by YR Choi
“Thank you,” said the girls.
“I’ll let you get some food and then in a couple of minutes I’ll take some questions.”
The girls went and filled their plates and started munching away. Krystal was particularly happy to have such a hearty breakfast.
“Right girls, any questions?” asked KYM.
April piped up. “Some of us can rap and sing, like me. Given that there are a lot of singers, does that mean that I’ll be doing more rapping?”
“Good question, April. Not necessarily at all. We’re aiming to give our fans albums with lots of tracks – a minimum of 15, so everyone will have the chance to sing, don’t worry.”
Rosa put up her hand. “I was just wondering when and where our first single is going to be released and in what language?”
“The first single will be released in Korea and Japan and will be sung in English. Later songs will be in Korean and other languages after we receive feedback on your progress. But as I said before, we want to promote you as an international kpop band all across the world.”
Priya raised her hand. “Will we be working with any of the other KYM artists?”
“Great question, Priya. We are currently planning some collaborations but at first, you will be releasing singles on your own.”
Krystal chipped in. “What genres will we be covering?”
“The initial singles will be pop songs but your albums will include a mix of genres; hip hop, R&B, rock and dance tracks – you’re going to be real multi-players! Any more questions?”
The girls kept their hands down, seemingly content to munch away on their breakfasts.
“Great, well hopefully that gives you a general idea of the group’s direction. What I want to do now is talk a little bit about your launch. Obviously as a band, it’s very important that you maintain a distinct image. So the first thing we’re going to do, after you finish eating, is meet our styling team.”
The girls squeaked with excitement.
“Tomorrow we’ll focus on fitness, dancing and diet. We’ll give you some tips on staying healthy and different exercises you can do to make sure you look good on camera. Having done that, we’ll go to the studio on Wednesday and start to record your first single.”
Krystal went giddy with excitement; her life as an artist would begin on Wednesday!
KYM continued. “You’ll have a couple of days to rehearse then on the Friday I have arranged a press conference to announce your launch. This is a very important day for Kpop Club but don’t worry, I’ll do most of the talking. However, you should be prepared to answer basic questions from reporters.”
The girls nodded in unison.
“We’ll be announcing that your first performance will be on SKS’s Music Platform show in just over 3 months from now on the fifth of December. I know this is all very new, but once you’ve done it a couple of times it’s like riding a bike.”
Sensing that the girls were a little overwhelmed, KYM backtracked.
“Honestly girls, don’t worry. Before you know it, you’ll make good friends with our styling team, you’ll get into good eating and exercising habits and you’ll learn how to own a stage and make the camera work for you. Okay?”
“Yes!” chimed the girls.
“Good. As time goes on you’ll also get a better understanding of how this industry works. As you may know, especially in Korea, we don’t make very much money from selling physical CDs - we make money in different ways. Firstly, digital downloads - which are tough as almost every song that’s released is pirated. Secondly, concerts. Thirdly, appearances on variety shows. Lastly, we make money through promotion – whether it’s cosmetics advertisements on billboards or a company sponsored music video. I’ll eventually turn you all into savvy business women – how’s that sound?!”
The girls chuckled.
“Whilst I’m on the topic,” continued KYM, “at some point, you’ll all probably be approached by companies asking you to advertise their products. As you’ll see in your contracts, it’s fine for you to do work like this as long as it doesn’t conflict with your KYM duties. We can of course, discuss these things as and when they crop up. Any other questions girls?”
The girls remained silent.
“Great, it looks like you’re all done eating so let’s go over and meet our stylist. She’s not actually a KYM employee but she does a lot of our styling, you may have heard of her? She’s called Rendezvous?”
Maya and Priya started whispering to each other. Krystal had no idea who she was but guessed she must be relatively famous.
KYM led the girls up to the second floor into the hair salon. Inside, sat at a foldable table was an outlandishly dressed lady, with short black hair, big looped earrings and spikey wristbands. She was reading a fashion magazine and only realised that they were there when KYM cleared his throat.
“Hello Rendezvous - this is Hannah, Nadia, Celine, April, Priya, Maya, Pooky, Jennifer, Rosa and Krystal,” said KYM.
Rendezvous shot up out of her chair.
“Ah! Hello there girls, you must be Kpop Club?” said Rendezvous.
“Hello,” chimed the girls, bowing to Rendezvous.
“Please have a seat in one of the chairs,” said Rendezvous, pointing to the barber’s chairs that lined the room.
Just as all the girls had sat down, two ladies walked in.
“Perfect timing,” said KYM, “girls this is Soorim our make-up artist and Julie our hair stylist.”
“Hello,” said the girls in chorus.
Soorim and Julie smiled, said hello and went to sit down at the table with KYM and Rendezvous.
“Right girls,” said Rendezvous, “As you may already know, aside from being a stylist, I’m also a fashion designer with my own brand, CU Agen.”
Jennifer and Pooky squeaked with excitement. Rendezvous saw them and cracked a smile.
“By the sounds of it at least some of you know who I am.”
“She’s the best in the industry,” said KYM.
“Thank you, KYM,” said Rendezvous, winking at KYM, “I’ll pay you later. Now, I’m here to help you guys look great on stage, in photos and on film. I’m responsible mainly for your wardrobe but I also work with Soorim and Julie to make sure that your make-up and hair complement your outfits. I need to make sure you look like a girl group and not just a group of girls standing on stage.”
The girls giggled.
“Over the coming weeks, months and years we’ll be honing your group look. For now, we’ll be focusing on your look for your upcoming press conference and your first performance on SKS Music Platform. One of the great things about Kpop Club is that you’re all from different parts of the world, and we’ll be playing on this theme a lot. I’m going to give you a fresh and funky image with lots of animal print and keeping with current trends, lots of spikes.”
The girls could hardly contain their excitement.
“Now girls, as you know, we took measurements of you when you signed your contacts and I’ve prepared a number of outfits for you based on those measurements,” said Rendezvous, as she made her way to a backroom and rolled out a trolley full of clothes. “Here’s one example,” she said, pointing to a short leopard skin cocktail dress.
“This is too short really to be worn on its own and is meant to be worn over black leggings. I like these with some big bold jewellery, like these brass bangles. I think it’s important to have some plain clothing as well in juxtaposition to all the busy patterns. Here, we have some white jeans that can be mixed and matched as needed.”
The girls oohed and aahed.
“We also have different kinds of tights here and a lot of your outfits will be worn with heels or wedges. As you’ll see, the shoes I’ll be giving you are quite funky with studs and different materials. We have different belts; skinny belts, betty bow belts and double belts. You name it!”
Rendezvous paused to catch her breath before carrying on. “This is one of my favourite pieces - a snake print,
fitted blazer with large shoulder pads. And this is something which is quite en vogue at the moment, a variation on a Chinese cheongsam dress, sleeveless with a high neck. We have a host of different accessories here - jewellery, wristbands, scarfs, pashminas. Basically you all have sets of the same items so we can mix and match as we see fit. Right, well that’s a sneak peek at your wardrobe. I’ll hand you over to Soorim now.”
The girls clapped so emphatically that Soorim had to wait a minute before she could begin talking.
“Hi girls,” said Soorim, “Wow – what a tough act to follow! I’ll keep this short and sweet; we’ll be going through make-up 101 together. In terms of style, we’ll be going for big eyelashes and bold eye shadow. I like using softer lipstick colours but on occasion we’ll switch things up depending on your outfit. It’s not rocket science, but the make-up you wear on a night out is different to what you wear when you’re on camera, especially if you’re being a sweaty Betty on stage. That’s me, I’ll pass you on to Julie.”
The girls performed a few modest claps for Soorim.
“Hi girls,” said Julie. “We’re going to have a lot of fun with your hair. In a cosmopolitan group like this, I have all different kinds of hair to play with. This does mean that certain styles will suit some of you more than others so you’ll see an array of different looks. I want to reassure you that the treatments I use will never damage your hair. Keeping in line with Rendezvous’s funky theme, we’ll be going for funky looks - sometimes dying your hair and other times using extensions. So yeah, we’ll be having fun and I can’t wait to start working with you all!”
The girls clapped again and KYM stood up.
“There you have it girls, that’s our superstar styling team. Thank you, Rendezvous, Soorim and Julie. I don’t want to get in the way so I’ll come back and check on you later.”
KYM left the salon and Rendezvous shut and locked the door.
“Let me start off by giving you all something to wear and then we’ll do a trial photo shoot.”
Rendezvous went around the room handing the girls their new outfits. Krystal was given shiny black heels, black tights, gold bangles and the leopard skin cocktail dress. Once they were changed, Soorim and Julie began to work on their hair and make-up.
Soorim complimented Krystal on her natural good looks and told her that the make-up she used would really help to bring out her exotic eyes. Julie frizzed up Krystal’s hair and explained that her strong jawline meant that her hair would look good if it was hanging in a lower graduated bob. Krystal adored her new look; she would never have thought to put the different combinations together, but somehow it just worked.
Once the mini makeovers were done, Rendezvous called KYM and took the girls to another room in the building where a photographer was waiting. KYM was absolutely gobsmacked when he saw them.
“Oh my gosh! You girls look amazing – even better than I could’ve hoped for. You really look like a kpop group now!”
The girls were ecstatic and couldn’t quite believe themselves how good they looked.
“The girls do look great but let’s get some photos of them!” said Rendezvous, ushering the girls over to the photographer.
The photo shoot lasted a couple of hours and involved a number of props and wardrobe changes. When they were done KYM was so happy with the photos that he said they’d use them for the press releases.
Once everything was wrapped up, the girls changed back into their tracksuits and made their way home in the Starship, bouncing about inside with excitement after their first day together as Kpop Club.
12
Fitness & diet
KYM asked the girls to come back the next day at 10am and told them to wear sportswear as they’d be spending the day in the gym and dance studio. As usual, the Starship picked them up and took them to the offices. When they arrived, Jihae directed the girls to a meeting room where KYM was waiting with another man. The man was in his 40s, in very good shape and had a buzz cut with piercing eyes. He seemed wired.
KYM gestured for them to sit down.
“Great work again yesterday girls,” said KYM. “You all looked stunning and I’ve got some photos for you to look at later.”
The girls smiled.
“Now, I want to introduce you to our resident fitness coach and general health guru, Sebastien Kang,” said KYM, turning to the man sat next to him. “Sebastien used to be in the navy and has a master’s degree in health. He’s now a personal trainer and will be in charge of keeping you guys fit and healthy.”
Sebastien turned to look at the girls. “Nicuh to meetuh you, girlsu.”
“Hello!” said the girls in unison.
A somewhat strange smile came across his face.
“I talk to you today - two things; eating healthies and making physicals.”
A couple of the girls sniggered.
“Oh, my nameuh iju Sebachan, but you can call me oppas.”
Krystal went bright red and had to bite her lip to stop herself laughing. She often suffered from the giggles and was afraid that Sebastien’s English might be the catalyst for a laughing fit. For some reason, she found it particularly funny that he said oppas instead of just oppa. Truth be told, Krystal loved listening to broken English as it made her feel better about her sketchy Korean.
“I know girlsu these days wanna look like gangnam styles, make the s-lines. These days, many many diet, do you know the diet ways?” said Sebastien, opening the question up to the audience.
Some of the girls clearly hadn’t understood the question. As an expert in deciphering broken English and Konglish, Krystal decided to answer.
“I’ve heard of quite a few diets,” she said, doing her best to keep a straight face.
“Ok, you tell me,” said Sebastien.
“Well, the other day I was reading about this enzyme diet. Basically following the wellbeing craze in Korea, people are eating enzyme rich foods and bathing in fermenting rice bran for 15 minutes. This is supposed to help burn calories,” said Krystal.
“Okay, that’s a little bit strangey ones. I don’t know that’s correct ways. Other peoples?” said Sebastien.
Krystal hadn’t expected Sebastien to be able to understand everything she said. Funny that a person’s understanding could be so much better than their speaking, she thought.
“I heard about this diet that some groups do called the paper cup diet,” said Celine.
“Yes, this one is berry paymous ones in Korea. Do you know the ways?” said Sebastien.
“Well,” said Celine. “Basically each girl gets 3 paper cups, like the ones you get in coffee vending machines. In one cup you put rice, in another your put fruit and then in the last one you put side dishes. You have to be careful not to fill the cup past the top and I guess the idea is that this helps with portion control.”
Some of the girls nodded to show that they understood the concept.
“Yes, your talkings is correct,” said Sebastien.
Before he could say anymore Nadia spoke up. “I heard that the girl group, Heart Flower, only eat egg whites on the days they perform.”
“Yes, those girls are the leally crajee girls,” said Sebastien.
Pooky joined the conversation. “I’ve heard that a lot of kpop stars do what’s called the Denmark Diet. Basically you eat a lot of protein like boiled eggs but you also have some carbs like toast. You also drink a lot of black coffee to speed up your metabolism.”
Sebastien nodded.
“You seem to know lots but these ways are not the healthy ways. You need to make condition up. Make body healthies – bad things out, good things in,” said Sebastien.
Krystal let out a squeak of laughter, which she unsuccessfully tried to mask with a cough.
Sebastien continued, seemingly oblivious to Krystal’s outburst. “In our companies we make philosophies: eat healthy ones: fruits, cereals, chickens breastesis, feesh, exercise manies and most important one is make the balance. Sometimes you only eat 80%, someti
mes you eat 180%. You need to make find the good relationships with your bodies.”
Everyone looked perplexed. KYM couldn’t take it anymore and burst out laughing. In an attempt to disguise his sniggering, he then shot up out of his chair and started clapping furiously. The girls followed suit and the room momentarily resembled an insane asylum with everyone clapping and laughing hysterically. Sebastien didn’t understand what was going on but smiled and joined in with the clapping anyway.
“Thank you, Sebastien,” said KYM, a tear in his eye. “Just to summarise then girls, what Sebastien said was: eat a balanced diet, exercise frequently and every now and then treat yourself to whatever you want: ice cream, burgers pizza etc. Remember that you’ll be doing a lot of exercise when you’re rehearsing and performing so you’ll need to eat a fair bit to keep your energy levels up. I don’t want or expect any of you to end up looking like matchsticks. We all come in different shapes and sizes and all I ask is that you stay fit and healthy. If you do this, you’ll be looking after yourselves and setting a good example for your fans.”
The girls smiled and nodded to show they understood.
“Moving on now, let’s make our way to the gym,” said KYM, leading them out of the meeting room.
They arrived at the gym to find the Andre Project boys in the middle of a weights session. Andrew saw them come in and waved to Krystal. He was wearing a sleeveless top and she hadn’t realised he was so cut; she blushed as butterflies fluttered about in her stomach.
Sebastien gathered them in.
“Do you know the ways to use the gyms?” he said.
The girls all nodded.
“Well, I show you anyways the bajic ones,” said Sebastien, before taking them on a whistle-stop tour of the machines in the gym.
Once the tour finished, KYM shepherded the girls and the Andre Project into one of the dance studios.
“Right girls, what I’ve decided to do today is ask the guys from the Andre Project to join us for the dance session.”
The Andre Project waved and smiled at the girls and they smiled and waved back.
“We’re going to start off with the basics,” continued KYM. “We’ve got an excellent dance instructor called Yeung-1. Yeung-1 was part of the legendary bboy crew, the Followers. He has choreographed performances and music videos for almost all of the top kpop groups to date.”