February 25th, 2022
KZone

At 20 years old, the youngest member of HYBE's new girl group Z10N is a force to be reckoned with. She is a professionally trained ballerina and a trained contemporary and traditional Chinese dancer from the city of Beijing. She's been dancing all of her life. Recently, her dance skills were showcased in Seventeen member Jun's solo music video in 2021, but her face was covered by a mask so fans didn't know her identity at the time. KZone's lead editor sat down with Yin to learn more about her upbringing and passion for performance.

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Q: Welcome, Yin! Thank you for talking with us today. We can't wait to learn more about you and your journey to this point.

YIN: Yes. Thank you for having me. [smiles]

Q: Yin, you are a graduate of the Performing Arts Academy in Beijing. You graduated in 2019, you were top of your class, and have won numerous awards and competitions for your dancing. You are like a prodigy in your hometown. At what age did you start dancing?

YIN: Yes, thank you. Um, I started dancing when I learned how to walk... so age 3? [giggles].

Q: And what kind of dancing did you do at that age?

YIN: I mostly did ballet, tap, and jazz - like, the basics. And then I slowly got into traditional Chinese dance as I got older, and then contemporary style at the academy.

Q: That's so impressive. So after graduation, you were a contestant on the competition series Youth With You Season 2 in China and you placed number 17, correct?

YIN: Yes. That's correct.

Q: You didn't go on to debut in The9, but you were a crowd favorite regardless. Can you briefly talk about that experience? What was your favorite part of the show and what was the hardest part?

YIN: Yeah! I think... my favorite part of the show-- I have two things. [giggles] My favorite part of the show were the performances. Those were really fun and I really enjoyed doing different concepts, and the outfits, and being in different groups. And then my other favorite part of the show was obviously meeting the other girls. Everyone was super encouraging and the dorms were super fun! Um, and then the hardest part? Probably the long schedules.

Q: Okay. And then fast forward. Two years after the show, you're going to be in a KPOP group! Let's start off by talking about how you were selected as one of Z10N's members. How was the audition process and when did you become a trainee?

YIN: So after Youth With You 2, I got several offers from music companies wanting to sign me, and HYBE was one of those offers. So I ended up choosing them honestly since BTS are huge... [giggles] everyone even in China loves them, so I thought it would be cool to be associated with their company. So I auditioned for HYBE in 2020 and trained for a few months, and at first, the plan was to debut in a special or temporary kind of group along with some other girls from China and Korea. But that didn't really work out, so they were trying to kind of find the right fit of girls for a new girl group. So 2021 came and that's when HYBE and Pledis merged together, and they were still trying to put together a new girl group so they had global auditions, and that's when Cheng and Kimi joined the company. And then the unnies from ROXI were announced as the new group members before the company chose me as one of the members, alongside Cheng and Kimi.

Q: So you were already in the company before the other girls joined to form the group?

YIN: Yes. I was a trainee for about a year before the unnies came.

Q: Interesting. So how long did you train together as Z10N?

YIN: As a group, we maybe trained for six months or so? [thinking while looking toward the ceiling]

Q: Do you remember your audition, what song or dance you did?

YIN: Yes! [smiles] I did a contemporary dance number with some traditional Chinese influence mixed in, and it was an original piece--

Q: You choreographed it yourself?

YIN: Yes. And then I didn't know any Korean at the time, but I knew BTS songs, so I sang BTS' "Spring Day".

Q: Oh really? So wait, you didn't speak Korean at the time, but you learned the language through Bangtan Sonyeondan's songs?

YIN: Pretty much. [laughs] I'm a huge fan, so I know all of their songs and the words to their songs... but I didn't know Korean, like, fluently.

Q: But you must've been talented enough that HYBE still chose you even though there was a language barrier. That's impressive. How was that experience for you, going to South Korea to audition for a huge company - one of the Big Four's? Was it scary or exciting?

YIN: Honestly, I was super excited! I had never gone to any countries outside of China, so it was like a vacation for me. [laughs] And my parents and sisters went along with me too, so it was really fun. I wasn't nervous at all.

Q: Speaking of your family, were they supportive of you becoming a KPOP idol? What did they think?

YIN: I think they knew from a young age that I was meant to be a star, so they kind of encouraged me to try it out.

Q: Because you were a dancer, right? That was your main path since you were little.

YIN: Yeah. I was a dancer since I could walk and that's always been my dream. To be a dancer and possibly own my own studio one day. I was in a dance troupe at my performing arts academy, and we attended several competitions across many provinces. Dancing was-- is like breathing to me. I can't live without it.

Q: Did you have plans to go to college or do something else before the opportunity of Youth With You and HYBE auditions came up?

YIN: I was planning to do more competitions with my dance troupe after high school and I was going to go to college, but one of my classmates told me that I should audition for Youth With You. It was super unconventional because all of my family went to college and have degrees. My older sisters are nurses and teachers, and so I was the wild child [giggles]. It seemed crazy, but I told my parents about it and they were supportive, and I ended up passing! So at the end of 2019, I was supposed to go to college, but I didn't because I had to do some pre-production things before the reality competition - which I didn't even know they did. All of the girls who passed the audition had to travel to Guangdong to film some additional content before the show premiered in early 2020, so there was no time to do anything else. [small chuckle] I was teaching some dance classes to make a little money before leaving for Guangdong, but that's it.

Q: Wow. So it seems like you were kind of winging it and betting your odds on this show. It sounds like you were a fearless risk-taker. Have you always been that way?

YIN: Totally. If I see something I want, I go for it.

Q: How about that? I need some of your confidence [laughs]. Let's pivot to one of your most recent collaborations with one of the main dancers in Seventeen. Jun. How was it being able to feature in his dance video last year? How did that come about?

YIN: [squeals] First of all, it is such an honor for my name to be in the same sentence as his! I am such a huge fan of Jun since he was a child actor. I loved every show and commercial he was in. Ugh! I just had to say that [giggles]. But dancing as the masked girl in his video was the best experience - even though we filmed our parts separately in different studios.

Q: Oh, you filmed the duet separately?

YIN: Yes. As you can see in the video if you watch it, the space I was in had a white background and the space he was in had a black background, right, we were in separate spaces. I filmed my part on a different day than he did, so I didn't actually get to meet him... [pouts] but that's okay.

Q: Aw... well that's A-okay because now you two are in the same group with many more opportunities to meet.

YIN: Yes!

Q: Now, before we let you go, our writing team has a rapid-fire game they want you to play. It's called this or that. You have five seconds, I'll give you two choices, and you have to pick only one of them. Does that sound good?

YIN: Sounds fun!

Q: Alright. Let's go. Question 1. This or That? Cats or Dogs?

YIN: [gasps] Cats, because I have two cats! But I love all animals.

Q: Summer or Winter?

YIN: Summer.

Q: Fruits or Vegetables?

YIN: Fruits.

Q: Movies or books?

YIN: Oh... mmm, this is hard. I guess... books.

Q: Early riser or night owl?

YIN: Night owl.

Q: And that's all we have. Thank you so much for speaking with us, Yin. It was so nice to meet you! We wish you well in your new endeavors and look forward to Z10N's debut!

YIN: Oh... that was so quick [laughs]. Thank you!