In 2011, SM Entertainment founder Lee Soo-man revealed plans to debut a new boy band that would be divided into two sub-groups, promoting the same music simultaneously in South Korea and China by performing songs in both Korean and Mandarin. After several lineup changes in December 2011, the group finalized its name as Exo, taken from the word “exoplanet”. The news of an upcoming debut from SM Entertainment attracted substantial media attention from within South Korea and internationally, with many comparing Exo to fellow SM boy band TVXQ. It was also reported that Exo would compete with a new girl group from rival YG Entertainment.

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Exo-K’s eventual leader, Suho, was the first member to join SM Entertainment in 2006. The following year, Kai, with encouragement from his father, auditioned at the SM Youth Best Contest; he won and received a contract. In 2008, Chanyeol, who had been studying at an acting academy, and Sehun, who was first scouted by SM Entertainment at the age of thirteen and then went through four auditions in two years, were the next members to become trainees.

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In 2010, D.O. sang for his audition and was offered a contract. The last member of Exo-K to become a trainee was Baekhyun, who joined in 2011 through SM Entertainment’s casting system and trained for approximately one year before debut. Exo-M leader Kris auditioned in 2008 at a global SM Entertainment audition in Canada, later moving to South Korea for training.

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That same year, Lay was discovered through a global audition and subsequently moved to South Korea, while Xiumin attended an audition with his friend and placed second. In 2010, Luhan was scouted by an SM Entertainment representative in Seoul and passed his audition, while Tao was cast through the SM auditions in China at Qingdao. The last member to join Exo-M was Chen in 2011. The band’s first televised performance was at the annual SBS Gayo Daejeon event on December 29, 2011.

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