YANG JEONG IN
I think the K-Pop training process
is what makes K-Pop so unique,
because it is as if an Olympian
is training for their competition.
People are going in at ten years old,
auditioning for these things.
Just to be prepared for it.
You have to go through a company
and they're like,
"Hey. You're not perfect yet,
but we'll get you there."
They have rap classes,
and they have dance classes,
and they have vocal classes.
Mannerism classes or language classes.
There's evaluations.
And then they get, like,
few hours of sleep.
Just for the possible chance to debut.
I LOVE YOU
My name is Sriya Lenka.
And I am 18 years old.
My name is Gabriela,
but my artist name is Gabi.
And I am 19 years old.
We are BLACKSWAN trainees.
And we are living here at Mr. Yoon's house
while we are training.
I start to listen BLACKSWAN
because everyone in Brazil knows BLACKSWAN
because of Leia unni.
Because of her, I start thinking,
"Maybe I could be an idol in K-Pop."
And I followed them on the social medias.
And from there I knew about the audition.
Today we're beginning a worldwide search
to find a new member of BLACKSWAN.
We do global audition since last year.
People send us audition videos and tapes
that can show their skills
and different songs and different choreos.
Thank you, and good luck!
I thought that if Fatou unni can made it,
why cannot I?
So, I started doing auditions.
I saw that I had passed.
I start to crying.
I was like, "I got selected. Finally."
I cried at that time. "Oh, my God.
Thank you, God, for selecting me."
- Nice to meet you. Hi. Hi.
- Nice to meet you. Hi.
Hey. Hi.
- Hi. How are you?
- I'm fine. And you?
At first day, I was like, "Oh, my God.
She's so pretty. Oh, my God."
I really thought
that we will be great friends.
And now we are.
Like, I think she is my best friend now.
Okay.
- Let's see.
- What you gonna eat today?
Sweet potato.
I'll do some chicken nuggets maybe.
Currently, Gabi and Sriya is living in
our headquarter
which is Mr. Yoon's place in Yangpyeong.
Aw, it's heart and moons.
Most other K-Pop companies, they do train
their trainees for at least couple years.
Whereas our company, for Sriya and Gabi,
their audition process
will be total of six months.
It's been over five month,
so Gabi and Sriya's final evaluation
will be two weeks from today.
They will get to know
whether they gonna stay in Korea
or pack themself and leave.
I want to make chicken curry
- Indian chicken curry next time.
- But we don't have time.
Yes.
We spend short period of time
to sharpen their skill
and make them good idols.
I think the pros is that
BLACKSWAN's next album
could be released in four month.
Thank you for the food.
But the cons is that six month
is hard to get to know their personality
To see if they could bear it
to become a K-Pop idol.
You're only going to eat that?
- Right?
- Yeah.
I'm doing diet because Mr. Yoon told me
I need to lose weight.
- And she's doing diet to gain weight.
- Exactly.
It's really difficult to see, like
- Yeah.
- everyone eating everything they want,
and you can't.
But it's difficult for her too because
she need to eat more than she is used to.
Sometimes I keep throwing up a lot.
When I come from India, my weight was 49.
- Because of
- 48!
Almost. Almost.
So, because of my height,
I was looking like a stick.
So, they give me a target
to achieve up to 53.
But I'm 51 now,
but still I can't achieve the 52.
The end point for me is, like, 52 kg.
But maybe if I became 53
it will be okay too.
In K-Pop, the fans, like, care a lot
about the visuals.
So, if I don't lose the weight,
I will not join the group.
And for sure, like, I already cry a lot.
Like, feel so pressure about the weight
because every day, every day,
like, checking.
But I want to be an idol.
I'm a different type of beast
I'm a different type of beast
Beast, beast
I'm a different type of beast
But it's okay
Good to be alive
I'm a mother effin' rock star
Rock star
Rock, rock, rock with me
Feel, feel, feel
Feel so good to be alive
Feel so good
I'm the baddest B alive
I'm the baddest of the baddest
Bring it back
I'm a mother effin' rock star
After the whole Europe situation,
I just need a break.
I'm home in Jersey to see my family.
I see them maybe once
if I'm lucky a year.
So, it feels good because I know there,
it's unconditional love right there.
I respect all restaurants,
but my mom's home cook
She literally is the best cook.
It's because she puts love in the food.
You know? Yeah.
Jessi's one of three.
I am the middle child.
I'm the oldest brother.
And yeah.
JESSI: [Laughing]
Hey, take it easy. Get her out of here.
Honestly, I was more partial
to my daughter than my sons.
I'm still like that.
When I finally had a daughter,
I was so happy,
and it felt like life was complete.
I wanted to spoil her so much.
I wanted to buy her clothes
that were made in Italy.
And do things for her.
That's how she grew up.
Yeah, I just make sure
that when she's here,
she's comfortable, she's happy.
'Cause this is where she should be happy.
Before Unpretty Rapstar,
Jessi was having a hard time
for about two to three years.
I gave up, like, three times in Korea.
I was like, "Ugh, I'm done. I'm done.
I'm done of getting criticized
for everything."
She was very depressed
because she was not successful
as a singer.
I shed so many tears
when I brought her back from Korea.
After coming home, the hardest thing was
it made her lose her confidence.
I went back home. It was the last time.
And my oldest brother, Eric,
he started learning engineering and stuff,
so that he could kinda
get me back into music again.
He didn't want me to give up on my dreams.
So, we basically started Studio 221
in our parents' basement
to make sure that she was able
to work on her craft.
Once a week, let's try to do a song.
And it was strictly covers.
Let's try to find her style.
Put a little Jessi sauce on it.
We just wanted to help her
gain the confidence back.
And she just never gave up.
But luckily, she got a call back
from one company in Korea,
so that's how she went back.
It's not easy getting as far as she has.
At Jessi's core, anything
she sets out to do, she makes happen.
Can somebody come taste this?
Oh, she's not even taste testing anymore,
she's just eating now!
- She's just eating.
- One more bite.
Oh, my! She
You're supposed to tell me
if it tastes right!
Eric, come here. Eric, come here.
Success isn't, like, just money.
It's about doing good things and, like,
doing things for people that you love.
My parents are I love them, obviously,
so much, and so, I was like,
"Can I get you guys a house?"
And they immediately got this house.
It feels really good to know
that I could do this for my parents.
Give your honest
This is actually my first time
eating this.
- What!
- I was just kidding.
Salty or not salty?
- Or is it bland? Or sweet?
- Good.
- Everybody thinks it's good?
- It's Perfect. It's Delicious.
Oh, honey, come over here too.
This career, it's so hard.
My parents, they're the reasons
why I wanna work harder.
Because I want them to live a happy life.
Because I don't think I c
You know, like Yeah.
TAEYOUNG: There's too many part changes.
It's a bit hectic.
Can we watch each part by part?
We don't stop, we don't stop
We don't stop 'til the party's over
So, before I became a CRAVITY member,
I was a trainee for four years.
It's very routine.
Sort of like the military.
We would train from Monday to Saturday.
You would start practice at 1:00
and then end at 10:00 p.m.
We'd have dance class twice a
week, vocal lessons once a week.
And then, just on days
where we don't have lessons at all
One, two
it would be for us to practice.
One, two, three
Hello, I'm 19-year-old Wonjin Hahm.
I will start to sing now.
It was really tough when I joined.
Back then I was
actually a bit chubby.
When I went to the audition,
the guy in charge
told me he was going to give me two weeks
to lose weight and then come back.
I wanted to show him how badly
I wanted to join Starship,
so I would only eat like one egg a day.
I'm so tired now.
So during those two weeks,
I lost about 15 pounds
and went to audition again.
And got accepted by Starship.
Being a trainee
is a game of survival.
What inspired me was
the members would be
really encouraging to each other.
Those interactions
really helped me pull through.
Can Mario sh**t water?
He can sh**t fire and water.
- Wow.
- Giratina, Giratina, Giratina.
- It's mine, mine.
- Wow.
Even though my family is in LA,
I actually consider this home.
They're the closest people
I have in my life right now.
My eight brothers. My ride or die.
Shall we eat Woobin's food
that we haven't had in a long time?
But I want to eat
Woobin's soybean paste stew.
It's been too long since I had that stew.
WOOBIN: I forgot how to cook that stew.
MINHEE: No, you can do it.
SEJONG THE GREA
Hello!
You can leave your neck relaxed
so it's not fixed and stiff.
And up, and up, and up.
That's it.
Although I was really relieved
when I got the news
that I became a CRAVITY member,
we have the other trainees who
got the bad news that they didn't make it.
DANCE COACH: Arms like this, and up.
My name is Jiyong, and I am 19 years old.
I've wanted to be an idol
since I was young.
As a trainee, I started in March of 2019,
so it's been three years and four months.
It's been a long time.
Turn your arms out and push to the sides
I felt sorry,
but he was still young at the time.
Compared to the older trainees,
he lacked experience.
But since the company
is always planning for their next group,
when Jiyong said he wanted to continue
training with us,
we were happy.
All the CRAVITY member really adores him.
When I heard the news that he decided
to stay, I was super proud of him.
He still has a lot of potential in him,
and I have high hopes for this kid.
Usually, I wake up in the morning
and ride my bike to school.
After school, I have to get to the subway.
It takes me about an hour and a half
to get to the Cheongdam station
where Starship is,
and then I walk to the company.
And then I usually finish training in time
to catch the last train
and I take the last train and go home.
I usually go to bed around two or three
in the morning when I get home.
And because I don't get much sleep,
I often doze off at school.
And even worse, when friends
ask me to hang out,
I always miss out because I have to train.
This always bums me out.
Hold it right here. Watch.
Watch what I do.
The goal of a K-Pop trainee
is to make their debut.
But you don't know when the company
is actually going to release a group.
So most of the times,
trainees would just be training every day
with the hopes of making the next group.
Starship conducts trainee evaluations
once a month.
During these evaluations,
the trainees show us what they've
been working on for the month.
When there are bad results,
trainees may be let go from the company.
The company judges us
on our abilities and marketability,
so the label has no regrets
about letting us go.
They'll make that decision.
When I wasn't chosen to be
a final member of CRAVITY,
of course I was very disappointed.
I thought about giving up
when I didn't make the cut,
but I couldn't bring myself to do that.
I can't give up.
Debuting is my main goal,
but I need more time to improve myself.
So for now, the next step is to grow
my skills so that I'm fully prepared.
Hello!
Oh, those two
are wearing matching outfits.
Adding a new member to BLACKSWAN,
I'm not really into it
because that means
we have to start all over again.
Ready? And a five, six, seven
The thing is,
now with the original members
we all worked so hard
to get to where we are now.
INSTRUCTOR: Roll up from there. Roll up.
Like, if we were to add another member,
we have to get close to the person.
We have to match
each other's energies again.
And it could take up to six months
to a year for us to completely match
because it took us that long
current members to really have,
like, a solid group.
So, I don't know if I'm ready
to go through that all over again.
Five, and a six. And seven, and a
First off, if they are going to be
members of BLACKSWAN,
I think it would be better
if they were more talented.
INSTRUCTOR: Your eyes.
INSTRUCTOR: Gesture. Exactly.
For Sriya and Gabi, I think they still
need a few more years of training
before they'll be ready to debut.
Which is what I honestly told the company.
That's what it's going to take in order
to receive good feedback on stage.
Honestly,
they're (the company) rushing this.
I think they're doing this too hastily.
I worked hard for so many years
just to debut,
but they're (Sriya and Gabi) so lucky.
Five, and a six, and seven, and a eight.
You guys are pacing up a bit.
Unlike Gabi and Sriya,
I was a trainee for one year
before I got to debut.
But BLACKSWAN, we've all had
different trainee experiences.
INSTRUCTOR: The important part in this
is there needs to be few stops.
Stop. Stop.
When I was a freshman in high school,
I joined a dance club for the first time.
WHEN I MOVE
Shake your body
WHEN I MOVE
WHEN I MOVE
And that's when I started to think
that I wanted to try getting into K-Pop.
Just the way you feel
Like these MOVES
My MOVES
Judy is really good
at performance and dancing.
And she has some good insights
about choreography.
And she has charm.
After my audition at DR Music,
instead of starting out as a trainee,
I immediately joined as an official
member of BLACKSWAN
and have been progressing from there.
Don't hesitate, we just dance
- Wow.
- That move was a bit late.
The high school I was attending
was an art school.
And so, I naturally just started
doing auditions,
and somehow I joined my first company,
but it was a very bad one.
So I quickly left that company.
I soon joined another company
but had to leave suddenly again.
I kept going to other companies, but
they always ended up disappearing.
While considering giving up,
at the age of 25,
which is on the older side,
I thought of it as my last chance,
and I joined DR Music through an audition.
Two, and three, and a four.
Five, and a six, and seven
and a eight, and
- INSTRUCTOR: Does this make sense?
- Yes.
INSTRUCTOR: It doesn't seem like you guys
are getting it.
Gabi and Sriya,
they have a long way to go,
but DR Music tends to pick
trainees or members
way quicker
than other entertainment companies.
Then a five, six
Like, I can kinda understand it
because the CEO, Mr. Yoon,
has been doing this for over 20 years.
So, he sees it when someone has the thing
you need to be able to do this.
But at the other side, his goal
was always to make, like, a global group.
Sometimes I feel like
Is he just picking that person
because she's from that country?
The fact that they are foreigners
serves as an advantage.
"Wow, they are foreigners,
but they sing in Korean.
And they also dance like idols.
Those members are cool."
If he were to pick a member
just because she's from
a different country, that'd be pretty bad.
Oh, hello!
Thank you for taking the long trip
to visit my house.
I have many family members.
A big family of pets.
Ah, this car was used by Baby V.O.X.
This car was utilized until 2005
and is now resting at my house.
I love you, Keumkang.
Here, we have all of my essential files.
Like scrapbooks and news articles
and overseas promotions.
And the reason why I'm keeping all these
is because after I retire,
these will be references for my successor.
J.Y. Park, Rain, As One, Baby V.O.X.
Everything is recorded here.
You can see here it says "Tupac."
And if you look
at Baby V.O.X's last album,
we decided we wanted to do
a hip-hop collaboration.
And so, before Tupac passed away,
I got permission to use his new track that
he recorded in jail.
And so, if you look at Baby V.O.X's
last album, in the track, "Xcstasy,"
for 30 seconds you can see Tupac's face
and hear him rapping.
To a certain extent, I like to think that
I released Tupac's last album.
This is of me in the army when I was 20.
I was in the Special Forces.
Oh, and this picture.
This is my daughter.
And this is my granddaughter.
She's 11 now.
My granddaughter loves me the most,
and I love her the most.
It's really wonderful.
She's coming later today
and I'm so excited about it.
Do you have a photo of Philip?
Philip's picture. Hmm.
It doesn't look like there is one.
With my son, during the time where
we should have been close,
he was studying internationally in Canada.
So, it's odd, but I don't seem to have
any pictures with my son.
As soon as Baby V.O.X
became so popular in Korea,
all my friends in elementary school,
middle school,
they literally loved the fact that
I'm a son of my dad.
I was happy, because what he does
is something very remarkable.
But at the same time,
my dad became super busy.
Mostly, I could see him
once or twice a week.
He didn't have time
to come home and hanging out
with his daughter and son a lot.
We lost a lot of time.
That's the thing I regret.
Come to Grandpa.
Give me a hug! Give me a hug!
Don't run away. And give Grandpa a hug.
So, one of the reason
I wanted to do business with him
is to spend some time with him as well.
But he always say, "No way."
And he didn't want me to join.
The business that I'm in
is like a b*ttlefield.
The failure rate is near 95%,
so I tried to keep him
away from this field.
But after he got a degree in management,
I think he made a decision
to get into the entertainment business.
Every time I was talking with him,
he still kind of refused.
But at the same time,
I could see he needed some help.
So I decided to join his company.
To help him anything that I could do.
Because I could drive,
I could speak some English.
Nowadays, we see each other
three times a week at least.
So I am happy for it.
- Do you like Keumkang?
- Yes.
Grandpa will give you a present
even better than him.
Wait right here. I'll bring the gift.
What kind of father was your father
when you were younger?
I'm sorry.
Oh, my gosh. What's wrong with me?
Just a second.
Just a second. Tissue.
My father was very busy.
Well, there are a lot of things
that I regret
and feel sorry about to my kids.
Since I was a dad who was always busy,
I was never able to take my children
to school, holding their hand.
And maybe because of that,
I give my grandchildren
so much love and attention.
Like I'm trying to make up
for what I wasn't able to give my kids.
- You brought it just like that?
- Yes.
What do you think this might be?
Look! Look!
Ah, don't!
Keumkang, don't eat it!
Don't eat it?
- Grandpa, thank you!
- Give me a kiss.
I'm not gonna say I'm always happy.
But mostly I'm happy that I made
the decision to work with my dad.
I'm not sure about relationship-wise,
but I get to know him
much better than I used to.
I'm looking for his approval
that I'm able to take care of this label,
so that he can retire soon.
But, right now, I don't think I have it.
Yeah.
Come on, let's go in the house.
He's a really good grandfather.
- How is it?
- Oh, it's pretty.
So, how have your Korean classes
been going so far?
We had did our exam, and it get so well.
I didn't expect it to came like that.
I passed. So that's good.
And I'm I know that I'm learning.
They compare us.
So, like, since her test is
really higher than mine,
I was like, "Oh, my God.
I did badly that."
Sriya learn faster than me.
She's so good and I admire her.
But the problem is, like,
everyone always compare us,
and I'm lacking a lot.
I'm doing my best, but it's not enough.
You really need to want
to be an artist in K-Pop,
because it's so difficult.
Maybe is like we need to be
shark of the ocean or fish of the ocean.
We have to be the shark.
Like, I get but, like,
I don't agree with the sentence,
because the fish needs
to work hard to live than the shark.
It's not like that. It's just, like
It's hard to explain to her.
Yeah, we're gonna do
a practice run. Ready?
Okay, you gotta look at me. Okay?
Remember, confidence.
Lights!
I see you lookin' at my PIC (I know)
Oh, my God! So good.
Oh, my God!
I know you like what you see
Zoom in
Look! Oh, yeah!
Look at
Look at Skye.
Baby, shocked starin'
Like a hawk gawkin' at me oww
Hey! That was so good.
That was so good.
- Hi.
- Hi.
Oh, you're here?
You must be hungry.
And a happy New Year.
It's happy New Year.
Okay, let's eat.
Thank you for the food!
Thank you.
He got all the good ones.
All of my sons are married
and have families.
And right now,
my daughter gets lonely a lot.
Instead of living with us,
she lives alone.
I think what we all hope for for her
is for her to settle down,
find someone and start a family.
If you're a parent,
you want your kid to have someone.
Someone to stand by their side.
My child suffers from loneliness a lot,
but she has a warm heart.
She says she wants to have a lot of babies
and raise them well.
I think she desperately wants it
because she can't have it now.
Why are you single right now?
I'm just so focused on my work.
So it's, like
Like, I don't know how to balance that.
There's definitely a loneliness
and a darkness that comes.
Because, you know, I think right now,
my happiness is having a family
and wanting a child.
She used to give a lot of love.
But because she's suffered
a lot of wounds
she combats those wounds with aggression.
"How did I get here?
How did I get to this point?"
She keeps emphasizing those words
while hiding her wounds.
By chance, if things start becoming
difficult for her,
and she gives up getting married
and having a family,
that's my biggest fear.
I want love. Like, actual love.
But if I settle down,
I have to give this up
to a certain extent. My career.
When I go back home in Korea,
I go back to a empty house.
It's so lonely.
I thought this was a pretty dream,
but it wasn't.
I'm feeling little bit sad
and little bit scared.
Little bit nervous.
I needed to improve so many things.
Like my facial expressions,
my dance, my energy, power.
But I think I improved a lot.
Okay. So, today is the last test
before we make a decision.
So, try your best.
Come on
Even if it's bad
I want more
I want everything that's you
You come close enough
To reach the edge of my fingertips
At your kiss, I begin to waver
Tell me, me, me how you feel
Will you hug me tonight, baby?
I'll stay forever
Ever, ever, ever true, yeah
Bam bang
Put your hand over me
Don't worry
Just come close to me
Close to me
Close, clo-close
I-I need ya, close
- Come on!
- Close, I-I need you close
Okay. You guys are tired, right?
And, Gabi, I can see
you're absolutely wiped out.
I think you need more physical training.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
What do you think your results will be?
I don't know.
I really I am trying to not think
about that, because it's ending.
And I don't know. I
I really want to pass but I don't want
to get, like, separate from her.
We were practicing together,
living together, hanging out together.
Doing everything together.
So, emotionally,
I'm really attached to her.
I'm really afraid because,
like, Sriya's really good too.
I think both of us did
really, really, really well.
We improve a lot and we always, like,
helped each other.
We always thought,
"Yeah, we can make it together.
Let's work as a team."
And we'll see the results later on.
Fighting!
Yeah.
Jiyong has a lot going on in his head.
He overthinks and has a lot of worries.
I really want him to let loose
and get out of his own head.
Honestly, there hasn't been any evaluation
that I feel fully prepared for.
No matter how much I've practiced,
I always wish I had
one more day to practice.
Hello, everyone.
This is Kim Jiyong, 19 years old.
I'll begin singing right now.
You came to me one day
I believed you were my everything
Every time I open my eyes
Please be by my side
Always staying with you
That's all that I want
Thank you.
STAFF: Now Jiyong will change his clothes.
Is he singing in the right key?
Until now, when I show my dance,
my dancing was lighter and cuter.
But now I want to show
a more powerful and charismatic dance.
And I want them to recognize
that I can do this too.
It's your world
Just do what you want to do, aight?
Up, up we go
We're a JUMPER
I feel so high
Up, up we go
We're a JUMPER
Go to the place you want, want
Just imagine the place, place
Break out of the box
I'll push away all the things in your way
Thank you.
You were too tense throughout your body.
Yes.
I think you didn't catch the point of
the emotion, especially in your singing.
Maybe I was overexcited.
- With your dance?
- Yes.
I could tell he was nervous
and I felt bad that he couldn't
show off his true talent.
I think that this might have been
my last evaluation.
And I'm so scared.
Okay. Thank you for your performance.
Hello.
Nervous?
Yes, yes, yes.
Yes.
You've been on a challenge
- for the past six months
- Yes.
to become a member of BLACKSWAN.
Today is the day when it's finally decided
whether you get to become
a member of BLACKSWAN
- or leave.
- Yes.
When you were crying
- and having a hard time
- Yes.
I suggested you go back several times.
But you never gave up.
- Why not?
- I will never give u
Because it's my dream.
Your dream.
In vocal, dance, language,
- every area
- Yes.
you received passing marks
from all the trainers.
- Talent of course is important
- Yes.
but your mental spirit is
really important.
- Yes, yes.
- When I look at you,
you have a really strong
spirit of winning.
Yes.
At this point,
I'm thinking it's about time
we give you a proper debut.
You've made it.
I passed?
Congratulations.
Really?
This is the first I'm seeing her cry.
I've seen Gabi crying, like, really often.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
Let's shake hands. Congrats.
Thank you. Thank you.
For you, there must have been
three things that gave you a hard time.
Korean, vocal, dance,
and there was diet too.
So, the thing is, for six months
you took Korean classes.
And you've improved a lot,
but you have a lot more to learn.
I will keep practicing Korean.
- Yeah, you need to practice a lot.
- Yes.
To be honest with you,
according to our staff,
you still have a lot of areas
you need to improve.
You are not at the professional level yet.
That being said,
we had to make a decision today.
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