#rkmga5groups

☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ MGAS TRAINING TIME ˎˊ˗

sunmi wasn’t the happiest going into the next round of the mgas. her top pick was straight up eliminated. although her other three made it into the team, she was a little miffed to see that kenta of all people had made it into the nova team when she was sure that none of those band boys would make it (why they would aim for nova in the first place is beyond her). she eyes everyone, her clipboard in hand.

they each introduce themselves. sunmi purposely throws in “leader of future group and*roma” just to give that little extra kick of intimidation to show them that she was going to be hella serious about this. she didn’t get to coach in season 3, sadly. while nova still won, it probably would have went a completely different route had sunmi been in charge. now whether that’s good or bad, she’ll never know. she does know that now she’s not wasting the opportunity.

before the filming for the show she had done extensive research for each contestant. she gave them her own personal scores and critiques from previously aired episodes. sometimes her scores aligned with what the 5 coaches but often times they differed. sunmi went solely on her own notes when she chose the 5 that she did. at least one girl made it through.

“i’m going to be honest, i’m actually happy that i have most of the people i was interested in having on my team here. i think we can do a lot with this,” she says although she’s mainly looking at yewon, changbin and seunghun. she nods. “but, that doesn’t mean i don’t have comments for all. because i definitely do.” these are generally aimed at everyone to be fair. everyone got a comment: be it negative or positive. of the 5, jackson and kenta didn’t get the most phenomenal notes from sunmi. in fact, most of kenta’s notes were straight up critiques.

sunmi didn’t hate the poor kid. in fact, he seemed like he had a great personality. it always shined during his introductions but….that was usually it. it never showed on stage. it kind of faded to the background, really. it was a shame because kenta had that likeable personality but because his stages always were so boring to sunmi (plus the fact that he got no screentime whatsoever), she figured he was better off trying next year. she was not expecting that he’d actually make it to the next round. so she decides to start with his notes first.

“takada kenta,” she points to him. “you, i did not expect to make it past the next round. i didn’t even factor that into my notes. you fade into the background into obscurity far too much. you have the personality but it falls flat beyond your intros. i need you to work hard this week and prove me wrong. i feel like you have it in you but we can’t keep dragging it out of you. it’s too late in the competition, okay? so you must work hard.”

“choi yewon, i actually really like the fact that you have an acute awareness of your talents. same with you, changbin. you both are aware of your strengths and use that to your advantage.” she continues on this way, briefly going over her notes with them so they have an idea of how she’s feeling with each of their development.

sunmi wasn’t as hands-on with the decision making process as she assumes other coaches probably are. she watches, allowing them to brainstorm topics together. for some reason they seem to have it in their head that nova’s brand is mainly just dancing. they’ve been griping about having to push themselves beyond their limits. she’s even heard them trying to come up with other ways to make the performance stand out more. sunmi allows the conversations to continue a bit longer before intervening with some advice.

“i know you all seem to think that nova is nothing but creative stages and strong dancing but you have to look beyond that. nova has a variety of senior artists — use them as your framework. especially nova performances by trainees in the past. nova isn’t about doing something flashy for the sake of flashy-ness. i’ve personally gathered that nova has more of the brand of lasting impressions through memorable stages. doing something flashy and creative is okay as long as your stage doesn’t suffer for it. keep that in mind going forward.”

for the most part, sunmi feels like they have a hardworking group on their hands. they work together well and they communicate. it doesn’t take long for them to come up with a song choice and a team name (Polaris, sunmi smiles just a tiny bit as they decide the name) so sunmi feels like maybe they don’t need much hands on coaching. just mainly some pointers and refinement. as time went on, she realised she was wrong. she was fine with being incorrect if that means she can whip them up into better shape.

she and wendy came up with a training regimen for their vocals. sunmi tried to get them into the habit of not showing their mistakes when they’re doing full run-throughs of the dance. sunmi could see them and would tel them to fix it. she also tells them it’s better for them to not make mistakes as obvious. what if it was the main stage and they froze because they messed up? that wouldn’t go over well for them.

then came the issue of kenta. she told him before that he had the personality, he just had trouble translating it into the stage. as she’s teaching them the choreography and positions it seems like kenta isn’t getting it. it’s a little frustrating to say the least — especially because sunmi personally feels like kenta either shouldn’t be in the competition still or in the nova team specifically. but he’s here so she’s going to work with him until he gets sick of hearing her voice.

it seems like kenta usually needs the most help in regards to performance in general so sunmi takes a lot of time to review with him. “right now you perform and you just don’t exist amongst everyone else. you’re easy to skip over on stage because you don’t bring any of that energy of your personality into your performance,” she tells him. she doesn’t look pleased with what he had to show her. he’s almost boring to watch when he’s performing. it hurts to think that because he’s a bright kid. sunmi sighs.

“not everyone is centre material but you have to make due with the positions you have, okay? there are idols that aren’t the most popular in the group that have viral fancams because they have that energy that draws everyone’s attention. like luxe’s xayah recently had a fancam of hers blow up because of her energy on stage. it’s possible to get out of this box of being forgotten on stage.”

they go through the routine again, this time with sunmi recording him so they could review it together. again she’s disappointed. “you dance stiffly. like you’re clenched or something.” she actually wants to say he dances like he has a stick up his ass but she doesn’t need that going on television.

“let me tell you something: there’s a difference between doing a routine and performing. just like how there’s a difference between actually learning something and just retaining information to spit it back out for the sake of a test. I need you to go from just doing to the routine to actually performing. now the next time I see you, I expect improvements.” she leaves it at that for the day.

seunghun takes initiative and approaches sunmi regarding his own mistakes which she appreciates. he seems to be nervous for his dancing and sunmi understands it. she tells him he just needs to be refined but to come out of that headspace that dancing in general is somehow different than “idol dancing”. “dancing is dancing,” she tells him. “you know you have to get rid of those weird nuances you put in your routine that gives it a little extra texture, you know you have to be on count with your moves and sharp. you apply that to idol routines as well.”

in comparison to the other guys, sunmi is much happier with yewon’s performance. “I feel like you really know what you’re doing but you’re a good dancer as well. I want you to take more liberties when you’re delivering your lines. I know the ats member just really stands there and gives his lines but I need you to really make it more your own.” otherwise yewon’s rap lines would be overlooked easily as she’s just following the performance. “I don’t mean break out into a whole routine. just spice it up, okay? I need my attention on you solely when you deliver those lyrics.”

kenta improved a bit with his performance (thank god) but sunmi noticed when he was singing the bridge towards the end of the song there was something throwing her off. she didn’t like the way he was delivering the line. she stopped them from continuing and focused on kenta. “you sound too strangled here,” she tells him. “sound more melancholic without restricting your vocal chords.” she shows him by example, singing his “추억들이 마른 꽃잎처럼 산산이 부서져가” line. she tells him to follow suit. he isn’t quite getting it. a part of how he performs it makes her eye twitch. she shakes her head and repeats the line again.

kenta isn’t getting it.

they go back and forth a few times. every time she repeats the lines, the aggression in her singing is evident. “I need more feeling from you,” she tells him. “do it again from the chorus before the bridge. kenta if you mess up you’re going to do one of wendy’s plank sessions to help your vocals.”

by the end of the day, kenta seemed to have sung the line properly.

it was a long week. sunmi wasn’t able to go every day for long hours but she tried to keep in touch with them whenever possible. she definitely made time to see them before the final day. “I wanted to say that I’m proud of you all. no one in this team was perfect going into this. I hope all of you realise that. but I’ve seen so much improvement in a lot of you and I’m proud. remember our lessons, our warmups, our tips. you guys got this tomorrow. good luck team Polaris!”

☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ MGAS INTERVIEW TIME ˎˊ˗

for a moment it felt like she was in the sn project all over again. though this time instead of her own coaches, it’s the producers and staff of the show. she bows respectfully to them all before answering their questions they had to ask.

“who do you think has improved the most?” sunmi, without hesitation, says his name. “kenta. he was a bunch of raw talent that needed to have his rough edges smooth.” although sunmi suspects that kenta was so afraid of her he was willing to listen to any and all direction she gave. like she’s thought from the beginning: he’s genuine. he’s good if he applies himself.

the interviewer asked why she picked him. sunmi answered simply, “i feel like he really got it when i told him there’s a difference between actually performing and just going through the motions of the dance to get it over with.” sunmi knows this but not many contestants seem to realise that their stage presence is so important to how the judges perceive them. it was very obvious to every performer when someone is nervous. that or that they weren’t really selling the performance piece.

“i feel like at some point he really buckled down. i could see a change in him. that’s why i think he’s my pick for most improvement.” sunmi had to pull some teeth to get there but she thinks he came out of it feeling much more confident in himself. “i have high hopes for changbin as well. i think if we focus on his improvements more he can really get some valuable skills. i feel like he and yewon are something special. especially yewon. i expect her to do incredibly well this week.”

now came the notorious song opinion question. she had bad memories with those. “i don’t think it’s a bad song. it’s a little different than what some of them have done so far as well so i think it’s an ability to show what they can do.” the interviewer tries to dig on something juicy but sunmi stands by thinking they didn’t stray too far. “i purposely didn’t pick a song for them because i need them to be aware that i am not their saving grace. they have to swim on their own but i’m pretty confident that my team is doing more swimming than sinking.”

-.✦･｡ﾟMGA season 5:episode 6,outfit (lyrics + line distribution)
          performing nct 127 “whiplash” with @rkyeji,@rkmason,@rkchaeryeong, @rkkhg

Ryujin wasn’t at all surprised when she realised that the so called Golden Trio was deemed as one of the lower ranked performances, the trio was even last to be called out. The news came somewhat as expected but was just as defeating nonetheless, and honestly it made her angry when she know that two full days went to an unnecessary spectacle of a drama scene when it should have been spent on practices. At this point there is no way of knowing whether the two days would have mattered but one thing is for certain, the hiccup was unneeded and certainly avoidable if SUWOONG had only just came to her instead of speculating. 

She gets it though, that’s not the case, when the source of the rumors was none other than a vicious snake who caused the end of the entire group Amarante. It’s just so annoying, and so incredibly unfair, when one isn’t allowed to fend for and explain themselves. Although they had managed to make amends and provided with a solid performance that they all had faith in, she can’t help but wonder whether the amazingly poor start of their week had something to do with this particular outcome. It was like a slap in the face really, she thought that after what they had been through and what they had pulled off, it had been a great stage in the end.

Apparently it wasn’t, and she was sad when they announced that JAEMIN had to leave. If the outcome had been different then in the end he could have joined them into the next week, but obviously with a new group, just like them. She felt so guilty knowing that, so inncredibly guilty, especially since it was him. The one person who believed in her during dark times, and he was ultimately the one and only reason why Ryujin managed to get to the bottom of the issues that she didn’t know she had with SUWOONG. It wasn’t fair that he had to go home but in the end, she is fully aware that talent shows like the MGAs are never fair. Ever.

-.✦･｡ﾟ

It feels like Ryujin wears weights on her shoulders when she meet the new week, even if there certainly are things to be excited about. For one, she is finally grouped with YEJI, who’s one of her best friends for some years already. It was never a goal of hers to step on stage with friends, not anyone but OLIVIA anyway, but she notice that she is eager to perform with the elder. Perhaps it’s because they have danced together multiple times before that she didn’t necessarily cravethis scenario before, but now that the opportunity is here she can’t wait to actually perform with the other dancer. Secondly, she was picked to join the TRC group.

Anyone who knows her knows that she is in heaven right now as BigStar, Feeldog and TRC are the main reason that she wanted to step onto a stage in the first place. So to be trained by some of the idols and trainees of the very company she want to sign with, it’s a dream come true just that alone and she can’t even begin to express how much it means to her. She listen to their advices carefully, and want to prove to them that she deserves to be placed in a group with a concept fitting TRC. If she can say so herself, Ryujin does believe that she can fit their image with the skillsets that she provides. She is sure of it, she has to be.

The week starts off well, in spite of the guilt and vary steps that she thread. Since SUWOONGhas been telling people false truths she wonder just how many he has told, and whether those have realised that it was all a misunderstanding, whether they believed that it was all simply a misunderstanding. Well… she wouldn’t necessarily call it so herself, because in her eyes it was straight up lies told by a coward who needed someone to blame. It’s what she has agreed to however, misunderstandings, because she couldn’t be bothered with making a scene out of something so small like that. She just wanted to be over with it.

MINHO invited them out on dinner so that the group could get to know each other better, and HYUNGGU suggested that they had an introductional game to break the ice.  She appreciate that as it allowed her to relax sooner, to feel more comfortable around the current members of her group since ultimately she was still worried that someone believed the lies about her. That she was the cause of Amarante’s cancellation, when she was so close to debuting. In her eyes that doesn’t make sense but then again, it doesn’t make sense that Jimin would jeopardize such an opportunity either and in the end, that was precisely what she did.

She smiled when HYUNGGU chatted with her during the introduction where he explained that DOYEON is someone that he used to dance with back in the days, that he used to be her sunbae and that now it’s the other way around. “Really? That must be so weird,” she chuckles under her breath and wonder how that must feel like, “but it must also be nice to have a familiar face regardless. I know I’m glad to have YEJI unnie by my side, it makes me feel more at ease.” As the second youngest members of the group she feels a bit small, especially since she is grouped with MINHO, who is also an ex-idol. He isn’t at all how she expected him to be however, pleasantly surprised with how caring and thoughtful he is.

The coaches suggested some songs, and the group suggested some. When they landed on the choice of NCT 127′s Whiplash she truly understood CHAERYEONG’sworry, since the younger had already performed the group’s songs twice already. But with the others she assured her that the feeling would be completely different, that they will not perform exactly what is expected. As they make their own choreography, as well as write their own raps, it will be something new entirely, just with the original song in the background. The song fits their image well, and it provides a proper distribution of lines along with the fact that they all get to show what they do best, which is dancing. Five dancers in one group, trying to fit TRC’s image.

It was difficult, should she be honest, since TRC isn’t dance focused whatsoever, but they all managed well. YEJI andHYUNGGU was assigned to choreograph the new dance, with MINHOand Ryujin’s inputs. The latter two writing their own raps, and helping CHAERYEONG with hers. Ultimately, it would end up with a original take on the song with some small exceptions like the bridges. With the wound from last week still fresh Ryujin felt guilty for ending up in the infirmary and thus, worked even harder this week than previously. Now, she isn’t known to take breaks but she certainly worried YEJI to the point where she was told to relax, multiple times.

Drink water, sit down, rest a little.

And she did, eventually, because she know better than to say no to the other female in addition to the fact that she would definitely not be of any use if she’s sent to the infirmary again, just this time due to exhaustion instead of pure stress. During one of her breaks she decided to go out for a little walk, and to bring them all refreshments in the sorts of smoothies– with the incredibly warm weather she found that they needed to keep themselves chilled, and energized. Bringing five different flavours she let the others pick first and though she know how to memorize lyrics, the ingredients of all five drinks went straight over her head.

-.✦･｡ﾟ

It’s strange being so close to a dream, yet so far away. The set up has changed and instead of sitting as an audience when not performing, they are now hidden behind the scenes as the audience has been replaced with an actual audience.Ryujin is thrilled, beyond excited because this will be the first time she actually perform in front of a live crowd of fans. Not necessarily hers, she is that realistic about it, but she hopes that at least some of them are there for her. She know that some people noticed her during the promotion times, when Starship released their dance practices and blogs, but she don’t know whether anyone kept their interest in her.

She squeezes YEJI’shand back before they walk onto the stage, the crowd screaming loudly because of all the hype around them. Having been assigned to open their stage she look over towards the others before she speaks with a grin, “we are your,” and then they all speak in unison, “ANTIDOTE.” It was funny, cliché and something that Ryujin won’t ever let YEJI live down because she was the one to suggest the team name. They all get in position and she is ready. During the past few performances she has had no cue because she either rapped without the music, or she spoke just as it started, but this time she has a split second cue.

채찍질로 나를 깨워줘
My baby you are like (널 데려가)
Palazzo Rocco, you are my antidote
Lemon detox, right

The chorus comes up just after the intro, and it’s split between the two people in ANTIDOTE who can actually sing. She honestly envies them for their vocals, though she know that they are not by the best in the show, because she wish that she could sing as well. MINHO has the bigger rap verse almost for himself, Ryujin adlibs here and there but does not by any means try to take the spotlight as she know that she will get her own. He finishes off a self written rap verse strong as expected, having delivered his rap perfectly as expected. The chorus comes back up just like in the beginning before CHAERYEONG and Ryujin move into their parts, the former starting off with her own self written rap, Ryujin coming in every second line in the end to transition into her own verse that she has also written herself.

When they close up to YEJI’sbig part of the stage she get anxious, Ryujin anticipates what the other has in store and she believe in the elder to pull off the high note because she has practiced so hard… and, she nails it, of course. She expected nothing less of her friend, and is satisfied not only for their performance but for YEJI as well as she know how much it means to her to master the art of singing. It leads straight into their dance break, which Ryujin suggested could be a sort of dance battle between the guys and the girls, excluding CHAERYEONG for only a short moment as her role becomes obvious soon enough, when she bring them all in to dance together again.

Ryujin feels good about the performance, like they have managed to complete it without flaws and that they could not have done anything differently. It’s how she has felt before however, so she doesn’t want to rely on such a feeling since she can’t possibly know what the judges look for in particular. But she is happy with their stage, more than happy actually, and the crowd seems to be satisfied as well because they roar in response, cheering loudly, and it only makes her want to step onto the stage again, again and again.