COUPLE SEVEN: This newly-debuted idol might clash a little bit with their partner, who has been in the industry for many years. They have different idol concepts as well, but are bound to be exciting entertainment for the show.
DISPATCH, 07/15/17: RHYTHMS Multimedia Conglomerate has announced Couple Seven for We Got Married: @ryteunjae and @rytjihye! This couple was a fan hopeful, and netizens are excited to see how the pair will do for the event.
( +2548, -639 ) WHAT!! omg it’s so cool that eunjae unnie and nari unnie are partnered up for this!!
( +1328, -746 ) i didn’t see this one coming, heheheh....... i wonder how they will do even though eunjae only debuted a few months ago and jihye’s been a senior idol for many years........
( +3258, -2144 ) Noonaaaaaaaaa TT don’t abandon me for your new partner, ok? i don’t want to see you changing concept just because of the show TT
DISPATCH, (07/13/17): Prime Media has officially released information about soloist Kim Jihye, also known as Kim Nari, on the official website! Nari is an ‘90 liner and has been beloved by fans since her debut in 2011. Find out more about Nari below!
I, (KIM JIHYE), have read and understand the terms and conditions as my position of (SOLOIST) and agree to honor the standards that are to be expected of me as an employee of (PRIME RECORDS).
OOC INFORMATION
Preferred name: Veronica
Pronouns: She / her
Timezone: Currently GMT+2, soon back to GMT+1
Other muses: n/a
IC INFORMATION
Faceclaim: Hong Jinyoung
Name: Kim Jihye
Stage name (if applicable): Kim Nari
Idol concept: When Jihye made her debut as a singer, it was decided that she should play on her strengths as Kim Nari, the young and pretty trot singer. She was to be upbeat and outgoing, laugh loudly and smile brightly – and in every way try to as much of a contrast to the rather dull and oldish world of trot as she possibly could. Nari’s image was shaped into one of ”the nation’s flower”: beauty, youth and a bit of flirty fun.
At first, it was the easiest thing in the world. She faced her new career bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, excited to meet new people, appear on TV-shows and perform her music. Her concept as an artist was shaped around her and she thrived for the first couple of years.
Then, slowly, the novelty of idol life wore off. Jihye’s personality had shifted, turning colder and more cynic with the realization that her life would forever be scrutinized by the media. Her wide smiles turned stiff, the winks she had always been so generous with became forced, and her bright and bubbly laugh morphed into something high-pitched and fake. Instead of mirroring the happy-go-lucky person she was at debut, it all turned into an act, and Jihye grew to hate the exaggeratedly cheery Kim Nari that she had to be in front of the cameras.
Birth date and age: August 9, 1990 – currently 26 years old
Company name: Prime Records
Group Name (if applicable): n/a
Group Position (if applicable): soloist
Strengths: Jihye’s main strengths are her singing and her versatility. She knows how to adapt her style and technique to easily fit the song, and is decent both at trot and pop music. Although not an excellent dancer, she is still very quick at picking up choreography and as she is good at capturing an audience, she is a great performer.
Weaknesses: Jihye tends to cave in under pressure, no matter if it is judgement and criticism from others, or if it is her own ambition and perfectionism that makes her struggle with a task. Neither her vocal range or her dancing abilities could be described as impressive. Recently, she has also been struggling slightly to keep up her image in shows and in front of fans.
Positive traits: Ambitious, Intelligent, Loyal
Negative traits: Pessimistic, Selfish, Harsh
PERSONAL HISTORY
• 1990 She is her parents’ first (and will end up being their only) child. They name her Jihye, meaning wisdom, thinking that intelligence and wisdom might be the only thing that could bring their child good fortune. The couple might not be rich nor live in a grand house, but they have their daughter and they love her and that is all that counts.
For as long as Jihye can remember, both her house and the family restaurant have been filled with music. Her mother seems to have a different soundtrack for every house chore and only turns the volume down when Jihye needs to concentrate on her homework, rather than on humming along. And every time the girl walks into her parents naengmyeon restaurant, she ends up sitting by the counter singing duets with her father, the repertoire ranging from nursery rhymes to the latest songs by her parents favourite singers.
• 2002 Jihye has just turned twelve years old, and she has found out that she likes nothing as much as she likes being in the spotlight. In school she’s loud and talkative, and she surrounds herself with quite a big group of friends, all of them as thick as thieves. Together they put on elaborate plays and concerts in the school yard, forcing all their class mates to watch them perform. The quality of the acts may vary (and the songs Jihye sings always sound a bit dated compared to the h.o.t. and fin.k.l. songs performed by her friends), but they all have a lot of fun. Jihye has started to dream about a life where she could do this every day – being famous and able to sing and act for work sounds like the most amazing thing one could do!
• 2005 For the first time in her life, Jihye feels almost lonely. Her closest friends have all found themselves boyfriends, and somehow they no longer have any time for her. Her mother’s well-meant pep talks don’t manage to cheer her up very much either (”You will find a boyfriend too soon” – well maybe she didn’t want to!). And what do you say when your friends ask you if there’s someone you like, when you can’t tell them the truth without risking them finding you weird or disgusting? Jihye finds support and comfort in music instead, hiding in a corner of their restaurant with headphones on, letting the songs wash away all of her troubles.
• 2008 Jihye did surprisingly well on the college entrance exams, and managed to get into a rather good university. She plans to major in chemical engineering, although she struggles to see herself actually working with anything related to chemistry in the future. She still hasn’t quite managed to let go of her childhood dream though, still wishing for a life where performing could take center stage. It just won’t work out, not with the hours she has to put into studying, or helping out at her parents’ restaurant.
•2011 At last she takes the big step and auditions for an entertainment company. Mirage is a new company and, to be quite honest, Jihye isn’t exactly sure of what she is getting herself into. She auditions as an actress, knowing that there has been rumors of idol groups in the making. She figures that if acting isn’t right for her, they might turn her into an idol trainee instead – she will trust their judgement as doesn’t know herself what she is best suited for. After only two months of training she is casted in a supporting role in her first drama. Despite doing her very best, her high hopes of excellent critiques take a plunge as her performance passes by almost unnoticed by the press. Following that drama, it almost seems as if Mirage has forgotten about her, and after months of being sent to no castings at all, she manages to terminate her contract.
Deciding that acting might not have been her destiny, Jihye goes on to audition for another company only weeks later. Surprisingly, Prime Records take her on, despite her singing one of her mother’s favourite old trot songs for her audition. The contrast between her age and the music she sings so very well is what ultimately lands her the contract, and she has never been happier than now – holding in her hands a ticket to a life of music and fame.
• 2012 There is much for her to learn, never having received proper training before. That doesn’t prove much of an issue though, as she is a quick learner and easily follows both the instructions of her vocal coach and the simple choreographies she is set to practice. Jihye doesn’t blend too well with the other trainees, but that doesn’t bother her too much. She is set to debut as a soloist after all, and with all the training that has do be done, she doesn’t exactly have the time to be nice and friendly to everyone all the time.
Come late 2012, she is finally ready to debut. The song is recorded and the music video planned out – there is only one thing left for her to do. She needs a stage name, something that stands out more to the public than her own name. Having the most popular name of your age group is not a sure way to get remembered, let’s be honest. She settles on Kim Nari, naming herself after her favourite flower – the lily.
• 2014 The debut of Kim Nari two years ago had been a bigger success than Jihye could ever have imagined. At first it had all been great fun – everything was new, shiny and exciting. Then, as she got used to it all, she started to realize that everything wasn’t glitz and glamour. She is completely exhausted, sick and tired of performing the same song more times in one week than she can count, and fed up with having to be careful at all times not to cause negative headlines. The straw to break the donkey’s back is Jihye falling head over heals in love with one of her stylists, only to realize that even if the feelings were to be mutual, she could never act on them. There is too much to lose, and if it would be leaked to the press it would all be far worse than a simple dating scandal.
She turns to her work to try and distract herself, but it is rumored among staff both at Prime and and various television companies that the once so easy-going Kim Nari has turned rather hars and difficult to work with.
• 2016 Although she knows she has been lucky, being signed at a company that doesn’t try to work her until she collapses, it all becomes too much for Jihye. She goes on a hiatus (although nothing is announced officially), only releasing the occasional collaboration with company friends along the way. It was very much needed, as she struggles to paint on her cheery image as Kim Nari even for short periods of time. Most of her time is still spent working on new projects at the company building, but she is allowing herself to relax for once and not beat herself up for not working hard enough, being good enough. She finally finishes her studies and graduates as a chemical engineer – she didn’t want to leave it unfinished. For the first time in a couple of years, there is a spring to her step and a smile on her face on the regular.
• 2017 More than two years have passed since her last solo promotions, and Jihye knows it is time for her to get back out in the spotlight. To be fair she misses the performances, the feeling of singing in front of people who have come just to see her. She doesn’t regret her career path in the slightest. What she isn’t looking forward to is having to sit in interviews and tv shows and pretend to be the happiest, most outgoing person in the industry. Jihye grows tired only thinking about it – yet she is afraid of the reactions any deviation from her image might bring. A change now, when she has been gone for so long, might be devastating. No, Jihye has to stick to what works, and that means slowly easing back into the saccharine Kim Nari: young, beautiful, fun and flirty trot singer – even though the girl feels anything but rosy pink and happy inside.
DISPATCH, 04/05/17: Mirage Media has officially released information about vocalist, Jean Jihye Ryu, also known as Jihye, the company’s official website! Jihye is a ‘96 liner and has been beloved by fans. She was announced as a sorted trainee under the group Daydreamers and is speculated to debut in 2017. Find out more about Jihye below!
I, RYU JEAN JIHYE, have read and understand the terms and conditions as my position of VOCALIST IN DAYDREAMERS and agree to honor the standards that are to be expected of me as an employee of MIRAGE MEDIA.
OOC INFORMATION
Preferred name: Michelle
Pronouns: she/her
Timezone: PST
Other muses: N/A
IC INFORMATION
Faceclaim: Exy of Cosmic Girls / WJSN
Name: Jean Jihye Ryu
Stage name (if applicable): Jihye
Idol concept: Out of the whole group, Jihye’s know to be one that has always been lackluster or just missing something. Everyone else in the group were either great vocalist or dancers or singers or even composing music themselves, while she struggled to keep. It wasn’t an image she wanted to have, but it stuck with her. The only always struggling to keep up with the others.
Birth date and age: January 10, 1996 / 21 years old
Company name: Mirage Media
Group Name (if applicable): Daydreamers
Group Position (if applicable): Vocalist
Strengths: Her strengths are her looks and singing. Jihye knows that she’s pretty on the eyes and isn’t afraid to use that to her advantage.
Weaknesses: When it come to weaknesses, Jihye’s biggest ones are her dancing and variety skills. She’s not a horrible dancer, but there is definitely room for improvement. When it comes to variety, she’s known for going a bit overboard.
Positive traits: witty, confident, vivacious
Negative traits: aloof, childish, insouciant
PERSONAL HISTORY
Please on a crisp january morning, a new bundle of joy was brought into the world. a lovely, beautiful baby girl that was to be named jean jihye ryu. she was a gift from god in her parents eyes. born and raised in the famous city of paris, it was safe to say that the brown eyed female lived a pretty average life as she grew up. she had a nice handful of friends, an older sister whom she loved with all her heart, and a strong interest in the violin. this instrument would soon later in life cause her to want to perform on big stages. it was something she could see herself doing years down the road. this kid was surely going to achieve these dreams.
but there was something she loved maybe even more than her dear violin and her family. ada. ada was one of the most important things in her life and the girls were always there for one another. jean and ada did everything together. they went to the movies together, did shopping, had study dates, told each other deep kept secrets. they were like two peas in a pod. until jean’s 17th birthday. she decided to go out on the lake in a small boat. even though ada couldn’t swim, jean insisted it wouldn’t be the same without her. as the boat tipped over, two girls went in, but only one came out. she waited impatiently until her parents showed up at the hospital only to be told that her best friend was gone. her parents said she was still out there, which meant to them that she could still be alive… but that didn’t make it any better for jean. she was didn’t know what to do without her bestfriend. ada was her best friend and jean felt like she was the reason ada was no longer here .
the long haired girl had been shaken up after the accident. she was avoiding any time spent outside of her house and didn’t dare try to show her face at school. she knew the others kids would blame her for what happened. she needed more time to recover, but her parents had a plan of their own. relocating to seoul, south korea, their daughters would have a chance at starting over with people like her. her smiles…her laughs…they had all gone back to being genuine. of course, she had gone back to playing the violin. also sometime in seoul, jean had a thing for singing. spending countless hours in the choir room singing to her favorite songs by the days biggest kpop acts. she’d found a new interest.
the hot rays of the summer sun beamed down on on jihye’s back as she made her way from school and her parent’s small restaurant. she knew this would be the first summer without ada and tried her best to keep it of her mind. she tried to make it just another simple summer like any other. in order to keep her mind off of ada, she decided to try out for something. anything really. once she saw an ad for mirage media, she decided to just go for it. jihye had nothing to lose. the audition line was long and so was the audition itself. her rap was basically not to be spoken of, her dance a bit sloppy, and her voice was better than average. unexpectedly she had gotten in. she was told of the promises within the industry. it was to be an easy time as a trainee and the compliments of her unique features and physique made jihye want to join even more.
it wasn’t until a couple of months later, that she realized how hard the trainee life was. she tried her best to keep a smile on her face when others were around. she felt as if she was far behind the other trainees in terms of talent, so she tried her best to be better than them when it came to personality. she wanted her on-screen self to be as close to her off-stage self as humanly possible…if that was possible. her family supported her new dream as long as it kept their daughter out of the slump that she was in when ada was gone.
if there was one thing she wanted more than anything else in the world, it was to debut. if there was one thing she wanted to do, in memory of her best friend, it was this.
