How did Baekhyun find Exo? As the K-pop star enters military service, we trace his journey to fame – from high school ‘aegyo’ to being scouted by SM Entertainment
His name could have been Baekho, not Baekhyun
During an appearance on SM Super Idol League in 2019, Baekhyun revealed that his parents originally planned to call him “Baekho”. The “ho” means tiger and contrasts with his brother Baekbeom’s name, where the ending “beom” means “leopard” in Korean.
Baekhyun added that his parents (probably) wanted him and his brother to start life with strong, dominant names. Apparently, in contrast, Baekhyun means to live wisely and virtuously.
He was good at the traditional martial art hapkido
We’ve seen many K-pop stars whose childhood memories were all about sport. And yes, Baekhyun was another of those consumed by it. Yet he was one of the few idols to be skilled in hapkido – a hybrid Korean martial art which is a form of self-defence employing joint locks, grappling, throwing techniques, kicks, punches and other striking attacks.
He spent almost nine years learning hapkido, starting when he was in junior school, and even gained a third dan black belt and a gold medal at national championships. In 2015, Baekhyun showed his hapkido skills on KBS’ Our Neighborhood Sports, amazing many fellow K-pop stars. He also revealed that when he was doing hapkido, he was able to “jump over 11 people”. Amazingly, even on the show he was able to jump over seven people, earning the nickname “human bird”.
He was a talented high school student
In 2015, during his appearance on KBS’ You Hee-yeol’s Sketchbook, Baekhyun shared his memories of being a vocalist in a high school band. The host, You Hee-Yeol, asked Baekhyun whether he was nervous or not as the whole show is shown live and he confidently answered, “I am not nervous at all as I was the vocalist in my high school band and got used to singing live.” He said the name of the band was Coma, adding it was definitely a rock band.
He was scouted by SM Entertainment right before his university entrance exam
If you are a big fan of K-pop, you might already be aware that Baekhyun is a quick learner, taking only four months to work his way into the soon-to-debut group of trainees, then seven more months to train with them – a total of only eleven months as a trainee.
He had stage fright
Spending only a short time as a trainee showed his talent but it also brought more pressure. In 2020, on an episode of TVN’s You Quiz on the Block, he opened up about the hardships of debuting after being a trainee for such a short time – to be more specific, his stage fright.
Because my debut came quickly, I wasn’t prepared in many ways. So there was a time when I had a fear of standing and performing on stage
Baekhyun added that he lost confidence in everything when he lost confidence in his primary skill, singing. However, he never gave up but rather continued to train hard, practising until late at night and even doing vocalisation practice in the car. He also said fellow Exo members helped him every step of the way which he truly felt as a blessing.
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- Baekhyun was sporty at school and became proficient at the traditional Korean martial art of hapkido which he showed off on KBS’ Our Neighborhood Sports
- Always outgoing and attractive, he had a high school rock band but was a K-pop trainee for only 11 months before debut – so suffered from stage fright at first