survivalphoenix

[survivalphoenix]

top 10 girl group biases: (5/10) sistar’s yoon bora

[survivalphoenix]

introducing… SHIMIZU HARUKO aka JEWEL!

SEND HER COMMENTS OR MESSAGES NOW USING THE HASHTAG #RoF_JEWEL !

personal information.

birth name: 清水春子

official romanization: shimizu haruko (but other spellings are fine to her)

stage name: jewel

date of birth: february 15, 1996

current age: 24 (kor: 25)

place of birth: kurume, fukuoka prefecture, japan

ethnicity: japanese

nationality: japanese

sexuality: bisexual

height: 5′4″

possible positions (based on audition, past performance footage, and current information): center, main/lead dancer, main/lead rapper, vocalist

representative symbol: ribbon

has been a trainee for: 8 years

language/s spoken: japanese, korean

miscellaneous information.

faceclaim: hirai momo

vocal claim: moon byulyi (moonbyul)

rap claim: moon byulyi (moonbyul)

dance claim: hirai momo

audition song: “think about you” - jun.k (dance cover) (link in source)

fun facts.

jewel chose her stage name and symbol because they can be interpreted as feminine or masculine. she’s been told that jewel, spelled out, looks feminine but sounds masculine to western ears when spoken (because it sounds like joel). likewise, ribbons can be girly ribbons in the hair or a bowtie on a tuxedo.

before even taking an interest in kpop, jewel diligently trained in dance.

her favorite japanese food is oden, because she gets cold easily and it’s a tasty way of warming her up. in her time within korea, she says her favorite dish so far is ox bone soup.

she was pretty nervous about being the first lgbtq+ contestant to be unveiled. there were some ignorant comments already, like one asking her how many people she’s slept with. her honest answer is that she’s never had a real boyfriend or girlfriend or enbyfriend yet, nor has she hooked up with anyone. (not that she isn’t excited to have a love life someday....) but she also attracted plenty of positive comments, so she’s glad anyway.

due to her aforementioned sensitivity to the cold, jewel has an expansive collection of ear muffs. she likes to pick really stylish ones.

biography + audition under the cut.

trigger warnings: descriptions of gender roles.

biography.

it was evident, the way haruko preferred action figures over barbie dolls. but it was no less humiliating when her classmates gave her action figures during christmas while all her other female classmates received dolls and hairbrushes. she was always othered, always different. the girl who acted too much like a boy.

she tried to take it in stride. it’s who she was, why should she be ashamed? she wore tuxedos to school dances. she danced to boy bands’ songs — although she didn’t sing or rap, because despite her attempts at self-acceptance, it was hard for her to listen to her naturally deep voice. she could never be feminine. but she didn’t even want to be, did she? she hid the slender curves of her body as puberty passed. she didn’t know what to do with it.

there’s nothing wrong with not being feminine, of course. no matter what you were born as. but the truth was, haruko wished to be feminine. she didn’t want to be a girly girl; that wasn’t her. but she wanted to be somewhere in the middle. she wanted to embrace her feminine side as well as her masculine side. as she trained in her dance academy, with a whole new set of individuals surrounding her, she realized that she didn’t have to cling to old notions people had of her. even her family was mistaken. haruko finally managed to cultivate her own sense of gender expression: both feminine and masculine.

audition.

“as expected, her moves are sharp and precise,” said one panelist. “she’s so cool. i can’t imagine anyone else leading the girl crush concept.”

“but what happened to singing and rapping? actually hearing her voice? tsk, tsk,” said another judge. “don’t tell me she’s still ashamed of her vocal color.”

“well, i think she said earlier that she isn’t ashamed of her voice. but her dancing is her best point, so she’ll focus on dancing.”

the panelists sat there, wondering if this was true. “regardless,” said another judge, “we can’t have a member who simply smiles and never opens her mouth during performances.”

[survivalphoenix]

introducing... JOMARY CABATU aka BUBBLES!

SEND HER COMMENTS OR MESSAGES NOW USING THE HASHTAG #RoF_BUBBLES !

personal information.

birth name: jomary may cabatu

stage name: bubbles

nickname/s: jm, jo, jomang, yeng (does not like it when fans call her this; it’s reserved for family and really close friends)

date of birth: june 30, 2001

current age: 19 (kor: 20)

place of birth: tagbilaran city, bohol, philippines

ethnicity: filipino (visayan)

nationality: filipino, korean

sexuality: heterosexual

height: 5′6″

possible positions (based on audition, past performance footage, and current information): main/lead vocalist, main/lead dancer, center, maknae

representative symbol: gummy bears

has been a trainee for: 3 years

language/s spoken: bisaya, korean, tagalog, english

miscellaneous information.

faceclaim: vivoree esclito

vocal claim: zhou jieqiong (kyulkyung)

rap claim: n/a

dance claim: vivoree esclito

audition song: “hey” - iu (cover) (link in source)

fun facts.

bubbles is an avid cosplayer. on her instagram, she posts cosplay, as well as fashion and art. 

her favorite book series since she was 14 is “the illuminae files” by amie kaufman and jay kristoff. she’s writing a mixed-media novel following the footsteps of “the illuminae files,” and she admits it’s hard not to draw inspiration from the idol lifestyle. she says that there are lots of interesting people she meets, and horrible people, that would make great characters in a sci-fi novel.

bubbles can speak fluent korean with a minimal accent, because she’s been here for 7 years.

her favorite food from her home region, visayas in the philippines, is chicken inasal. her favorite korean food is samgyeopsal (grilled pork belly bits). she used to restrain her intake of samgyeopsal, but now lets herself get lost in the fun of a samgyeopsal restaurant and order until she’s full. her one complaint is that it drills a real hole in her pocket to keep on eating samgyeopsal all the time. she has to be smart about cash, though her grandmother likes to say that no money spent on food is wasted money. 

she chose the stage name bubbles instead of the suggested ones, “summer” and “sunshine.” she says she didn’t want her cultural and ethnic heritage to be exoticized; there’s more to her than being from a tropical southeast asian country. “bubbles” alludes to a handful of things. one, her singing has been described as sweet as bubblegum as well as clear and bright, much like bubbles. two, she’s a bubbly person (and would very much not like to be sexualized at her age).

biography + audition under the cut.

trigger warnings: descriptions of ableism, mental illness, eating disorders, colorism, and racism.

biography.

jomary was born in tagbilaran, philippines, on the island of bohol. growing up, there was never any shortage of tall tales and myths; the visayans have a heritage of rich folk stories, after all. but jomary was more than just another listener: she could actually hear those creatures, and more. well, she believed so. “talawan,” they’d tease her. (coward.) if she was lucky, the word was affectionate. but sometimes, it was cruel, hurled at her with other sorts of barbs, if not downright physical harassment.

she was an odd duck. although her good grades and status as one of her class’s top swimmers kept her from being at the lowest of the popularity food chain, there was no denying that her peers found her weird and pathetic. many would rub salt in the wound whenever she lost tournaments; they’d joke about how she probably heard a siyokoy (a kind of malevolent creature in their mythology that pulls innocent humans from the water and kills them) in the pools, and that’s why she didn’t win, things like that. she heard them, and they knew she did, but they didn’t quite care. the worst part was that, in a way, it was true. her anxiety did not leave her, even when she was in her element.

at 12 years old, jomary and her single mother alyzza left for south korea after alyzza married a korean man, siwoo. when they arrived, jomary didn’t want siwoo to think that she or her mother were gold-diggers, as people loved accusing filipinos. sure, their life back in the philippines was less comfortable, but it didn’t mean that alyzza married for money. fortunately, siwoo was a good man who didn’t bear prejudices against southeast asians.

not everybody was the same. par for the course, bubbles was subject to a lot of colorism and racism in this new country. one of her saving graces was that she naturally had a petite build. her new friends in korea praised her for her incredibly small body. although they had good intentions, this actually exacerbated her self-loathing, especially when siwoo and alyzza encouraged her to audition for a kpop agency.

at 16, she was accepted. she was thin, but not thin enough. her trainers at the agency repeated her friends’ words and made them monstrous: you’re so thin! but you could be thinner. you should be thinner. jomary let herself be put on a harsh diet and the girl developed anorexia.

this was simple compromise, the girl reasoned. she refused to start bleaching her brown skin, as her company requested, so it was fair that she stopped eating so she’d become as thin as she could be. right? right? although her mother and stepdad loved her, they did not understand the gravity of the situation, especially because jomary was skilled at pretending that it wasn’t that severe.

and then, right before she was set to debut in a girl group in 2019, she lost on king of the masked singer. she didn’t even make it past the first round — how come, when her voice was sweet as bubblegum yet able to be solid and stable? well, the general public thought otherwise. she was shaking and her voice wobbled all throughout her performance. rumors hounded her and her company, accusing jomary of being high on drugs.

the people around her knew she wasn’t, however. particularly after she nearly fainted backstage. they took her to the hospital and then discovered that she had an eating disorder. after clearing up the scandal, her company kicked her out nonetheless. her trainee period halted. she was both relieved and miserable.

audition.

in an interview, bubbles shared that she felt as if she hadn’t been trained for three years. “this feels like a brand-new beginning for me,” she said. “i was awfully nervous until i realized that i feel revitalized by the fresh start that ring of fire has given me.”

she jaunted on to the stage and, true to her word, provided a performance that our panel found “refreshing.” one judge praised her lovely, crystal-clear voice.

“i’m sure that audiences around the globe will appreciate her cute charms,” remarked another.

“but we know she can do more. she was holding back, that’s evident. it will certainly pose a problem if she never learns how to conquer her nerves.”

[survivalphoenix]

RISE FROM THE ASHES LIKE A PHOENIX.

the blog survivalphoenix is dedicated to the fictional kpop survival show, ring of fire. ring of fire features fifteen girls who passed the first cut of auditions; the auditions were looking for girls with difficult or sorrowful past lives, who managed to rise again despite the adversity.

ring of fire is a bit more international than the average kpop survival show. in addition to including contestants who hail from other countries and aren’t just monoracial koreans/east asians, the ring of fire contestants and showrunners also care deeply about their foreign fans. international reception makes up 25% of each week’s final voting.

the final top 9 will debut in a girl group called phoen-IX (pronounced feen-nine). their official fanbase will be called the phoenixes.

TUNE IN NOW. CONTESTANT PROFILES ARE ROLLING OUT.

[survivalphoenix]

dream girl looks.

[survivalphoenix]

INTRODUCING... YI YOUNGJA aka BORA !

SEND HER COMMENTS OR MESSAGES NOW USING THE HASHTAG #RoF_BORA !

personal information.

birth name: 이영자

official romanization: yi youngja (but other spellings are fine to her)

stage name: bora

date of birth: may 4, 1997

current age: 23 (kor: 24)

place of birth: gwangju, south jeolla province, south korea

ethnicity: korean

nationality: south korean

sexuality: heterosexual

height: 5′5″

likely positions (based on audition, past performance footage, and current information): main/leader vocalist, face of the group, leader, rapper, sub dancer

representative symbol: plum blossom

has been a trainee for: 9 years!

languages spoken: korean; english; a little bit of latin, french, spanish, portuguese, italian, and romanian

miscellaneous information.

faceclaim: jung jinsoul

vocal claim: jung jinsoul

rap claim: jung jinsoul

dance claim: jung jinsoul

audition song: “as time goes” - jinsoul* (link in source)

* in-universe, “as time goes” is bora’s self-composed song.

fun facts.

although bora has never yet stepped foot outside south korea, she is familiar with so many languages because linguistics is her hobby. although her interest in it is quite academic, one of the reasons she began studying other languages isn’t so academic: “ruby tuesday” by the rolling stones is one of her favorite songs, and she wanted to be able to understand it.

bora is a talented pianist.

bora’s celebrity crush is hotel del luna leading man yeo jingoo. she says she wrote “as time goes” while imagining she was jang manwol walking in the bridge to the afterlife, leaving yeo’s character chansung behind. (however, her friends teased her by saying the song suited manwol and chungmyung more, which made her angry, because she doesn’t ship those two at all.)

she loves spooky concepts, which is probably obvious from her love of hotel del luna.

her favorite food is glazed lotus roots. as a bona fide child of gwangju, however, of course she’ll attest to how amazing their barbecued beef is.

she chose the stage name bora, which means purple in korean, because her surname means plum. plum is a shade of purple in english, and she likes the symbolism of plum blossoms (resilience, beauty, purity, hope, and prosperity). she also thinks it will be easy for an international audience to pronounce, which is the whole reason they have stage names anyway, but at the same time she wants to keep it korean.

biography + audition under the cut.

trigger warnings: descriptions of ableism, poverty, and bullying. 

biography.

youngja was born in gwangju, one of south korea’s cuisine and fashion capitals. she had a wonderful time growing up, with a single mom who was a cook. her mother, eunji, truly loved her; that’s how youngja was able to have a nice childhood, despite their financial struggles and the social stigma they endured because they weren’t a nuclear family.

eunji found better and better jobs in the culinary world. by the time youngja was a teenager, she no longer had to worry whether or not she or her mother could eat. youngja was aware that her mother had aspirations of being an idol back in the day, but her unplanned pregnancy stopped her from achieving those dreams. so she offered to continue her mother’s dream for her, now that they had the money to pay for idol training.

youngja was a stand-out at her first agency. she was a klutz, sure, not the best dancer... but what did it matter when she was so musically gifted? a piano prodigy and a powerhouse vocalist. she was set to become a star.

the biggest problem really was that she was socially inept. youngja found herself with a distressing number of enemies and critics because of her “rude” or “arrogant” or “weird” behavior. she often cried to eunji about it.

but much as eunji loved her daughter, she was human too. she told her daughter to just ignore her peers; the woman was too enamored with the idea of having a superstar daughter to realize there was something else going on.

it wasn’t until youngja was 20 (kor: 21) years old and had given up on her idol dreams that she was finally diagnosed autistic. although the stigma made it hard for both mother and daughter to accept this at first, youngja eventually embraced her diagnosis. it helped her be gentler on herself, and understand herself more. maybe, just maybe, she’s ready to dream again.

audition.

bora sang her original composition “as time goes” while playing the piano. the panel was stunned by her incredibly clear and powerful vocals. “she’s really amazing at ballads,” said one judge.

“but i wonder if she’ll be good at dance pop too?” asked another. “i don’t think phoen-ix will only release ballads. you have to have variety.”

“i hear that she admits she’s not confident at dancing. and she’s pretty good at rapping, but doesn’t like it at all.”

[survivalphoenix]

ooc post. hello! i can’t state enough how nervous i am. this is my very first time plunging into the world of kpop ocs. i’m v, she/her, 19 years old, southeast asian. i hope you’ll give my ladies some love as i roll out their introduction posts! i intend for ring of fire, my fictional survival show, to be interactive. please please please feel free to send the ladies some comments and letters via the ask or submit box! (negative comments are okay, as long as they’re in-character, BUT things like racism, colorism, ableism, or misogyny are not allowed. ever.)

i’d love to make some new friends! i genuinely don’t know where to start with this kind of thing. i’ve submitted an application to a koc network but that’s about it so far. please feel free to message me and be my friend! i’ve lowkey been reading some kpop oc stuff too, so there’s a chance i’ve read your blogs and admired from afar. much love. ♡

[survivalphoenix]

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