[NEWS] K-Pop Uncovered: Making Bubblegum, Part 1

Ten to 12-hour work days, seven days a week – that is the life of a K-pop star-in-training. Of course, the honor of even getting to this level is afforded only to a select few. The six members of U-kiss, a boy band that debuted about a year ago, are among the lucky ones.

U-Kiss (the acronym stands for Ubiquitous Korean International Super Star) is, in many ways, the perfect embodiment of the modern K-pop group. The six members, Soo Hyun, Alexander, Ki Bum, Eli, Kevin, and Dong Ho, come from three different countries (South Korea, the United States, and China) and each can speak and understand at least two to three languages. Alexander was born in Hong Kong and grew up in Macau, is biracial (his father is from Hong Kong and his mother is Korean), and can speak an astounding seven languages: Cantonese, English, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, and Spanish. When I told him that his Wikipedia entry included French as well, he said that he only took it for a little while and didn’t want to say actually spoke it. Suddenly, I felt guilty about having put “Japanese” down on my resume after studying it for only a few weeks during grad school.

On a rainy Wednesday in July, I spoke to U-Kiss about their careers and was surprised by their frankness and honesty during the hour and a half conversation. Although a part of it was taped by their company for promotional purposes, their manager left the room for the majority of the interview and let the boys…well, be normal boys. They joked around, didn’t stick to a script, criticized their company’s more questionable fashion decisions, and were even willing to reveal one of the more memorable bits of wordplay they had seen about their name: before their debut, an anti-fan had written “You can kiss their ass goodbye before they even start.” Normally, I find this type of snarky criticism entertaining, but there was something about the group’s earnestness and sincerity that made me want to post a video on YouTube telling anti-fans to “leave U-Kiss alone.”

I asked the group to describe a typical day, and Kevin (a San Francisco native whose somewhat feminine features marked him as the band’s requisite “pretty boy”) filled me in: two hours of exercise in the morning, four hours of dance and choreography classes, two hours of vocal training, and two additional hours for review and language studies. This was their 24-7 schedule – and is in addition to busy days on the road touring, appearing on television programs, or recording music.

“For us, our company is really free,” said Alexander. “They allow us to have [girlfriends] and they told us as long as you just tell them, it will be fine. But the point is that we have no chance to meet any girls. We could have a private life but we don’t have [the time] to have a private life.”

“In other words,” I remarked, “your company is, like, do whatever you want. As long you do it in thirty seconds.”

While all the boys laughed and nodded, the band’s “tough guy” Eli added that, “[We] can’t go out whenever we want…[I]f you’re hanging out at night and you go out and someone sees you, or it could be someone from a different company, [they could ask] why’s he around playing like that and then it gets all…” Eli made a strangling sound, indicating that even innocent behavior could come back and cause a big headache for the company.

I asked them if they felt that their company controlled their private lives.

“Being an entertainer, to be honest, especially teenagers who think it’s a glamorous thing – it’s only on-stage or on television,” said Alexander. “Behind the scenes, we put in lot of effort. We are also worried and get stressed about how we can keep being popular, and how to keep our fame and be a successful star. We also have to think about what’s the next [step] in [our careers].”
“In other words,” I remarked, “your company is, like, do whatever you want. As long you do it in thirty seconds.”

And what was that next step? Dong Ho, a baby-faced 15-year old, said that while he’d like to continue in entertainment, he saw himself managing his own artists someday. Eli, who had once trained in the martial arts to be a star in China, wanted to pursue an acting career. Kevin wanted to strengthen his talents as a triple threat (actor, dancer, singer), while Soo Hyun just wanted to focus on being a good singer. Ki Bum, whose older brother’s success in the popular boy band SS501 had inspired him to enter the music field, said that he wanted to concentrate on being a composer. Alexander, on the other hand, gave a different answer:

“I’d like to continue my education. Seriously, it’s true that entertainers have to learn everything. You can’t only sing and dance, you have to act and MC [as well] because Korea’s so competitive. But I don’t think this can go long term.”

“You can be, like, the top, and all of a sudden, one little mistake, and you can be down here,” agreed Eli.

“Not even a mistake,” said Alexander softly. “As time goes by...”

Alexander’s voice trailed off, and I wondered what it must be like to know your dreams had an expiration date. I also wondered if sacrificing one’s youth – the only years of your life when being stupid and immature could create your most treasured memories – was worth a reward that may not even be attainable.

“First of all, it’s doing what we love to do,” replied Kevin. “That’s why we took this road. And about our personal [life] and those kinds of things – it’s a sacrifice we got to make for our dreams to come true. So, even though we have to make those sacrifices, we got to look at the big picture.”

I thought about the big picture: the chance to be a household name, even if only for a few years. In spite of what that vicious anti-fan had once posted, it was clear that the members of U-Kiss weren’t planning on giving up anytime soon and I had to respect them for that. But I couldn’t help but think: what happens if it doesn’t work out?


Nice Interview~ no kiseop though kekekeke Why! Old Interview? what July? what? 2009 July! weird!! Old Article but still things like this are precious!
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