At HBH, trainees strive to be apart of their yearly predebut project groups. Around Summer time, a collection of trainees is announced in a non-solidified predebut line up. Usually, these lineups are divided by gender, but there have been some exceptions. If you make it into the line up of these groups, you have a very good chance of debuting.
The reason why HBH makes so many project groups is to test the overall compatibility of the groups as well test how well the trainees can handle a schedule similar to a debuted idol’s. It’s important to the company that the members get along, work together well, and have good chemistry. Even though this system is set up to sort out the line up prior to debut, it is notorious of HBH to add members to already debuted groups.
Here is a history on every predebut project group formed, just to keep you informed.
2011 - HBH TRAINEES
In 2011 when there were only a handful of trainees to choose from, the first predebut project was formed. Simply named ‘HBH Trainees’, they were made up of Hwang Minho, Lim Geonwu, Yoo Sungho, Choi Woodam, Shin Joongji, and Lee Kangdae, better known today as 6 out of the 7 Vice members. These boys mainly busked and performed at local high schools to gain fans and attention from the general public. They were not as publicized as future project groups, but they started the concept of testing out a line-up and then making adjustments to it before debut.
2014 - HBHNG/HBHNB/HBHNT
The most popularized and publicized group of trainees was the internet phenomenon HBHNT, short for HBH Next Thing. This group of trainees were 18 members strong and split up into two groups: HBH Next Girls and HBH Next Boys. They not only busked and held public events, but they had their own weekly web show that kept fans updated in their training. They were also the first group of trainees under HBH to have a showcase. Members were allowed to host vLives, communicate through fans directly through social media, and generally be very interactive with their audience.
Even though this era is often dubbed the ‘golden’ predebut era, this project group also had the most drama. Before the group was set to debut, many members dropped out rapidly for unknown reasons. As a result, the company was forced to work with a co-ed project group, which was later debuted under the name Triptych. (More about this era can be found here. A more well personal perspective of this era can be found here)
2015 - A-GIRLS
In 2015, HBH decided that they wanted to debut their first ever all-girl group. They collected their top female trainees and created the project group A-Girls. The members included Seo Youngae (Ex-Trainee), Kwon Jimin (Promise’s Lucy), Jung Nari (Promise’s Nana), Lee Bora (HBH Trainee), Shin Soyeon (Promise’s Soyeon), Kim Eunmi (Ex-Trainee), Son Hwayoung (Promise’s Hwayoung), and Park Haneul (Promise’s Rina).
A-Girls was nowhere near as popular as HBHNT, but they did have a large following due to popular members being apart of HBHNT previously. However, A-Girls was less interactive with fans. They only did a handful of busking events and would upload only one cover biweekly. They had about two episodes of their own web show before it was canceled due to members being removed and the fear of having scandals being leaked through the series. Member and leader Youngae dropped out of HBH all together because of a family death. She had a small legal dispute with the company in order to terminate her contract. Then ex-trainee Kim Eunmi was asked to leave the company due to bullying and harassment. Lee Bora was dropped from the line up due to underperformance. A-Girls continued as a 5 piece before Hwayoung dropped out months before debut for personal reasons. The remaining girls debuted as Promise, having Hwayoung reunite with them in 2019.
2016 - HBH: ECHO and ANSWER
Trying to recreate the sibling groups that were supposed to form from HBHNT, HBH announced the ECHO and ANSWER project. ECHO was the female counterpart and ANSWER was the male. ECHO was comprised of Min Soojin (Triptych’s Jin), Ji Haeyoon (Triptych’s Hyo), Love (Triptych’s Ame), Li Rushi (HBH Trainee), Park Haeun (HBH Trainee), Kang Sunhee (Triptych’s Sun), Hwang Chaewon (Triptych’s One), and Hashimoto Kotori (HBH Trainee).
ANSWER was comprised of Jung Jaehwa (HBH Trainee), Im Songgye (HBH Trainee), Itsuki Saito (HBH Trainee), Seo Soonyoung (Triptych’s Sol), Na Hyunki (Triptych’s Fin), Ahn Myungdae (Triptych’s Day), and Ryu Yeetai (HBH Trainee).
A lot of complicated things went down during this era, but it was the first time HBH tried to introduce elimination based off fan’s say. This plan backfired tremendously on HBH, as several members self-eliminated after finding out about the elimination process. A lawsuit was nearly involved between trainees and the company, but everything was settled internally before it could go public. After a long summer, the remaining trainees finally debuted as Triptych’s second generation. (More about this era can be found here)
HBHT17-19
HBH Trainees come back and announce old and new faces. Just like before, the trainees are given access to social media accounts and are allowed to post YouTube videos and vLives.
From the year 2017 onward, the company decides that taking a new approach to how they display their trainees will work out better than the previous summers. They also decided that they will give the trainees more free range when it comes to collaborating. The mission statement that HBH put out described that from 2017 and onward, HBH Trainees (or HBHT for short) will be generally focusing on debuting more members of Triptych, however, it’s a possibility that HBHT members could debut under a new project.
Due to Triptych’s main concept focusing around collaboration, subgroups under HBHT were encouraged by the company. For the first time, HBH Trainees are allowed to create their own subgroups and display them to the public.
In 2019, there still is HBH19G (HBH ‘19 Girls) and HBH19B (HBH ‘19 Boys), but there are also subgroups. (More information on HBHT19 subgroups can be found here.)
The only groups formed by HBH themselves are HBHT19, HBH19G, and HBH19B. Not every trainee is grouped by gender. To be apart of HBH19G/B, you need to be one of the top trainees. If the company doesn’t think you’re ready to be promoted in that way, you will be grouped under HBHT19, which is the general umbrella term for all HBH Trainees as of summer 2019.
