Prior to debuting, some of the members were already involved in the entertainment industry. Jeno appeared in various commercials as a child; Jisung was a child actor and filmed movies such as Boys, Be Curious (2012) and Go, Stop, Murder (2013). Chenle was active on the Chinese music scene as a singer from 2009 to 2015; he released three albums and headlined a concert in China.
In 2011, Yuta participated in the singing competition "Juice Winter Collection" in Japan, while Ten competed on the Thai TV show Teen Superstar under the name TNT. Also, Xiao Jun was a singing contestant on the Zhejiang TV program X-Fire in November 2015. SM Entertainment formally announced the creation of their pre-debut team, SMROOKIES, on December 3, 2013, featuring traineers Jeno, Seulgi, and Taeyong.
On December 9, Irene, Jaehyun and Lami were introduced. On December 16, members Mark, Jisung, and Hansol were introduced, followed by Ten, Johnny, and Yuta on December 23. On July 17, 2014, Haechan was officially introduced.
On July 21, they released a video of Taeyong's rapping skills on SMTown's YouTube channel. On August 24, a video of Johnny, Taeyong, and another trainee named Hansol, dancing to the song "Super Moon" under the name SR14B (SMROOKIES 2014 Boys), was released. On January 15, 2015, Doyoung and Jaehyun, that have been chosen as the new MCs for Show Champion, were introduced as traineers.
On April 22, Jaemin was revealed, while Taeil was officially announced on October 13. On December 18, Kun was also introduced. A few months later, on January 5, 2016, Winwin was introduced.
On January 27, 2016, the group was announced by SM Entertainment‘s founder, Lee Soo Man, at the SM Coex Artium during "SMTown: New Culture Technology 2016" press conference. It was announced that under the brand NCT (Neo Culture Technology), there would be different teams that would debut based in different countries around the world. There would be various collaborations and units formed between the different groups, allowing for movement of members and new recruits.
The agency released two teasers with the names "#1 The Origin" and "#2 Synchronization of Your Dreams" the following day, which included five members of SMROOKIES: Taeyong, Hansol, Ten, Mark, and Jaehyun. On April 4, 2016, SM Entertainment announced NCT's first sub-unit would be NCT U, meaning "NCT United", with pictures announcing members Mark and Jaehyun, later adding members Taeil, Taeyong, Doyoung, and Ten, between April 4 and 7. Two days later, the group made their first broadcast appearance in a Naver broadcast with SUPER JUNIOR's Heechul, where he introduced the initial group lineup.
On April 9, they released the song "The 7th Sense" and "Without You" as digital singles, Jaehyun, Mark, Ten, Taeyong, and Doyoung participated in producing "The 7th Sense" which is described as having a hip-hop groove with a heavy base sound. As for "Without You", members Taeil, Jaehyun, and Doyoung worked to create the dance EDM song. The group made their debut on music program Music Bank four days later.
On April 18, Jungwoo was introduced as a member of SM's pre-debut training team. On July 1, SM announced NCT's second sub-unit, NCT 127. The unit would be based in Seoul, the number "127" representing the longitude coordinate of the city.
The unit debuted with seven members: Taeil, Taeyong, Yuta, Jaehyun, Winwin, Mark, and Haechan. On July 7, they had their official debut performance on the music program M Countdown, performing "Fire Truck" and "Once Again" from first mini album, NCT #127, which was released digitally on July 10 and physically on July 11. On August 18, SM announced that NCT's third sub-unit would be NCT DREAM.
The unit debuted with seven members: Mark, Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Chenle and Jisung. Their first single, "Chewing Gum", was released on August 24, and the group had their debut performance on M Countdown the next day. On December 27, NCT 127 announced they would be m...
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