Subtitles section Play video
(hip hop music)
- No, I can do it.
I promise I can do it.
Play it again.
(hip hop music)
- Steven is trying to become a Kpop star.
(laughing) Hilarious.
- I really wanna be a Kpop star.
- Okay, cool.
- [Steven] This is my life long dream.
- To be a Kpop star, you have to have a certain
swag about you,
and Steven has, just, not that.
- Oh, Steven, what have you gotten yourself in to? (laughs)
I'm just kidding, or am I?
- You have to know how to dance.
I feel like he can't just pick that up,
let alone sing,
and become super stylish.
Like, come on, man.
Steven's a great guy, but no, it's impossible.
- If he can pull off something,
even like an iota of what it is to Kpop star
with this project,
then I commend him,
because it's difficult.
It is a hard life.
- My name is Amber.
I'm in a group called f(x).
I recently just released two songs.
One is called "Need to Feel Needed,"
and the second one is called, "On My Own."
Kpop is, I guess,
definitely more than just a genre of music.
It's fashion.
There's shows, performance aspects.
It's this whole experience that, I think,
a lot of people have come to love and appreciate.
Steven, I have no idea what you got yourself into,
but, you know, never give up.
Shake your little butt,
and do something crazy (laughs).
Good luck, Steven.
- [Steven] With Amber cheering me on,
I was ready to begin my quest,
training like a Kpop star for one week.
So I called up a former Kpop trainee
to help me get started.
- I'm Ed.
I used to be a trainee in a Korean entertainment agency
a few years back.
Kpop trainee life is very difficult,
and it's really intense.
So an average day for a Kpop trainee,
all these things are really clearly regimented.
If you have work,
you go to work, and then after work,
you'll probably have to do language class,
'cause it's Kpop, so you need to know
how to speak Korean.
- Yes, in Korean, is--
(speaking in a foreign language)
- You probably go to vocal class,
'cause you need to be in your best condition
for your vocals, right?
(humming)
And then once that's over,
you go to dance class.
- Open, hop, open,
tap, knee, push, drop.
- The most difficult thing about it is
you don't really have a personal life
beyond the training thing.
So, like, you'll be doing hours of training
in all aspects,
especially if you aren't familiar with it.
I think the people that make it to the end
are the people that put in the most effort.
- Okay, I wanna put my heart into this.
- Welcome to Korean 101.
Do you know any Korean words?
- Uh.
My friend would use to say this a lot.
(speaking in a foreign language)
- Oh my god, what is that?
- Wait, what does that mean?
- Pull your pants down.
- Wait. (laughs)
- Yeah, take your pants off.
Why would he say that? (laughs)
- Hi, my name's Erin.
- Steven.
- I'm an acoustic Seoul Hip Hop musician.
I will be your vocal coach.
How you doing today?
- I'm okay.
I don't sing.
- At the end of the day, confidence.
First thing is there is a warm up
that is very, very good,
for pronunciation and the structure of your mouth.
♫ Gug, gug, gug, gug, gug ♫
Can you try that?
♫ Gug, gug, gug, gug, gug ♫
- Come on, man.
♫ Gug, gug, gug, gug, gug ♫
- There it is.
I hear some tones.
Kpop, it's literally building a singing,
dancing machine, bro.
- I'm Michael.
- I'm Danielle.
- This is Danielle.
- We are Kpop choreographers.
What we wanna do is kind of see
where we're at.
- Cool.
- So can you bust out with a few moves right now for us?
- Oh, right now?
- Yeah, right now.
- Yes, right now.
- Here's my go to move.
- Yeah, I'm feeling it.
- (yelling)
- You got this.
You got this, you got this.
- Now, I'm gonna teach you how to introduce yourself.
(speaking in a foreign language)
- Huh?
- How about--
♫ Kah ♫
♫ Kah ♫
- Hey, it could be a little bit better
if you pushed it out a little bit more.
- Like a baby.
- Do it.
- A little bit of some simple groove,
like a lean back.
Maybe even like licking your lips,
just for that fan service.
Yeah.
- [Danielle] (laughing)
- [Michael] Not too much.
♫ Kah ♫
- Hey, the baby's out.
- Oh, thank god.
My friend Lcksmith,
he wrote this song for me
to perform.
(speaking in a foreign language)
(muttering in a foreign language)
(speaking in a foreign language)
- And pop your knee forward.
- What is your favorite part of the song?
- When they speak English.
- Let's do that.
- Okay. (laughs)
♫ Baby ♫
- Uh huh.
♫ You and me
♫ You-- ♫
- Oh, that was a--
- I don't know where that came from.
- Oh, that was nice.
What is gonna be your Korean name?
(speaking in a foreign language)
- It just gets right to the point. (laughs)
- So, we're actually out of time right now.
- Thank goodness.
- So, next session, we will be teaching
you the choreography.
- Thank you.
See you tomorrow.
- No problem.
- Ah, man, okay.
It's like midnight right now.
I have to study my Korean,
practice some of my dance moves,
and, also, try to memorize all these lyrics.
I'm kind of feeling overwhelmed.
(sighs)