LOADING INFORMATION ON DIVINITY’S LEAD VOCAL, LEAD DANCE CHA NARI…
IDOL DETAILS
STAGENAME: Lily CURRENT AGE: 23 DEBUT AGE: 22 TRAINEE SINCE AGE: 17 COMPANY: Koala.T ETC: She was given modeling opportunities prior to debut
IDOL IMAGE
With Nari, the company decided to lean into the “cute” aspect of Divinity, as opposed to the “creepy”. Even if KMT didn’t plan to promote Divinity through traditional methods, not every member needed to be mysterious and artistic at all times. That was never going to be Nari, the amount of aegyo she did made sure of that. But she could be a bright figure in the group, an adorable, if somewhat sultry magical girl. An innocent temptress, pure, pristine, but desirable; their Lily. Nari’s current image is something of the platonic ideal of a Korean idol. Outgoing, yet not pushy, always cheerful, hardworking and beautiful. Nari is the kind of member seemingly created by the idol gods to bring in devoted fanboys.
KMT’s commitment to social media engagement has only made fans feel closer to Nari, as if she were their very own personal idol. Her active (and popular) instagram and beauty youtube channel make Nari seem accessible. Every moment is carefully choreographed, but has the appearance of being off the cuff. Covens feel like they know Nari, that they’re her friend or, perhaps more. Nari and the Koala.T management are both fine with leaning in heavily to this. Nari wants the fans and KTM wants their money.
In addition to her easy (and frequent) aegyo, KTM has also been pushing a narrative of Nari as the “sexy” member of Divinity. Nothing too overt, no outfits more salacious than bare midriffs or short shorts — both standard girl group fair in 2019. Instead, Nari is subtlety alluring, the mere suggestion of sex, with her swiveling hips and bedroom eyes than anything legitimately provocative. For now, it seems to be working. Fans and members of the media are more than happy to, at least for now, look past her average (for an idol) singing and dancing and focus on her looks. Nari knows she’ll never be known for her talent. If a few winks here and there are what it takes to become a successful idol, then that’s what she’ll do.
IDOL HISTORY
Cha Nari was born in Daegu on April 12, 1996. Her parents, Hyejin and Joonho, had little to offer their first and only child. They both worked low-paying, menial jobs and could only afford a small apartment in the city. Still, though their home was humble, it was happy. Joonho loved his wife and daughter more than words could express and did all that he could to provide for them and make them happy. This was apparently not enough for Hyejin.
Less than a year after Nari was born, Hyejin began an affair with a wealthy businessman. He showered her in gifts. Within six months of starting the affair, Hyejin left her husband and one-year-old and never returned. Joonho was blindsided, having been completely unaware of the affair. He was grief-stricken; after all, he had just lost the love of his life, but he knew that he had to push on, if not for himself, then for his daughter. Even more than before, Nari became his whole world. He would do anything, give up whatever, for his daughter.
When she was very young, Nari wasn’t aware that she was poor. She had clothes to wear, she never went hungry, and she always, always had love. It wasn’t until she started school that Nari began to notice that she was different from other kids. Her classmates, she noticed, got new clothes and not hand-me-downs. They didn’t keep the same shoes until they wore holes in the bottom. Their lunches were larger and nicer. They had big birthday parties, got nice, new toys. Slowly, Nari realized just how much less she had. Her father gave her all he could but it would never measure up.
As Nari became a preteen, she became desperate to keep up with her peers. Nari searched for small jobs around her neighborhood to make just a little bit of pocket money. She ran errands, scrubbed bathroom floors, babysat. Nari did anything and everything just to be able to afford a nicer pair of shoes or some meat for her lunch. Her father, who worked nearly constantly to make ends meet, only saw this as Nari taking after his hardworking ways. He didn’t realize just how ashamed of their circumstances she was.
Puberty hit Nari hard. She’d been a thin and gangly child, but she blossomed into a beautiful teen. She became more popular with girls and boys alike. Nari took to lying to her schoolmates about where she lived and what her father did. She even lied and told people her mother had died, not abandoned her. By the time she was old enough to get a proper part time job, most of her classmates had no idea that the tall, beautiful, popular Nari came from such humble beginnings.
It was in her early teens that people started to notice just how much Nari looked like a member of Diamant. It truly was uncanny. Initially, this pleased Nari. Diamant and other idol groups had been her refuge during the difficult, early years of school when she felt lesser for not having money. She would lose herself in fantasies of being rich and famous like the idols. Being compared to one was the greatest compliment Nari could think of. She wasn’t talented at singing or dancing — she’d never had enough money or time to really try at either — but Nari still dreamed of becoming an idol one day.
That dream was always out of reach until, one day, she was stopped when shopping with her friends. The man said he was a scout for a music company, and he’d never seen such a beautiful girl. Surely, she wanted to be an idol. Nari glowed. The man gave her his card. He said that for a nominal fee, he could help Nari become a trainee. That was all that Nari had ever wanted, so of course, Nari scrapped together her savings and paid the man. She did so again a few weeks later when he asked for another payment, and again a month after that. It was only after she’d spent her very last won and gotten nothing in returned that Nari realized she’d been scammed. This revelation changed Nari. She was no longer wide-eyed and hopeful. Her heart had hardened to the painful realities of the world.
Despite such a major setback, Nari was still determined to become an idol. Nari started putting away money for singing and dancing lessons. Juggling her lessons, her job and school was difficult — many days she would only get roughly three hours of sleep — but Nari persevered. After months and months of lessons, Nari auditioned for every company she could find. Midas turned her down. 99 and MSG too. Even Singularity wouldn’t take her. It wasn’t until she auditioned for Koala.T Music that Nari found a company willing to take a chance on her. She was grateful.
As a trainee, it was painfully clear to Nari that she’d been chosen because of her looks, not on the strength of her talent. Nari had to work twice as hard as everyone else just to keep up. Still, she persevered. Nari spent every spare moment she had practicing. She wouldn’t let a little thing like lack of talent get in the way of her becoming an idol. By the time Koala.T began choosing trainees to debut in the group that would become Divinity, Nari had fought her way tooth and nail towards the top of the pack. She’d never be the best or most talented but Nari’s hard work had transformed her into a more than serviceable singer and dancer.
Nari was ecstatic when she was chosen to be in Divinity. She was much less excited when she became aware of the reality of Koala.T’s predebut plans for the group. The social media plans were fine, as were the smaller promotional efforts. Those made sense, coming from a smaller company. Nari didn’t appreciate, however, just how long it all took and how niche the group became. She didn’t want a few, loyal, fans. She wanted to be known and appreciated by the masses. KTM couldn’t expect them to reach everyone, certainly not the whole Korean public by replying to a few tweets and having the odd guerrilla fanmeet. Still, it was better than not debuting at all, so Nari kept her mouth shut and went along with the program. For her apparent loyalty, Nari was rewarded by being given modeling opportunities. It would make for good press as well as capitalize on her beauty and resemblance to a member of Diamant.
When the group finally debut, it wasn’t the runaway success Nari always dreamt of. She saw it coming, but it was a disappointment nonetheless. Nari remained determined to make it work, for herself even if the group itself night fail. After securing company approval, Nari opened a YouTube channel in the early months of 2019. The channel focuses on makeup and fashion and features idols as guest as often as Nari can manage. Nari has no plans to let her group’s novel concept get in the way of her own success.