[INTERVIEW] 2013.06.11 "Living as an idol's parent", as heard from Teen Top Niel's mother, Lee So-young

Eng trans: @oursupaluv
Source: http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=sec&oid=145&aid=0000010994&sid1=001

Please do not take out.

“Living as an idol’s parent”, as heard from Teen Top Niel’s mother, Lee So-young

Now active as a member of the popular idol group Teen Top, Niel worked his way up via his 

wide range of experiences, from being an extra studying to be a child actor to his long 

period as a trainee.  This process included having been cheated by a nameless agency, up 

to hitting a slump when his voice was changing and going off course for a while. Despite 

this, by having a clear goal and waiting modestly, in the end his dream was able to come 

true, as will be revealed in this behind-the-scenes story leading up to Niel’s debut.  


Discovering a child’s talent and the beginning which opened up his path

Recently, when elementary, junior high and senior high school students are asked, “what do 

you wish to become in the future?”, without exception you will hear many who answer “an 

entertainer”, such as a celebrity or singer, and among them in particular young people say 

that they wish to become a member of an idol group. However, how should parents handle 

things when their children have this kind of a dream?  There are some parents who strongly 

oppose it and ignore their child’s dreams, while others worry about what they need to do 

in order for their children to successfully debut, and get involved with it themselves. 

In the case of Niel (age 20, real name Ahn Daniel), a member of the popular currently 

active six-member boys idol group Teen Top, who will reach their fourth year since debut 

this year, his mother was always his pillar of support since he was young. It was his 

mother, Lee So-young (age 46) who was the first to notice the special talent that her son, 

who was spending every day running around on the fields with his friends dreaming of being 

a soccer player, had, and who opened up the way for him to become an entertainer. 

“Niel was in a play for the school festival in his fourth year of elementary school, and 

he really did great with his acting. Up until that time he had always only expressed his 

desire to become a soccer player, but when I saw him I felt that instead, this other thing 

was where he showed more talent. So I had a talk about it with Niel and told him what I 

thought, and he agreed to give it a try. I’m usually somebody who often can’t agree in 

these kinds of conversations, but Niel is a very dutiful and kind son. So he listens well 

to my opinions as his mother and is obedient.”  

Mrs. Lee took her son directly to an agency and registered him, got his photograph taken 

to put online and began attending auditions for child actors.  There were many agencies 

who contacted them for casting. But from the start, things didn’t come together easily.
One agency charged 2,800,000 won for providing one year of teaching acting, singing and 

dance and managing the trainees so that they had the best chance of becoming an 

entertainer, but after 3 months without any progress it all ended. 

“At first I thought that no matter what training academy you went to, it was going to cost 

money in order to become an actor, and so I thought of it as an investment for the future. 

 But this agency kept going around and around and when I talked to them I asked straight-

forwardly “so exactly how much money do I need to give you?” and they readily gave me an 

expense statement. By the way, unlike what I agreed to, they trained him for three months 

and then after that they didn’t take any care of him whatsoever. In one class there were 

15-20 people who were taught as a group for only short periods of time, and seeing that, 

they weren’t able to produce any particular improvement in performance. Because it was our 

first time, neither myself nor Niel knew much about it.” 


Enduring the wait and overcoming a slump

After suffering the bitter taste of being burned by several fraudulent agencies, Mrs. Lee  

took Niel to undertake auditions directly. At home they watched dramas together and tried 

to imitate the spoken lines and facial expressions of the child actors in them, and 

together they practiced acting together with the scripts they received in advance when 

they were going to movie and drama castings. It was a continuous series of challenges 

without any kind of promse, but the two of them felt that they could not give up, and so 

they calmly, modestly and earnestly waited and waited for that time to come.

“When we went to the acting academy, the mothers who knew each other shared information, 

and we worked hard going to auditions. As a result, we got the chance to do just a little  

bit of filming for things like movies and dramas. Which part it might be wasn’t 

differentiated. At that time, Niel had just turned 13 and the two of us had a lot of 

worries. Waiting around an entire day to play the part of somebody passing by on the 

street, having to fall down and roll or fall into water again and again. On top of that, 

we’d leave the house at dawn and not get back until the middle of the night of the next 

day, and because the people who played minor roles or were extras didn’t even get one meal 

a day provided, buying kimbap at the convenience store or getting fast food to eat was 

common, and one time we had to bring enough food with us to last the day.  Meanwhile, 

since you never know when you are going to get called to go on, you just have to stay 

where you are and wait at the location even if it rains or snows. Sometimes I fought with 

my son too, but at those times I’d always give him a laugh without any reason, and mom 

would relieve him of anything which made him feel bad or annoyed. It’s because I think 

listening to everything and enduring is the mother’s role.”

Through this process, Mrs. Lee and her son opened their eyes to the world early, and were 

able to mature even more via the wisdom gained by all of their tireless efforts. Above 

everything, the reality was that all experiences can become a great source of learning, 

and it was a time in which they gained the belief and conviction that if you try for a 

long time to establish what you wish for, without succumbing to anxiety, at some time your 

dream will come to you.

At this point Niel, who had laid down some foundations in movies, dramas, print fashion 

advertising and various other fields, developed a great interest in becoming a singer and 

began to attend training institutions to take professional lessons in singing and dance. 

However, in his first year of junior high school his voice began changing, which gave him 

a lot of emotional difficulty and he fell into a slump. Even worse, the academy which he 

was attending told him that “you have to take a break now” and he was taken off the 

roster.

“There aren’t any academies in Gangnam or Hongdae which he hadn’t gone to. Because he was 

going through puberty, he couldn’t do any high notes and once his voice started changing, 

he couldn’t continue to study at the academy any more. However, since we couldn’t give up, 

I searched on the internet and was able to meet with a teacher in Pyeongchon who could 

give him private vocal lessons. This teacher advised us that until one year after his 

voice had changed, we should not do singing but instead practise vocalisations. No matter 

what I did, it was only hard on Niel, because he couldn’t sing the songs he wanted to and 

instead he just had to practise vocalisations only. Despite this, the teacher believed in 

Niel and guided him well; it was a really good teacher.”

A debut with an overflowing heart, finally shooting for the stars

During this exhausting time of neverending waiting, by chance Lee So-young came upon 

information online for an audition called “Andy’s Choice.” It stated that male group 

Shinhwa member Andy would select aspiring singers with vocal talent through open auditions 

at Lotteworld. In opposition to Niel’s vocal teacher, whose opinion was that since Niel 

was still in puberty it might be impossible to go, Mrs. Lee thought differently. For her 

son who had fallen into a slump, she felt that this might be a chance for a new stimulus 

and so no matter what, she wanted him to participate.

“Saying let’s go have fun outside, the whole family went along to Lotteworld. Up to that 

time, Niel knew pretty much nothing about what was going on. The family went on a ride and 

during that time I went next to the audition stage, went to the reception area and then 

waited for our turn. When Niel finished the ride and came over I said “you have to try for 

this audition”, notifying him very unequivocally (laughs). But even though I did so, 

because he was so surprised Niel said he wouldn’t go on the stage and for a moment there 

was an uproar. I told him not to worry and it would be fine if he just did as he would 

normally at practice, and anyway it would be a good experience to do a test run like this, 

and after all of this continuing persuasion he finally went up on the stage. The result 

was as anticipated, he failed. Since he had not had much proper systematic training, his 

skill could only be lacking.”

However, a few days later the agency which had hosted the auditions made a phone call to 

Mrs. Lee and suggested “how about trying the audition one more time?”, and Niel made a 

second attempt on exactly the same stage. However when this too ended in drinking the 

bitter cup of failure, Mrs. Lee and Niel were prepared to stop thinking about it when the 

agency paid them a final love call.  They were offering them a completely unexpected third 

chance. 

“We were told that his skill at the time being is lacking, but his voice is unique, so we 

would like to have him become a trainee.  And so he entered the agency as a trainee and 

began to undertake fiercely competitive training. Their system was that once a month the 

trainees would be gathered for eliminations and they would go one at a time in the order 

that they held their auditions, and seeing that the kids would fight even harder to do 

their best. His skills also steadily increased. As a result, he debuted in July 2010 with 

the group Teen Top. The agency at that time is his company now.”

Mrs. Lee vividly remembers the thrill of the day Niel debuted even now. The suffering they 

had together in the past due to the painful trial and error they experienced, not knowing 

where from and how was the best way to start, seemed to pass through her mind like it was 

on film, and whenever she watches her son on stage dancing, singing, full of confidence 

and energy, her tears fall without stopping.

“I gave birth to three children, all boys, and among them the second, Niel, is the kindest 

son who has the most aegyo. He has never been disobedient and he always talks with his 

mother and father. He is pure and has no ability to deceive anybody, and he’s very 

thoughtful too. If he can do something good, he will offer it to his hyung or dongsaeng 

first, and although now he is almost always busy with life at the dorm, when he has time 

he comes to see us or he calls us on the phone and tells us everything.  He was raised 

well and properly so I am very thankful and proud of my wonderful son.” 

In March of this year, Niel set up a little coffee shop in Anyang for his mother. It’s a 

big gift from a son for his father, who serves as the pastor of a church founded four 

years ago, and his mother who worked hard and took care of him all that time. For this 

reason, recently people around Lee So-young have been often asking her “what should I do 

to raise my child to be an entertainer?”, and when they do her answer is always the same. 

That is the often-referenced saying, to make a well the only thing to do is to get in 

there and dig.

“Behind the showy facade of the occupation of an entertainer is the idols’ strenuous 

effort that accompanies this hard work. If it’s just for the reason that it looks amazing, 

this is an attitude which fosters vanity and must be discarded. You need to believe that 

someday your dream will definitely come true, but you also have to have the mindset that 

the process will entail an uncountable number of hardships and saddening experiences. If 

you can’t overcome frustration, you won’t be able to get to the finish line.  How much you 

endure, you wait, you persevere and hang on, will influence your success. I wish to tell 

parents to take on some of their children’s hardships and encourage them so that the 

children will be able to survive and stand on their own.”