TWICE’s Sana Reveals Why She Decided To Become A K-Pop Idol Instead Of A J-Pop Star

One key difference between K-Pop and J-Pop pushed Sana to make the leap.

In a new video interview with Seventeen on YouTube, TWICE‘s Sana revealed a little about why she decided to become a K-Pop idol rather than debut as a star in her home country of Japan.

Born and raised in Japan, Sana always dreamed of becoming a performer. From around sixth grade, Sana began training under the EXILE Dance Academy—one of the country’s most renowned dance studios. If it wasn’t for one fateful day in middle school, it’s possible Sana would’ve debuted as a J-Pop idol.

Pre-debut Sana

But in 2012, she was scouted by a JYP Entertainment casting associate, and luckily enough she was with a friend who spoke Korean. Sana soon auditioned for the company, and the rest is history—but what pushed her to make the jump to South Korea and K-Pop? Sana opened up about her reasoning to Seventeen.

Sana explained, “In Japan, a lot of teams set individual positions for vocals and dancing.” Conversely, Sana says K-Pop groups aren’t like that. For her, that was the biggest appeal about K-Pop groups.

In past interviews, Sana has shed a little more insight into her decision to join JYP Entertainment. One of the first things that hooked her in was how the casting associate showed her photos of the Dream High cast to persuade her—a K-Drama Sana was already a fan of.

On top of that, after her parents objected to her going overseas to become a star, her mother took her to a 2PM concert. After watching them perform, Sana pleaded with her mom that she wanted to be on the stage just like them.

Sana later got to collab with 2PM’s Junho and appeared in his “Instant Love” MV. | JYP Entertainment/YouTube

Meanwhile, Momo also shed some light on her own decision to become a K-Pop idol to Seventeen. “For me,” she said, “[it was] watching senior artists like Girls’ Generation… I thought I wanted to do that as well.”

Source: Seventeen