Q&A: Stephan Lee, Author of ‘K-Pop Confidential’

Recently, The Nerd Daily had the pleasure of sitting down with Stephan Lee, whose debut novel K-Pop Confidential releases September 15^th. K-Pop Confidential chronicles Candace Park, a Korean-American girl, getting swept up in a highly competitive training program for the formation of the (hopefully) biggest K-Pop girl band in the world.

We talked to Stephan and asked him all about his experience with K-Pop, the highs and lows of the entertainment industry, and his favorite books!

Hi, Stephan! Thank you so much for chatting with us! Would you mind telling our readers a bit about yourself?

Of course — thank you for inviting me into this amazing Nerdy universe! Like Candace, I’m Korean American and have been obsessed with pop culture since birth. And yes, my Asian parents totally thought my obsession was a waste of time, but I turned it into a career! I was the movie reviews editor and book reviewer at Entertainment Weekly for five years, and now I’m an editor at Bustle. I live in New York City and my apartment is basically what I wished my room was when I was growing up: overflowing with books and K-pop girl group swag, and the biggest thing in it is a giant poster of Britney Spears.

Before we get into the nitty gritty, I of course have to ask you: who are you favorite K-Pop bands?

Oh gosh, I could crash this site with recs, but I’ll try keep it short and also include my favorite song in parentheses from each band. Of course BTS (“Dynamite”) is way at the top for me, but other than them, I tend to focus more on girl groups, who deserve way more attention! 2NE1 (“I Am The Best”) and Girls’ Generation (“Genie”) first got me hooked on K-pop, and then Blackpink (“Playing With Fire), TWICE (“Fancy”), and Red Velvet (“Bad Boy”) made me fully obsessed. I also love Mamamoo (“Starry Night”), Everglow (“Bon Bon Chocolate”), ITZY (“Dalla Dalla), (G)I-DLE (“Hann”), Dreamcatcher (“You And I”), and G-FRIEND (“Love Whisper”).

And naturally, who is your ultimate bias?

My ultimate bias of all K-pop idols has to be Rosé of Blackpink. On top of having that angelic voice and being a fierce dancer, she just strikes me as such a sensitive and artistic soul. When I was writing K-Pop Confidential, I imagined Candace’s singing voice being a bit like Rosé’s — so vulnerable and distinctive. I can’t wait for any songwriting or solo projects that Rosé might have in the works!

If you had to describe K-Pop Confidential in five words or less, what would they be?

Fierce competition, lots of heart.

Now talk us through the writing process of K-Pop Confidential. How much research went into this book? What was the hardest to get right? What were your favorite scenes to write?

I read and watched every interview with K-pop stars about their trainee days that I could find. I checked out documentaries and articles about the K-pop trainee life but found that Western media tended to exoticize the process a bit too much; sure, the K-pop trainee world is extremely intense and specific, but the aspiring artists are teens like anyone else. To get into the minds of young people struggling to make it in a super-intense environment, I actually read a lot of fiction and non-fiction about elite sports, competitive cheerleading, and academics. I think the experiences my characters go through are both highly specific and totally universal at the same time.

Even with all my research, I didn’t want to base my fictional K-pop company, S.A.Y. Entertainment, on any real-life record labels, so I used my imagination quite a bit when building that world. For instance, no real-life K-pop company that I know of has 100 trainees living full time in a giant skyscraper! (But it could happen.) My favorite scenes to write were the monthly assessments that Candace and her trainee team have to go through to impress the CEO of their company. They were almost like writing battle scenes, and Candace learned something important about herself after each one.

You touch on so many important issues in K-Pop Confidential and you definitely don’t shy away from the dark sides of the Korean music industry – the pressure to be perfect, to conform and yet bring something innovative to the table every day. If you were part of a K-Pop band, what do you think would be the hardest for you to deal with? And what would you bring to the table, so to speak?

I think the hardest part would be the constant criticism. Just like Candace’s parents, my parents were pretty strict and had high standards for grades and behavior — but lying beneath the “Asian parent stereotype” was unconditional love, which I never doubted. That’s not the case in a place like a K-pop company or any other highly competitive environment. People’s approval is extremely conditional. If you don’t measure up in any way — whether it’s your skills, appearance, or behaviour — you could be cut at any moment. I think that would make me constantly anxious and paranoid.

But if I were to debut in a K-pop band, I think I’d be the quirky one who said random things in interviews! I think I’d also be the dad – or let’s be real, maybe more the “mom” — of the group who listened to my members’ problems and gave advice. And just like Candace, I would not be one of the main dancers. I can’t dance, like, at all.

I especially enjoyed the way you addressed the unattainable beauty standards Korean girls are confronted with in the entertainment industry. It’s a huge dilemma; on the one hand these girls dreaming of being idols can’t look too much like their predecessors and yet need to be as conventionally beautiful as possible. How did fitting Candace, a Korean-American teenager, in this environment come about?

I love this question. When Candace arrives in Seoul to train at S.A.Y. — it’s her first time in Korea — she’s both overwhelmed and comforted by the fact that for the first time in her life, she’s in the majority. She can’t get over the fact that almost everyone she sees on the streets is Korean! But then at S.A.Y., she’s suddenly told that she needs to change the parts of herself that make her who she is. It’s almost like she’s an immigrant in both America and Korea, which is a painful feeling I’ve definitely had in my real life, too.

That’s her journey, though: to see if the sense of identity and self-worth she’s built up throughout her life can withstand the challenges of this environment, and if she can help other people to do the same, too.

In recent years, we have seen K-Pop bands make extreme strides in the Western market – for example, BTS’s recent release Dynamite has broken the world record for most viewed YouTube video in 24 hours. Why do you think it has taken so long for K-Pop to break into other markets? And with collaborations like BLACKPINK and Selena Gomez happening, who would you love to see collab?

I actually don’t think it’s taken that long — I’m actually constantly pinching myself that we’re in this moment at all! When I was a kid growing up in Atlanta, I felt like Korean culture was so far out of the mainstream in America — and to see my non-Korean friends singing the Korean lyrics to “Sour Candy,” or to see BTS win VMAs … I don’t think I could have fathomed this before. But I think it’s happened because Korea is incredibly proud of and really wants to share their culture and their talents with the world. The effort to spread the culture has been an ongoing, concerted effort, but I don’t think anyone expected it to pay off as wonderfully as it has. I feel so privileged that my first novel is about K-pop and it’s not being treated as niche, and that’s only possible through the hard work of Korean and Korean American creators before me.

As for collaborations — we need a girl group to team up with Ariana Grande! I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about the way Ariana combines her fierce and soft sides that has always felt really k-pop to me. I also want to see girl group collabs with Rihanna, Taylor Swift, and Beyonce!

The competition Candace enters is cut-throat and harrowing and yet, incredibly compulsive to read about. What do you think compels people to be so fascinated by competitions where everyone is pitted against each other, but is still expected to work together in a team?

This is a great question! Whenever there are lots of people with different talents and agendas reaching for the same goal, there’s always going to be conflict. But I think the moment when you realize that your nemesis is actually a human being and not just the antagonist in the movie of your life is just so satisfying and makes you believe in humanity again. It’s why people love enemies-to-lover stories and reality TV competitions. It’s why Candace’s friendships and rivalries were some of my favorite storylines to write.

I loved the juxtaposition of Candace who wants to still feel like herself (refusing to get beauty surgeries, for example) with some of the other contestants who did everything they could to appeal to the general public and still weren’t chosen for a band. What would you like people to take away from reading K-Pop Confidential?

This is the heart of K-Pop Confidential for me: no one outside of yourself can take away or diminish your true sense of worth, no matter how powerful they seem, even if they seem to hold the keys to your future.

Young people today have so much going against them and so little support. It’s clear that older generations don’t have all the answers and therefore don’t have the right to force you to fit their standards. Candace’s journey is gaining the courage to acknowledge this and take her future into her own hands.

There’s this moment in the book where Candace chats to a boy from the world’s biggest K-Pop band that tells her how he wishes he never became a member of the band and yet cannot imagine life without it, despite his gruelling schedule and the impact on his mental health. It definitely puts into perspective achieving your dreams as not being the end of the road but the start of even harder work. Have you ever experienced such a dream or goal in your life?

Oh gosh, this is exactly what I’ve been thinking about every hour of every day leading to the debut of K-Pop Confidential! Being a writer for a living has been my dream since the first grade, and there’ve been so many obstacles in my magazine career — rejections, low pay, micro-aggressions, self-doubt — that have made me question whether it’s worth it. Coming out with my first novel is even scarier! Writing a book takes so much work that you can’t help but take it personally when it doesn’t get the attention you hope it does, or you get one of those absolutely crushing one-star Goodreads reviews. But what I’m learning from my characters in K-Pop Confidential is that it has to be about the love of what you do, not the result! Honestly, that feeling you get when you get a scene just right, or when you’re answering really smart questions in interview like this one, makes it all totally worth it!

With K-Pop Confidential releasing soon, are you working on other projects already? Any chance you might want to revisit Candace and her ‘career’ in the future?

Well, I’m working on a sequel about the debut of the girl group formed in book one, although I can’t confirm that Candace is actually in that group! I’d also love to write a middle-grade novel about a non-binary Korean American boy who idolizes said girl group.

I’ve also been working on a novel for adults about a family living in Atlanta, Georgia … it may or may not be semi-autobiographical! I hope to get that one published soon.

Last but not least, do you have any bookish recommendations for our readers?

SO many! I’ll just list these off with no explanation other than they’re amazing and you should read them: You Should See Me In A Crown by Leah Johnson, Tweet Cute by Emma Lord, They Wish They Were Us by Jessica Goodman, Truly, Madly, Royally by Debbie Rigaud, This Is My America by Kim Johnson, Stand Up, Yumi Chung! by Jessica Kim, Keep It Together, Keiko Carter by Debbi Michiko Florence, Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett, The Summer Of Everything by Julian Winters, I’ll Be The One by Lyla Lee, Love, Creekwood by Becky Albertalli, Now That I’ve Found You by Kristina Forest, Parachutes by Kelly Yang, Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas, Anger Is A Gift by Mark Oshiro, Frankly In Love by David Yoon, Grown by Tiffany Jackson … and so many more!

Will you be picking up K-Pop Confidential? Tell us in the comments below!