Every now and again, a book manages to completely overwhelm me in the best sort of way. Without my permission, it decides that it has to be read in one sitting and even once I finish it, thoughts of it will still rumble around in my brain for days after. K-Pop Confidential was such a read.
Now, if you know me in ‘real life’, you know that I’m not much for K-Pop. I watch the occasional video and I’ve seen a few K-Drama episodes, but I don’t have a bias and I couldn’t tell you any of the band members names to save my life.
And yet, despite all of this, I was absolutely enamoured by this book that chronicles Candace’s time in the competition to become one of the idols for a label’s new all-girl K-Pop band that is promised to take the world by storm. Which is to say that, even if you’re like me and are not that versed in K-Pop, you still need to read this book because it is mesmerising and will blow your mind. And if you’re a K-Pop fan, well, what are you waiting for? This book was basically written for you!
K-Pop Confidential centers around Candace Park, a Korean-American teenager who keeps her love for K-Pop a well-hidden secret, even though her best friend is obsessed with it. But since her mother and father quit their musical endeavours in exchange for a stable job in America, Candace knows that they wouldn’t appreciate her having daydreams about one day having a career in the music industry. She is supposed to have good grades and excel at the viola, an acceptable classical instrument, and Candace complies, most of the time. All of that changes, though, when she secretly enters an audition for the next big Korean Pop girl band and ends up being the only girl chosen out of three thousand others who auditioned.
Completely swept up in the glitz and glamour that is sure to be in her future, Candace travels to Seoul to train ferociously with fifty others who want to be part of that girl band that is sure to make giant waves in the music industry. But what looks so perfect from the outside comes at a hard price: demanding schedules, a diet that consists of nothing but meagre amounts of sweet potatoes and eggs and almost no sleep.
Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of reading Lyla Lee’s I’ll Be The One, where a fat teenage girl named Sky enters a Korean competition and defies all beauty standards by advancing alongside her ‘more conventionally beautiful’ competitors. Where that book was fabulous and funny, K-Pop Confidential takes everything a step further and exposes the gruelling workings behind the perfection that we see on screen. Girls are pitted against each other, cruelly insulted and encouraged to eat even less so they fit the Korean beauty standard, and above all, have to be perfect in demeanour and appearances at all hours of the day with little to no sleep. All of this for the tiny chance of becoming an idol which will be even more work, more exposure to criticism and more cruelty. And yet, to Candace and her peers it all seems worth it to be the best and be adored by millions – after all, if you’re an idol, you can change the world. You can make millions of girls feel valued and great about themselves. But it comes at a cost. And Lee takes an intricate and unabashedly honest look at that cost, which is one of the most compelling aspects of the story. We all love the glitz and glamor, of course, but to see what lies beyond it? What goes on behind closed curtains? That is what makes this book truly unforgettable.
That is not to say that there wasn’t fun in this book, though. Candace is such a fierce and flawed character that you can’t help but laugh along as she messes up dance choreography, but manages to spin it to her advantage or chuckle when she manages to sneak around with one of the members of the biggest K-Pop boy band of her times. If I had to sum up Candace in one word, I’d go with gutsy. She has her doubts throughout the novel whether she will be able to succeed, but she never compromises her own values – she’s headstrong but big-hearted and in the end, those are the qualities they cannot teach you. There’s also a bit of forbidden romance and even the hint of a tiny love triangle and both guys are absolutely swoonworthy. Paired with some epic girl rivalries and unlikely friendships, every chapter holds something to raise the stakes. And of course, there is time for glamor. Fancy makeovers, MV shoots and performances in front of gigantic audiences – it’s everything you never knew you wanted but even better.
Addictive, glamorous and exposing the dark underbelly of the Korean music industry, K-Pop Confidential is an unputdownable must-read for everyone, whether they’re a fan of K-Pop or not. A mesmerising debut that leaves you wanting more!
K-Pop Confidential is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of September 15th 2020.
Will you be picking up K-Pop Confidential? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
A Korean-American girl finds her voice and has to navigate the complex world of K-pop stardom in this contemporary rom-com about following your heart and staying true to yourself in the process, for fans of Mary H. K. Choi and Maurene Goo.
Candace Park’s life is all planned out. She takes all AP classes, helps her parents at their dry cleaner, and spends what little free time she has watching Rupaul’s Drag Race. Then there’s graduation, college, and a “Real Job.” What her parents and friends don’t really know, though, is that she has a secret passion: singing. But what’s the point? She’s never seen an Asian-American girl make it big as a singer-songwriter anyway.
So when Candace enters a K-pop audition at the mall on a dare, she doesn’t expect to actually win. She definitely doesn’t expect to plunge headfirst into the grueling world of a K-pop trainee. Especially when her parents don’t approve of it…at all.
But when they offer her the chance to travel to Seoul, South Korea to train at the top Korean music company in the world, how can she pass it up? The only problem is, in addition to the round-the-clock singing lessons, dance rehearsals, and beauty treatments, Candance has to agree to follow the uber-strict rules of a trainee. The most important of which is: NO DATING. But it becomes pretty much impossible to follow when Candace finds herself in the middle of a love triangle between a sweet boy trainee and a superstar member of the hottest boyband in the world.
Will all of her hard work be wasted if she follows her heart? Or can she be the perfect, hair-flipping idol and stay true to herself at the same time?
