#gs:in2ition

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KIWI MUSIC NEWS: IDOL PROFILE SERIES !

[+ 500, -15] Wow! Loren is my favorite soloist in In2ition ! [+ 243,  - 5] IN2 is lucky to have her, aren’t they?! [+ 225,  - 9] I can’t wait to see more of them - fighting!!

PROFILE !

FACECLAIM: jung soojung (krystal) CHARACTER NAME: lee loren STAGE NAME: loren CHARACTER AGE: 24 COMPANY: IN2 POSITION: heize soloist TIME WITH COMPANY: 4 years STRENGHTS: if there is one thing loren possesses, it is creativity, and this in abundance. having studied applied music she has the technical knowhow to back up the enthusiasm she has for songwriting. while her early work was largely acoustic in nature, she has since developed a distinctive sound, though she still maintains notes of this original style and occasionally will upload acoustic versions of her songs to her instagram and so forth. while rapping came to her later in her career, she has proved herself proficient enough at this, though it undoubtedly took her a great deal of time to nail down. when it comes to her voice, her range has been criticized for being rather narrow, her tone a bit sharper than the typical pop voice, but its one that she manipulates well to suit her musical stylings. WEAKNESSES: frankly, her stage presence when performing live isn’t to the point that she can rival a well rounded girl group. a solo artist needs to be over the top and larger than life to be able to fill the stage at one of the big arenas or on the music shows, but frankly loren’s personality is far more suited for the small club shows she’d been performing on her own before she was picked up by in2ition. they were the ones who shaped her image and music into what it is now, infusing far more rap into her characteristic soft r&b pop than she was initially comfortable with. shortly after joining the company they sent her to america to cultivate her dance and rapping skills to their standards, something that she found both frustrating, isolating, and ultimately incredibly helpful.

BIOGRAPHY !

- born in incheon but shortly thereafter relocated to california, loren grew up in america, raised there in a largely korean american community admittedly, until she was about thirteen.

- at thirteen the family returned to incheon where she attended a korean high school and entirely too many hours of cram school up on discovering her american curriculum left her far behind her peers in south korea.

- unfortunately for her grades and for the expectations of her parents, she began to take her frustration with the classical piano training she’d been required to sit through and channel it into songwriting.

- soon after followed guitar, and then various applications on the computer to help her make arrangements to fill in the gaps.

- then came a youtube channel, and with it the frustration of her parents, and in the wake of all this came her very, very barely convincing them to allow her to audition to transfer to an arts high school.

-passing the audition solidified her desire to make music, and she began embarking on her study of applied music.

- far more studious now that she wasn’t sitting through the history of medieval europe and other actual bores, she soon began picking up opportunities to perform wherever she could, in coffee shops and book stores and at outdoor marts and the like.

- on one such occasion in hongdae she was scouted by in2ition and offered an audition, which she gladly accepted. she was 19 at the time, having just graduated from her arts high school and moved in to seoul to live with an aunt.

- for one year she trained relentlessly and made progress in her basic skills, but the criticism remained - she hadn’t found a particular sound yet. they wanted her as a soloist, but there wasn’t anything standout enough to make that work yet.

- not wanting to waste the potential to capitalize on artist produced music, they sent her to a tangentially affiliated music school in california, marking her return to the country all these years later at twenty one.

- she remained there, training for a year, before she was brought back to in2ition for good. at the net evaluation she was scheduled to debut.

- she’s been a slow burn on the charts, gradually creeping her way up the rankings, buoyed by recent work with artists from other companies and a stint on show me the money that (in her mind) went on entirely too long. she’s still not comfortable with the rapping, at least (most assuredly) not on a freestyle level, but at best as an accompaniment to her work.

[genesiskrps-blog]

KIWI MUSIC NEWS: TRAINEE PROFILE SERIES !

[+ 500, -15] Wow! Ryan is my favorite rapper and vocalist in IN2ITION ! [+ 243,  - 5] Jynx is lucky to have her, aren’t they?! [+ 225,  - 9] I can’t wait to see more of them !

PROFILE !

FACECLAIM NAME: kim jennie CHARACTER NAME: ryan kim CHARACTER AGE: 21 COMPANY: In2ition POSITION: jynx rapper and vocal J2 TIME WITH COMPANY: 2 years STRENGTHS: Ryan’s personal opinion is that her voice is her greatest attribute. This was what she heard endlessly from CEL during her time as a trainee at the company, and was the reason they plucked her from the long, long list of hopefuls in the first place. Her dance ability was greatly improved by their training as well, to the point that she would consider herself one of the stronger dancers in the upcoming group’s lineup. Currently, her company is pushing her very hard to work on her rapping, and considers it a very important strength of hers.

WEAKNESSES: Frankly, Ryan is uncomfortable rapping. During her time in CEL, she was slated to debut with Macaron - rapping wasn’t necessary, especially not for her, seeing as she was in a vocal role. She’s comfortable in her dance, but not in the overall image of Jynx. After years spent learning to perfect the movements and expressions and mannerisms needed for a cute, elegant, sweet image, she has been having a huge amount of difficulty switching gears to the strong, sexy, badass girl crush image that IN2 is aiming for with Jynx.

BIOGRAPHY !

one.

seoul is the home she knows know, but it isn’t technically where she is born, or conceived., or even raised. she’s born to two enthusiastic travelers, young parents with the wind in their hair, money saved up for trips around exotic locales. she’s conceived in thailand - something she truly hadn’t been all that interested in knowing, thanks mom. if her mother had bothered to ask, a doctor would have doubtless told her not to travel across the world at nine months pregnant, but she hadn’t ask, had just gone, and this was the result.

two.

her parents shuttle her around korea when visiting other countries is out of the budget, thanks to diapers or strollers or the extra food. they’re young themselves and want the fun of a baby without the responsibility, but despite the exhaustion and the bickering they do their best. they really do.

three.

ryan is all bright eyes and silky long hair and her parents love her dearly. they compete playfully for her affection, which she doles out enthusiastically. they want to be her friend, not her parents, and the resulting lack of discipline makes her attention seeking, selfish, and a bit insecure. the attention paid her directly relates, she learns, to how sweet and cute and witty she can be. she grows up in california, and then in chicago, and then in toronto, as her father shuffles from job to job.

four.

she learns to play up her personality, learns to draw attention with dancing and singing and make believe. she’s enrolled in dance classes, voice lessons, piano lessons. they brag about her talents to their friends but praise her rarely at home, only relentlessly mentioning how costly it all is, how she’d better be the best if they go through all this for her. at thirteen they return to seoul, finally, with the promise of working with her uncle’s company. a stable position, finally.

five.

in high school she auditions for CEL entertainment. whats the use in not being the best? thus, she must go to the best company. she fails the first audition she has, and her parents freeze her out as a result. they don’t say anything, but there is disappointment, resentment in their eyes as they wonder, she imagines, why they poured so much money into her if she can’t even do that well?

six.

she passes the second audition a year later and her parents lavish her in attention and material goods. she practices relentlessly, she gives her all to it, every waking moment poured into preparing to debut with Macaron.

seven.

but a young girl can only take so much stress, so much pressure, and unlike the others, she fractures beneath it. major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, the names tick off. she shakes and shivers and sobs, she’s distracted and uncertain, her heart races constantly, she’s dizzy and faint. some days its hard for her to get out of bed, to move, to smile, to eat.

eight.

she gets fired. they need resilience. they need strong bodies, strong minds, strong personalities. they remove her from the lineup and she leaves the company.

nine.

her parents are little help, leave her to deal with her burdens on her own. she finds a graduate student in psychology and counseling willing to tutor her for the little she can afford with her part time job teaching voice lessons at the studio she takes classes her dance and vocal lessons at. things get a little better. she copes a little more.

ten.

she auditions without telling her parents. she sees the flyer at her studio and she thinks - why not? the company is small, they’re not that successful, but she knows war, likes their music, figures why the hell not.

eleven.

trying to deal with a new company is hard, adjusting to the image they want from her is difficult and learning to rap?? they say she’s doing well but it still feels unnatural, kind of silly, and she fights back the urge to break into giggles after every verse. its so different from the image CEL had been cultivating in her, but the dances are stronger and the demos so far have been great, and she can feel herself inching ever closer to debut, only hoping she can hold herself together beneath the strain this time.

[genesiskrps-blog]

KIWI MUSIC NEWS: IDOL PROFILE SERIES !

[+ 500, -15] Wow! Bang Daeul is my favorite vocal and dancer in IN2 ! [+ 243,  - 5] WAR is lucky to have him, aren’t they?! [+ 225,  - 9] I can’t wait to see more of them - fighting!!

PROFILE !

FACECLAIM: park jimin CHARACTER NAME: bang daeul STAGE NAME: - CHARACTER AGE: 21 COMPANY: IN2ITION POSITION: lead vocalist, main dancer TIME WITH COMPANY: eight years POSITIVE: exuberant, loyal, straightforward NEGATIVE: tactless, disorganized, blundering STRENGTHS: Daeul is an odd case, the kind of person with limited experience in singing or dancing prior to entering the company with which he now has debuted. While he was scouted at a dance performance, he himself wasn’t a dancer or participant, merely there supporting his friends. He auditioned with a song, and the sweetness of his voice (and probably the fact he was fairly attractive) earned him a spot with the company, which he debated over briefly before considering, essentially, why the fuck not? He’d pursued dance when he was younger but hadn’t kept up with it extensively over the years. After a dark bought of uncertainty in his trainee years, he trained into one of the lead dancers of the group, consistently performing exceptionally. His natural expressiveness translates well into dance and he soon developed a true passion for it, relentlessly practicing to get to a point where he feels more comfortable with his skill level. His long period of training did him a great service in this regard, but he still feels miles behind peers who have been dancing since they were young. WEAKNESSES: While his voice is pleasant, historically his live performances have been unstable. While he has largely overcome this due to the forceful practice of a packed schedule, the association remains both with the public and with himself, presenting a particular insecurity of his. His rap skills are virtually nonexistent, despite both his group and his appreciation for the genre, and on the whole while he thrives on variety programs with the host of his members, he does little more than react and laugh enthusiastically when pushed onto one alone. He enjoys fan outreach but does little past a consistent string of selcas and short instagram clips, betraying two things: his fear of public backlash and his knowledge of his own tactless and foolish personality. He’s terrified of inadvertently bringing a scandal down upon them and ruining everything his members have worked so hard for. He consistently practices to extremes, feeling as if he is one of the weaker links on the team, particularly after the contract difficulties and the rise of other members participating in the production of the music more fully. Daeul is very much a traditional idol who is not quite as interested or adept in production, lyricism, etc.

BIOGRAPHY !

- Born and raised in seaside Busan to devoted single mother, with the help of his three older sisters, Daeul has always been doted on.

- This shows in the purity of his spirit, the brightness of his smile, and in the overwhelming air of confidence he projects: something only the youngest and only son can manage.

- He had an exceptionally close relationship with his grandparents and his eldest sister, both of whom helped raise him when his mother was forced to work long hours at her company.

- He grows up to be far from materialistic, with a family full of hand me downs and group effort, anything to save a couple hundred won here or there.

- He wears the slightly-more-gender-neutral options of his sister’s hand me downs, learns to stand his own against barbs and bullying, shuts down people who would laugh at him for flowery scripts or the occasionally bubblegum pink top. It helps that he’s always been unbothered by the opinions of others, apparently content to thrive on the love of his family. His ideas of the prescriptive nature of the gender binary break down little by little, though he himself is a comfortable cis male.

- Daeul is athletic and enthusiastic, a bundle of energy and goodwill that bounces quietly but steadily around their neighborhood, picking up basketball and soccer and skateboarding and anything else he gets exposed too. He spends a good deal of time on the swim team in middle and high school, but doesn’t have the drive to be competitive.

- On the whole he spends his life doing passably in most things. He’s a pretty good friend, he’s pretty smart, he’s fairly well behaved, he’s moderately talkative. In most ways, Daeul is the picture perfect “boy next door” - there isn’t anything particularly notable about him, but on the whole the package is pleasant.

- Thus its a surprise when, in early high school, he’s hanging out at a dance event with some friends in a troupe, and he gets scouted by In2. He’s never even heard of the company at this point, they don’t have much of a name to them, btu apparently the scout saw something in enthusiastic half moon smiles and the ease with which he attempts to manipulate his body to follow the movements of his friends that speaks to potentials untapped.

- He goes to the audition time they set up for him, with a nervously prepared song. But it can’t be that bad, right, if he doesn’t get in, its not like this is his dream.

-But he does get in, and it becomes his dream. He starts off just heading up to Seoul on the weekends to train, but it quickly becomes apparent that not only does he have a lot of catching up to do compared to the others in the company, but he’s entirely in love with it. With dance, with singing, with performing. There’s a satisfaction in it and he’s addicted to the feeling of progress as he passes milestones rapidfire, learns to force his muscles to obey his commands, to make art.

- He trains relentlessly for years, towards a goal that seems distant and strange, a dream he’d never expected. Its fallen into his lap, but he feels like he might not deserve it - so many others try out and work towards this same goal and have wanted it since they were young, desperately and vehemently. He’s almost ashamed of how easily it came to him, this opportunity.

- Of course that ease doesn’t last long, he ends up slogging towards his goal, he debuts, but that isn’t the end. Now comes the pain of being a rookie idol in a company no one has ever heard of, and he’s continuously promoting, relentlessly.

- Sleep comes in quick naps in the car, an hour or two in a bed somewhere, if he’s lucky. Hotels are shared amongst all of them, too many boys cramped into tight quarters, rolling out of bed early in the morning, onto flights, to countries he’s never thought about going to before.

- His group becomes a family to him, people he depends on, relies on. But after years of a lackluster image and music that he can tell grates on some of the others, he finds it all falling apart. Daeul’s never been hugely invested in artistic integrity, but that isn’t true of everyone in the group. The two core members threaten to leave, taking with them the individuality of the group, the only thing they have to cling too in a competitive industry.

- Its hard for Daeul not to feel hurt by this. He knows its not an attack on him, but it still feels like a rejection, like two of his beloved hyungs just can’t stand the idea of following this path that they’re on together.

- They end up staying and Daeul has to admit, the new direction suits all of them more. Korea likes it more too, and strangely, fascinatingly, they begin to gain immense traction over seas.

- He’s still insecure in the way he stumbled into all of this, still hurt by the rejection of his friends, but Daeul has found his place in all this, he thinks, and is content to continue his relentless climb towards improvement.

[genesiskrps-blog]

KIWI MUSIC NEWS !

[+ 200, -12] Woah, Tony Kang does great work as a stylist  for In2ition! [+ 113,  - 2] In2ition is lucky to have him, aren’t they?!

PROFILE !

FACECLAIM: jay park NAME: tony yejun kang AGE: 29 POSITION: stylist for In2ition (IS1) TIME WITH COMPANY: 4 years STRENGTHS:

Having experience in fashion shows and doing some shoots while he was in school, he can respond to ‘fashion emergencies’ really well. Tore a seam? Don’t worry, he’s got a quick fix for that. Size unexpectedly a bit too big? He’s got the perfect piece to draw attention from it.

WEAKNESSES:

Makeup. More specifically, that thing they call contouring. He hates doing anything complicated and often leaves it to another stylist. Also, despite being probably one of the better ones at it, he greatly dislikes applying makeup on other guys. Sure, he knows all the tips and tricks for highlighting to accentuate those masculine features, but he gets a little weirded out when he has to do it on his male clients. Simple make up, girls only. But also, one of his biggest weaknesses is women. No, not quite what you’re thinking but, even though the artists he works with are professionals (or at least he’d like to think so), artists are not models. Models are accustomed to working with whoever and don’t always care whether the person styling them is a man or woman. Sometimes his female clients are a bit wary of him. Appearances don’t always help either since some think he was literally some drug dealer pulled off the streets. It didn’t matter how good he was at his job, he wasn’t what usually fit the image of ‘stylist’ and so isn’t always taken seriously.

BIOGRAPHY !

No one probably saw it coming. In fact, Tony himself probably wasn’t even aware of what his future would hold for him. He was just a boy born in New York who loved music and street dance. Life was pretty normal. He got into trouble sometimes with his parents, being out late to hang out with his friends as they talked about some new album that released or some new dance moves they all wanted to share. It didn’t really come as any surprise when he decided to audition for CEL when they just so happened to be having a global audition in his city. And talented as he was, he made it.

Too bad he was sorely unprepared for the trainee life. Well ,maybe it wasn’t that. He was sorely unprepared for life in Korea. Period. He should have known better, what with CEL being an entertainment company in Korea, but he went for it even with what little he knew of the language. It was a struggle, but at least some of the other trainees were kind and patient enough to help him out, and it was much easier to pick up the language since he was exposed to it all the time now. Even though he was able to get over the language barrier, there was another one he didn’t expect. Trainee life. Or rather, his dissatisfaction with it. He was good, he sung well, he could rap well, he could dance well and his evaluations always went well. He just wasn’t happy.

His friends would tell him to stick it out. This is just how it was, you trained and trained until the company decided you were ready for debut. Many of his friends were sure he would, and for a while it even looked like he might. He missed his family though, but more importantly, he missed his freedom. He loved to dance and he loved performing, but not like this. It should be fun, enjoyable and he was just getting stressed with his training and he was certain that debuting would truly turn his fun pastime into work. And he wasn’t really okay with that.

So he quit. His parents weren’t quite fond of the fact that he had flown to Korea and trained for a few years, only to come back with nothing to really show for it, but at the same time, they were happy to have their son back and even more so to see him happy again. That should have been it, should have been the end of his life there, except that there was no denying that he had made some good friends and kept in touch with those good friends. Admittedly, while he loved being back in the states, he wanted to go back. But doing what? Besides music, besides dance, he had one other activity he loved doing, something that caught both friends and family by surprise. Drawing. Not just drawing, but designing.

He didn’t really have the kind of story that most fashion designers had. It wasn’t the sort of thing where they were mesmerized by Oscar De La Renta, or fascinated by Alexander McQueen. To be honest, you name those designers and he’d probably give you a funny look. He liked street fashion, the comfortable, the everyday, but all about adding an exclamation point. A bold graphic, maybe some fancy shoes, a statement piece, maybe. His sense of fashion always made him stand out, but not too much and always left a lasting impression. Half the stuff he wore he made himself, and a year after he graduated from high school, he had a good enough portfolio to get him into Parsons School of Design.

Being around so many creative minds fueled both his passion for design and music, always dabbling a little bit in both. If he wasn’t busy working on his next project, he was busy mixing tracks in his small flat, or practicing his moves. Admittedly, just knowing how to make the clothes wasn’t enough and he soon added on learning how to do hair and makeup on the side as well. Hair wasn’t a problem, he cut his own, styled his own, but makeup … that was foreign territory to him, but luckily he always had classmates willing to show him the ropes. Before he knew it, by the time he was ready to graduate he could not only design and make the clothes, but mix his own runway music and even style his models. Of course he debuted his own urban line, comfortable street wear that made a statement.

But what now?

Honestly, he wasn’t really short of options. He graduated from Parsons, had more than a comprehensive portfolio of his work, and even had some job offers waiting for him, but just like when he was a trainee, he wasn’t sure if any of that is what he wanted. He wanted a bit of a break, some time to clear his head and really think about what he wanted, and decided to make a trip back to Korea to spend time with some old friends. Some debuted as idols, some didn’t quite make it, but it was great to see familiar faces again at least.

It was obviously a shock for some, as many of them still remembered the fresh-faced Tony, who despite stuttering on his Korean had a pretty good chance of being an idol, but was now a ‘fashion designer’. When most people heard that, they picture someone in a crisp suit, impeccably clean style, but here was Tony with his loose-fitting shirts and a whole sleeve tattoo, looking like he literally just flew in from the US. It was true but, this only emphasized the fact that he just wasn’t cut out to be an idol and he was honestly just fine with that.

What was supposed to be a short trip to Korea though ended up being the beginning of his career. See, with the kind of friends he had, it was only a matter of time until he discovered the underground scene in Hongdae. It was love at first sight. Not that the underground scene in New York was bad, but Hongdae was unique, different to him. But there was no way he was going to make his living off of his own underground performances, he still wanted a steady job. So why not put that fashion degree to use? He could have been a choreographer, or a producer even, but he chose a stylist simply because he at least had the paper backing for a job like that. Not to mention that those were his passions, and he wanted to keep it like that.

And what better place to start than at In2ition? He was drawn to the company, partially because of their artists, but also their vision and he felt comfortable at least working with the kind of looks they wanted for their artists. It may have been a tad bit out of his element at first, but he quickly became accustomed to what was asked of him. It’s all become routine at this point. He works, and when he  has free time, maybe he performs at a club or two, sometimes he stops by the company building to update the wardrobes, sometimes he calls up a friend, or an artist he works with to play around a bit, try this new hairstyle he saw, maybe try on an outfit he made.

It’s not always terribly exciting, but it’s fun and he enjoys it. For a New York city boy, he’s settled in nicely in Korea.

PROMPTS !

Detail the most significant moment (positive) of their career so far.

Whenever he designs he likes to keep comfort in mind. There’s nothing more uncomfortable than wearing something that you’re constantly self-conscious about. Same thing with styling. Even though the company always had a certain vision and a certain look they wanted, Tony liked to make sure that the person who would actually be sporting the look was comfortable with it. Maybe that meant styling their hair a little differently, or trying a different shade of lipstick or eyeshadow. Maybe instead of that leather skirt that looked so good he’d opt to replace them with pants. If they felt good, they looked good.

There was always one in particular that Tony often felt like he had to force his hand a little and change their wardrobe. Just because Jung Haneul was good at drawing fan’s eyes didn’t mean they had to constantly keep dressing him in sleeveless shirts. For the most part, he applauded the other’s professionalism, always being able to give a perfect performance despite being clearly uncomfortable in what he was wearing. It was the way that he would sometimes tug at the hem of his shirt, or cross his arms tightly that bugged Tony and he finally decided to do away with all the baggy sleeveless shirts and give him normal shirts. He got scolded, of course, but came up with the bullshit excuse that this direction was far more suited to the group’s image. Surprisingly, they ate it up, but only after Tony made the respective changes to all the other members. While it might not have seemed that drastic to some, he would never forget Haneul’s shy little thank you, because even if it was insignificant to some, it meant something to him.

And it’s the little things like that that made him continue with this job.

Give us insight into their biggest dreams and goals.

While he’d love for one of his clients to win a best dressed award, what he really wants is to open up a store one day for his own fashion label. Hell, why stop at a store? He wants to build his brand enough to be worthy of a fashion week. A New York fashion week. He may live and work in Korea right now, but anyone who knew fashion knew what a fashion Week in the fashion capitals of the world meant, and he had his eye on that.

Obviously, being only a stylist for now meant that he was still far away from that goal, but it’s never too late to dream, right? Not to mention that this at least gave him practice in not just putting together an outfit, but in creating the lifestyle. That was as much important as how well the garments are made. After all, you want the people who see them to want to live in them. But urban wear was still far from being ‘runway appropriate’. Maybe it was too far of a stretch to hope that street wear would eventually be shown alongside couture, but a man can dream, right?