On October 12, something really cool happened! Dara was on Kim Jae Joong’s YouTube show ‘Jaefriends.’ They chatted about how they knew each other and the competition between YG and SM Entertainment.
Dara and Kim Jae Joong first met because of a movie, but they couldn’t call themselves friends because YG and SM artists didn’t usually hang out. Being in the spotlight was tough back then, and they might’ve felt like rivals even though they didn’t actually dislike each other.
Dara shared a memory, saying, “We didn’t hate each other, but we couldn’t be close either. Girls’ Generation was always our competition.”
They both admitted feeling jealous about their entertainment agencies. Kim Jae Joong said, “We really admired YG. We wanted to make music like them.” He remembered a time when they looked up to YG for that. Dara added, “We were also jealous of SM.” She explained, “I was friends with Donghae from Super Junior. He’d say, ‘We have so many comebacks,’ and we’d say, ‘We wish we had that many comebacks.’ Our agencies worked differently.”
Dara also talked about a time when they felt the pressure of being compared to SM. She said, “We won a lot of awards then. We couldn’t even cry, and we got scolded. ‘Why aren’t you crying like those SM artists?’ We got scolded for not crying (after getting awards).” But she shared, “We would cry after we left the stage.”
