Free Kpop Club by YR Choi Page A

were instructed to
dress in comfortable clothes and to not wear any make-up. A group
decision to wear tracksuits meant that they looked more like a
sports team than a pop group as they left the house on Monday
morning. Still, they didn’t care; they were just excited to start
their journey together as Kpop Club.
    When they
arrived at the offices, Jihae took them straight to a meeting room
where KYM was waiting. He had laid out a full continental breakfast
buffet with tea, coffee, cereal, fruits, yogurts and a variety of
pastries.
    “Welcome
girls, I hope you’ve all had a good chance to get to know each
other better? Krystal how was your week?” said KYM.
    “Great, thank
you,” said Krystal, “the girls have been so nice and very
helpful.”
    “Excellent. I
knew you girls would get along. So, this is where your journey as a
band begins,” said KYM, with a big smile.
    “There are so
many things to teach you about this industry that in many ways,
it’s hard to know where to start. However, I have devised what I
hope is a logical approach. I’ll explain more later but first I
want to talk to you about your future as a group.”
    The girls were
hanging on his every word.
    “As you know,
there are a lot of you – 10 girls! One of the difficulties with
being such a big group is that it can be difficult for everyone to
be singing all the time. Whilst many of our songs will allow you to
all sing together, this won’t always be possible. There will be
times when it’ll make more sense for only a few of you to sing. One
thing I wanted to make clear now is that you’ve all been signed for
a reason; you all have a part to play, please don’t ever forget
that.”
    The girls
smiled.
    “Another thing
I wanted to mention - in the videos we bring out, you’ll all
feature but naturally depending on the song, two or three of you
may feature more than the others. We need to be united here. So
even if a few of you seem to have more of the spotlight at the
start, it’s not a sign of things to come – everyone will get their
chance to shine – got that?”
    “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