Panel: Do You Have What It Takes to Be a K-POP Star?

Ismery Pavon is a book blogger, book reviewer, and a former bookseller. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Florida International University in Mass Communications and Journalism, with a minor in English. When she’s not reading and drafting up a book review, you can find her working at Miami Book Fair.

Stephan Lee is a YA enthusiast, ardent K-pop fan, and journalist. He currently works as Senior Editor at Bustle after a five-year stretch covering books and movies at Entertainment Weekly. At EW, he traveled to Seoul for three weeks to write a feature about Korean entertainment’s world domination, interviewing K-pop idols Ailee, Tablo, and Tiffany Young of Girls Generation. In K-pop Confidential (Point) Lee introduce us to Candace Park. For most of her life, she has been playing the role of the quiet Korean girl who takes all AP classes, helps her parents at their dry cleaner,  and keeps her passion for singing and her obsession with SLK, K-pop’s top boyband, to herself. She can really sing, but she doesn’t see how a regular girl like her could possibly become one of those K-pop goddesses she sees on YouTube. But Candace secretly enters a global audition held by SLK’s music label and gets a coveted spot in their trainee program. Convincing her strict parents to let her to go is all but impossible, but then things get difficult. She must perfect her performance skills to within an inch of her life, learn to speak Korean fluently, and navigate the complex hierarchies of her fellow trainees, all while following the strict rules of the industry. Rule number one? NO DATING. Is a spot in the most hyped K-pop girl group of all time really worth risking her friendships, her future, and everything she believes in?

Lyla Lee is the author of I’ll Be the One and the Mindy Kim series for younger readers. Born in a small town in South Korea, she’s since lived in various cities throughout the United States. Inspired by her English teacher, she started writing her own stories in fourth grade and finished her first novel at the age of fourteen. In I’ll Be The One (Katherine Tegen Books) we meet Skye Shin. She has heard it all: Fat girls shouldn’t dance, or wear bright colors, or call attention to themselves. But Skye dreams of joining the world of K-Pop, and to do that, she’s about to break all the rules that society, the media, and even her own mother, have set for girls like her. She’ll challenge thousands of other performers in an internationally televised competition looking for the next K-pop star, and she’ll do it better than anyone else. She nails her audition, but what she doesn’t count on are the fat-phobic beauty standards of the Korean pop entertainment industry, and the scrutiny that comes with fame. To become the world’s first plus-sized K-pop star means winning the competition—without losing herself. Kirkus Reviews in a starred review said that “Skye’s strength and talent make her an inspiration to K-pop–loving teens everywhere—including those in real life. […] A fresh perspective on body image and K-pop?”