Chapter two - Debut day.
If nervousness could be counted, today it would have been off the charts.
Just like how I want our song to go. But I guess we will see.
There we were, all backstage, the company was dropping us to the world. In just minutes we would all go on stage.
Our Big moment.
I personally had been training my whole life for this moment. Every second, every bathroom song, every time my throat burned from singing, every time I missed out with friends to practice, it was all worth it.
All we needed to do was ace this concert and the company would make sure LOBB7 would blow up big.
“Don’t worry, you guys have practiced this through and through, I know you will be amazing out there”
That is Tia, our producer, manager, and someone who lowkey scares us to death.
Amazing at making beats, and finding just the right tempo to even out the group.
“Easy for you to say,” Doyen laughed nervously. “All your hard work is already done”
I place a hand on his shoulder, “Doe doe doe” “You know you hardly sing in this song right?”
Doyen spins in a circle, flashing his hands wildly, muscles flexing
“Hey, the girls come for my charm anyway”
“AND leave when they see your smile”
Min-ji answers from across the stage, as the girls are already in their opening places.
Light laughter follows from the girls as the lights on the main stage start to dim.
Doyen rolls his eyes, and Kwon Mysungsoo walks over to take his spot, throwing his phone across the room.
Giving Me, and Doyen a hod.
Yong-hae has been in his lead spot,
humming the tune to himself for the last few minutes.
I’m not too worried about him though, he always knows how to pull through when the nerves get high.
Then the concert spot lights hit the stage…
a deep voice comes over the hall.
“Please welcome…
LOBB7!
With their hit single…
Only Made Me!!!”
The song ends as we stand in our final position.
The crowd yelling, I’m telling you that feeling as the chills run down, knowing that you just killed that song.
That definitely happened.
As we quickly run off, I’m on top of the world. Every dance move, every step, every lyric, every note. I aced it.
We runoff the stage, Doyen literally picking me up as soon as the curtains close and he says right into the corner of my ear..
“You did it man they loved us” and I yell back “I know”
The rest of the group swarmed us as we ended up having a group hug.
The amount of relief and tension that just disappeared off of our faces as we can tell from the crowd, we killed that performance!
That reminds me, I’m sure you all would like to know my story.
My story is pretty different. You see, my father is a very important man.
Actually, he is the CEO of the company.
The ones pushing out all different types of K-pop artists.
So growing up I was always foreseen to be a K-pop star and if I ever answered the question, what do you want to be when you grow up with anything other than K-pop, the look I would get from my father could kill a man.
So I began training at the age of three as soon as I could speak.
That is when my vocal lessons began.
Are you thinking it must be hard to train at 3 but trust me there’s a will my dad will find a way.
I’ve seen how hard K-pop life is first hand. Is it my dream? Well more like my obligation to my father and to the company.
So I make escape my dream.
I was pulled out of school at 8 and enrolled straight into the company’s very own K-pop Star training.
Which is about as fun as it sounds.
Getting graded on dance moves and hitting tones, to personality and looks. There was nothing they didn’t take into account.
If you were outside the top 10% each year, you got dropped. Only the best of the best made it, making the next year harder than the one before.
What about friends you ask?
Yeah you didn’t have friends you had enemies with smiles.
Everyone in my class knew there were only so many spots and helping one another could leave them taking your spot.
So is it weird that we are all hugging after we just nailed this concert.
A little, have I gotten to know the group better,
Yup.
It’s a little weird that we go from fighting for the same spot, to singing with each other just months apart.
But hey that’s K-pop for ya.