New Morning | A Kpop Idol Life Story

7. Popping Weekly (1)

~ February 25th, Friday ~

Your P.O.V.

Still recovering from last night's U Live I lazily gazed out of the company car window. I wanted to sleep since it was just 6 AM but we would be arriving at the broadcast station in ten minutes so I didn't have time for it. We would have our first live performance in Popping Weekly, the music show that got second most views out of all similar shows on Fridays. The final performance required a lot of work so we were told to get there as soon as possible.

When we arrived at the station I got to see what it was like to be famous. Despite the early morning there were so many fans waiting for their idols with cameras, signs and gifts. If I weren't with my group mates I would have be frozen right there because of the slightly shocking scene. We posed and waved for the screaming fans and accepted a few gifts on our way inside.

Mr. Park met us in our dressing room, ready to go through today's schedule with us music show virgins. In half an hour we would rehearse on stage with the cameramen to fine tune all the angles. After that we had to practice on our own in until lunch. After lunch would be the time for wardrobe and makeup before vocal warm-up. We should be ready by 4 PM.

Getting on a real stage was an experience I could have never imagined. We had had small concerts in New morning so I wasn't completely unprepared for all the hassle with the light and effects and even some of the props falling apart. We had sent a video of our choreography earlier to make sure the cameramen would know who had a line and where but we tried to test shoot the performance just in case before the real deal. Some members (Songmin and Jiwoo, especially) had to be more careful with their steps as we now had to adjust the formation to fit a bigger space. The director yelled us a few times to keep track which of the cameras was actually shooting us so that we would know where to look. After practicing it went a little better every time.

We had a one hour long break before lunch and it was used to practice the song for almost literally the millionth time. Luckily everyone had been working hard to remember all the hand movements without Yeongja needing to scream angrily. But the timing was still a problem.

"I think Songmin unnie is the black hole," Yeongja stated the thing everyone had been silently thinking.

"You can rap and sing but when it comes to dancing your timing is always a little off. We need to be in sync!"

Even an outsider would feel the tense air. Yeongja had criticized her senior and leader but no one could not agree with her. Songmin looked confused, not sure if she should get angry or apologize. She did her best but how could she still make such a simple mistake?

"You did well on U Live but now it's like you don't know the song at all!"

Jiwoo raised her hand to silence Yeongja.

"I think there's a technique for that," she said.

"Let's play the song a few times on loop and maybe she will catch on at some point."

And that's what we did. Don't Mind played eight times without pause or rest. After the fourth time I was getting sore all over and it felt more and more difficult to move my arms around. The seventh round was the toughest and I seriously thought about giving up. I knew the choreo well enough so why bother doing this? I was supposed to be a vocalist, not a dancer after all! I must had been too deep in thought because I suddenly heard someone shout my name louder than our dance instructor. Yeongja had spotted my error during my solo and she didn't look pleased. I winced an apology and quickly moved to my correct place.

I somehow managed to last till the end. After the half an hour it took everyone fell on the floor gasping for air and searching for water. Even our main dancer looked exhausted.

"Let's take a two-minute break and go through once more."

My legs were aching and I felt a little faint. Idol breakfasts weren't made to keep you full when exercising. I gulped down half of my water in one go and swiped the sweat off my forehead.

"Will I be okay?" Songmin asked Yeongja with a deep frown. She was getting scared of her junior but she also wanted to do her best in order to have a successful performance. Yeongja thought for a while, as if she was trying to find the one last trick to make this work. She then nodded approvingly.

"I think so. We can't expect you to be perfect. But I'm sure you can make it."

The face Songmin made me smile a little. She sighed heavily and patted her damp eyes with the sleeve of her shirt.

"I'll do my best."

~

The lunch break was in the greenroom where the artists would relax before their performance. This was a great experience for rookies to catch a glance of their favorite idols. I tried to keep my cool but a few fan girl squeals left my mouth when I found my absolute biases.

My group suddenly grew silent as the food was carried in front of us. Today's menu consisted of kimchi fried rice, chicken and fruit salad. Even those who hated kimchi ate without any complaints, they were too hungry to think.

As we were enjoying the fruits as a dessert and taking photos a small group of people came to us. I didn't recognize them at first so I looked at my members in confusion.

"Hello! Are you Lucky Number? I really love your debut song!" a young woman happily said. I had no idea who she was but her words really warmed my heart.

We made our official greeting first because, as Hyejin later explained, we were a younger group. The other group was Paradise5, a co-ed group of five who made their second comeback around our debut. They told us how great our debut song was and how talented we are. I received compliments about my vocals, too.

"Is it okay if I take a photo of us all for Instantgram?" the leader asked to our surprise. We were really lucky to have such nice seniors.

After lunch we went back to our dressing room to change clothes and get our makeup done. The room was quite small so we had to be careful when moving around to not disturb the woman using the straightening iron. The temperature in the room was getting hot not only because of the amount of people in it but also because we were getting excited. Our first appearance in TV as a group would be a live show. I also heard there would be a lot of fans in the audience.

"I'm so nervous I will mess up my makeup!" Haneul had hard time staying put. Jiwoo couldn't stand her complaining for long and told her to play games on her phone. Yeongja was busy taking selfies and Songmin had fallen asleep on the sofa next to Hyejin.

I stared at my reflection the mirror as the makeup artist applied my lipstick. Who knew I would actually become an idol? It had been just a dream for so long before I could even come to Korea. Passing the auditions felt like heaven but debuting felt like heaven times ten.

Haneul passed my chair and stopped next to me.

"Hey (First Name). Who gave you the permission to be so pretty?"