LUXE 💎 FIFTH EVALUATION
interview refresher course
june 11th-15th, 2018
as usual, the toughest part for eunae is to remain both seated and relatively calm the whole time. even though it’s a mock interview (and the hundredth they’ve had since the beginning of the course on monday), the staff is still scrutinizing their every move and facial expression. they’re quick to point out if they yawn, blink too much, look absent or bored, etc. it becomes irritating after a while but they know it’s for their own good. the media can be ruthless and the general public even more. any picture or word can be taken out of context, twisted and posted online for people to judge.
how many times has she seen articles online that made it seem as if a celebrity had said the most disgusting stuff, only to look into it a little more and realize it was a big misunderstanding? she would hate for the same thing to happen to her. eunae can be impulsive and bold which falsely leads people to believe she doesn’t care what people think of her. while it’s not exactly a lie, she does want others to like her.
“eunae, for the fifth time, will you stop following the flashes? it makes you look like you’re not paying attention.”
she blinks, as if coming out of a daze, which makes the staff member scoff. “well, i guess you really weren’t paying attention. focus, please? the press will eat you up if you’re not careful.” his gaze then sweeps the whole group. “and the same goes to all of you. let’s start over one last time, we’re almost there.”
eunae nods and they all stand up, getting off the small stage. because yes, they also practice their entrance, from the way they walk to how they greet the fake journalists. no comments are made this time around since they want the girls to go through the whole thing without interruption. it’s important that they experience it all so they’re prepared for the real press conference. there won’t be anyone telling them what do do or say then.
she listens as she first questions are asked, doing her best to smile and nod at appropriate moments, sometimes looking at the member talking and sometimes just looking at the staff members. her turn doesn’t come right away but she mentally prepares for it, past comments coming to mind: look directly at the person who asked the question, don’t cut off a member talking, when uncomfortable it’s alright to take a pause instead of just spewing nonsense (which she’s proven to be very good at).
“Do you regret getting involved in the survival show?”
she dives in first, bringing her microphone to her mouth. “not at all! of course it was very intense and very hard but because of it we learned lot about the industry and about ourselves! i think the saddest thing is probably that we don’t get to debut with all the friends we’ve made during the show.” she thinks of lisa, and soohyun, and hyuna. “but i know i’ll cherish those memories forever!”
“How is it living with five other girls in a small space? Have you had fights?”
she has a small laugh. she shoots a glance over to the other girls, lips pursed before the finally answers. “we’ve been really busy with our debut preparations so we spend more time at the royal building than we do at our dorm. that’s not a lot of time to get into fights!” she laughs again. “but we’re six very different people, with different personalities so of course we argue sometimes.” she looks at jihyun. “jihyun unnie is a very good leader though, and we go to her with our issues instead of keeping it it, you know? sometimes it’s better to just fight, then we don’t hold grudges.”
“Are you currently dating anyone?”
they decided it’d be less risky to have a single person among them answer this, just in case their body language tells otherwise when they say they’re not dating (which they obviously have to). eunae thinks it’s dumb of the media to constantly ask idols that question considering there’s no way any of them will respond positively unless they want to kill their career before it ever started. “there’s definitely no time for that!” and is she lying? even the three of them that are in relationships could almost be considered single now. “debuting is more important than dating right now, i think it goes for all of us?” who would she even date anyway? everyone gets tired of her after a while she’ll probably never get passed the “some” stage.
“Do the girls who came from other companies feel welcomed by the royal girls? How did the transition go?”
dawon, jiwon and eunae exchange looks and silently decide on who’s going to answer. she isn’t sure how jiwon feels about it, but then again she isn’t sure how jiwon feels about most things since the group was formed. dawon and her, however, have talked a whole lot and they both agree on what she’s about to say. “i can’t speak for all of royal, because i think it wasn’t easy for some of them to accept us debuting over girls they’ve trained with for months or years.” again, there’s no lie. they got nasty looks from a lot of people at royal. “but it’s different for luxe members. and even the other girls who did the survival show. we weren’t girls from our companies, we were just girls with the same goal and the same... hardships. and it made us connect in ways i don’t think we connected with other trainees.”
LUXE 💎 FIFTH EVALUATION
practicing b-side tracks choreographies
june 2018
when recording the songs she was more than happy about the amount of lines she’s been given. from what she’s seen so far in girl groups, the rapper often ends up with the least lines but their coaches quickly told her she’s not just the rapper because she’s the least skilled singer. they genuinely believe her rapping can add to the songs which is why they’ve included her. “so believe in yourself and work hard,” they said, to which she replied jokingly: “isn’t it what i’ve always done?”.
they were all so relieved to finally let go of i feel good for a while and focus on other songs. having a month to fully master 3 different choreographies would have seemed foolish to eunae just two years ago when her journey as a trainee began. now, though, she could probably learn them in a week, so having the entire month of june is kind of a blessing and allows them to really work out the littlest details. but it’s a double-edge sword because there’s no excuse if they make mistakes after getting so much time to practice.
it’s no surprise that her favorite choreography of the bunch is luv me. it’s just a really light-hearted and upbeat song with a dance that follows the same kind of theme. they can let loose a lot more than they do in the other songs, even adding a bit of their own personality to it near the end. still, it’s a bit... on the cuter side, or as yoo jaekyung likes to call it, “cutie-sexy”. which isn’t exactly eunae’s forté. she opens and closes the dance which demands a lot more from her than she first thought, since her image doesn’t naturally suit this concept. it takes her more effort to nail this part than the rest of the choreography.
“no no no, stop!” the dance teacher turns off the music, clicking her tongue in annoyance as she always does when she needs to interrupt them. “this isn’t working, eunae. i said ‘quirky’, not fierce! you’re supposed to have fun, not kill them with your gaze. keep that for dangerous though.”
the last part has eunae laugh as she nods in understanding. she gets what jaekyung is saying but knowing it and doing it are two very distinct things. she looks at the other girls, pretends they’re not dancing to later go on stage but are rather just having fun in the dorm, playing the music loudly and not thinking of what they look like. that she’s good at and when the music starts again she looks a lot more relaxed, a lot more fun. she learns that it brings out her cuter side, without even having to force it. she’s a lot cuter than she thinks, apparently, when she doesn’t think too much about it.
