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lara635kookie · 2 months

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My Opinions on Dream Academy:

The Contestants:

Top 10:

1. Sophia:

THE IT GIRL. She's an ultimate ace. She sings, she dances, she can do it all. There's nothing she can't do. Everything you can think, Sophia can do. She cooks and she is so well-spoken, articulated and sophisticated(maybe because her dad is a well-known filipino politician and her mother is an actress), definitely leader vibes. She is so caring and kind with everyone and it's just so talented! Sometimes, I even wonder if she's human! Sophia Elizabeth G. Laforteza, real human beings got to have flaws! Why don't you have any???

2. Lara:

She serves vocals, and dance, and visual, and VOCALS. She just has so much attitude. I don't know how to explain it but she has an aura, a whole vibe around her that just makes you want to watch her more. She just seems so confident(see what I did there) and she just looks like a sassy boss ready to run the world. She deserves all the good things in the world!

3. Daniela:

She can do it all! She can sing well and dance almost flawlessly. Definitely competing with Megan for Main Dancer position. Having said that, I knew she was popular and talented, but she never really got much my attention. I feel neutral about her. My only problem with her is that, no:She does not represent latam. Katseye does not have a member that represents latin america. That would have been the case only if Samara from Brazil or Celeste from Argentina(or both) made it to the final lineup. "Latina" is not just some label you can go and identify yourself as. In the latin community there is a general consent when someone can be considered latino or not and Daniela does not meet all the requirements. You don't need to be born in a latin country but If you don't know how to speak portuguese(brazil's official language), french(haiti's official language) or spanish(all the other latin america's countries official language) in a higher level than what Daniele gives, don't have a close connection to latin america(parents or grandparents) and never been to one latin america country and don't know and understand their culture and at least a few of its deepest aspects from UP CLOSE and their story with collonization, legacy and the current overall situation of the continent and reality of the people who live there, you're not latino. Simple as that(and as far as I'm concerned, it works like that for basically anywhere in the world, with little variations). Daniela's level of Spanish so far seems to be the basics of the basic. Me, a brazilian, native portuguese speaker, that watched many spanish speaking shows like Violetta, Soy Luna, Bia, Soy Franky, Kally's Mashup, Club 57, etc, I seem to have a better spanish than her. Also, Daniela knows Cuban music and dances from her household...What about Venezuela? Has she never been to any of those countries? Not even once? Music and dancing styles are only two aspects of the culture, what about the rest? What does she know about it? And knowing about the USA's education system, specially in regards to geography, I wonder if she can even point out Cuba and Venezuela on a map. And y'all can't blame me for being skeptical about it. Everybody knows USA are made fun of and seen as an international joke because of how dumb their education system is and how low the overall citizen knowledge is(some americans themselves recognize it). I know there are stupid people everywhere in the world, but USA is something else. Just watch "* type continent here * according to Americans" and "What is the dumbest thing an American has ever said to you?", you'll be surprised. I know we can not generalize and not all Americans are like this, but you can't deny there is a reason why USA has that kind of content made about them the most. It is a real problem and I hope they can fix it soon.

Back to the latina topic, take a look at Rachel Zegler, Jenna Ortega and Anya Taylor-Joy for example. Rachel Zegler doesn't represent Colombia and Jenna Ortega doesn't represent Mexico but Anya Taylor-Joy represents Argentina. That because unlike Rachel and Jenna, Anya Taylor-Joy speaks fluent spanish and lived in Argentina until she was six years old and still travels there from time to time. Rachel and Jenna have latino parents. That's it. That's all. Unlike Anya, that is not enough to make them fully latina.

"Oh but in the US only being descendent already counts and..." Exactly. In the US. In the latino countries, that are the ones that should be taken into account because they are the latinos, if someone like Daniela says they are latino in a latino country the real latinos will laugh at them. Just because you have the "stereotypical latina look" that doesn't make you latina(which is proven that now that being latina is considered "trendy", a lot of girls try to copy the superficial latina look of what they think latina girls look like reinforcing sterotypes of what they think being latina means and people comment "gosh you are so latina")because in latin america, "latino" is not an ethnicity:Latinos comes in all packages:White, black, brown, due to collonization and the mix of europeans, indigenous people, asians and black people. What Daniela does is the same thing as a brazilian girl whose parents moved from Japan to Brazil and speak japanese fluently but the girl is born in Brazil and thinks she's so japanese just because she has a japanese appearence, speaks basic japanese, watches anime and listens to j-pop. Same thing with Daniela thinking she is latina just because she "looks" latina, her spanish skills so far are ordinary and she knows some latino songs(you can't speak FOR them if you can't speak TO them).

The term "Latin"(not the language) was first used in France to refer to people from Latin America. Other countries that speak languages that came from Latin(Spanish, portuguese, french, Italian, romanian, catalan, etc) aren't called "latinos" because they already had denominations of what their people were called before. So the original concept of the word is "any individual BORN in any country in the american continent that speaks a language that came from latin is latino." But the USA only considers the spanish speaking(aka hispanics) countries latino. So even though Brazilians(lusophones) and Haitians(I think the linguistic term would be francophone but I'm not sure tho) speak portuguese and french respectively and are very much in the american continent, the United States Law doesn't consider us latinos, when we clearly are and all of the other latino countries consider us latinos too. So forgive us for not wanting to conform to what americans think we are. Sometimes, the rules and standards the US set for themselves aren't a thing in the whole entire world, can y'all believe that??? Shocking for the center of the world, USA, the only America that exists because the name isn't United States of (the continent) America(some basic geography and history lessons would really do some americans good). In Brazil, we have memes that joke that being considered latino in the US is the easiest thing in the world:Have at least one of your great grandparents born in a hispanic latin america country(bonus points if it's Cuba, Mexico or even their own state Puerto Rico because they are pretty much the only ones the average american knows because they are the ones closer to the US), speak three words of basic spanish and call it a day. Congrats, you're latino now. Some americans really think they know better what being a latino is than latino people themselves. You don't. Thank u, next.

And before anyone says I'm a disguised hater, I love all the woman mentioned, just some of them don't represent latin america as much as they try to force it upon people, and actual latinos(not just from Brazil and Argentina but also from Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, Uruguay, Nicaragua, Haiti, etc) have the right to not feel represented by them. The latino's point that Katseye does not have latin america representation is valid because it is considered true by latino people and what latinos consider latino and not what USA citizens consider latino. Because I can assure you they are different. Daniela is considered latina only in the US. She wouldn't be considered latina anywhere else. For us, she's just American.

That being said, there is nothing wrong with being American or only having one nacionality(her mixed ethnicity still doesn't make her latina). I recognize Daniela's talent and I think after the group ends she will be able to establish herself easily in the industry as the next big soloist. I can see her pulling off something similar to what Selena Gomez or Camila Cabello do.

4. Yoonchae:

Of course, they needed a korean but Yoonchae and Sophia are two that I think could be more successful in a kpop group(I would love Sophia to join Gehlee Dangca and Elisia as the filipinas of kpop). I do think the group needed east asians, I'm just surprised any korean girl would apply to this reality show instead of just applying to be a hybe or any other agency trainee and be probably more successful in a kpop group. Like Nayoung for example. According to the judges she wanted to be eliminated to be a soloist, which is probably true, now that she is participating in Girls on Fire. If she got in, she will probably be a soloist in Korea after it ends. Theories say that Hybe always wanted Yoonchae because she is younger and fits more the korean beauty standards than Nayoung, but Nayoung was more popular among the public, so they invented this whole soloist thing to kick Nayoung out. Others said that they always wanted Nayoung on the group to debut Yoonchae on either a kpop group with Hinari, Ua, Karlee, Mei and Marquise or another kpop gg who would have like New Jeans vibes, but Nayoung wanting to be a soloist frustrated their plans and they had to go for Yoonchae. I never believed any of those, because they just don't make sense to me. I did have Nayoung as a favorite and barely noticed Yoonchae before mission 3, but I like her. She's nice and her entrance was predictable. Her place was basically guaranteed but she deserved anyway.

5. Megan:

My fave since the show started. She was my pick since the very beginning. She's an icon, she's a legend and she's the moment. Her dance will slay on the group(and I imagine her raps too since I think Manon and her will be the rappers, it's a position that fits them the most comparing to the other members, maybe Daniela will rap too). She has everything and I love her with all my heart.

6. Manon:

She is a visual and a decent dancer. I think her husky voice is very unique, just kinda unstable and a little bit shaky most of the time. But she has the time to train it and she has improved a lot in comparison to the start of the show, same thing with her lack of facial expressions in performances, which is understandable because she was a model and has a very mature look, which is probably why she always had more of a serious face and overall vibe. Speaking of her model career, I hope it's still a thing after her debut. She passes me some Naomi Campbell, Winnie Harlow and Anok Yai vibes and I think it would be a very profitable industry for her to keep being successfull in the US after the group ends. Usually reality show groups have a temporary contract of 2-5 years, which is a good amount of time to Manon to guarantee her future after the group is over. I can't picture her as a soloist(at least for now), but I think she would slay as model(both photos and runway) and I can definitely see her potential as an actress with proper training as well.

My biggest fear towards Manon on the group was the same as Yoonchae:Her being kinda isolated/left aside by the other girls. Yoonchae because of the language barrier and Manon because she seems to be more of an introvert and reserved kind of person. Compared to Manon, Samara seemed closer to Yoonchae, Megan and specially Sophia and Lara during the show. The only girls I can think of that Manon was very close with are Nayoung and Iliya(who revealed on Tik Tok she was the only one that voted she wanted Manon on the group with her). And because of Manon's personality seemingly being a little bit more closed, which is understandable since Manon was the second oldest girl in the show(Nayoung being the oldest and Iliya the third oldest). However, the most toxic part of her fandom kept inventing she was hated by some of the other girls because of this, trying to build a victim narrative to favor Manon. As someone who is part of both Manon's fandom and Samara's fandom, I can say both are the ones with the most toxic fans(at least the louder ones), but I think Manon fans are still a little bit worse than Samara's because Manon fans are usually solo stans. Most of them like Manon and Manon only.

(This is actually a lighter one, I say way worse ones, that are so heavy I don't even know if can mention)

Meanwhile, Samara's fans usually also liked Sophia, Lara, Emily, Lexie, Ezrela, Nayoung, Iliya, Mei, Karlee, Celeste, Megan and Yoonchae(mainly, but I saw a few supporting the other girls as well). If you go to Instagram, my point will be proven. All the girls who commented on Samara's post saying goodbye to Dream Academy were treated nicely by her fans. Meanwhile Adéla, who said she congratulated all the Katseye members in private and not everything needs to be on the internet to be true and to have happened, when she went to congratulate Manon on her Katseye post on Manon's instagram, most comment replies were hateful(and Samara fans are the most toxic ones? Alright, I'll pretend I believe you). Some Manon fans need to decide themselves. You call her out for not congratulating Manon online, and when she changes her mind about it and does it people don't like either? What do you want from the girl man? Adéla hates Manon because she didn't post a photo with her? She didn't post a photo with Yoonchae either! And that could have a number of reasons:maybe they aren't that close, maybe Manon and Yoonchae didn't want to for some reason and that's fine! There were even people saying they would, quote unquote, "k*ll Mei's short ass" because she didn't congratulate Manon right away and only said "congratulations" in japanese with a fire and heart emoji. They don't need to congratulate her right the second she posts! And if they just want to like the post and not comment anything, that's fine too. It doesn't mean they hate her!

("I don't mean any harm to Celeste" gurl who said Celeste hates Manon when they are clearly friends and told Celeste to stay mad)(Toxic Manon stans keep Samara's name out of their mouths challenge lmao)(Some of them have this victimising paranoia that all of the other girls hated Manon that just doesn't make sense! They have no evidence to back it up! Manon is beautiful and talented, she doesn't need victimhood!)(This inexcusable mentality is not healthy and I'm sure Manon and any other girl wouldn't like her fans attacking their fellow contestants and friends using her name)(Y'all don't see Samara or any of the other girls fans for that matter doing this as much as they do)(If everyone thought like that, we would be doomed)(For example, Daniela and Lara started to follow Samara on Instagram a while after the show was over, just because something isn't done imediately it doesn't mean it's fake, it doesn't mean they hate Samara, some ppl should stop making assumptions based on no proof)(They act like Manon is the most hated girl from the show, which is just not true)(And it's ironic since a good part of the other girls haters were Manon fans) ("Why did you comment on * insert random contestant name * and is commenting on Manon just now?" Maybe because the other contestant post was reccomended first? Y'all don't know how Instagram works? There are a countless of possible reasons, this doesn't prove they hate Manon)

My other problem is that some Manon fans, specially the ones on twitter(I refuse to call it X) couldn't just celebrate Manon's debut without mentioning about how Samara was "a loser who would never be successful because she got rejected by Now United and Dream Academy". Have y'all never heard about black solidarity? You don't need to put Samara down to praise Manon and vice-versa. But something I hate about both fandoms are the rivalizing of both girls. The two fandoms that should be united the most against racism(because I've seen racist comments attacking both girls, Samara just a little bit more because she is a black latina and Manon is a black european) are the ones fighting the most! It wasn't supposed to be like that! I mean, look at these photos:

If they hated each other so much they wouldn't even be able to stand the other being close too them. Samara wouldn't look happy for her along with the other girls. In the video below Manon is jokingly doing the choreography of Break Free for Samara and Sami is laughing:

https://youtube.com/shorts/mUi5_Yu4mUg?si=GDHzqKWPgQuX4bVo

And people swear on their graves they hate each other solely based on the fact they don't follow each other on Instagram lmao. People just because you don't follow every single person you know that doesn't mean you hate them, sometimes you're just not that close/intimate to them or their content enough to follow them and that is totally fine. You don't need to follow anyone if you don't want to.

Another accusation is that Samara hates her because of the video Manon walks in Marquise and Samara's direction and Marquise passes through her to go hug Sophia and Samara passes through her to go hug Yoonchae. First of all:It's most likely she was going for Marquise, which Manon seemed to be a little bit "closer" with in comparison to Samara. Second:Manon didn't seem to be that close to any of the eliminated contestants. Third:She hugged Emily and Ezrela duo and then Samara and Marquise duo before going to hug the other Katseye members. Fourth:Even if she was close to Samara and Marquise, Sophia and Marquise were one of the closest friend duos of the show and Samara seemed quite close with all the asian members, but specially Nayoung, Ua and Mei. So Samara is undoubtedly closer to Yoonchae than she is to Manon. Fifth:If they didn't want to hug Manon again, they are in their right. They don't need to hug Manon or any other contestant if they don't want to. Maybe they aren't that close to a certain girl or maybe they feel uncomfortable with hugs/have a sensibility to physical contact and y'all should respect their choices whatever its based on.

Sixth:People got an specific take of the live finale out of context to make Samara look like "the villain" once again(are we even surprised at this point?). Samara goes for Yoonchae first but SAMARA AND MANON HUG RIGHT AFTER THE YOONCHAE AND SAMARA HUG. Then Samara is hugged by Lara, Sophia and next by Daniela. Then the host dismisses the eliminated girls. Megan is the only one who didn't got to hug not just Samara but also Ezrela and Marquise as well because she spent a lot of time conforting Emily.

After Marquise and Sophia's very long hug, Sophia and Samara hug while Marquise and Manon hug. Then Marquise and Daniela hug and the host asks the eliminated contestants to leave.

Emily is hugged first by Lara, then Megan while Manon is conforting her(couldn't see if they hugged but probably did) and hugged last by Yoonchae. I was surprised because Megan didn't left Emily's side, even when they weren't hugging. I didn't knew they were that close but they are two very good dancers so it makes sense. I found that very cute.

Ezrela is hugged first by Daniela and then by Lara. She talks a little with Yoonchae and Sophia while holding hands before the time the host gave them to say goodbye was over.

I think the girls clearly needed more time to say goodbye. Maybe they could have done it after the show to release later. I didn't got to see the ENFP girls Emily and Sophia hug(and as a fellow ENFP I didn't like it), my antifragile girls Samara and Megan hug, my dancing duo Emily and Daniela hug, etc. And I wanted to hear what they talked to each other too! Anyway, you can't have anything you want in life, am I right? That's all on Manon, let's move on.

7. Samara:

The girl had it ALL:The visuals, the dance, the public and SPECIALLY THE VOCALS(she always passed me some Beyoncé, Rihanna and Tyla vibes)(remember that it's my personal opinion, I'm not comparing). Even Sophia said Sami had one of the best voices she's ever heard:

(And the fact that this interview happened AFTER the controversy, speaks volumes, we all need a true friend like Sophia in our lives)(I think Sami and Soph's friendship are one of the cutest of the show, when Samara couldn't dance Break Free because of her knee injury Sophia's parents commented on one post about it wishing her to get well soon and calling her "Sam", it was so wholesome)(I like that popular saying that goes:"If there are 10 people at a table, a na*ist arrives, sits and no person gets up and leaves, there are 11 na*ists at the table." You can't tolerate the untolerable. It applies to any kind of prejudice in today's society. People are known for the company they keep. If Samara really was such a terrible person, then all of the other girls would be too for still being friends with her, therefore indirectly supporting her actions)

I feel like Hybe was sorta kinda testing if they would push her to debut. They knew she was going to be popular because she is brazilian, arguably the most engaged public of all time(there isn't compilations of brazilian crowds in shows for nothing)(also Brazil is on the top 10 countries that consume k-pop music and the overall market of the genre the most along with South Korea, Philippines, Thailand, Japan, China, Indonesia, USA, Malaysia and I don't remember the last one but it is either Mexico, India or Canada at least it was like that last time I checked) but she also had the talent and the experience, since she trained with Now United. I particularly think they thought on pushing her to debut after she carried antifragile team b on her back(will come back to that later) since a short while later they allowed her to dance Back For More with Kai and shortly after some desperate toxic stans thought it was unfair to the other girls and tried to bring her down using her Tik Tok likes. (People have to understand reality shows are unfair, yes, some more than others but there will always be unfairness to it, even if little, and on one like this, it wouldn't be different. People vote for nationality. Samara, Celeste and Sophia had the skills, but take Universe Ticket as an example:Vanesya wasn't ready to debut but still ranked high before being eliminated by the judges because of the indonesian public votes. So of course the girls from smaller nations, nations that don't consume hybe content that much and girls that have too "common" and "uninteresting" nacionalities/ethnicities/backgrounds according to the public will come behind. To keep people invested, they need a story.)

Anyway, the videos Samara liked were taken out of context by people who don't even speak portuguese. Because not just brazilians but native and portuguese speakers overall(People from Portugal, Angola, Mozambique, etc) know there is nothing wrong about the videos. I watched the videos and there is nothing special about them at all, really.

Also, just because she liked something, that doesn't mean she agrees with EVERYTHING that is being said. Not everything in life it's so black and white, people. Sometimes she only partially agrees, agreeing only with specific parts. And Brazil is known for having a very dark and acid sense of humor. With anyone and anything. Including Brazil and brazilians themselves. "Oh so I'm allowed to mock/tease/make fun of Brazil and brazilians then?" Yeah, you can if you want to but Brazil will fight back HARDER. Like this:

(The brazilian humor can be heavy sometimes. We are the type of society that overall believes looking at our problems positively with jokes or in other ways of comedy make them less painful to bare. The famous "laugh not to cry". As the people were saying from the indian videos:"You shouldn't disrespect this country's culture if you don't know it, don't understand a thing about it and never been there" but I guess it only applies to certain specific cultures out there and not actually all cultures like some tend to preach)

Besides, the indian video could be doing a social commentary on hygienic and sanitary questions(which I interpretated that way because Brazil and India share some similarities in that sense) and how some foreigners feel about different foods, judging them by their appearence. It's not enough to assume she hates India or thinks of India as a gross country.

Samara:* Likes a video about SOME, not all, indian street food *

"OH MY GOD she despises all of indian culture, you anti-indian, xenophobic and racist!"

Samara:* Likes explanatory content with historical information about the context of the Israel and Palestine conflict that is not taking any sides *

"Wanting to be informed about geopolitics and a relevant topic about what's going on in today's world is being a pro-war, islamophobic sionist/zionist! You should be the one getting bombed and dying, not palestinian children!" (Samara follows Kehlani on Instagram, who is clearly an active pro-palestine celebrity, if some of y'all have bothered looking further instead of just believing doubtful sources you would know)(The US wants to ban Tik Tok from the country once again because according to them the app is making young people anti-Israel, so if some of y'all will invent lies at least be cohesive and coherent about it)

Samara:* Likes harmless stuff about the bible because she is just a regular christian like the majority of the brazilian population *

"Look at her, she is a conservative, extremist, conspirationist, intolerant, anti-chinese, anti-russian, religious fanatic Bolsonaro supporter! Shame on you, monkey bitch! Come back to the favela where you belong!"

(Yeah most people were being hypocrites just projecting their own prejudices on her and using it as an excuse to perpetuate them without not even looking for further information to confirm if the allegations were real. According to some of these people twisted logic, it's only wrong when Samara "does" it, but they can go do the "same", or "worst", to her)(And she didn't even do anything, which just makes these people look even more stupid than they were before, if that's even possible)

People, make it make sense! Some things are just thrown in the accusations out of nowhere. Stop hating on a black latina girl for no reason(and somehow the racist xenophobic is her)(and before anyone says I'm "pulling the race card", if the accusations were proven to be true, then people would be right for calling her out on her mistakes regardless of her skin color, but as her fans and members of her family already explained the situation I don't see any other reason to hate on her besides prejudice. Her mom is right:She did nothing wrong. She does not have an issue. She is not problematic. Accept and get over it.)(It's okay if you don't like someone but at least be respectful about it, just ignore their content and leave them alone, it's more simple than it looks like). Just because Samara was complimented directly and individually about her dance, charisma and stage presence by Kim Chaewon of Le Sserafim herself, danced with Huening Kai of TXT(by the time the only girl that met another member of hybe that wasn't le sserafim) and was the third most voted as "girl you want the most in the group with you" with 9 votes by the other contestants(lost to Sophia with 14 votes and Daniela with 12 votes), it doesn't mean her popularity was a threat to your fave. I mean, it kinda did, but spreading rumors and fake news based on invented lies about her is a real low blow, people should have focused more on their faves instead. People didn't even searched for the traduction of the videos and made assumptions based on nothing. So It's sad Samara didn't get to debut because people couldn't understand portuguese and imagined things.

Hybe clearly did with her the same thing they did to Garam:Tried to poorly clean her image as much as they could until they could kick her out. Because even if the girls are not wrong, they can't have a member who had any kind of polemics before, even after their reputation is cleaned. That's shown in Hybe releases after that:They posted a video that Samara and Lara were hugging and Lara seemingly whispered "I love you" to her:

https://youtube.com/shorts/b9xl67OR_OA?si=qPzW21RZSpFZnloY

And they partnered Samara with Ezrela in mission 3(they carried team wannabe together) which seemed to make them become closer because before that they didn't have much interactions and after it they even spent thanksgiving together after the show was over:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0Chj-tOydx/?igsh=MXFtZzYwdGpvNDVvdQ==

Samara also said that about Ezrela in the same interview Sophia said the phrase above about Samara:

(And they were also seemed very close at the live chat before the finale but people swear Samara has something agaisnt indians and Ezrela dislikes her, unbeliavable)

https://youtu.be/YSDZfOD4JnY?si=l81La_tg40keuNPD

So any of the girls showed any dislike for one another. Maybe some girls weren't that intimate, because there were 20 girls people, of course you're going to be closer to some of them more than the others, but all of them never showed anything but respect and admiration for one another.

Samara had good votes. (Even if the whole world against us we still gave Sami good numbers, that's how powerful we are hahaha)

As you saw, she surpassed both Megan and Ezrela in number of votes, and Manon won her in early voting, but Samara had more live voting. She didn't got in because of the judges that gave Manon a higher score as you can see:

I fully believe they had the lineup ready before the finale. Most reality shows usually do. I watch them already having that in my mindset. Or do you think it was a coincidence to have three girls from each team(Girls Don't Like Girls and Dirty Water) debut and Samara and Manon being on the same one? Hybe wanted to fool the brazilian audience until the very last second, because they know the engagement we have and how dedicated we are as a public(the meme "Brazil Mentioned" is real ppl)(Brazil has the best memes lolol)(Look at Vincent Martella:He was with 385 thousand followers on Instagram, a photo of him with a shirt with "I'm famous in Brasil" viralized an brazilians made him have currently 5,6 million followers, surpassing Tyler James Williams, who is not very fondly of Brazil and Brazil is not very fond of him either because Everybody Hates Chris is a classic in Brazil. In Brazil, everyone watched it. And the minority that didn't, they at least know about it's cultural impact on Brazil. So Tyler is considered ungrateful in Brazil for not liking that we love the series so much according to brazilians. And Vincent actually showed love for Brazil and what happened, happened. That's the power of Brazil).They wanted to fool their whole audience actually, going all like "Which black one we'll pick, 'cause y'all know she's here just so people don't accuse us as racists, because even if they were untalented we would get one of them because of their skin color, but two is already too much". Sadly that is how the world works people. We gotta get used to deal with it for now and fight so it can change in thw future. Although it didn't work that much, since most latinos were accusing Hybe of xenophobia against them ever since Celeste's elimination, what only grew even stronger after Samara's elimination(proving once again my point about latinos non-acceptance of Daniela as a latina. For most latinos, Daniela represents the US and the US only).

(People try to force Gisele Bündchen, the one and only ubermodel, one category above super model, which as a category created for her, the woman who was the highest paid model for 15 years, as a german or a french woman; people try to force that Pelé isn't the football eternal king and pioneer that changed the sport forever and made it what it is today when he is the only player that has three world cups having the same amount or more world cups than some countries out there; people try to force Adriana Lima as old and ugly just because she is aging just like everyone else because she is a human being and still look gorgeus, just older; and I could go on all day. People really hate it when brazilians are the best/good on something. Sorry but we are the fifth biggest country in the world, we have a big population, great athletes and artists, and that is not changing)(Every country has something good and bad about themselves and we shouldn't debunk or belittle them but aknowledge their good points)

I mean, as someone who watched a lot of reality shows, I know there is always the insanely talent and popular girl that doesn't debut because "superior forces" don't want her there. Kaeun and Chowon from Produce 48, Chanelle from R U Next, Kawaguchi Yurina from Girls Planet, Bae Haram from Universe Ticket and now Samara from Dream Academy makes it to the list.

Brazil was the one that made the prettiest edits on Weverse and the posts about Samara were overall the ones with the most likes on Instagram during the show(Sophia's posts were the most liked overall on youtube). Dream Academy lost followers on Insta when they eliminated Celeste and lost even more when they eliminated Samara, that is the real latina power right there. We perpetuated the SoLaSa term invented by the filipinos, which makes an allusion to the word "star" (Sophia, Lara and Samara had THE CHEMESTRY, it's sad they didn't got to debut together) which was a voting strategy to help Samara because most brazilian fans voted for all the girls in team wannabe, which made Ezrela and Emily surpass Samara in mission 3 rankings, Ezrela staying in 4, Emily staying in 7 and Samara in 8. Ezrela and Emily were already quite popular so with the help of brazilians they surpassed Samara and as Ua's performance in Wannabe was not her best one, so she got eliminated. So basically the strategy was:Sophia and Lara are going to end on top 2 anyway, so let's vote for them and Samara to try to get Samara in third. Voting for these three would stop lower ranking girls to surpass Samara. Some Manon fans tried to force SoLaMa (which is funny because it looks like the portuguese phrase "só lama" which means "just mud" and like, we know they meant Manon but it was poorly elaborated and executed because "Ma" can also stand for Marquise).

Of course, I don't hate Manon. I am happy for her and all the girls because they all deserve it. However, in terms of talent Samara was one of the most talented ones, definitely an all-rounder. She gave a better performance than Manon in all performances(specially Dirty Water). Manon is great, Samara is just better. And all of the girls are talented, some girls are just more talented than others, like Sophia and Lara, which is normal. As someone who is in both fandoms, I can say Samara is a better dancer and BY FAR a better vocalist than Manon. So I believe she would have been chosen instead of Manon if it weren't for the controversy because she is a better performer than Manon and did better on the performances that were being judged. Of course I wanted her to debut and I would switch Manon for Samara if I could. Or also keep Manon and switch Daniela for Samara because we would actually have proper unarguable latin america representation and the US would still have Lara and Megan to represent them(but of course they needed a contestant who was just american and half of the group representing the US, half of them representing Asia and one of them representing Europe, how global is that again? Lolol I'm just kidding, take it as a joke people). Anyway, I believe everything happens for a reason. If the girls who are there debuted, that it's because that how it's supposed to be. I am not bitter or salty about it because the other girlies are doing good and the lineup is solid, so I will keep following the other girls on their separate paths because hating on the group or on any girl won't change anything and I hope all the girls are successful on their journeys.

8. Ezrela:

Seeing her and the other contestants smile through the pain was so hurtful. I wish them all the best and a bright future! Hybe needed people of color politically. For the black girl, I do think they were leaning towards Samara at first, but then switched to Manon after the controversy. Before the live finale, Samara always ranked higher than Manon, so it was a no-brainer to figure it out. However, Lara was the indian girl from the start. And I think Ezrela was aware of that. Lara also always ranked higher than her and Ezrela was smiling so much at the finale after being eliminated. Like, I know she is the kind of person with a positive attitude, but Samara and Emily cried and while Marquise didn't cry, she seemed less happy than Ezrela. I admire Ezrela a lot. She is just a fortress, she was just so strong. She was conforting Emily with a smile on her face, Ezrela you're going places! Marquise also conforted Samara when Sami was giving her speech, but in a more discreet way than Ezrela but kudos for both of them for their strength. I would switch Daniela for Ezrela if I could. They are both aces, I just like Ezrela a little bit more. And Ezrela offers Australia/Oceania representation so if they switched Manon for Samara and Daniela for Ezrela, the group would be more global. But again, the lineup we have is not bad. Ezrela said she was the artist that she wanted to be. She seemed fulfilled for everything she learned and proud of Lara and the other girls. She is so mature, I love her and I know she'll make it big.

9. Emily:

Our Main Dancer! One of the girls with the best visuals! I feel like the show tried everything to make her stand out. Putting her with popular contestants on mission 2(Sophia, Lara and Yoonchae) so she could automatocally pass forward with her group without needing to rely on votes like Samara, Megan and other girls did, on mission 3 putting her with a not so popular member(Ua) and a member with a unfairly stained reputation(Samara) so Emily could be benefited once again. Of course, nothing of this is her fault, but she is an american girl that fits basically all of the US beauty stands after all. Because of that, they tried to push her until the last minute but her popularity didn't play in their favor. Don't get me wrong, I love Emily, but I'm not the only one saying this. A lot of people also concluded the same as me. The only thing Emily was kind of lacking was vocals. Her vocals aren't bad, they just could be better. I can see her being very successful as a choreographer, a dancer or even a member for another group. The sky is the limit for her!

10. Marquise:

I didn't know Marquise that much tbh. She didn't stand out to me. What I knew is that she was close with Sophia, Samara, etc. For me, she has always been "the thai girl with red hair". I do find her pretty but back then her skills were outshined by the other girls for me. I do think she was helped in mission 3 when the judges chose to keep her instead of Celeste, who ranked higher. Celeste ended up in 6 and her in 10. Nayoung ranked 3 but allegedly wanted to be a soloist so they had to keep Yoonchae, who ranked 12 because they needed a korean, Ua was 13/last place so she would be eliminated anyway. So the judges eliminated Celeste because according to them Marquise's performance was better, which I do not agree. Yes, I wanted Celeste to participate on the live chat with the girls and see her at the finale doing All The Same(she would look good in both Dirty Water and Girls Don't Like Girls) but at the same time, it was clear that both Celeste and Marquise weren't a want in this group. Both were being used to attract public from Argentina and Thailand, so at the end of the day, whoever they decided to keep for the finale, it wouldn't make a difference.