BLACKPINK’s Rosé has opened up about how she felt during her years under YG Entertainment’s trainee program.

In a new interview with Vogue Australia, the singer spoke about the four years she spent as a trainee under YG Entertainment, prior to her debut as a member of BLACKPINK. Rosé  touched on how harsh the K-pop training program was, describing it as “fighting for her life”.

“When I got [to Korea], I was like, ‘This is quite intense,’” she said of her first few days as a trainee. “I notice[d] that there [were] 12 other girls who had been training day and night for about five years. And I had just gotten there.”

Rosé went on to explain that the background of her fellow trainees left her feeling uneasy about her plance in the program. “If I don’t catch up, I’m going to be cut and sent right back to Australia, where I’ve told all my friends that I’m dropping out of school and working on my music,” the singer explained. “I [had] left and I didn’t want to fly back without having achieved anything,”

Rosé later revealed that she felt like she was “fighting for my life” over the course of her traineeship with YG Entertainment. “I couldn’t accept the fact that I’d just be cut and sent back. So I had no time to slack off,” the singer explained. “I remember I took every minute and every second to work on my craft so that I [could] make it.”

In a previous interview, Rosé opened up about her hopes for BLACKPINK’s future. When asked about whether she had ever thought about life after BLACKPINK, Rosé revealed that while she indeed has, she “[doesn’t] think it will be over”.