K-pop idol and Pambansang Krung Krung Sandara Park, also known as Dara, revealed there was a time when her former agency, YG Entertainment, scolded their group 2NE1 after winning a major award.

In her guest appearance on JaeFriends, a talk show hosted by K-pop idol and former TVXQ member KimJaeJoong, Dara recalled how her former agency scolded her then-rookie group for “not crying like groups from SM” on stage after winning the Daesang award for their track “I Don’t Care” at the 2009 MAMA Awards (formerly known as the Mnet Asian Music Awards).

The 38-year-old idol revealed that she and her fellow 2NE1 members—CL, Bom, and Minzy—didn’t realize the scale of their accomplishments at the time due to the fact that they had just debuted in the industry.

She clarified that “everything was too new” for them and that they cried once they were backstage.

JaeJoong said that he understood why the group didn’t cry on stage as it’s easy for rookie artists like them to “go blank” when receiving their first awards.

The male idol also noted that winning a Song Of The Year Daesang award as a rookie group was impressive, even for current-day artists.

Dara also poked fun as she believes that she would have been “better off” at SM Entertainment, which surprised her friend.

She stated that many people think that YG “wasted her looks and time” referencing the many strange hairstyles she wore during her career.

She also shared details about her iconic looks which took four hours to do and hurt her neck trying to fit inside cars.

The two friends also discussed their days promoting as part K-pop’s second-generation groups and as well as the hardships and difficulties in acknowledging their friendship due to the “rivalry” of their former Korean agencies.

Jaejoong debuted with SM Entertainment’s legendary K-Pop group TVXQ in 2003, while Sandara debuted with 2NE1 under YG Entertainment in 2009.

The two famous idols had met each other before Dara’s debut when they both auditioned for the same movie.

Aside from Dara, Jaejoong also met and reunited with other second-generation artists such as INFINITE‘s Sungjong, TEEN TOP‘s Niel, and Girls’ Generation and former labelmate Sooyoung in the previous episodes of the show.

—By Nikka Sabio