They rose from the ashes of a failed pre-debut project.
- SUPERKIND’s Saejin Is In The Limelight For Being A Virtual Idol, But He Isn’t The First One In K-Pop
Back in 2019, Deep Studio Entertainment revealed a pre-debut team of trainees known as the YOURS Project. The studio was originally formed in 2017 by a deep-fake technology developer, and the plan of the company as the YOURS Project was to debut a virtual K-Pop idol known as Jung Saejin inspired by the 1998 virtual singer, Adam.
In 2020, the label began to take on real-life trainees for the project as well. The idea behind this was to “discover what fans were looking for in an idol and what interactions they wished to have, to improve the success of their virtual idol project”. Over a dozen trainees ended up in the project at one point or another, though not all of them stayed.
Throughout 2020, the YOURS Project was met with some criticism and controversy due to the way it was run. Fans would vote on which trainees they wanted to see fancams of, and at one point the trainees were able to interact with fans on a Discord server. However, the entire project was put on hold by 2021 after several trainees had left the label for various reasons.
In 2021, more trainees joined the label, though they and the remaining older trainees would eventually all end up leaving Deep Studio Entertainment by September. Reportedly, one trainee named Danbi even had her contract terminated because she had fixed their smudged eyeliner, though there is some doubt behind her statement on the matter.
After nearly all of the trainees in the YOURS Project had left the company, the project was effectively unactive. But that wouldn’t be the end of Deep Studio Entertainment’s determination to debut a virtual K-Pop idol, and that’s where SUPERKIND comes into play.
In late 2021, the label rebranded all of the previous project’s social media accounts into SUPERKIND, and revealed their AI member, Saejin, in November. The member’s debut trailer was released in January 2022…
… And then the four remaining members — Daemon, Eugene, Geon, and SiO — were revealed in March.
On June 20, the group made their official debut with the album PlaySuperkind : Apply for a Beta Test and title song “Watch Out”.
Saejin, Daemon, and Geon are former members of the pre-debut YOURS Project, but we still don’t yet know a lot about them or the other two members of the group. Here is what we know so far!
Daemon is the most well-known among the members so far. He’s a rapper and sub-vocalist of SUPERKIND, and was born on April 10, 2001, making him 21 and an Aries.
He was revealed as a trainee by the company in May 2020, and trained under the label for around a year and a half. Reportedly, past social media posts by Daemon show him as an avid supporter of the LGBTQ+ community! His MBTI type is INFP, he’s currently in university, and he speaks fluently in English.
He also has three tattoos! One is a moon (due to his insomnia and nightmares), the second is made up of the words “God Be With Me” (since he thinks he is an unlucky person), and the third is a laughing man so he remembers to stay happy.
SUPERKIND’s Eugene is the oldest member of the group, born on September 20, 1999, making him 22 and a Virgo.
Little is known about him so far, besides the fact that he’s from Daejeon, South Korea, and was a trainee for 4 years.
Geon is the second-oldest member of SUPERKIND, born on January 10, 2000, making him 22 and a Capricorn.
He was revealed as a trainee at the label in July 2020, and like Eugene, he has also trained for around 4 years. He has a black belt in Taekwondo, and appears to be a huge MONSTA X fan, with former member Wonho being his role model! His position in the group is as a vocalist.
SiO is the youngest member of the group, born on February 6, 2004, making him 18 and an Aquarius.
Like Eugene, little is known about him so far. We know that he was a trainee for about 3 years and 3 months, and that he attended a boarding school in Yeonggwang, Jeollanam-do when he was 13, but besides that, we have to wait to get to know him better!
Finally, of course, is AI member Saejin. His birthday is listed as March 7, 2002, making him 20 and a Pisces, and his “hometown” is Busan, South Korea.
Prior to becoming a member of the group, he was a model on TikTok and Instagram. Netizens think that he looks like a combination of ASTRO‘s Eunwoo and NCT‘s Jaehyun, making a very handsome pairing! His “position” in the group is as yet unknown, though he’s suspected to be the center.
It will be interesting to see where the company decides to go with this concept!
Source: Koreaboo
