Aside from the carefully curated concepts, one of the most interesting aspects of a fresh K-pop group is how they form a bond. Even after years of training together, the members go on to work and play round-the-clock together, living in dorms while promoting their projects and dissecting every move after they happen, as you would with a sibling. “Even though we’re together 24/7, I feel like we always have something to talk about,” Elena says. “At the dorm, after practice ends, we go into one room and just talk about our day together. Sometimes those talks last until 4:00 AM. Also, lately we’ve really been into origami and just fun little crafts.”
Leading up to their debut, the girls have been making and collecting little origami stars that almost map out their journey. “Saki recently bought a bunch of those long paper strips,” Yi Hani recounts, “so we were together sitting in a circle, waiting for calls and stuff, all folding paper stars.”
“We just keep making stars,” Yi Hani adds between laughs. “We plan to do them at every single promotion to record those memories. We love making them, and we have chats and talk, like girl talk, while we do it.”
The group lights up at the prospect of adding messages to each star as promotions go along to keep as snapshots of their feelings, which would only be exposed if they ever decide to unravel them. Crocheting has also been added to the list of crafts to try out in the future, and, who knows, you might even get to spot their creations in a video or two. In fact, their DIY projects are already part of their day-to-day wardrobe.
“All seven of us, we always wanted to have a matching item, like a friendship item,” Seah says. “I personally like making bead accessories, so I made us all a friendship bracelet out of beads with everybody’s name written on it.”
Name: Jia
Birthday: August 22, 2008
Nationality: American, Korean
Biggest strength, as described by Seoyeon:
“She’s super bright and bubbly on stage, but offstage she’s so cute and adorable like a puppy. At the same time, she’s super driven, self-driven. She just pulls everything off perfectly.”
Courtesy of ABD, exclusively for Teen Vogue
Name: Saki
Birthday: October 9, 2010
Nationality: Japanese
Biggest strength, as described by Seohee:
“She has really adorable visuals. She’s so adorable, and she has such pinchable cheeks. But she’s also really good at dancing, so, on stage, she has really good charisma and her dancing is really [sharp.] So that contrast is Saki’s charm.”
Courtesy of ABD, exclusively for Teen Vogue