Winter almost didn’t make it to aespa, all because of her brother?!

Imagine being almost replaced by your own brother! That was nearly the case for our aespa queen, Winter. On the July 1 episode of Salon Drip 2, Winter spilled the tea on how her brother was originally scouted by SM Entertainment, not her. Both siblings attended a dance festival, and the company initially put its eyes on the brother.

And while Winter still managed to catch the company’s attention, she revealed it wasn’t easy getting into SM. She auditioned three times and got rejected twice before finally getting that golden ticket. She almost signed with another agency, but SM swooped in for one last audition — and this time, they saw the star power. She joined the label in 2017 and trained for about three and a half years before debuting with aespa.

She also dropped some insight on aespa’s concept evolution. Winter and Ningning were trained in cute, innocent styles, but then came “Next Level,”  a much sassier and bolder style that switched up their plans. Eventually, aespa’s image had a shift toward something edgier and a little darker.

And just like that, Winter’s debut story involved a sibling rivalry! The more you know…