TWICE's Jihyo Opens Up About Nearly Debuting With Another Group

TWICE‘s Jihyo was the most recent guest on soloist Lee Mujin‘s popular musical variety program, Lee Mujin Service.

During the episode, Jihyo opened up about her 18 years in the entertainment industry, including the ten years she spent training at JYP Entertainment.

Jihyo recently made her long-awaited solo debut with ZONE on August 18. The 26-year-old first made her debut with TWICE in 2015 after training with JYP Entertainment since she was only eight years old.

Fellow trainees at the time included members of the Wonder Girls, 2PM, and Miss A, who had yet to debut, as well as former JYP Entertainment trainees like Highlight‘s Kikwang and 2NE1‘s CL.

TWICE’s Jihyo (front center) as a trainee with members of 2PM, Wonder Girls, Highlight’s Kikwang, CL, and more.

Despite watching the older trainees debut, Jihyo shared that she wasn’t often envious and instead reasoned that it “wasn’t [her] time yet.”

After years of waiting, it seemed the time had come for her to debut when she formed a pre-debut group 6MIX with her future TWICE members Jeongyeon and Nayeon and former JYP Entertainment trainees Lena, Minyoung, and Cecilia.

After Cecilia departed from the company in 2014, TWICE’s Sana was added to the pre-debut lineup.

6MIX’s pre-debut members

During Lee Mujin Service, Jihyo disclosed just how close 6MIX was to their debut when she revealed the group was dissolved only days before filming their music video.

The sudden change in her debut plans admittedly caused Jihyo to question her path.

Lee Mujin couldn’t hold back his surprise at the revelation and revealed that he thought dissolving the group only days before they filmed their music video was “a bit too much.”

While that opportunity hadn’t worked out for Jihyo, she reflects on it now as a member of the globally recognized girl group TWICE, and she realizes that it all turned out okay.