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Andrea Son (안드레아선) is a South Korean trainee under Wild Melody Entertainment. He is a former member of the K-pop cover group k-GENERATION. Andrea participated on the survival show Find Your DREAM and is currently a member of the group AMARANTH1NE.
History[]
Early Life[]
Andrea Yeongae Son was born on April 27th, 2003, in Incheon, South Korea. Andrea spent a lot of his childhood watching K-pop idols on television shows and wanting to be like them. Although his parents were skeptical of letting Andrea pursue the music industry from a young age, they encouraged his love of karaoke.
Andrea began learning how to play the guitar when he was 8 years old. His parents were against enrolling him in professional dance or vocal lessons, but let him enroll in guitar lessons. Andrea was inspired by several musicians to start writing his own music as he developed his skills, but mainly focused on the lyric aspect rather than the instrumental.
In 2018, Andrea auditioned to join Seoul-based K-pop cover group k-GENERATION who performed both vocal and dance covers of popular songs at various events. Despite Andrea’s lack of experience in both singing and dancing in front of other people, he impressed the group’s leaders with his stage presence and facial expressions. Andrea was accepted into the group as a part-time member to let him grow his skills before performing at events. Andrea’s first public appearance as part of the group was during their first anniversary livestream event where they performed in a cover of NCT DREAM’s Chewing Gum.
Andrea at a k-GENERATION performance in 2019
Andrea was promoted to being a full member of k-GENERATION in early 2019. He had improved substantially from his audition, which they showed in a cover of BTS’s Spring Day. Andrea’s charismatic demeanour and social skills made him an asset for the group’s social media team, so he was given the role of creating SNS content.
In late 2021, k-GENERATION experienced a rapid growth in fans due to being invited to be opening performers at a K-pop festival. A fancam of Andrea and a fellow group member interacting with an audience member circulated on SNS, with netizens praising Andrea’s natural stage presence.
Andrea in a k-GENERATION cover in 2021
In 2022, Andrea was promoted to being one of the main organizers for k-GENERATION. They were in charge of deciding upcoming covers and choosing members for the teams. Andrea was given a handful of opportunities to promote the group on variety show segments. He was seen as the face of the team alongside its leader and its founding members. When k-GENERATION was invited to perform in America, Andrea was chosen to travel and perform with the group.
Andrea was scouted by Wild Melody Entertainment in 2023 after a large k-GENERATION performance.
Pre-debut[]
Andrea joined Wild Melody Entertainment in 2023. They left k-GENERATION to focus on being a trainee.
Find Your DREAM[]
On July 7th, 2024, Andrea was teased to be a contestant on the survival show Find Your DREAM as one of the "DREAMERS". The DREAMERS were trainees voted for by other contestants on the show. On August 9th, the show's teams were revealed. Andrea was announced to be a member of the team Nu Jem along with Bae Junyoung, Kiet Khemkhaeng, Jung Hoyoung, Ethan Jeon, Vyvyan Favre, Kaneda Masahiro, Rylan Panganiban, Katagiri Haruki, and Han Haneul. Nu Jem placed first in the finale of the show, becoming the show's debut group AMARANTH1NE.
Performance Recap[]
For the assignment of the Talent Ranks, Andrea performed "Knock" by Lee Chaeyeon. Andrea underperformed with unstable vocals and uncharacteristically off-beat choreography. They were given the Nightmare rank. In his letter to fans following the show's finale, Andrea attributed this to feeling a sudden wave of nervousness once he was surrounded by the cameras and lights, which was an experience he was not prepared for and had never faced to that extent while performing covers. Along with Han Haneul, Andrea was chosen as a Nightmare rank trainee for team Nu Jem.
Nu Jem was given the song "Side Effects" by Stray Kids for the Dream Clash round. Andrea was noted for his on-stage charisma and energy, despite having initial worries about performing the song. Nu Jem won the round, giving the entire team immunity from the first eliminations. For the Dream World of Concepts round, Nu Jem competed against Heart Chaser for the cute concept. They performed "plot twist" by TWS, and the performance was well-received. Despite this, Heart Chaser won the battle.
During the second eliminations, Nu Jem no longer held immunity. Nu Jem placed 2nd, saving them from being eliminated. In the Dream Songs round, Nu Jem selected "Turn On My Switch". The song was produced by Strawberry of After School Club. They lost the round to Revolutionize. In the third eliminations, Nu Jem survived again by placing 2nd.
Nu Jem were given the song "CSC", produced by Takamura Sukima of BEAUDENT, for their semifinal song. They lost the round to Soulful 1. In the fourth eliminations, Nu Jem placed 2nd, meaning they could perform in the finale. In the finale, Nu Jem was announced as the 1st place group.
Career[]
AMARANTH1NE[]
Personality[]
Andrea in a k-GENERATION cover in 2022
Andrea is the type of person who thrives off of making other people smile with his infectiously energetic attitude. Their favourite way of making people happy is through performing. Andrea constantly jokes about how they “were literally born ready to be on stage”. He has a natural entertainer personality and his charisma is overflowing even off the stage. Andrea has been considered “magnetic”, “a ball of sunshine”, and “always in a mood to have a conversation” by other trainees.
Andrea's priority during practices is encouraging everyone and keeping the mood happy. Among the Wild Melody Entertainment trainees, according to what has been said in trainee livestreams, many people expected Andrea to be very serious during practice. Andrea doesn’t want to be super serious or super strict in the practice room unless he has to be, as he wants to keep the vibes fun.
Andrea has admitted that occasionally his sunshine personality can get the best of him. According to other trainees, Andrea is blindly optimistic and always acts like things will work out if he works hard enough. They are also exceptionally nosy because they are curious about everyone.
Personal Life[]
Andrea in a k-GENERATION cover in 2023
In 2019, Andrea came out as non-binary on social media. They said that a few of the k-GENERATION members who were openly non-binary helped them realize that they were as well. Andrea goes by he/they pronouns with no preference. He is fine with masculine and gender neutral terms.
In early 2024, Andrea came out as bisexual. He dated a fellow member of k-GENERATION in 2022, which both of them joked about after Andrea came out.
Andrea is very good friends with several Wild Melody Entertainment trainees, as well as some trainees and idols from other companies. They have noted Jeon Bora as being one of the first trainees they befriended after joining the company, and Perceval Hwang as being the trainee he is the closest with. Andrea is also friends with Bee Entertainment trainee Kang Yeoyoung, RUBY member Minsun, and SOMANY member Meiling.
Performances with k-GENERATION[]
TBA
Skills[]
| Vocals: | ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ |
|---|---|
| Due to Andrea’s experience with k-GENERATION and their love of karaoke, they are a decently strong singer. He can’t hit all of the high, belted notes, but he can hold his own. They were trained to sing live, so they are fairly stable. | |
| Rap: | ☆ |
| Andrea has no interest in rapping. They would like to leave it to people who actually know how. | |
| Dance: | ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ |
| Andrea’s focus in regards to becoming an idol as a child was never dance. He learned to dance properly from k-GENERATION and became a decent dancer. Although he’s not outstanding, Andrea has a lot of energy. | |
| Charisma: | ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ |
| Andrea has a lot of charisma both while performing and off stage, which can be contributing to their love of performing. He is very magnetic. | |
| Stage Presence: | ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ |
| Andrea shines through his facial expressions. Even if he feels unconfident in a choreography, Andrea’s face does most of the work and makes him look like a better performer. | |
| Producing: | ☆☆☆ |
| Andrea can play the guitar, but has little interest in producing. He isn’t the best at music theory. | |
| Songwriting: | ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ |
| Andrea really enjoys writing lyrics for songs. They want to improve their skill. | |
Trivia[]
- Andrea's MBTI type is ENFP.
- They identify as non-binary and came out in 2019.
- Andrea is fluent in English and knows basic Italian.
- He is half Italian.
- Andrea enjoys writing lyrics.