It is no secret that I love K-pop. I've listened to the music genre since high school. My friends introduced me to Super Junior, 2NE1, and my favorite K-pop artist, U-Kiss.

During high school, I had gotten obsessed with it. So obsessed that I emerged with a dream to be a lyricist with K-pop. I made this fantasy of becoming a Korean superstar. I fantasized about meeting my favorite artists, collaborating with them, and dating one of the members (a girl can dream). I watched many videos and read articles on how I would audition for well-known companies like SM, JYP, and YG. I learned that each company will recruit new talents as trainees and train them to become great performers like the artists I listened to. Considering that I am Asian and I had passion for creating music, I thought it was a great deal. When I told my mom I wanted to be a singer in Korea, she had to stop me. She recommended me to rethink that dream.

I thought she didn't understand how much I wanted it.

Fast forward to now, I watched a couple interviews from Prince Mak and Stella Kim. Prince Mak is a Chinese Australian in a K-pop group called JJCC (Jackie Chan Joint Culture) under Jackie Chan's Korean company. Stella Kim is a former trainee from one of Korea's biggest entertainment companies, SM Entertainment. Both experienced a trainee life in Korea, but Stella was diagnosed with an eating disorder and left SM while Prince Mak continued to promote with JJCC, but found it difficult to be a Korean star with limited communication skills.

Their interviews reminded me of a documentary about how K-pop groups were formed and debuted, such as 9 Muses in "9 Muses of Star Empire."

Here is the full version of the documentary:

From an outside perspective, it sounded terrible and hard to live in that kind of lifestyle.

Watching these idols talking about their daily lives as a trainee or as singers in an international genre like K-pop I started to research what trainee/idol life would be like.

Years of Training

While it would be great to go under training and learn how to be a better performer, Korean companies will recruit new talents at eight years old. They train their trainees for two to three years or longer before becoming a star. Singer Jo Kwon trained under JYP Entertainment for seven or eight years before debuting in a group called 2AM in 2008. His label mate JiHyo trained for 10 years before debuting in mega-super group Twice last year. Adding those years of training, you won't be a guarantee if debut as a singer or an entertainer at all.

No Time to Relax

If you watched Prince Mak's and Stella Kim's interviews, their schedule is almost identical. You have to wake up at five in the morning, go on a run for about an hour, go start to the studio, and practice until noon. Then you will have your first meal for 15 minutes before going back to singing and dancing until three in the morning. And repeat. When you're a trainee you have to do this routine everyday. When you become a singer or debut in a group/band, you'll still have to do this routine. There is a rare time to sit down and relax or go on a vacation.

Extreme Diet

Korean companies will put you in an extreme diet, such as eating food in a paper cup and skipping dinner.

They wanted you be "fit" and keep you in an "ideal" women body type before your debut. They will also measure your weight and announce it to everyone who is behind you.

Seeing Your Future Labelmates all the Time

The company required every trainee to live in a dorm with other trainees. After you debuted in a group or as a solo artist, you will still be living in the dorms until you became more popular. Imagine having to see your roommates (good or bad) every single day. You won't have much privacy or time to yourself without seeing them in the same room as you.

Lack of Family Communication, Especially if You're not Korean

If you're a family person, I highly recommend you not take this job. Korean companies will take away your phones or any devices as soon as you get recruited. If you're someone who was born some place other than Korea, you will have a harder time living as a trainee. Like Prince Mak, it is difficult for someone who is foreign to the culture and people in the industry. When he performed in Australia and saw his mother, it was the first time he seen her in three years. While there are non-Korean artists such as Amber from f(x), Kevin from U-Kiss, Jackson from GOT7, Nichkhun from 2PM, and Tiffany from Girls' Generation, there isn't much access to people who speak the same language as you in Korea.

No Income

Many people think if you became a star in a place like Korea you would make money. However, that is not the case. The company invests a lot of money for your music, but they will not tell you how much you're getting paid. This could lead a slave contact and multiple lawsuits against the company. So if you're looking for a job in Korea and thought becoming a K-pop star will bring a huge income, you might need to rethink this job.

I could go on with this topic such as more health problems, stalkers (also known as "saesaengs"), lack of creative freedom, dating ban, and sponsorship(it's not what you think—trust me). However, this will be a much longer article to talk about.

Now

Looking back I had to think about my life and if I want to be a K-pop singer. Instead I went to college and discovered how much I love to write. I also learned that I am more interested in working behind the scenes like writing lyrics or producing music than going on stage and performing. As much as I want to be famous in Korea, I don't want to be a K-pop star.

For the record, I do not (I repeat, do not) encourage you to boycott or stop listening to K-pop. I still listen to it to this day. U-Kiss is still my favorite K-pop artist. Mamamoo is my bias wrecker. Zion.t is the death of me (musically). If you're the kind of person who still wants to be a K-pop star regardless of the problems it has, go chase that dream.

For me, if I kept asking my mom about establishing a singing career in Korea, I wouldn't have met such great people. I wouldn't be the writer I am today. I am just glad that I am living in this life while listening to my favorite singers.