Kpop Club (9 page)

“Yes!” chimed
the girls.

“Great stuff!
Sorry girls, I didn’t say anything, help yourselves to breakfast,
have a croissant or whatever you want.”

“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.

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.