Experiences Of An Ex-trainee

[Guest smile-jw]

Thank you so much for taking your time out to write this~

It was really helpful.

I already knew some of these...but however.....

4) artists have to sleep with the companies managers/ get forced to have sex with them = not true. as before there are black sheep, but it´s not the standard. once you´re in a company you will not be forced to do things like this. however there are certain artists, who wouldn´t be where they are today if they didn´t sleep their way on the top. yes, there is black sheep everywhere among artists and among managers etc. that´s dirty, but it happens all the time.

Thats just ughh. Even if it is unlikely, just the thought of it....

Makes me rethink about things.

[Guest eunhee_lemonade]

its really nice of you to share all this.

i was always worried about the looks & age , thanks for sharing <3333

[Guest rotten_sherry]

Voice from the expert!

Well....I guess I've known everything, as I learn and grow up, but most of our dongsaeng still don't know anything about it.

Thank you....you are very a nice person to tell them without breaking anything ^^

SG Fighting!

xxx

[Guest x.yoru]

Wow! That was actually really interesting and cleared up a couple things for me. ^^

Thank you for taking your time to share this with us.

[Guest Chrissy08]

Wow that was pretty thorough and nicely put.

I'm just gonna put my 2 cents in and give some examples of my opinions. ^^

Yeah it's common for companies to lie about their stars' ages. Some examples that have been fessed up to: J, who was previously said to be a year younger than she really was (it was b/c of the difference b/t being a teen and being in her 20s); Mina, who said she was 25 at the time of her first debut album when she was really in her early 30s; the famous Park Jun Hyung from g.o.d. case, etc. There were also opposite cases back in the old days, because there was a certain age limit to becoming a celebrity but I haven't really heard of once since.

I think by "charisma" and "stage presence", she means that a star has to have the ability to draw their audience in and make them pay attention and make them WANT to pay attention and learn more/hear more about them. It's a type of magnetic presence that one must exhort on everyone. For example, BoA was told during her early albums (I believe her first two) that she didn't have enough charisma, and in order to obtain such, she had to practice singing into a camera and making eye contact and "relating" the audience to help her. I don't think "charisma" necessarily means that you have to have that sort of "look at me, I'm dangerous" sort of quality to it, but rather more of an addiction sort of quality, where one just can't get enough of that person. Humor on TV shows and whatnot may help but not necessarily. A new talented singer recently, for example, got negative commentary for trying to be "too funny" and not seeming to take his singing really professionally (if you saw Showvival, you probably saw this). Passion also helps with "charisma", I believe. Look at Bi and his passion that gives off his charisma; he was put down so many times and it may have driven him to have more passion and greed for his career so that he gives off a certain aura. There are probably a gazillion different ways to give off charisma and have a stage presence, but that probably depends on the person, and perhaps even the trends of the era: ex.) how college male acoustic-guitar-playing singers were the most popular in the 80s or 70s (can't remember), in Korea... mostly b/c they WERE college students, not just b/c of their musical talents.

And wow, I heard there were trainees who were put into such situations, where they couldn't sign with another company as a singer, but I never thought I'd hear from one. A lot of people, I heard, are put into tough situations because of it, but I'm glad to hear that you've found a new passion and are happy with your job. Plus, you can let everyone and anyone know you have a boyfriend, and have time to see him. hehe

[Guest hipopdancer]

hey there, thanks a lot for all this info.

it helps to know about all these things ^^

and thx for clearing up the rumors.

[Guest shan88]

I think by "charisma" and "stage presence", she means that a star has to have the ability to draw their audience in and make them pay attention and make them WANT to pay attention and learn more/hear more about them. It's a type of magnetic presence that one must exhort on everyone. For example, BoA was told during her early albums (I believe her first two) that she didn't have enough charisma, and in order to obtain such, she had to practice singing into a camera and making eye contact and "relating" the audience to help her. I don't think "charisma" necessarily means that you have to have that sort of "look at me, I'm dangerous" sort of quality to it, but rather more of an addiction sort of quality, where one just can't get enough of that person. Humor on TV shows and whatnot may help but not necessarily. A new talented singer recently, for example, got negative commentary for trying to be "too funny" and not seeming to take his singing really professionally (if you saw Showvival, you probably saw this). Passion also helps with "charisma", I believe. Look at Bi and his passion that gives off his charisma; he was put down so many times and it may have driven him to have more passion and greed for his career so that he gives off a certain aura. There are probably a gazillion different ways to give off charisma and have a stage presence, but that probably depends on the person, and perhaps even the trends of the era: ex.) how college male acoustic-guitar-playing singers were the most popular in the 80s or 70s (can't remember), in Korea... mostly b/c they WERE college students, not just b/c of their musical talents.

couldn't agree more! there's so many people who can sing but not everyone has the quality to make it as a star. it's indeed a mysterious quality to have huh?

thanx fighter for sharing with us your experience! we really appreciate it =D

glad that you are happy with what you are doing now. wish ya all the best!

[Guest choliese]

thanks for clearing out some stuffs

it's relieving to hear that no company would beat up their artists

[spark]

Dang I already knew everything here ..

I was looking forward to finding out something shocking that I never knew but.. eh..

Who else was thinking through out the whole thing reading this "SM SM SM. This is SO SM"

ahaha yup same =D

i was just about to put up an explanation of charisma and stage presence =D thanks for doing it nicely hehe.

its really hard to explain and a trait that not everyone has. you can sing well but not necessarily draw crowds. while someone else who may sing decently but has this trait will draw crowds. but i guess you can build up this trait, but it just wouldnt be the same. (in my opinion)

[Guest chemical9]

Actually I already expected all, if not most of the things you mentioned.

I mean, they're common sense actually. But some people just listen and believe rumors blindly. Hah.

But thanks for sharing really. But are you sure some artists that are 35 actually look 21? Lol.

And where are you from? I'm just curious. ^^;

[Guest cindy-yang]

Who else was thinking through out the whole thing reading this "SM SM SM. This is SO SM"

i thought that too

with the part she said that they came up to her and asked her to try out

i only heard one company doing that

THANK YOU!

for taking your time and writing all of this

[Guest mskama]

sleep with their managers?o__O.

wow. thanks for sharing this with us.

[Guest tvxqsaranghae]

what were u doing at the cinema?? i mean obviously u weren't watching the movie yet or u've finished the movie cuz he can't scout u while watching the movie right.. XD so what were u doing? just standing there and he came up to you??

did he ask u if he could take pix of u right there at the cinema?? if i were u i'd say "NO!" ... there are too many bad ppl in society =="

and did u dress particularly pretty that day??

what else did he do after he came up to you? did he watch a movie? XDXD or was he just there to scout ppl?

[Guest shyangel2793]

thx for info.,..

it helps a lot.. xD

[Guest MistahKK]

i thought that too

with the part she said that they came up to her and asked her to try out

i only heard one company doing that

THANK YOU!

for taking your time and writing all of this

I know, huh!

A lot of the members were scouted rather then auditioning the "regular" way.

[Guest Eider]

lol...about the age... I always lie on that on my auditions and worked so far on those i got into... they really don't care about it , or do some re-search. Once, i staff member told me privately:

" you do look like 16 but i bet you have some more, it's ok tho, as long as you can fool other people as you could fool the other staff members"

I've turned down a company, a japanese one, because the contract they wanted to make me sign was totally a crap. I was smart enough not to let be fooled by them tho, and in the end they weren't that interested in me because when i refused to sign those conditions they didn't really try to negociate. Also... about surgery,they adviced me i could change a bit of that and this if i trully wanted to step on that world. i plainly told them to pay the surgery then, half joking and uh...they agreed. that was one of the reasons why i refused the contract actually,uh...not the main, of course LOL... more like... in the end it wasn't really worth signing for a 2 year contract as a trainee when they didn't guarantee anything, some cost weren't payed , and random things like that.... i also have to move to japan, where i've never been before and leave all my life behind to have the 95 % of chances to fail. I'm talking about a japanese company tho... not korean. So who knows how things could be over there. It depends of companies i think.

[chiyo]

^

i think everyone should know about the age thing now. it´s weird that so many people are still worried about their age. how old were you when you said you were "16"? but congrats on getting accepted (even though you didn´t sign with them).

and thanks to fighter for taking the time to post this ^^

[Guest Eider]

I was 19 more or less . I'm 21 now.

[Guest love=music=life]

Thank you for sharing all the info!

[Guest MistahKK]

lol...about the age... I always lie on that on my auditions and worked so far on those i got into... they really don't care about it , or do some re-search. Once, i staff member told me privately:

" you do look like 16 but i bet you have some more, it's ok tho, as long as you can fool other people as you could fool the other staff members"

I've turned down a company, a japanese one, because the contract they wanted to make me sign was totally a crap. I was smart enough not to let be fooled by them tho, and in the end they weren't that interested in me because when i refused to sign those conditions they didn't really try to negociate. Also... about surgery,they adviced me i could change a bit of that and this if i trully wanted to step on that world. i plainly told them to pay the surgery then, half joking and uh...they agreed. that was one of the reasons why i refused the contract actually,uh...not the main, of course LOL... more like... in the end it wasn't really worth signing for a 2 year contract as a trainee when they didn't guarantee anything, some cost weren't payed , and random things like that.... i also have to move to japan, where i've never been before and leave all my life behind to have the 95 % of chances to fail. I'm talking about a japanese company tho... not korean. So who knows how things could be over there. It depends of companies i think.

Danggg...

I thought they would make you pay for the surgery.