The only reason SM is choosing to give this specific group support is because most of the members are pale white guys. They’ll ignore talented black and brown people even though they copy our culture and music
sm is literally the worst big company to be in... sure you get fame but you only earn 5% and the company keeps 95%. also they are the least tolerant of foreigners, the most they're willing to go is Chinese and even then they treat the Chinese members like crap sm is going to mistreat or ignore the crap out of this English group once it flops
@@dearyoongi Yeah cause I was wondering what does SM get out of partnering with this program (other that a group). Then you showed that really nice dorm (which we all know normal trainees would not get) and I was like “oh, they’re trying to make this look appealing to potential trainees.”
i started watching the show thinking i wasnt going to get invested, i thought the "english kpop group by sm" was a joke when i first heard about it. but after watching the show and listening to their songs im obsessed. i really do think we need to start seeing more boybands and girlbands outside of kpop, i miss the one direction and little mix days sm
i recommend no guidance (bg) and flo (gg) they are both british and have amazing music and all really nice and funny people plus the fandoms are so chill
I know my opinion is really unpopular but I'm excited about this group. I watched this show with my parents, and they really enjoyed it and we all got quite invested in the boys and were rooting for them the entire time. I also got to relate to James as a fellow person who struggles with Autism. I believe they have so much potential. If they weren't forced to have done all the training within 100 days, I know they'd have done even better. The sky is the limit and I am excited for their album. People seem to keep getting confused, by calling them a British Kpop band when they aren't that. They are a British Pop Band who underwent training similar to Kpop trainees. Groups like this already exist (Katseye, Vcha) so the hate is stupid, this is just SM's first attempt at doing it. I'll pretend to be surprised when people start hating on this comment.
Same here. I also watched it with my parents and they were also rooting for them and impressed with their songs. My mum would always comment on how pretty Olly is too 😂 Fully agree that they'd be better after 100 days too, but I'm sure they've kept practising in the meantime!
@elpeopuru125 My fave is definitely Reese, he's just so talented. James is also hilarious and cool. Took me a while to like Blaise, it felt like he was a bit stand off at the beginning, his dance skills are great. I felt so bad for how Dexter got treated throughout the show. As for Olly, I thought he was a little forgettable during the show, he was sort of just there. I'm sure I'll grow to love him in the future though. Overall, they have potential.
I’m with you! The boys seem super charming! I was never into British groups but these guys seem so endearing and I really like their sound despite me being someone who’s into hyperpop and such.
@@tiggertheanimal Weirdly enough Olly feels to the most boy-next-door to me. He just looks like someone I know. I keep wondering if he just looks like someone I know hence the sense of familiarity, but I can't recall anyone.
22:50 OH MY GOD???? AUTISTIC KPOP-ADJACENT IDOL??? THIS IS SUCH A WIN FOR US YOU HAVE NO IDEA. I HAVENT WATCHED THE REST OF THE VIDEO YET BUT IF HE DOESNT MAKE IT ILL CRY… James is a fucking legend. He is my bias automatically. Game recognizes game.
HONESTLY omg I was SO happy he felt comfortable letting them show him opening up to the boys on camera, and that they decided to keep it in the edit. It was such a nice touch to talk about something kpop usually wouldn't on a platform like this🥺
I felt the show promoted the country Korea more than the group. Im going to be honest, i dont think the members have potential to hit big. I only see potential in Reese. And I think SM knew this when they met the trainees. I don't think the company is invested in this group and it shows. SM could do more to integrate them in the company. But i feel like they're trying to bury them have people forget about them.
yeah none of them have it factor, in kpop, not having it factor is ok because kpop fans sometimes just want someone pretty to look at or a cool choreography to imitate, not in the west
As a Brit, it is making a decent amount of noise over here. The annoying thing is, Kpop is nowhere as big over here compared to the States, so people just ignore it sadly.
I watched the show and found it entertaining and interesting. Its fun to see th SM vocal and dance choaches in action. Especially the voice coach, I liked him so much in LASTART when NCT Wish was put together. I agree I would have liked to see more on the auditions but I guess they wanted to change the format. During the episodes it was said several times that the way Kpop groups are put together is different. They mix and match trainees, swap around so they have the best comination of talent, looks and group chemistry. On LASTART you could observe that. Anyway I have grown fond of the boys and wish them success. No news on the debut yet but they seem to ramp up their social media presence so cannot be long now. All the song sound we heard so far are like old fashioned boygroup songs which I am always here for. I do feel we miss a group like that on the western pop scene. The boys are talented, cute, down to earth and very relatable. Given them the right songs and promotions I think they could have a chance of being successful. I will be watching and cheering them on
It doesn’t help their case that the episodes are restricted to the UK. It’s easy to get a vpn but just the simple fact that I have to do those extra steps just to watch 6 episodes makes me wanna just not watch them. Dream academy is on Netflix, while A2K is here on RUclips, which is easier.
@@dearyoongiEvery time we knew she was going to turn up, me and my parents would always be dramatic and be like 'time for her to call the boys shit again'. Some of her comments were so BRUTAL, like damn. Such an intimidating woman.
A thing I dont get is when the songs are way higher than they can hit it, why not give them songs to slowly get them up there or songs actually in there range instead of straining or trying to get them up there quickly, that is kinda not that good for the vocals and singing with a sour throat.
I know!! Unfortunately this just seems to be a thing, especially in Korean survival programs. There's literally nothing a guy can do to sing an octave out of his range - if he's a bari then he's a bari, why don't you utilise that instead for some variety and harmonies? Also, deep-voiced rappers are pretty popular so why didn't they capitalise on the fact that he has a naturally lower voice and make some 'killing parts' from it? I understand that they were just given the songs and choreos and needed to perfect them as is, but in reality the songs are made (or at least adjusted) for those singing it to utilise every member in the best way possible. Sorry for the mini rant in response but this also irritated me throughout watching.
1:02:12 it's also the cycle of abuse, being told that person NEEDS your approval, witholding it to get what you want, degrading them, and then complimenting them so they feel like they "won something" from you. reeeeed flaaaaaags lmao
The show was something but the songs especially Solar are actually quite great. Kpop stans are pretty racist against them and its ridiculous. They definitely grow over the episodes and kpop stans want perfection which is something 100 days cant achieve so they think they are undeserving. The distribution for the show and marketing is quite questionable since they want kpop stans to like them but dont make it accessible for them outside the uk.
Racism can go in any direction. It’s not limited to POC, just 99% of the time is directed to them. By definition, any race can be racist to any other race
I was skeptical to watch this documentary first, and only decided to watch this because I’m an SM stan. Tbh there are high and lows for me while watching the episodes but I really liked how they grew as an aspiring artist. Really also hoping for the best in their debut and career
Lmao what's with the new nct subunit pending? 😭 Flashback to nct Hollywood, they ended their expansion, which is disappointing for me. What I want now in this current situation is new fresh units, but the situation is unbearable, and the company isn't even able to manage one unit's members. 😅
Ahah you'll see as you get through the video but (spoiler alert) when coming up with their group name, they joke about calling themselves NC-Tea 😂 And ikr omg NCT Hollywood feels like a kpop iceberg thing now... a distant memory 😅
@@dearyoongi Yeah I saw that it was very funny from these guys 😭 I remember that, it was a nightmare but after seeing the success of some global groups (katsey) I kinda miss Hollywood 😔
@@SBBunny93 Cuz that's the point of their concept expansion, a lot of members will be gone due to them reaching the age of enlistment and others won't renew so debuting more members will be more profitable for sm if they want a ready brand and ready fans ,but that was like five years ago when the fandom wasn't divided and now unit stans exist and there are barley fans who stan the whole group ,lsm vision was bright and they could have a better future if sm didn't mess everything up
@@إنڛٰان but again they don’t utilize all the members fairly and fully now. So why continue to add more people who won’t get the recognition? I get it might be the concept but that doesn’t mean its effective in the right way. Don’t know. But again I think NCT has too many members already and honestly don’t need anymore. Along with TripleS.
I dont get the whole contradictions, like live vocals are so important, then if he cant sing with his throat he should at least lipsync, then they are injured and then they make them fight and wrestle. They get less clean in vocal and dance when they dont focus and get exited but then in the video you could see they were too focused on not making mistakes
bruh kpop fans can be so boring because why is no one talking about them? As a fan pf boybands Im actually super interested in this group; I miss groups like One Direction, Nsync, Backstreet boys, etc.
I just don’t think there’s a huge mainstream general population appetite for boy bands or girl groups in the west. The ones in the past did well because there was a captive audience of teens and less options for them to spend their money/time on. Now there’s an infinite amount of options not only entertainment wise but in sectors where teens weren’t normally targeted, so it’s much harder for western pop groups to command similar levels of attention. Plus the west is not into the whole “who’s gonna be the Beyoncé of the group”/when will they disband/bts drama a lot of these groups have, so they figure there’s no point in paying attention in something that’s gonna be short lived anyway. Plus I will say a lot of these groups are looking very samey, generic, and they blend into each other. I feel in the past there was at least 1-2 incredibly good looking in the group who would be general draws of people who otherwise pass over the groups. Then the rest of members would either have unique charms or looks that would draw in the rest. Like honestly looking at the thumbnail I would’ve scrolled down if it wasn’t for the title, because they look like a composite of every teenage boy within the last 5 years
So what I’m getting is this is the katseye documentary but wayyy harder. If filming was accurate to the show then they had to learn the song in barley any time. Like dance moms abbey lee style. That horrible the poor boys
The time line wasn’t accurate. They say that they had to learn a song every week but half way through the show their manager says they’d already been in Korea for over 50 days. With eight episodes if an episode represents a week that would only be 56 days so they likely got just over ten days per song.
@@ioutsoldurfavs girl you really don’t KNOW me bcs im not a koreaboo first of all !! And you just say that bcs you are upset that im right, they are not as good as they should be for an sm group that’s all ! second of all im not a kpop stan but love boy/girlband so don’t say shit about me. I was expecting more for an SM BRITISH group and it will be the same if they were asian or NOT !! it’s not about race but talent and star quality and again THAT’S MY OPINION period
Don't believe this person, they are lying. I googled Heart2Heart and two completely different bands appear. There is an Icelandic band with that name and an 'American Kpop band' with that name. They are just trying to cause drama.
For context: This user was trying to make a joke that would go over the heads of anyone who wasn't a KPOP fan during 2nd gen (2011). Heart2heart was seen as a meme to international KPOP fans at the time, because it was seen as cringey & a parody, despite attempts to be taken seriously as an American boy group inspired by KPOP. Specifically, their member Chad Future was an American KPOP fan & cover artist trying to break into KPOP, all on his own. But he was never taken seriously by international fans. He made original KPOP songs but would sing/rap in English only & dress in the early 2010s KPOP aesthetic. So it was seen as a joke & cringey how he was trying so hard, but was ahead of his time tbh . He did gain enough attention to sing at KCON (2012 & 2013) & have popular KPOP artists from that era feature in his songs (ex. VIXX Ravi & BESTIE UJI). Ploopy678 has a video talking more about him & heart2heart.
I just thought about this, but this whole show is essentially an advertisement for SM to potential K-pop trainees.
The only reason SM is choosing to give this specific group support is because most of the members are pale white guys. They’ll ignore talented black and brown people even though they copy our culture and music
omg that is an interesting point you could be onto something there 👀
sm is literally the worst big company to be in... sure you get fame but you only earn 5% and the company keeps 95%.
also they are the least tolerant of foreigners, the most they're willing to go is Chinese and even then they treat the Chinese members like crap
sm is going to mistreat or ignore the crap out of this English group once it flops
@@dearyoongi Yeah cause I was wondering what does SM get out of partnering with this program (other that a group). Then you showed that really nice dorm (which we all know normal trainees would not get) and I was like “oh, they’re trying to make this look appealing to potential trainees.”
I 100% think that was a factor.
this is definitely someones one direction x Kpop fanfic you can't change my mind
idk... something young fans want is visuals, and this group is lacking in that, there isn't a "harry" or someone with unreal stage presence...
i started watching the show thinking i wasnt going to get invested, i thought the "english kpop group by sm" was a joke when i first heard about it. but after watching the show and listening to their songs im obsessed. i really do think we need to start seeing more boybands and girlbands outside of kpop, i miss the one direction and little mix days sm
i recommend no guidance (bg) and flo (gg) they are both british and have amazing music and all really nice and funny people plus the fandoms are so chill
I know my opinion is really unpopular but I'm excited about this group. I watched this show with my parents, and they really enjoyed it and we all got quite invested in the boys and were rooting for them the entire time. I also got to relate to James as a fellow person who struggles with Autism. I believe they have so much potential. If they weren't forced to have done all the training within 100 days, I know they'd have done even better. The sky is the limit and I am excited for their album. People seem to keep getting confused, by calling them a British Kpop band when they aren't that. They are a British Pop Band who underwent training similar to Kpop trainees. Groups like this already exist (Katseye, Vcha) so the hate is stupid, this is just SM's first attempt at doing it. I'll pretend to be surprised when people start hating on this comment.
Same here. I also watched it with my parents and they were also rooting for them and impressed with their songs. My mum would always comment on how pretty Olly is too 😂 Fully agree that they'd be better after 100 days too, but I'm sure they've kept practising in the meantime!
@elpeopuru125 My fave is definitely Reese, he's just so talented. James is also hilarious and cool. Took me a while to like Blaise, it felt like he was a bit stand off at the beginning, his dance skills are great. I felt so bad for how Dexter got treated throughout the show. As for Olly, I thought he was a little forgettable during the show, he was sort of just there. I'm sure I'll grow to love him in the future though. Overall, they have potential.
I’m with you! The boys seem super charming! I was never into British groups but these guys seem so endearing and I really like their sound despite me being someone who’s into hyperpop and such.
I agree. I’m rooting for them even if their music isn’t necessarily to my taste 😅
@@tiggertheanimal Weirdly enough Olly feels to the most boy-next-door to me. He just looks like someone I know. I keep wondering if he just looks like someone I know hence the sense of familiarity, but I can't recall anyone.
22:50
OH MY GOD???? AUTISTIC KPOP-ADJACENT IDOL??? THIS IS SUCH A WIN FOR US YOU HAVE NO IDEA. I HAVENT WATCHED THE REST OF THE VIDEO YET BUT IF HE DOESNT MAKE IT ILL CRY…
James is a fucking legend. He is my bias automatically. Game recognizes game.
HONESTLY omg I was SO happy he felt comfortable letting them show him opening up to the boys on camera, and that they decided to keep it in the edit. It was such a nice touch to talk about something kpop usually wouldn't on a platform like this🥺
I felt the show promoted the country Korea more than the group. Im going to be honest, i dont think the members have potential to hit big. I only see potential in Reese. And I think SM knew this when they met the trainees. I don't think the company is invested in this group and it shows. SM could do more to integrate them in the company. But i feel like they're trying to bury them have people forget about them.
yeah none of them have it factor,
in kpop, not having it factor is ok because kpop fans sometimes just want someone pretty to look at or a cool choreography to imitate, not in the west
Why did i hear nothing about this group or show until this video 😅 thank you dearyoongi!
Tbf the show has only aired in the UK and Japan.
The way the dear Alice show is making zero noise😭
@@Huangraisy katsey too were flop but when they released their first comeback after debut they kinda success with promotions
@@إنڛٰان I don't take interest in any of these groups until I hear the music. I'm generally a music fan end not really a reality TV fan.
@@إنڛٰانdream academy gained so much more traction tho
@@Huangraisy I was there but their debut didn't match the hype I froget they exist
As a Brit, it is making a decent amount of noise over here. The annoying thing is, Kpop is nowhere as big over here compared to the States, so people just ignore it sadly.
I know the kpop cowboy, he is all over tiktok and instagram with street interviews at any kpop concerts
I watched the show and found it entertaining and interesting. Its fun to see th SM vocal and dance choaches in action. Especially the voice coach, I liked him so much in LASTART when NCT Wish was put together.
I agree I would have liked to see more on the auditions but I guess they wanted to change the format. During the episodes it was said several times that the way Kpop groups are put together is different. They mix and match trainees, swap around so they have the best comination of talent, looks and group chemistry. On LASTART you could observe that.
Anyway I have grown fond of the boys and wish them success. No news on the debut yet but they seem to ramp up their social media presence so cannot be long now. All the song sound we heard so far are like old fashioned boygroup songs which I am always here for. I do feel we miss a group like that on the western pop scene. The boys are talented, cute, down to earth and very relatable. Given them the right songs and promotions I think they could have a chance of being successful. I will be watching and cheering them on
New subunit: NCT, Innit?
NCTea
Ahah I love that omg!
😂😂
Nct Britain
Yoooo thats so neat that the show does tell us the difficulties each guy has! Never knew i needed a show with them in it x💞💞💞
It doesn’t help their case that the episodes are restricted to the UK. It’s easy to get a vpn but just the simple fact that I have to do those extra steps just to watch 6 episodes makes me wanna just not watch them. Dream academy is on Netflix, while A2K is here on RUclips, which is easier.
Totally agree.
If I didn't already have an account to watch football, I'd probably be too lazy to sign up too.
This is a great resource for people who couldn’t watch the show. I really enjoyed your point of view.
Why do I feel like Hee Jun is the actual star of the show 😂
honestly ahah! every single time she entered, they made it soo dramatic!
@@dearyoongiEvery time we knew she was going to turn up, me and my parents would always be dramatic and be like 'time for her to call the boys shit again'. Some of her comments were so BRUTAL, like damn. Such an intimidating woman.
A thing I dont get is when the songs are way higher than they can hit it, why not give them songs to slowly get them up there or songs actually in there range instead of straining or trying to get them up there quickly, that is kinda not that good for the vocals and singing with a sour throat.
I know!! Unfortunately this just seems to be a thing, especially in Korean survival programs. There's literally nothing a guy can do to sing an octave out of his range - if he's a bari then he's a bari, why don't you utilise that instead for some variety and harmonies? Also, deep-voiced rappers are pretty popular so why didn't they capitalise on the fact that he has a naturally lower voice and make some 'killing parts' from it? I understand that they were just given the songs and choreos and needed to perfect them as is, but in reality the songs are made (or at least adjusted) for those singing it to utilise every member in the best way possible. Sorry for the mini rant in response but this also irritated me throughout watching.
22:56 omg the first autistic idol this is making me so happy
First that we know of, since Korea still stigmatizes these things
I've been so so curious about this group and I'm shocked nobody is talking about them 😭
@superayr They should be
@@allanypeΝο
it only aired in UK so it's understandable
@jesusrivera0509 yea I'm from the US and I couldn't watch it :(
1:02:12 it's also the cycle of abuse, being told that person NEEDS your approval, witholding it to get what you want, degrading them, and then complimenting them so they feel like they "won something" from you. reeeeed flaaaaaags lmao
The show was something but the songs especially Solar are actually quite great. Kpop stans are pretty racist against them and its ridiculous. They definitely grow over the episodes and kpop stans want perfection which is something 100 days cant achieve so they think they are undeserving. The distribution for the show and marketing is quite questionable since they want kpop stans to like them but dont make it accessible for them outside the uk.
@superayr They are being xenophobic not racist
I can’t find there songs. Where do you listen to them?
Racism can go in any direction. It’s not limited to POC, just 99% of the time is directed to them. By definition, any race can be racist to any other race
@superayrracism can be towards white people too. Plus race is just a social construct. So it’s 100% possible and does indeed happen
@@allanype Yeah this is what's happening, a lot of xenophobia
Also Miss Yoongi you are out here SLAYING your content lately! ❤️
ahh thank you so much! honestly I've been really trying ahah 😭💖
I was skeptical to watch this documentary first, and only decided to watch this because I’m an SM stan.
Tbh there are high and lows for me while watching the episodes but I really liked how they grew as an aspiring artist. Really also hoping for the best in their debut and career
Lmao what's with the new nct subunit pending? 😭 Flashback to nct Hollywood, they ended their expansion, which is disappointing for me. What I want now in this current situation is new fresh units, but the situation is unbearable, and the company isn't even able to manage one unit's members. 😅
Ahah you'll see as you get through the video but (spoiler alert) when coming up with their group name, they joke about calling themselves NC-Tea 😂
And ikr omg NCT Hollywood feels like a kpop iceberg thing now... a distant memory 😅
@@dearyoongi Yeah I saw that it was very funny from these guys 😭 I remember that, it was a nightmare but after seeing the success of some global groups (katsey) I kinda miss Hollywood 😔
Not like coming down but why add more units to a group that barely utilizes all its members in the first place?
@@SBBunny93 Cuz that's the point of their concept expansion, a lot of members will be gone due to them reaching the age of enlistment and others won't renew so debuting more members will be more profitable for sm if they want a ready brand and ready fans ,but that was like five years ago when the fandom wasn't divided and now unit stans exist and there are barley fans who stan the whole group ,lsm vision was bright and they could have a better future if sm didn't mess everything up
@@إنڛٰان but again they don’t utilize all the members fairly and fully now. So why continue to add more people who won’t get the recognition? I get it might be the concept but that doesn’t mean its effective in the right way. Don’t know. But again I think NCT has too many members already and honestly don’t need anymore. Along with TripleS.
I dont get the whole contradictions, like live vocals are so important, then if he cant sing with his throat he should at least lipsync, then they are injured and then they make them fight and wrestle. They get less clean in vocal and dance when they dont focus and get exited but then in the video you could see they were too focused on not making mistakes
bruh kpop fans can be so boring because why is no one talking about them? As a fan pf boybands Im actually super interested in this group; I miss groups like One Direction, Nsync, Backstreet boys, etc.
I just don’t think there’s a huge mainstream general population appetite for boy bands or girl groups in the west. The ones in the past did well because there was a captive audience of teens and less options for them to spend their money/time on. Now there’s an infinite amount of options not only entertainment wise but in sectors where teens weren’t normally targeted, so it’s much harder for western pop groups to command similar levels of attention. Plus the west is not into the whole “who’s gonna be the Beyoncé of the group”/when will they disband/bts drama a lot of these groups have, so they figure there’s no point in paying attention in something that’s gonna be short lived anyway.
Plus I will say a lot of these groups are looking very samey, generic, and they blend into each other. I feel in the past there was at least 1-2 incredibly good looking in the group who would be general draws of people who otherwise pass over the groups. Then the rest of members would either have unique charms or looks that would draw in the rest. Like honestly looking at the thumbnail I would’ve scrolled down if it wasn’t for the title, because they look like a composite of every teenage boy within the last 5 years
So what I’m getting is this is the katseye documentary but wayyy harder. If filming was accurate to the show then they had to learn the song in barley any time. Like dance moms abbey lee style. That horrible the poor boys
The time line wasn’t accurate. They say that they had to learn a song every week but half way through the show their manager says they’d already been in Korea for over 50 days. With eight episodes if an episode represents a week that would only be 56 days so they likely got just over ten days per song.
WTF is the kpop cowboy 😭😭
i need you to do that again with songs from the same group
NCTEA LMFAO😂😂😂😂😂😂 THAT SHOULD'VE BEEN IT AHJEOHDJSJSHDHDJSISHDJS
I'm so inlove with these boys I will support them no matter what
Not UK boys 😭😭😭
That ain't one direction that's 3 directions
Where to watch it ?
Lmao I have been done with any NCT units
I was expecting the group to be like prettymuch but we got prettyworst
omg prettymuch mention in my comments I used to dream of days like this 😭
Y'all must really hate these boys they didn't do nothing to y'all one of the members has autism and the other is diabetic
Ik u wouldn’t be saying this if all the members were Asians/Koreans
@@ioutsoldurfavs girl you really don’t KNOW me bcs im not a koreaboo first of all !! And you just say that bcs you are upset that im right, they are not as good as they should be for an sm group that’s all ! second of all im not a kpop stan but love boy/girlband so don’t say shit about me.
I was expecting more for an SM BRITISH group and it will be the same if they were asian or NOT !! it’s not about race but talent and star quality and again THAT’S MY OPINION period
@@loriente4561"you are upset that im right"
Maybe wait for someone else to say that, instead of the inane self-glorification
this is actually their redebut! they used to exist under the name heart2heart and released facebook official!
Omg wait what!? no way 😮
You're trolling right? 😂
Don't believe this person, they are lying. I googled Heart2Heart and two completely different bands appear. There is an Icelandic band with that name and an 'American Kpop band' with that name. They are just trying to cause drama.
@superayr What makes you think they are going to flop?
For context: This user was trying to make a joke that would go over the heads of anyone who wasn't a KPOP fan during 2nd gen (2011).
Heart2heart was seen as a meme to international KPOP fans at the time, because it was seen as cringey & a parody, despite attempts to be taken seriously as an American boy group inspired by KPOP.
Specifically, their member Chad Future was an American KPOP fan & cover artist trying to break into KPOP, all on his own. But he was never taken seriously by international fans.
He made original KPOP songs but would sing/rap in English only & dress in the early 2010s KPOP aesthetic. So it was seen as a joke & cringey how he was trying so hard, but was ahead of his time tbh .
He did gain enough attention to sing at KCON (2012 & 2013) & have popular KPOP artists from that era feature in his songs (ex. VIXX Ravi & BESTIE UJI).
Ploopy678 has a video talking more about him & heart2heart.