It has been 500 days since ASTRO’s debut. I want to take a moment to talk about where ASTRO really started. Before they were ASTRO, these boys had to endure a lot. I’m not sure if AROHA realize just how important we are to ASTRO, not just as a fan base, but as the literal start of their career and the meaning behind everything that they have done.
When ASTRO wasn’t ASTRO, they were just regular trainees. Moonbin had come from being a child model with an entertainment company for only children. He was only 12 years old when he began training with Fantagio, and he could have moved into a Fantagio dorm at that point, as well. It’s unknown what month he joined Fantagio, but it was in the early part of 2010. Later that same year, Rocky joined Fantagio. However, he didn’t join necessarily with the idea to debut. Instead, it turns out that his father told him he would buy Rocky a Wii if he didn’t do musicals and instead joined an entertainment company.
Moonbin and Rocky were the only 2 members of ASTRO as trainees at Fantagio from 2010 through 2011, and into early 2012. That is when Sanha joined, having played his guitar while singing as his audition in front of the company judges in an open audition. It wasn’t until a year later that Eunwoo and Jinjin joined the company.
Eunwoo was scouted by a Fantagio recruiter, and Eunwoo actually denied requests for him to join Fantagio. He was on the straight and narrow, class president and in the top 3 students in his class. It’s understandable that he didn’t want to join an acting agency when his goal was to become a lawyer. It took a bit of convincing, but he eventually did become a trainee with Fantagio. Jinjin’s arrival at Fantagio is a little less clear. Before, he was attending NY Dance Academy in Ilsan. This company has an agreement signed with Fantagio, and some time during 2013 this deal worked and brought Jinjin to Fantagio, as well.
We don’t know when MJ joined Fantagio. Prior to being at Fantagio, MJ auditioned for JYP Entertainment in 2010. He did not make it into the company. On several accounts, MJ has expressed his wishes for any photos and videos of this time to be taken away, never to be seen again. MJ was chasing this dream to be a singer since Moonbin joined Fantagio, yet he didn’t make it right away. In 2012, he tried again, and again he didn’t make it. Eventually, thankfully, Fantagio accepted him.
The end of 2014 brought about the Rising Star stages at Lotte World. By this point, Fantagio had quite a few male trainees. There were rumors of a plan to debut a large boy group, their concept including having units. Names were being talked of, the line up was going to be determined by these stages, and the boys were all preparing.
Moon Bin. Park Minhyuk. Yoon Sanha. Lee Dongmin. Park Jinwoo. Kim Myungjun.
These are the names of 8 of the boys you can see performing in any group focus fan cam from the Lotte World stages. They did tough concepts, wearing black and silver and gold, covering hip hop and rapping and showing off their dance and singing skills in a series of stages that lasted from December 2014 until early February 2015. In May 2015, the line up was solidified. The idea of having a large boy group with sub units was gone, with only 6 boys remaining at Fantagio. The other trainees that hadn’t been as popular with fans at these Rising Star stages were not included. They left Fantagio.
However, Fantagio was going to stick with their original concept. They wanted a darker concept, a harder concept, like Big Bang and BTS. This reflected in the stages that ASTRO showed when giving a mini fan meet tour around the Seoul area in late 2015. But, despite showing these hard stages, fans who showed up could feel ASTRO’s refreshing energy. And Fantagio.. Well, they took notice.
Fans were on SNS, saying how they loved ASTRO’s boyish charms. They liked how cute ASTRO could be. They liked their refreshing personalities, the brightness of them. Fantagio listened, and, according to the fans, ASTRO’s debut concept changed.
You’ll see early interviews with ASTRO saying that the boys really had no idea what was going on when Fantagio showed them Hide & Seek for the first time. This kind of bubbly, cute concept was not what they had been working towards. But Fantagio listened to the fans, and they worked with ASTRO, and it happened. ASTRO debuted with a bright concept so different from what they had done before. ASTRO’s entire concept changed because of the fans.
At the Rising Star stages, Fantagio listened to fans’ favorites. They saw that 6 boys had grown to be more popular than the others. Rather than debut 8 boys, they debuted 6, because of the fans.
After showcasing ASTRO’s talents across many stages for several months, Fantagio saw that the fans liked ASTRO’s bubbly personalities. Again, they listened to the fans. The debut concept changed, because of the fans.
ASTRO’s entire concept revolves around their fan base. We, AROHA, are the start of ASTRO’s career. Before we had a name, we were their support. Early fans played a large part in ASTRO’s concept, and we continue to do so. At debut, they gave us a name. AROHA was born. How many groups debut and immediately give their fans a name? There aren’t very many, if any, that gave their fans a name at their debut. With overwhelming support of ASTRO’s debut, their concept of a bright song with cute choreography extended to their second album, their third, each with concepts that could be representative of ASTRO’s relationship with AROHA. We got a fan song released on an album the day before their 1 year anniversary. Their recent comeback with Baby and their 4th mini album Dream Part.01 is literally for the fans.
When the 500th day comes, thank ASTRO, send them love, but thank yourself, as well. Keep supporting ASTRO, give them love, and make sure you do the same for yourself. ASTRO without AROHA’s support wouldn’t be ASTRO at all.
