in Korea). EXO fell apart, Nuest-M flopped, Hallyu Ban just appeared on the horizon, and 2015 was a politically tense year for Japan-Korea relations (comfort women). So the KRN/CHN/JPN plan fell apart by 2014 -- but I'm still fascinated by the conspiracy theory that Hoshi might have been the leader of the Japanese team (which explains his stage name. Hoshi = 星 = star).

Trainees practiced everything, and rather than saying who was better at what, I think Woozi and Hoshi are just insanely all-rounded idols who could have been on any team. I don't believe team membership were as simple as (best singers) (best dancers) (best rappers) -- alright let me put on the tinhat now haha

(first thing: I have never seen an official source saying Hoshi was VU and Woozi was PU and that they switched - without a source I'll file it as fan speculation)

  • I do think SC+Woozi were better than most circa 2012-2014 just because they had more training (like SC would have definitely been a better kpop dancer than Minghao in 2014, same if we compare Hoshi vs Woozi circa 2012). Tbh SC could have done PU or VU but that kid wanted to be G-Dragon u___u

  • SC + VN had crazy chemistry. half of the songs on SVT Soundcloud have both of them in it. So they would've stayed together (interestingly, the first song is Just for Fun and had SC + VN + WW and Woozi.... in another world.... this would be HHU..)

  • Jun & Minghao were always going to be together. They are great at dancing and perhaps Jun could've been in Vocal if they let him specialise, but I suspect their language ability circa 2014 limited their options. Also Minghao flips. Flipping in kpop is like... the +4 wild card in UNO.

  • Woozi could've been in any team. He's amazing and hardworking and talented and I admire him so much. Being in VU does /not/ depreciate his dancing or rapping abilities. He could do everything if he wanted. And in the end, it doesn't matter right? They end up all doing what they want. Now we get gangster rapper Minghao and ballad singer Jun. And Hoshi doing flips.

  • But how Woozi ended up in VU... (puts tinhat on top of tinhat). I don't think he cared. He just wanted to work. They chose leaderline because WZ/SC/HS trained the longest (along with Mingyu... but that kid skipped practice hahaha). SC > HHU, but between HS and WZ for VU/PU, >hwa< suspects that it was just a matter of free time. By now Woozi was definitely producing with Bumzu and pushing out songs for debut and definitely overworking and overconsuming coca cola. He doesn't have the time to choreograph, so Hoshi steps up. Also, it's faster to learn a sing a song, than to learn to sing and dance it, so Woozi > VU leader, HS > PU leader.


But the true moral of the story is: have you heard of Hoshi Woozi Combo?

related text: nisakomi's predebut dynamics tinhat