So, I finally got into Chocolat. Why only now, you ask, kind reader? Well, let me tell you.
Obvious red flags and the mixed race gimmick aside, mostly it was because I simply thought their debut song Syndrome was a disaster, an alright song ruined by some truly irritating segments. Dance not too amazing either. So, you know, not great first impressions. I did randomly catch "One More Day" at some point and thought it was a big improvement in every single way. Of course the song was hardly the focus of discussion... Anyway, after that they seemed to simply disappear.
Then not too long ago I randomly saw a recent fan cam'd perf of "I Like It" and loved all the energy on stage and the wild hair spinning and the song (that I heard for the first time, too). Melanie had gone blonde so that caught my eye too. There were simply enough things going the right way, so I thought, why not, let's see what's going on with them.
What is this I don't even
Just when I was starting to catch up, and see what else (if anything) had happened with Chocolat, I discovered they just did a video chat with their fans and I proceeded to watch what was pretty much ~2 hours of teenage girl craziness. Yeah, it was a little random, and downright embarrassing to watch at times, but hey, ain't that one of the things that make idols so great? A few things separate this video from the most, though:
• It's unadulterated, unedited and long... feels real, yo.
• It's completely in English (well with the occasional Korean thrown in) so one can understand it exactly without stuff lost in translation.
• The girls, Melanie especially, are really honest and open. Probably has a lot to do with age, relative obscurity and the mixed thing.
• The company (allegedly, at least) had no idea they were doing it. Here comes trouble?
• Despite being in the biz for a while, the girls are still young. Mel & Tia are 15, and Juliane is 19. It makes me wonder if it would have been a different kind of chat if Soa, the 23-year old leader, was there to control some of the comments. But she had a schedule and couldn't attend.
Cast of Characters•
Tia is super duper cute, she's totally like a semi-drowsy content little kitten throughout the chat.
•
Melanie is a slightly bonkers and hyper, sassy anime geek who handles all the chat trolls admirably. She gets called a Russian prostitute, asked if she was born retarded and is requested to go away, and she just fires back with a smile.
•
Juliane is ... uhh... so fine. Sooooo fine. Yeah. Seriously speaking, she's really girly cute and feminine, and stands out even more in that way because she's accompanied by two 15-year olds. Anything she does is just... kinda, sorta seductive... lol. Or maybe it's just me. Which is ok.
Some Teedbeets• The biggest news-worthy item comes when Tia reveals that Jaeyoon, the missing fifth member, never had any health problems but simply left the group because of issues with the company. The girls still keep in touch with her. This revelation comes with the request to fans not to blame the company too much, and not to spread this video around. Well, since it's the internet... good luck with that. I really hope they don't get into any trouble over this, though. But it's been a while, and they're kinda obscure by now, so... safe, maybe.
• They have two songs all set for a comeback, one of them is "sweet and cute", but they don't know which one they will promote. A "sweet and cute" song would no doubt help with anyone who's had a problem with Mel & Tia's dancing at times, but I really like the fierce "I Like It" performances etc. We'll see.
• Melanie's mom is in the house, and at one point farts so loudly you can clearly hear it in the stream. The girls crack up big time, and it prompts Melanie to talk about her own farts and "number twos" in the already established Melanie fashion. "There's not one American woman I've met who's been ashamed of a good loud fart." It's weird, because I had no idea idols poop and fart. TIL indeed. Well, ok, I knew about Hyomin.
• I read that there was someone called "AnalAvenger" in the chat asking the girls if they "Lez out with each other" among other nice things. At one point we get the golden comment from Mel: "That anal guy keeps coming in and out..." Oh, the internet...
• They do a lot of singing and rapping (Rapper T in da house) bits, Mel bursting into song from the slightest provocation, from Hyuna's "Ice Cream" and 4minute's "Volume Up" to Spice Girls' "Wannabe" and Madonna's "Like a Virgin", which prompts the most hilarious "...Maybe we shouldn't..." from Juliane when they get to the "Touched for the very first..." bit...
• They do get asked a lot about their ideal types and the usual stuff, but it gets pretty funny when Tia reveals she "ships" Melanie and Juliane with some B.A.P dudes and goes off on a tangent. Juliane does say that none of them are that picky about "looks, height or anything physical like that". Or race, Mel adds.
• If they ever get into a fight, they have a sacred oath to immediately start headbanging to Willow Smith's "Whip My Hair" until the situation settles down.
You should learn from that, world leaders.
• They have no say in their stage outfits or hair colour and whatnot, although that was kind of obvious.
• The girls are all home-schooled via some online American school program.
• They also mentioned they had a 2 month break from schedules and are now back in action. Mel spent 10 days of that time in New York.
So yeah, that was a pretty refreshing kind of a watch. If totally lengthy and random. Props to the girls. Let's picspam a little now...
Melanie, her going blonde was a great idea (though she mentioned in the chat she's not sure if she'll stay blonde for the comeback) coz I think it suits her great. She's a great dancer and now seemingly the main vocal along with Soa. And as we've learned, she's a no-bullshit, relatively bonkers anime geek, what's not to like?
<- With her dad and Ludacris. Guess which is which.
Tia, Tia, Tia... the "face" of the group, and no doubt its most skilled dancer. Always the one surrounded by controversy caused, among other things, by the fact that she sometimes looks (and dances) mature way beyond her actual age. If you thought youtube comments were a wasteland before, I don't even know how to describe some of the stuff Tia's fancams get. Sheesh. In stark contrast to her stage antics, she really is just the cutest thing off stage. [noembed]
"Jiyeon-unniiiee!"[/noembed] (Someone asked her to do that again in the chat, and she did... xD)
Well hello there. Honestly, Juliane is probably the least skilled dancer in the group, but you don't often see such a... meaty girl in kpop. She's like an amazon out there. And in general, she's just a gorgeous individual. Sweet and feminine. Too bad she's not "good with twitter" (even though I fell for her even more when she said that, lol...) so not as much selca picspam for her. But have some gifs.
And then there's Soa, the 23-year old leader, a beautiful lady as well. She's the only full Korean left in the group, and since she was missing from the chat vid I don't know THAT much about her yet.
Group pics. So, anyway, all things considered, Chocolat is a pretty unique group. I dig the girls and I'm now very interested in their upcoming comeback, which is set to take place... "soon". Whether it's "sweet and cute" or just downright fierce, it's all good, one way or the other.
Oh right, first part of their debut story thang. Only recently subbed, though it's from 2011.
Topic: (Group) Chocolat (쇼콜라) (Read 124663 times)