Group positions: Role vs Capability

Quote from Isastar

We won't know for sure, but I think it's everyone's predispositions before the debut. I vaguely remember some gg members saying that some of them had more dance lessons because they were better at it, and some had more vocal lessons, apart from the general training. (I can't remember who said that though)

The interesting thing is that sometimes idols improve with time or develop the skills they haven't had before years after debut, and in this situations the original positions are no longer valid. I don't think any company has ever changed the positions, but I may be wrong. A good example is Jihyo, who was already mentioned. Her dancing improved so much over the years, that some people think that now she's also one of the centers in a group, put more in the spotlight.

There are also cases when some members are skilled in both singing in dancing, then I would guess the company chooses one thing, maybe depending on which other positions are already given? Someone that comes to my mind here is Luna from f(x). She got into SM thnks to her dancing skills but ultimately debuted as the main vocalist. I believe her dance skills were on par with their main dancer, Victoria (although each of them shone in different dance styles), yet her vocal skills got so developed, she ended up being their best vocalist.

There have been some position changes in NCT. Taeyong and Yuta used to be 127's main dancers, it became Taeyong and Mark. Renjun was lead vocalist at the start, he became main vocalist. More people have gotten lead dancer positions I think. Obviously when Mark graduated Jeno took his place as main rapper and Jaemin to Lead Rapper when Mark rejoined Jeno got demoted to Lead Rapper but Jaemin still improved upon his debut.

Jihyo got much better and Mina's general dance skills outside of idol choreos are still of a higher level then most members of Twice but during the 170728 VLIVE Chaeyeong and Jeongyeon reveal that Tzuyu, Mina and Dahyun ended up debuting without passing JYP's initial dance test. If it was about skills at time of debut there would still be different main and lead dancers for Twice.

Quote from Epyon-556

There have been some position changes in NCT. Taeyong and Yuta used to be 127's main dancers, it became Taeyong and Mark. Renjun was lead vocalist at the start, he became main vocalist. More people have gotten lead dancer positions I think. Obviously when Mark graduated Jeno took his place as main rapper and Jaemin to Lead Rapper when Mark rejoined Jeno got demoted to Lead Rapper but Jaemin still improved upon his debut.

Jihyo got much better and Mina's general dance skills outside of idol choreos are still of a higher level then most members of Twice but during the 170728 VLIVE Chaeyeong and Jeongyeon reveal that Tzuyu, Mina and Dahyun ended up debuting without passing JYP's initial dance test. If it was about skills at time of debut there would still be different main and lead dancers for Twice.

Thank you for your reply, that's so interesting. I don't follow boy groups so I didn't know, but couldn't remember such situation in girls groups.

Oh and I had no idea about Tzuyu, Mina and Dahyun! I haven't seen a lot of their vlives, as I became a fan in 2021. That's so unusual especially about Mina, but I guess they took into consideration her dance background and trusted that she will be good. But it is still unusual that they would assign the main dancer position to someone who didn't pass this initial test. Maybe she did pass it later on? I can't explain it then, someone would need to be an insider to know why they chose the positions the way they did. Maybe sometimes the popularity plays the role too, and they could already see who was more and who less popular during Sixteen.

Quote from sonemariam

True, but, some of those positions don't make sense for example in 2ne1, Bom was the main vocalist but Minzy was a better vocalist than Bom. Same with Bigbang, Taeyang is the main vocalist but Daesung is the strongest vocalist.

At debut, clearly all members aren't that great but, the label should know who has more potential to grow. Aespa Giselle was a good vocalist at her school but SM gave the vocalist roles to NN and Winter possibly because of their potential.

well company's aren't perfect and sometimes they screw up or allocate roles incorrectly

Quote from Isastar

Thank you for your reply, that's so interesting. I don't follow boy groups so I didn't know, but couldn't remember such situation in girls groups.

There’s one I know of offhand, but only because I was watching this video yesterday:

(Skip to 4:40)

Seoyeon talks about taking on the Leader role for Are You Alive and Nakyung talks about being “vice leader”. But TripleS are completely different to how a normal group operates. Apparently the leader role is voted on for each comeback.

Nowadays most 4th gen groups dont have official postions. It is a good thing though.

Imo, sometimes putting a position title to the member does limit their chance to shine.

But in some group, the positions are too obvious and you dont need the company to designate them, fans would have known