tvN K-POP Star Hunt Philippine Finalists

I’m not quite sure if you remember but last September, I wrote an entry here inviting people to join the tvN K-POP Star Hunt. I was one of the bloggers tapped by the network to help spread the campaign. Four months after, I finally got to meet the three Filipino finalists who represented our country in the said competition – Rince Cajucom and twins Charmaine and Charlene Albino.

Rince is a 19 y/o native of Nueva Ecija who is taking up Information Technology while Charmaine and Charlene are senior high school students from Miriam College. I remember Happee telling me about them as she was one of the judges during the eliminations.

Charlene Albino, Rince Cajucom and Charmaine Albino – tvN K-POP Star Hunt Philippine Finalists!

Yesterday, over hot chocolate, tea and iced mocha, the three shared with me their experiences in Korea while being trained under CUBE Entertainment, the talent company of B2ST, 4Minute and G.Na.

Kring: What did you guys do to get into the top 11?
Charlene: We’re a fan of Carrie Underwood and I sang Inside Your Heaven.
Charmaine: And I sang God Bless the Broken Road, originally by Rascal Flatts.
Rince: On the 1st round I sang Big Bang’s A Fool’s Only Tears and on the 2nd round, I sang an English song.
Kring: How about you, girls, what did you do on the 2nd round?
Charlene: They asked us to dance a short portion of Run Devil Run just to see if we can dance.
Kring: And can you dance?
Charmain: A bit *laughs*.

Kring: Tell us about your experiences in Korea! How was it?
Charlene: Soon as we got there on our first day, we were trained right away and it was so hard!!
Charmaine: We were tortured!
Charlene: Yes, they made us do different things. They even told me my sister’s better than me. Everyone in the group really regretted being there but eventually as time went by, they became nicer, especially when we did the one-on-one vocal coaching. I don’t know why.
Kring: So it was tough?
Twins: YES!
Kring: So what was it like working with the Korean team?
Rince: They’re so nice…
Kring: Really?!?! I thought…
Rince: Yeah but of course, there’s a lot of misunderstanding ans miscommunication especially with the language barrier. Sometimes also, I don’t know if it’s just for filming purposes but they’d really try to bring out your emotions and push you to the edge.
Charmaine: And even our manners, they had to “correct”. You can’t cross your legs or put your hands in your pocket. You cannot yawn facing someone, even if you cover your mouth. If you’re in front of an authority figure or someone older, you got to stand straight.
Kring: So you weren’t only trained for your skills but for your manners as well and you also had to learn the culture…

tvN K-POP Star Hunt Top 11 Rince is at the 1st row, seated on the left side while the twins are at the last row.

Kring: How about your memorable moments? Like did you get to meet celebrities?
Charmaine: Oh yeah *excited*! I was in the salon getting my hair done and then suddenly a whole entourage came in. I turned around to see who it was and then it was Lee Minho!!!! Oh my gosh, he’s soooo tall, like more than six foot and of course, good looking. He looks exactly like how he does on TV. I was super starstruck! In that same salon, we also saw the other celebrities.
Rince: Like A-Pink, Boyfriend…
Kring: Boyfriend?! Oh gosh!
Charlene: For me the memorable experience is meeting the other finalists from other countries because we all got so close and when the six got eliminated, it was really hard. We all cried.
Rince: We did not expect six people will be eliminated right away so we were so shocked.
Charmaine: I was one of those eliminated on the first round.
Rince: As for me, I definitely cannot forget that moment when I got to hug Hyunah of 4Minute!
Charlene: Yeah, we got to shake the hands of the 4Minute members.
Rince: Oh, I also saw Dong Woon of B2ST practicing in the rehearsal room alone. I walked by and he looked at me, probably wondering who I was. Haha.

Kring: What about the difficulties that you had to go through?
Charlene: I had a hard time with vocal training because my trainor doesn’t want the “big voice” that I apparently have and I didn’t understand what she wanted to happen because she’s fine with my sister’s voice. She said mine sounds like a choir’s voice and she wants it to be “smaller”.
Rince: I actually didn’t have any formal training prior to the competition so for me, it was definitely an advantage. The vocal range that I never thought I could reach, I was able to reach eventually so I’m really happy. And they told us that what we went though was only 1/3 of the real training before debut.
Kring: Did you have any issues with the other contestants?
Rince: There were some controversies but the Philippine team was not part of it *laughs*! We didn’t join in the fights. We didn’t want to meddle and we talked in Tagalog when we wanted to talk about what’s happening.

Elimination round. A really tough moment for the finalists.

Kring:  This is what I reallllyyyy want to know. Are you true Kpop fans?
All: YES!
Kring: Since when and of which group?
Charlene: Since 2009. We’re Super Junior fans!
Rince: It actually started with Boys Over Flowers because I heard a lot of nice songs from the OST. At that time, 2NE1 was just about to debut and as I researched about Dara, I learned that Jandi (Goo Hye Sun) is from YG, too. That’s how I became a fan and I’ve come to love Big Bang and 2NE1 ever since.
Kring: So you’re a YG fanboy?
Rince: *nods*
Kring: *high fives Rince* You’ll have more exposure on this feature *laughs*. And you girls are SM fans?
Twins: Yes!
Kring: Who’s your favorite in Super Junior?
Charlene: I like Eun Hyuk.
Charmaine: Kyu Hyun!!!!!

Kring: If you guys make it and win this competition, what will you do?
Rince: If you win, you will sign the contract and train right away and if I’d be given that chance, why not? I really want to make it big there so I’ll do my best. And there’s no point in auditioning if you just want to win the title and go back to your normal life, right? I think even if you don’t win the 1st place thought they can still sign you up so…
Kring: Don’t worry about it. Even Dara didn’t win in Star Circle Quest. Nor did Sam Milby.
Rince: And Ryan Bang!
Kring: What if you don’t win though. Would you still pursue this showbiz or singing career even in the Philippines?
Charmaine: Yes. As far as I can remember, this is what we’ve always wanted to do – sing.
Charlene: I also want to inspire other people with my music. We write our own songs and when people get to listen to them, I’d feel like I’ve accomplished my mission.
Rince: Why would you waste your talent when you’ve already shown it to the world?
Charmaine: And if you really have the talent, you can really make it.

“What?! They’re disbanding?! Nooooo!!!” Hahahaha~ Who said that and why, you will never know!

Kring: What about the lessons that you’ve learned being part of tvN K-POP Star Hunt?
Charlene: I was told that they build you up just to break you down. During our training, we’re not always good, they criticized us a lot and that made us stronger. So if we make it in the industry, we’d know how to take and handle it.
Rince: You’d really learn a lot in that kind of competition and for me it was performing in front of other nationalities that really motivated me. All of the things we were taught there we could definitely apply in real life.

FunnySexy with Charmaine, Charlene and Rince! Future superstars~

Oh and when I finally got to take their photo outside, I kind of had to back-paddle a bit because they were soooo tall! Given, I was wearing flats but you know that photo up there? This is what it looks like at the bottom:

Height must have been a requirement.

I had a great time interviewing the three. They are still so young yet so passionate about what they want to accomplish. It’s kind of sad that they are not given as much attention by the local media compared to the other finalists in their respective countries who have been featured on the newspapers, TV shows, etc. So let’s spread the word, yeah?

Trust me, you’d want to interview them now when they still have the time because next year I’m not even sure if one or two of them would still be in the Philippines *winks*. You may catch more of Charmaine, Charlene and Rince on tvN K-POP Star Hunt, every Saturday 8pm on tvN Asia!

This is only the first part of this feature. Next up is a videoblog, which I’ll be posting within the week! Please share this story on your Facebook and Twitter accounts so more people would know about our kababayans who are trying to make a name in a very tough industry that is the Kpop world. Support Team Philippines because bitch, please. Y’all know it’s more fun here!

Check out the 2nd part of this feature! With video!

ps: Rivermaya Reunion, anyone?

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