The curious case of Lee MinYoung

[greywing]

This is a post about Lee MinYoung, a.k.a. JYP's Min, a.k.a. the trainee/artist whose continued existence in JYP seems to be questionable. (Among the "Former" artists listed on JYP's wiki page, there's a "Min": Lee MinYoung?) I think anyone who's seen the Little Winners performance would be as curious to know where Min is today as they would be

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[greywing]

People may not like the lifestyle she had while living in NYC

Could you elaborate about that?

Same goes for Minji. She has a lot of potential, but I'm just so turned off every time I see her pumping her chest and humping the floor especially considering her age.

I'm so D: over how young Minji is. I wish they'd given her a few more years. Having said that, though, she is young and she does have time to develop. I'm not sure if that means if she'll move much away from this dancing technique though.

I don't like to compare Min and Hyo since they have different dance styles imo

I find it interesting that you say that, siska, since I think Hyo and Min have the same dancing base more or less. Hyo comes from a more traditional dance background having come to hip-hop through Latin dance--those hips!--but they both have that Winners Dance School curriculum (popping, locking, animation) as the base on which they've gone on to build what each talent company's training involved. I don't think it's wrong to compare them in those genres, especially since they worked so closely together to perform and compete at each other's side. On the other hand, SNSD is a different story because we know that Hyo was thrown into the boys' classes, lol. Her style definitely doesn't reflect much of the styles of the other members.

The hiphoper.com article on the Little Winners suggests that Hyo was casted into SM through Starlight Casting, which apparently tickled Hyo's mom's ears (H.O.T. fan) and not Hyo's own. I think they saw pics on the Internet? Following that, Hyo's mom brought her to SM to audition and the rest is history. (As you pointed out, I was a little shocked to learn how Hyo was scouted because I would have thought her looks might not be in line with SM's aesthetic.) Something like that. You can find my lame ass efforts to translate that article here, as well as links to the original. My brain couldn't handle giving Min's article a go but I'm sure it probably talks about how she was casted at JYP. I've always speculated that Hyo clearly wasn't unhappy at SM. She had a good friend at JYP in Min and didn't feel inclined to try and switch companies. Though I wonder if breaking off during as a trainee after a certain amount of time to jump ship to another talent company means you'd still have debts to the first talent company hounding you.

The clip of her watching Trent and Nick during Super Junior's practice proves that to me. I honestly think that bts, Hyo keeps up with dancing. For the Inkigayo special stage where Mc Mong, Taecyeon, Wooyoung, Taemin, and Key danced to Genie they all went to practice the dance at SM and guess who I spotted in the pictures - our one and only Hyo.

I worry that that's more something that's a once in a blue moon thing, like attending a guest lecture. I wish we could know if she was under the wing of someone who could really push her because I don't know if she has that anymore. It hurts her, too, that she doesn't have many stages to prepare for that are in styles that she's mostly trained to do and isn't given much time to prepare for them. That's when it's game on. I can't imagine how long Hyo and Min must have worked on that performance piece of theirs. I think it's why some of us still wonder if she visits Winners at all. Maybe the concert will be the opportunity we've all wanted her to get.

I've never seen these pics you mentioned. Share them please?

[greywing]

The whole Min thing was that she (for the lack of a better word lol) became too "Americanized" in some peoples' eyes. Some pictures she posted on her Myspace and stuff were a bit too scandalous for some peoples' tastes and I guess they saw her as a party girl, etc. I personally didn't think too much of it myself. Considering her age and everything I found it normal that she adapted herself more into the Western culture and lifestyle.

Hm, I guess I don't like comparing them because I don't want to get into all that drama. Worthwhile comparisons like you do are fine and welcomed by me, but sometimes people just jump in and start comparing for the hell of it with all their bias and no logic. I haven't watched Min and Hyo's dance videos in a while, but I always remembered feeling that Min had a more fluid style going on whereas I felt Hyo was more powerful.

I find the whole different companies dynamic really interesting. Not only with Min and Hyo, but with other idols too who had friends at different companies and so forth. I feel like part of the reason why Hyo didn't switch or might have no considered it at all is because it was SM. Even back then SM always was the leader in putting out idol stars. You can see that even idols today from other companies at least went and tried out at SM before - Sohee and Sunmi like I mentioned. Also Gayoon from 4minute and I believe one of the SS501 boys was also originally at SM before transferring to DSP.

Yeah it's hard not to worry about Hyo and her feelings, but I still like to believe she is her happy self and that she's still hanging in there despite the lack of support from SM at this moment. I guess it's because I firmly believe in the Soshi bond. Hyo's spotlight time might not be right now, but with the soshi bond and everything I feel like she at least has her other members there for her. I would also like to think that Jaewon has been mentoring her throughout all this time. They're certainly close enough. I honestly feel safer knowing that at least he's there to mentor her and keep her company. If Jaewon were to leave, then I would definitely start to feel a bit panicky.

-siska

[greywing]

Re: Min. Ah. Yes, that would make sense. I could see how that could offend the more conservative Korean sensibilities, though I'd be surprised to see overseas observers being very surprised about that. I mean, Min was jumping into the NY hip-hop culture. C'mon now.

but sometimes people just jump in and start comparing for the hell of it with all their bias and no logic.

I can understand how that would make you hesitant. Yeah, I think Min hit her moves smoother and with more finesse than Hyo did back in the day. It's been so long. We need to see them do another piece together today.

I feel like part of the reason why Hyo didn't switch or might have no considered it at all is because it was SM. Even back then SM always was the leader in putting out idol stars.

That's right. I do remember once reading that SM groups were considered to be guaranteed successes (not true, but the amount of success they've had overall gives that impression).

JaeWon does sound like he's fond of Hyo. And she sounds like she has a lot of faith in him, since he works closely with the group and she bugs him about the routines. (Cute.) I think I just get bummed out that we don't get to see her pop and stuff because we all know she can do it. ;_; Or could.

I'm a big fan of the Soshi Bond too. I love seeing them together. But it's when they're not together career-wise that worries me. I'm not sure SM knows how to promote Hyo or even if they're interested in doing it. Part of the problem seems to be that their targeted commercial avenues don't seem to show interest in Hyo. At an early point, Tiffany was appearing on a lot of shows but the rumor went that it was really Jessica being asked to appear. You don't hear rumors like that about Hyo. You don't see brands asking for her to be their spokesmodel or any interest in having her do photo spreads. I don't think SM is too concerned about creating that interest. It's just the sense the promotions have given off.