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Help Desk :D (SM Entertainment Auditions)


_RaiN_

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Need Help? Well you're at the right post! :D
Well, I'll make this post for people who REALLY need help answering some questions about SM Entertainment Auditions (sorry I don't know much about YG, JYP and CUBE).

If you need any help just post it! That's the whole point of this topic and I don't care if you have a trillion questions, I'll try my best to answer them in FULL detail.

I know, because I've actually asked 60 questions before :P (Thanks to MyNameIs_Luka for answering ALL of my questions!)

And know I'm willing to share my knowledge with people who want to Audition for SM Entertainment.

I'll reply ASAP and when I say ASAP I mean ASAP, I'll probably be chilling on this post for the WHOLE day cause I have no life :D So I'll reply like RIGHT away.

 

I hope this helps everyone.

This is _RaiN_

I challenge you to beat the 60 questions :D

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^ So did you already audition?

Sadly...no, but I've got A LOT of knowledge of the audition from researching like crazy and how you've answered my insane amount of questions, I can sort of picture the auditions so I can already tell what's going to happen even if I don't go.

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Guest BunBun113

hii i only hav a couple questions and they are:

1. does height matter?

2. what are important things sm looks for?

3. what are the global auditions like?

sorry these r things i cudve just googled but i felt like askin u loll  

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Guest korniceman3000

hii i only hav a couple questions and they are:

1. does height matter?

2. what are important things sm looks for?

3. what are the global auditions like?

sorry these r things i cudve just googled but i felt like askin u loll  

1) Yes. Height is always an important factor.

2) Clean, clear, light shaded skin tone. Good dancing skills with rhythm. Somewhat decent vocals (softer and gentler voices preferred given the style of music)

3) 2009 Globals in LA were a total disaster. Minimal organizational ability from staff with very little preparation, poor acoustics, little knowledge regarding the auditioning instructions, featured bored and indifferent judges with a "get this over with" attitude. Talent pool was horribly weak and consisted of repeat offenders from previous global and US auditions with very little improvement. Dress to impress if you are a guy. A sharply dressed individual will at least get them to give you a few more glances and slightly more initial attention prior to your performance. If you are female, also dress nicely but with light make-up as they want an actual view of your natural skin. If you sing, make sure to choose a song that best suits you voice and practice the best parts. Don't sing the entire length of the track as you get at most 30-50 seconds so cut right to the strongest parts that showcase your quality vocals. If you are a model, make sure to learn all your poses well in advance with lots of practice and focus your eyes and facial expressions directed toward the judges. If you are a dancer, make sure your choreography matches well with the songs, falls within the space of a 3.5 ft X 4 ft rectangle as that is basically the performance space in front of the camera. Keep your eyes and face firmly focused upon the judges as they will be looking to see if you smile and express your personality while you dance and whether that matches with your movement. Don't bother auditioning if you're a composer or songwriter. You'll be wasting your time and money. They won't care or listen to your work and will tell you to mail in your audition.

Hope this helps...

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1. does height matter?

A: Height does matter, but take SNSD as an example they're quite short, but they wear extremely high heels to improve their height by quite a bit, so if you have a descent height range then it would help.

2. what are important things sm looks for?

A: SM Entertainment looks for talented youngsters with a light skin tone, clear skin, clean (no pimples, zits, scars), good to average dancing skills (preferably popping cause you don't see people going all out bboy in the MV's), good to average singing skills (I don't recommend singing a Korean song unless you actually are Korean. Don't sing a song from the company as they will compare you to the original artist and they chances of you beating the original artist are VERY low.). If you're auditioning for singing make sure you sing a song that really shows your voice and only sing the good bits of the song (eg. the Chorus). If you're auditioning for dancing make sure your Choreography is well memorized and your timing is perfection (Don't copy another persons Choreography, they want to see originals). 

3. what are the global auditions like?

A: Global Auditions are a bit more nerve recking then the weekly auditions as they are a bit more of "in a rush" so they focus less on what you're doing, you need to have talents that will blow the judges out of their seats if you want to get to the next round of the auditions. 

Besides that point the audition process is about the same as the weekly one:

1. Walk in the auditioning room.

2. Wait in a line to fill out your audition form.

3. Get your number tag and wait for your turn to audition with the other 9 people in your group.

4. When it is your turn a girl or a guy will call you to go to the auditioning hall/room where you will stand within the marked area on the floors.

5. The person with the lowest number starts first (eg. you're 1 - 10 then number 1 would start first and it'll work it's way up).

6. You will walk up and introduce yourself (Don't explain your life story to them), say your number tag and your talent/what you're going to be doing.

7. Do what you auditioned for (eg. dance, sing, act, etc.).

8. After you're done you wait for everyone to finish auditioning while you're still standing on stage.

9. You would probably have a rhythm test after everyone is done with what they're doing, a rhythm test is when they play a music with a clear beat to it and you can choose to dance to it or you can just clap to the rhythm.

10. If you do outstanding in the audition you will be asked to stay behind.

11. The judges will ask you questions like, "Please move your hair from your ear, forehead, etc. so we can take a picture", "Out of all the other companies why did you choose this one?"

12. After you're done they'll say thank you and basically you'll wait for their call (If they REALLY want you, they will call during the next day).

After they call you, you'll have to audition once again but this time with the people who made it from the first round. And the process will be repeated.

But if you pass this audition it will require you to fly to Korea for the final round of auditioning, where you will audition in front of Mr. Lee Soo Man himself (Lee Soo Man is the founder of SM Entertainment hence the name "SM" stands for "Soo Man"), and trust me auditioning in front of him is 50 times harder than passing the both the first and second round combined. If Soo Man wants you then he'll have a staff meeting and call you either the next day if he does or just say no if he doesn't, and if you fail the Korea audition round you'll have to pay for your airline ticket back.

If you got accepted you and your parents will get a tour around SM Entertainment HQ, and you'll get to meet some of the artist and Lee Soo Man will explain to your parents what will happen to you when you are a trainee, then if your parents choose to sign the contract then you're lucky. If not then you basically just wasted your whole time auditioning for nothing.

My tip to you is to make sure you have a talk to your parents about this, and make sure and I mean MAKE SURE this is what you want to be doing.

And good luck as a trainee cause you'll be putting up with a lot of work. 

I hope this helped. 

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Guest highdreamerr

umm. I can only thing of one question so far, (I've done some research myself too but..ehhhh.)

Let's say you audition for the weekly auditions down in LA,

and do get past that, is it same as the global audition,fly down to korea etc..?

Or do they make you go through a series of auditions, after that first oneor some series of steps?

I've been seeing conflicting answers with this question.

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Let's say you audition for the weekly auditions down in LA, 

and do get past that, is it same as the global audition,fly down to korea etc..?

Or do they make you go through a series of auditions, after that first oneor some series of steps? 

I've been seeing conflicting answers with this question. 

A: Yes if you do the weekly audition in LA you'll have to fly down to Korea for the final round of Auditioning. So you basically have two rounds of audition in LA and for the third or "final" round of auditioning you'll have to pay for your airline ticket to go to Korea; Seoul and audition in front of Lee Soo Man himself, and trust me his expectations are REALLY high. I don't recommend doing the same thing for every audition round cause they have video clips of you and if you do the same thing they'll get bored of you.

So basically you audition like normal and you'll fly to Seoul for the final round. And if you fail you'll have to pay for your flight back.

Good luck.

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Guest MyNameIs_Luka

3) 2009 Globals in LA were a total disaster. Minimal organizational ability from staff with very little preparation, poor acoustics, little knowledge regarding the auditioning instructions, featured bored and indifferent judges with a "get this over with" attitude. Talent pool was horribly weak and consisted of repeat offenders from previous global and US auditions with very little improvement. Dress to impress if you are a guy. A sharply dressed individual will at least get them to give you a few more glances and slightly more initial attention prior to your performance. If you are female, also dress nicely but with light make-up as they want an actual view of your natural skin. If you sing, make sure to choose a song that best suits you voice and practice the best parts. Don't sing the entire length of the track as you get at most 30-50 seconds so cut right to the strongest parts that showcase your quality vocals. If you are a model, make sure to learn all your poses well in advance with lots of practice and focus your eyes and facial expressions directed toward the judges. If you are a dancer, make sure your choreography matches well with the songs, falls within the space of a 3.5 ft X 4 ft rectangle as that is basically the performance space in front of the camera. Keep your eyes and face firmly focused upon the judges as they will be looking to see if you smile and express your personality while you dance and whether that matches with your movement. Don't bother auditioning if you're a composer or songwriter. You'll be wasting your time and money. They won't care or listen to your work and will tell you to mail in your audition.

Hope this helps...

^ I never understood why people audition again the next year with little to know improvement when they audition? They are wasting the judges time and others who are more talented than them if they haven't improved at all from their last years audition. I do a little mental facepalm whenever I do witness such a sad atrocity.

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^ I never understood why people audition again the next year with little to know improvement when they audition? They are wasting the judges time and others who are more talented than them if they haven't improved at all from their last years audition. I do a little mental facepalm whenever I do witness such a sad atrocity.

It's actually quite common for this type of thing to happen, because they want to be in the company SOO badly that they will audition over and over and over again with little to like absolutely no improvement at all from the previous audition, this is not beneficial for them or for the judges and plus it also waste the time of the people who wants to audition. They either do it just to tick of everyone or they're just dying to join the company, I don't blame em, but I feel like giving them a smack on the face to let them realize that they have to actually try.

But this is a bad thing, because the judges might think, "This country if full of people who wants to be in this company and can't do anything worth our time" So then they'll leave, so actually this is REALLY bad for themselves as well. 

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Guest MyNameIs_Luka

It's actually quite common for this type of thing to happen, because they want to be in the company SOO badly that they will audition over and over and over again with little to like absolutely no improvement at all from the previous audition, this is not beneficial for them or for the judges and plus it also waste the time of the people who wants to audition. They either do it just to tick of everyone or they're just dying to join the company, I don't blame em, but I feel like giving them a smack on the face to let them realize that they have to actually try.

But this is a bad thing, because the judges might think, "This country if full of people who wants to be in this company and can't do anything worth our time" So then they'll leave, so actually this is REALLY bad for themselves as well. 

^ Agreed...The judges might get an impression that most of the people that are audition in that area are not really talented -_- Which will then the more talented get ignored because of that set mindset.

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^ Agreed...The judges might get an impression that most of the people that are audition in that area are not really talented  -_- Which will then the more talented get ignored because of that set mindset.

Yep, that's pretty much the whole point, I don't think the people who auditioned have ever stop to think about something like this before they audition over and over again.

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Guest rseka

I have some age questions first to see if it's even worth my time auditioning lol

  • What would you say is the maximum age of an applicant that SME (or a comparable entertainment company) will be willing to accept without significant hesitation? Or, if you will, what is the age beyond which your chance of being accepted, all things equal, begins to decline solely due to age itself?
  • Will the applicant's appearance or performance/entertainment qualities have any effect on offsetting a relatively advanced age?
  • Can you comment on the following age benchmarks to audition: 15-17, 18, 19, 20-22, >22? What is the oldest age at which an SME performer, or any other K-pop performer, has debuted so far?
Also:
  • What, in your opinion as an observer of K-pop, do you feel is the maximum age at which one should begin a career as a Korean popular idol singer?

Thanks!

I may ask (many) more questions in the future :x

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What would you say is the maximum age of an applicant that SME (or a comparable entertainment company) will be willing to accept without significant hesitation? Or, if you will, what is the age beyond which your chance of being accepted, all things equal, begins to decline solely due to age itself?

A: I say the most perfect age to audition would be around 10 - 16, saying this, because like I said before, they want youngsters with the talent and the looks. And being around the age of 10 - 16 will give you a good chance, because of a few reasons:

1. If you pass the audition at a very young age, it means you can debut faster as you'll take on trainee earlier (It's been proven younger people will learn things more quicker than adults and teenagers).

2. If you have talent and if you're young you probably wont even need to be trained for that long (maximum about 5 months) and you'll be able to debut, and if you debut at the age of 10 then you'll have about 10 - 20 years worth of fame ahead of you, so therefore the company would want you more, because they would obviously think that if you can stay in the company for longer they'll make more money from you.

3. The maximum age to be accepted without hesitation would be 18 I would say, because if you're horrible then they wouldn't accept you anyways but if you're decent and you get accepted at the age of 18 then you're training time will obviously make you debut at the age of 20+ and when you debut at that age you basically have a 10 year or even less of fame. (Some idols have been accepted at an older age, just can't name any from the top of my head sorry).

4. If you're 20+ you would get rejected solely, because of your age, but you can also get accepted if you have amazing talent (not likely going to happen). 

They wont accepted or decline you solely based on your age, it's also about your talent and your looks.

Will the applicant's appearance or performance/entertainment qualities have any effect on offsetting a relatively advanced age?

A: Yes, if you're at an age of 20 for example and you're auditioning with people aged younger than you eg. 13 - 16 and you're singing, dancing, acting, etc. you might be absolutely amazing and there is also a kid who is just as amazing as you but he is about 5 - 6 years younger than you, the company would choose the kid over you in a heartbeat simply, because SM Entertainment is believed to "create" talent from people, so if there is a kid younger than you and have almost the same ability in his/her profession area then they would pick the younger ones instead of the older people, because the kid will take minor training to become just as good as you in his/her field of profession and therefore have a longer life of fame.

Can you comment on the following age benchmarks to audition: 15-17, 18, 19, 20-22, >22? What is the oldest age at which an SME performer, or any other K-pop performer, has debuted so far?

A: 15 - 17 --> Perfect age to audition, you will have the time need to train before you debut and how you choose to train will affect if you debut or not.

18 --> The age 18 is leaning towards "old", because if you train for 3 years then you're 21 and if you're 21 obviously you would think, "I'm 21 I might not go that long in this entertainment business, because of my age" Most artist are actually 21 - 25 take Kahi from After School she is 31 and she's still going hot.

19 ---> Same answer as 18 

20 - 22 --> If you're 20 then I'm sorry to be that pin in the hay sack you sit on but this age is old to be auditioning you can audition if you're absolutely great at singing, dancing, etc. and when I say great I mean you've probably won a lot of awards for your field of profession and you're known to the world already.

I'm not really sure who the oldest artist who debuted is right now sorry.

What, in your opinion as an observer of K-pop, do you feel is the maximum age at which one should begin a career as a Korean popular idol singer?

A: My honest opinion if someone wants to be a K-Pop Idol is at the age of 10 - 15, any older might have a hard time as they have to cope with more things in life. I chose 10 - 15 years of age, because if they truly want to be famous in the Korean Entertainment Industry then they would have to work very hard and if they have incredible talent then obviously they would get picked by SM Entertainment, and SM Ent. would raise them from a child to a star, like I said before SM Entertainment is known to "create" talent from people. Tiffany from SNSD debuted at a very young age she was about 16 when she debuted so that is incredibly young. 

If you want more proof then I'll give you this one fact, think about it, if you're younger and you train wouldn't you be able to debut earlier if you put all your effort in training? And if you're older you would debut at a later stage in life and therefore you wouldn't be able to cope with most of the intense trainings.

And as time goes by Artist are now known to be very good looking and very handsome,beautiful, etc. like you don't see a 70 year old having heaps of young male or female fans. So if you're younger you'll attract attention from a younger audience and also an older audience as you'll be setting an example that the road of a star is still able to be achieved at a very young age. 

I hope this helps and feel free to ask as many questions you want. :D 

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Guest frizillion

I have a question! :D

I sent in an e-mail audition yesterday, and was wondering about the odds of them checking it and how long it takes on for them to reply, and through which medium would they send the reply to? Thanks!

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I sent in an e-mail audition yesterday, and was wondering about the odds of them checking it and how long it takes on for them to reply, and through which medium would they send the reply to?

A: Good luck with the email audition and the odds of them replying are 1 : 100000+ so basically SM Entertainment gets HEAPS and HEAPS of emails per-day and I doubt they even bother to check it, cause they probably receive SOO much emails they can't even open their hotmail inbox, because it will lag them to death trying to load the messages. And it usually takes them about 1 month or 2 to reply and you'll receive a automatic message sooner or later. 

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Guest Charmingbestfriend96

I am 14 turning 15 and i am 5'7....is that too tall for sm and im a girl.

also what should i wear to audition? i was planning on sweatpants but i dont want to look "messy" or "unprofessional" or shorts but i dont want to be "showoffy" and im going to the L.A weekly auditions in California next week.

i looked at past auditions and they all wore hoodies and sweatpants. but california is HOOT!

also how should i do my hair?

is having monolids a disadvantage?

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Guest frizillion

I sent in an e-mail audition yesterday, and was wondering about the odds of them checking it and how long it takes on for them to reply, and through which medium would they send the reply to?

A: Good luck with the email audition and the odds of them replying are 1 : 100000+ so basically SM Entertainment gets HEAPS and HEAPS of emails per-day and I doubt they even bother to check it, cause they probably receive SOO much emails they can't even open their hotmail inbox, because it will lag them to death trying to load the messages. And it usually takes them about 1 month or 2 to reply and you'll receive a automatic message sooner or later. 

ho chiz. I think I'll just go to LA this summer...

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Guest MyNameIs_Luka

Why the heck did I get a -1 for my thoughts on the same people who don't improve year after year who audition? It's the damn truth! If you guys wanna audition for these types of companies then you better bring your top most guns man. They aren't going to care if you can dance the same choreography as SNSD from GEE. It definitely won't impress them that's for sure. If you are serious to audition for not just SM but any other Kpop companies, then get your head in the game. Don't waste other people's times if you haven't improved since the last time you sang the same song at last year's audition.

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Guest korniceman3000

I think the most important thing for all audition applicants is to concentrate on passing the first round and qualifying for the second. The rest of the questions are meaningless if you can't pass the preliminary qualifiers. The question about age shouldn't be too much of a factor as age alone will not determine your elimination. It depends on all the factors such as height, performing ability, appearance, vocal ability, presence, personality, ethnicity, etc. and the 2 most important factors absolutely no one can help you with:

1) What the judges are looking for in a trainee at that very moment (and that all depends on the batch of applicants during that day, the mood of the judges, how tightly/loosely they are following the criteria, etc.)

2) Something very special that they see in a specific applicant that they must have (you don't have to be the best vocalist, dancer, or have the greatest face/ht/appearance). It all depends on what they see in you that captures some quality that screams "take me"

If they see something in you, many, Many, MANY things will be overlooked in favor of that one special quality.

However, these 2 are the most subjective and random checkpoints that no one can prepare anyone for and it all depends upon luck. Just focus on things you can prepare to improve your overall chances...

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