Taeyeon Shoots Back, After Yet Another Uses Girls' Generation's Name for Clout

[myungung.livejournal.com]

After a contestant on MBN’s “Voice Queen” mentioned Girls’ Generation on the show’s latest episode, Taeyeon took to Instagram to share her feelings.

On the November 28 episode of the singing competition, contestant Hong Min Ji introduced herself as “a former SM Entertainment trainee from about 17 years ago who almost became a member of Girls’ Generation.”

[TRANS] The eight of us put everything on the line and tried our best in order to debut as a group called Girls’ Generation, and it’s not a group that was suddenly created overnight. It is true that we tried hard to create the best line up of members but... https://t.co/KVmyWQ8aK6

— 💗 Stella 💗 (@SonexStella) 29 November 2019

sources: Soompi via Naver, @SonexStella

I can't find credible articles on her background, but it seems that she was with SM 17 years ago? (I've never heard about her being part of the lineup before previously) Comments are a mess with people focusing on Taeyeon's usage of 8 versus 9 though also.

omona, who are your memorable "almost didn't make it" SNSD members?

Comments

[babyjenkski.livejournal.com]

The ony one I know is that girl who participated in Produce 101 season 1 (Heo Chanmi). She was good but had some problems with her voice (bad condition) so she wasn't very consistent.

I'm quite surprised at Taeyeon's reaction but its her beloved group so I guess she has the right to it.

And people still found a reason to hate on her coz she used 8 instead of 9. Tsk.

[seishin.livejournal.com]

The time that Taeyeon is referencing though (their debut), SNSD was 9. I wouldnt saying calling that out is hate. :/ I wish SM would stop trying to erase Jessica from SNSD's history.

[bea-chan22.livejournal.com]

Iirc, Stella (aka Siwon's ex) was almost an SNSD member, too. Tho I think she has a good relationship with the girls, so it's not much of an issue.

[simplyseasalt.livejournal.com]

I hope that person wasn't told by producers to say that "that's where I belong" line. I looked at someone's post of the various SNSD line-ups, and it doesn't look like Hong Min Ji was in any of them.

Anyway, Soyeon is the most memorable almost SNSD member for me.

[ostsiberia.livejournal.com]

LOL! She could have easily said 우리는 instead of 우리 여덟명는 if she couldn't say 9 of us. I'm sorry but nooooope

[dongsaengkiller.livejournal.com]

Exactly

[warwarwar.livejournal.com]

yeah, if she wanted to be diplomatic about it and not deal with a lot of backlash

[ostsiberia.livejournal.com]

Not to mention being honest xD

[violoncelliste.livejournal.com]

yeah seriously that's genuinely kind of a dick move lol

[adenar.livejournal.com]

I know that Jessica and Taeyeon's bad blood was an open secret for years but at the same time this is an SM group we're talking about, so while I'm sure she's happy to pretend Jessica never existed, I know SM probably have them under strict orders to never acknowledge Jessica being in the group anyway so, whatever.

Personally I think these ex trainees popping up for one episode to sing a song is pretty harmless? A lot of people are fascinated by the trainee system and almost-members have always been a talking point. I'm sure the show asked her to exaggerate for effect and headlines but it'll be forgotten by next week so nbd.

[nana-the-dwarf.livejournal.com]

Funny how the people who actually almost made it into SNSD (Stella, Soyeon and Chanmi) don’t actually go around talking about it, unlike Clara, but this girl took it to a new level with the “stolen spot” line. No wonder it pissed Taeyeon off.

[hibaalhadid.livejournal.com]

I agree, the stolen spot and crying was really rude.

[lightframes.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's no wonder Taeyeon felt she had to say something.

[cairistiona.livejournal.com]

fwaney also nearly made it in! she only talked about it because she and seohyun were so close

[magicpineapple.livejournal.com]

l m a o

someone plz tell me there is/link me to a video of that “stolen spot” & fake tears bit; i really wanna see it

[sjtaazrz.livejournal.com]

I finally found a clip that will play in my country (USA), but it's not over-the-top fake tears in context (around 36 secs) you can watch her whole intro and performance here (https://blog.naver.com/jemiyaraven/221722254826). Just scroll down to the video.

[premonitioner.livejournal.com]

yeah it's not a brag....why would you want to say that you didn't make the cut..?

[gathyou.livejournal.com]

On the issue itself :I totally believe that Hong Minji was a SM trainee at the time and felt disheartened that she wasn't picked to be a Girls' Generation member, but she was never part of any rumored pre-debut line-up nor performed at showcases with them? So I doubt that any member "took her spot". Also the fact that Taeyeon is speaking out now when there have been so many articles about other potential members (Stella, Soyeon, Chanmi) over the year without reaction from Girls' Generation is quite telling.
I hope she won't be harrassed over her comment though. It probably comes more from a place of hurt/regret (I would be as well if I went through such a brutal training system without debuting in the end) than malice/vanity.

On Taeyeon's wording : I'm still very much a Girls' Generation stan, but I think it was dumb of Taeyeon to go all the way and mention "the eight of us". She could have mentioned "the members" instead. That they keep focusing on OT8 now - yeah I get it, that's the current reality of the group. But Jessica trained just as hard as all of them to debut as Girls' Generation, and spent years with them, you can't erase that.

For me, the most memorable would be Soyeon! She ran out of SM but ended up debuting in a group that find incredible success, almost head to head with Girls' Generation.

[calzonazos.livejournal.com]

Just because Teyeon et al. go out of their way to pretend Jessica never existed doesn't mean we also have to.

[lightframes.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I get it. Taeyeon is dealing with a lot right now and this was just one more thing to add to the pile. I'm not surprised she responded.

[cairistiona.livejournal.com]

others who nearly made it in: zhang liyin, seo minji, lee yeonhee, fwaney, seo hyunjin, jang hajin......

[daynr.livejournal.com]

I mean, Taeyeon is kind of punching down here. She's Taeyeon, and this is a unknown singing contestant. Somethings don't need to be responded to.

[daynr.livejournal.com]

It's not a regular troll but someone in the same industry and vying to succeed as a singer, to be like Taeyeon.... The career/industry power imbalance is legit, even if unknown is an ass.

But I get Taeyeon doesn't have it easy, either, especially these days, and I ain't mad at her. I just think she didn't need to respond to someone who had the same dreams as her and has so far failed to achieve them.

[myrrhcat.livejournal.com]

i have seen people on both sides (for or against taeyeon saying 8) doing way too much. it was a bad choice of words and there could be any number of reasons behind it.
the fact that she said "eight of us [...] debuted" does make it sound like they were never nine, so i don't buy stans' explanation that she's simply talking about the current reality.
i'm sure sm wouldn't let her mention sica or the number nine even if she wanted to, but as someone said above, she didn't have to mention a number at all.

[sra-interesante.livejournal.com]

im surprised this didnt happened before tbh
those "almost snsd" girls are so shameless that we can seat and joke about how many of them exist and how they chose to use this line for whatever reason




snsd members have been very polite to this bunch of losers lol at the end that's what they are ... they fail to understand they brag about not being good enough

[sciencebottle.livejournal.com]

So many thoughts about this lol

I can see why she responded. She's dealing with a lot atm and it probably rubbed her the wrong way enough for her to want to speak out. I've definitely done it before when stressed....heck its finals season for me atm and I am finding myself getting angry and anxious about things that I would usually not care about at all so....I get it. But also that 'stolen spot' shit is bs lmao I wouldn't be surprised if the producers told her to play it up for TV

But....she definitely did not need to mention a certain number of members so I get why people would be a little...upset? Is that the word? The situation is so tangled and muddled even 5 years later so I'm not gonna fault her for it but wasn't it pretty well known for years that her and sica didn't get along? Regardless SM probably doesn't let any of them talk about it so

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

It's been over 12 years and people still use "i almost got into SNSD" for some fame. Seriously, stop it.

But Taeyeon using 8 instead of 9 rubbed me the wrong way. Sica was a part of Soshi for 7 years, she was the longest trainee out of the girls, give her some respect. If you don't want to mention the number 9 anymore just use another way to describe it.

[magicpineapple.livejournal.com]

*sigh*

Honestly, that whole ”memories falsely altered”* (+ of course the “8 vs. 9”) bit really rubbed me the wrong way. In a sense, Taeyeon is “falsely altering” her own memories by only saying “the eight of us”… which completely neglects to mention the ninth girl who was “sweating and working hard” to create the group that wound up achieving so much success. I really think that she could have worded this better – maybe by just saying “the members” rather than attaching a number to it? Also, if she’s talking about the “current” members, shouldn’t it be 5 (technically), since 3 others left?

At the end of the day, tho, it’s her account, she’s an adult, she’s gonna say what she & SM want to say... but it’s just kinda annoying & frustrating to me to see her write off Jessica. Jessica put just as much blood, sweat, & tears into the training, & indeed SNSD, as any other member. SNSD will always be 9 to me.

I mean, I get why Taeyeon wrote it as such, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.... & I really don’t. Clearly I still have a lot of feels about this, lmao

* in retrospect, I realize I may have misread/misunderstood that part, but oh well lol

[xoxkenzxox.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Taeyeon could have definitely worded it differently, even more vague. To me, Jessica helped put SNSD on the map more than some of the other girls in the group (such as the classic ab libs in Gee and Genie when they were really blowing up).

[miuratenshi.livejournal.com]

Meh. If the contestant felt screwed over by SM I can’t tell her how to feel.

Also the use of “8” to refer to the debut rubbed me the wrong way. I know SM probably tells them not to mention her, but the memory alteration is annoying.

[ashdevilrun23.livejournal.com]

ot9 was peak snsd and denying jessica after all this time is pett.
it's great tho that she said something... I used to get so sick of all the random actresses and singers going on tv and being like i was almost a member of SNSD/2NE1

[vikihpnerd.livejournal.com]

I mean, we all know that Taeyeon and Jessica didn't get along. Jessica was supposed to be in the trio that became Taetiseo but Taeyeon strongly refused to have Jessica joined and told SM to choose Seohyun instead...so...

[theweebdream.livejournal.com]

Holy crap is that what happened?? I always wondered why she didn’t end up in TTS if she was up there with Teyeon as one of the best vocalists in the group.

[sodapab.livejournal.com]

How do people know that Jessica was supposed to be in TTS originally?

[klauses.livejournal.com]

they don't.

[klauses.livejournal.com]

cool fanfic, you got an ao3 acnt i can follow?

[ababobaby.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised people still spread this as fact

[myungung.livejournal.com]

the bus stop analogy is pretty good though. many of them are using the fact that they were SM trainees to gain recognition, and then to further their career and get more bookings. any press is good press as they say

[lizanka23.livejournal.com]

yeah jessica has moved on but she was still a member and had her own stans too like any other member. she also trained and went through the same process as taeyeon did. it would be more mature to acknowledge that she was a member of the group but also admit that you didn't really get along and you were forced to be cordial with her because at the end of the day she was your colleague.
most likely it's SM's doing though because they like to pretend like members that have left the company under strained terms never existed, which I always find weird but i guess it's because SM makes us think that these groups are families. if we just thought of them as employees like any other job it wouldn't be weird that you stopped talking about your colleague that left their workplace for another

[pastelpinklace.livejournal.com]

After all these taeyeon is still petty, smh.