Chapter 36 - We do it for the fans

So, they had all spent a large part of the morning working fairly hard in their dance class, had just had some lunch, and had gone into the large hall. At one end was a stage, set up ready for a band. They all looked at each other... Dianne was the first to move, walking over to the stage, up onto the stage, then sat behind the drum kit. She picked up the drum sticks, and started to drum a gentle beat. Linda was next: she went up, and found the bass guitar: the amp was off, so she turned it on, and started playing a bass line along with Dianne. Next was Carol, who went up and did the same with a normal guitar. Finally Jenny went up, and turned on the keyboard, and the amp it was plugged into. A few people were looking at them, but clearly this sort of thing happened quite a bit.

Paige was also there, and had already picked up her camera and was videoing.

"Rollerskates?" asked Jenny. Everyone nodded. "Ok, one, two, three, four...." said Jenny relatively gently, and the four of them started to play 'Sexy Yellow Rollerskates' - the original CJD version they played at the festival. They were a couple of lines into the song when the PA suddenly came to life: Carol looked to the back, and could see someone up on the balcony giving them the 'thumbs up'. By now, everyone had stopped and was watching: they had all realised exactly who was playing. Not some group that was yet to 'debut', but the popular English group they had heard was visiting them for a couple of weeks, and that many of them had seen at the festival on Saturday! As the song ended, the small crowd in the hall all cheered and applauded. Four smiling faces looked out: yes, this was fun!

"Hi everyone, we're CJDL!" said Jenny. "Did you all enjoy that? We did!!" Another cheer went up.

"You know" said Carol when things had quietened down a bit, "I think this could be a good time to share some of our experience with you guys - would you guys like that?".

"Ok, well first of all - whoever that is that's running the PA up there: thank you!" The four girls bowed to the tech guy in thanks, then took off the guitars, and put everything back where it was before. Then Carol went and sat down at the front of the stage, with the other three joining her.

"So, here's a question for you all: why did we just do what we just did?" asked Carol.

"Because you like showing off?" suggested one person.

"Absolutely NO to THAT! Anyone else?"

"Because you like playing?"

"That's part of it....". There were a few more suggestions.

"So, as we were all growing up, I think we all realised that we had been given a gift. We can all sing. We can all play a load of instruments. Jenny there is really amazing at writing music, and Dianne and I are good with the words. Linda there hasn't been with the band all that long, but she's starting to discover that she's able to write music and words too. We believe that we were given these gifts for a reason, and that's why we honour our God, who gave us these amazing gifts, by using them. So we use our gifts to bring joy to our fans, to people like you. As we were playing a few minutes ago, I could see lots of smiles on your faces. And THAT is why we do it: for the people who are watching us and listening to us. So, try to remember that: you are NOT performing to become rich; you are NOT peforming to make yourself look good.... its for your fans, and without any fans, you simply don't exist... never forget that!" said Carol.

"Yeah, so also remember that when you go out, with your 'band' clothes on: you belong to your fans. Don't ignore them... without them, you'd be absolutely nothing." said Jenny. "Hey, Paige, come over here a moment!". Still filming, Paige joined the four girls. "Ok, give me the camera...". Jenny took the camera from Paige - it was something she often did, even when on stage. "So, Paige, tell these guys how you first met me....".

Paige spent a couple of minutes explaining the story of how a small group of them from college had gone to the park, and had met Jenny, and had a great time, discovering along the way that Jenny was an amazingly normal person. She explained how the group of them became Jenny's 'superfans', doing stuff for her. How they would almost 'coach' the other fans into behaving, allowing Jenny - and the others - to meet them when out and about.

"So, how do they all feel after being able to meet us?"

"I think they love it!" she said with a smile.

"So, why are you with us here today?"

"Because I work for you guys?"

"And how did that happen?"

"Well, at one of your last shows in London, you got a load of the kids from college - I guess I should explain that I was at the same college where all four of the girls here went - to join you in singing and dancing, and I was on stage with you, videoing you for the streaming. And when I left college, you asked me to work for you."

"You know, I realise I've never actually asked you: do you enjoy working with us? And if so, why?"

"Yes, it is amazing. Why? I guess it's such fun to see you bringing joy to so many people... to your fans!"

Jenny turned the camera around, and scanned the students. "Never forget your fans, that's our message for today!"

"Absolutely! Hey, want to do something like this again tomorrow?" asked Carol. A cheer went up. As the crown dispersed, an older man came over and introduced himself: he was the 'headmaster'.

"Ladies, it is a pleasure to finally meet you all! I was planning to talk with you about what 'master classes' you can do for us, but that was a GREAT idea, thank you. And by all means, feel free to use the kit on the stage again!

Chapter 38 - It's charts day again


Carol, Jenny, Dianne and Linda had spent the Tuesday morning doing more dancing. Rather than simply learning a dance routine - which is the sort of thing they would do with a choreographer when preparing for a tour - they had gone back more to the basics, understanding how to use their bodies, and how best to carry out various dance moves. At college, they had only done a tiny amount of dancing, so they were all very much enjoying being able to do this... and of course, it's part of the reason that Carol had suggested that they do it.

And while they were dancing, Paige and Callum were recording what they were doing. Much of it was a bit boring, but it they could tell that they were quickly getting into the swing of things, and that it would be interesting later on to watch their progress. And as a bonus, they had a couple of bits where the girls had fallen over whilst trying stuff!

Through the morning they had several breaks - dancing is pretty physical, so breaks are essential. Finally it was lunchtime, and like yesterday, they went to the cafeteria to get some food. Whilst they were eating, Jenny's phone rang: it was her dad. He had been called by the radio station, and they wanted to talk to them again on the chart show. Jelly Fish were elsewhere, and had been contacted separately, but they wanted to talk with both Jelly Fish and CJDL, like they had last week.

"I've given them your phone number, so expect a call, similar time to last week."

"So, did they say where Jelly Fish is in the chart?"

"No, but I'm guessing there's an interest since the new joint version of 'Rollerskates' got released on Saturday"

"Oh, yeah, of course....".

Normally having a new song release was a much bigger thing for them: they would have worked on it for ages, been in the studio to record it, then recording a video, then discussing a release date with their record company, then watch it climb the charts. But this time, it was Jelly Fish who had done almost all of that, they had just 'popped in' to a recording studio to add their voices to the existing song: time taken? Under 30 minutes! Yes, they had been on TV - but that was to support Jelly Fish's version of the song - and been at the Park Festival, but that was playing their own music, with Jelly Fish simply 'guest appearing'.

After having some food, they went into the big hall, where they discovered that someone was playing the chart show through the PA system. Suddenly they was a large "ooohhh.." from almost everyone on the hall. As you'd expect, Paige was recording, in case anything interesting happened.

"What's wrong?" Carol asked one of the other students.

"Oh, Jelly Fish has dropped right down to 15! And they're not playing it for some reason."

"That can't be right..." said Carol, "They want to speak to us again this week. Maybe something has happened with the new version.".

"What do you mean?"

"We over-dubbed the Jelly Fish version on Friday evening, so it now has all eight of us singing, and it got released on Saturday."

"Ah, ok..."

Suddenly the audio was faded down, and the guy she had just been talking to called up to the guy running the mixing desk in Korean, and the audio came back on again. "I told him that we needed to keep listening..."

They sat with the other students, listening to the chart show: it was interesting to hear what music was popular in Korea. They had got to number 5 when Jenny's phone rang: it was the radio station, and hearing the show playing in the background, they asked if they could all go somewhere quieter.

"Got to go somewhere quiet, that's the radio station...." said Carol to the guy she had been chatting with. The four girls, along with Paige and Callum, went off to one of the small practice rooms that was empty, and waited with the phone on speaker. Paige had set up the tripod, and was by now filming the four girls.

"Hello... can we just do a sound-check with you all...." asked a voice on the phone.

"Sure thing, say when..."

"We're ready now.."

"In that case, hi, I'm Jenny, and I'll let the others all say something too."

"Hi, this is Carol, I hope I'm ok."

"This is Linda..."

"And I'm Dianne, I'll keep speaking a bit more, so you can make sure the levels are right. How are we sounding?"

"That is perfect, thank you very much. So, the presenter will be speaking live with both you and Jelly Fish at the end of the next record...". The audio went back to the feed of the show, the song ended, and the presenter introduced the next song. A couple of the minutes later a voice came on to say "Please be ready, we'll be with you soon..."

The record ended, and the presenter came on, saying something in Korean, then he spoke English. "So, that was the number two in the chart, and we have a brand new number one...". The four girls looked at each other with huge smiles: if Jelly Fish were down at number 15, and there was a new number one, and they were waiting on the phone, then it could mean only one thing.

"... so what is this new record? Well it is completely unexpected, it was only released on Saturday, but it has sold so well that after only three and a half days, it's gone straight to number one: it's Jelly Fish singing with the English band CJDL, and on the line we have both bands. First of all, Jelly Fish, sorry that your version dropped to number 15, but how do you feel?"

"We were very confused when we heard our version was at number 15, but also knew you wanted to talk with us, so yeah, it's great to continue being at number one, but it's great that it's also with CJDL!"

"CJDL, how do you feel?"

"Well, for Carol, Dianne and me, this is not our first number one. However, Linda only joined the band fairly recently, so this is actually her first number one! I think Linda needs to have a quick scream!".

Linda screamed out, as suggested. "It's absolutely amazing," said Linda, "and my first number one has happened in Korea, how crazy is THAT?"

"Well, congratulations to all eight of you! So lets hear this new version of 'Sexy Yellow Rollerskates.". The music played, then the presenter came back on the phone again. "Thank you all very much for that, especially to you, Linda, I hadn't realised it was your first number one!".

They ended the call, and walked back to the large hall, where they entered to a big round of applause from all the students.



(8357)

Chapter 40 - Radio Croydon

The others soon arrived back, and they all ate dinner together at the apartment. The person who cooked for them was actually quite good, and they all agreed that, whilst it ws nice to go out for a meal, it perhaps wasn't the healthiest way to eat, so eating 'at home' was a good option.

"Tell you what, we really must go out and eat at one of those street places, in a tent!" said Carol.

"Yes, I think we might be arranging that later this week" replied Ahnjong.

"Oh, excellent!"


A bit after dinner, Carol called Tom during his show, and they had a relatively quick chat off air about what she and the others were up to. They also agreed to do something more substantial, with all the other girls, the following week, their last week in Korea, but decided that they would have a quick chat now.

"So, the time's coming up to half past one here in Croydon, which I'm thinking means it's about half past eight in the evening over in Seoul... and that's where Carol Danvers, and the other members of CJDL are right now. Hello there, Carol!"

"Hi Tom, and a big 'hello' to all the Radio Croydon listeners from Korea!"

"So, what's been going on, Carol?"

"Well, if you remember, the reason we came over here was because a Korean girl band called Jelly Fish were at number 2 in the charts with one of our songs, and they wanted us to go on TV with them. The day after we got here last week, they were up at number one, which was even better."

"And are they still at number one this week, or are we too early in the week?"

"Well, sort of..."

"Sort of?"

"Well, you see, THEIR original version went down to number 15, but...."

"Oh, come on Carol, stop teasing us all!"

"So last Friday, we over-dubbed their original recording, so it's now got all eight of us singing on it. And it made number one today!"

"Oh, nice! I bet you weren't expecting that were you?"

"Well, I think we hoped it might get to number one, but we weren't expecting it to happen this week, not so soon!"

"Ok, so well done on that. I guess the big question is whether we're going to hear the song here in the UK?"

"Yes, we heard earlier that our record company will be releasing it, so just make sure you play it! We're a poor and destitute British girl band, we need the cash!" said Carol, starting to giggle.

"Nah, pop starts are never poor! Anyway, it's evening in Korea, so where are you right now?"

"Well, most of us are staying in a nice apartment, and next door to that is the apartment where the four girls from Jelly Fish live, and that's where we are now!"

"When you say 'we', who do you mean?"

"Well, why don't I get everyone to introduce themselves? Let's start with Jenny's parents..."

"Hi, I'm Brian..." "and I'm Lisa, and we're CJDL's managers."

"Hi everyone, I'm Callum, I'm Jenny's brother."

"I'm Paige, I work with the band..."

Next was Mike and Ben, then Carol got the four girls from Jelly Fish to introduce themselves.

"And finally...." said Carol... "I'm Linda...", "I'm Dianne...", "I'm Jenny...", "and I'm Carol... so that makes us, erm, LDJC? Bah, you all KNOW who we are!". Tom laughed.

"You told me earlier that you're staying over there for another two weeks: what are you doing?"

"We started some dance classes yesterday, and they'll be going on this week and next week: I'm already getting aches in muscles I never knew I had, but we're enjoying it, and we're all looking forward to the rest of our dance training!"

"Well, I hope you all enjoy yourselves over there: maybe we can chat again next week, and find out how things are going for you..."

"I'm sure we can do that!" replied Carol.

"Well, Carol, and the rest of you, thanks for calling in and letting us know what's been going on. I actually managed to get a semi-official copy of your Korean number 1 hit, so let's play it: Jelly Fish vs CJDL, and Sexy Yellow Rollerskates!".


(8649)

Chapter 42 - Yun Hee goes to the ortho

By the Wednesday, the 4 girls were getting into the swing of the dance classes. It was quite intense, but they were learning a lot of stuff, and learning how their bodies could balance and stretch in different ways.

At lunchtime they played another one of their songs in the hall, and then chatted with the students again. After lunch, they did their first 'masterclass', where the talked about the British, and European music scene, and how people become musicians - very different from the way K-idols get trained - but it seemed sensible to explain how other countries 'train' their musicians.

After their classes, the mini-coach with Yun Hee and one of the admin / security team on it arrived to collect the four girls, Callum and Paige: after dropping off Jenny, Carol and Yun Hee at the orthodontist's office, the others went back to the apartment. It had been decided that, as this was something personal for Yun Hee, Paige and Callum would not be filming them.

Carol had no idea what to expect, and was pleasantly surprised to find that the Orthodontist had a very modern office. Yun Hee checked in at reception, and all three of them went into the waiting room: a very pleasant and comfortable experience. There was no doubt that this was not only a provate practice, it was a pretty up-market one too! I guess that being a #1 k-pop idol has it's perks!

It wasn't long before a youngish lady came through and asked Yun Hee to go with her. Yun Hee explained that she wanted both Carol and Jenny to come with her, and when she realised that they were English, she spoke to them in English. "Hello Carol, Jenny, it's nice to meet you. Please, come on through!". Carol had assumed that she was the ortho's assistant, but she was in fact the orthodontist.

In the surgery, she asked them to sit down and  then introduced herself: "Hello, I am Bong-Cha, I am a qualified orthodontist, and I would like to understand why you are here. I know that your two friends are English, so I will try to speak English, but I may have to speak Korean at some point."

"Well..." explained Yun Hee, "I've had these crooked teeth for several years, and I would like to have nicer teeth".

"Ok... do you have any specific problems? I'm thinking about maybe pain, or discomfort, or even problems eating."

"Not really. I sometimes have problems biting some things, but I think that's simply because my teeth are just crooked." she replied, smiling and letting Bong-Cha see the obvious problem.

"Well, that is good to hear. Is there anything else you would like to tell me?"

"I don't really think so right now... I assume you'll be looking at my teeth in more detail?"

"Yes, I was going to suggest that you could come over to the treatment chair, and let me take a look at your teeth. Then I'll scan your teeth, so we can see them on the computer screen, and I can explain the option for treatment".

Yun Hee went and sat in the large chair. "It's probably simpler if you two wait here for the moment, but when I scan her teeth, you are welcome to come over and watch on one of the screens!" said Bong-Cha. A younger, and quite pretty, girl came over. "This is my assistant, Mishil."

Mishil looked at Yun Hee, then looked over at Carol and Jenny, and suddenly realised who they were. "Excuse me," said Mishil, "but are you who I think you are?"

"Well, it depends who you think I am... if you think I'm one of the girls in Jelly Fish, then yes. And Carol and Jenny are in CJDL, they're the English girls that are visiting us." explained Yun Hee.

"I guess you saw us all on TV last week?" asked Jenny.

"Yes, I did! It is so amazing to meet you!"

"Sounds like we need to all do some selfies before we leave, doesn't it?" suggested Carol.

"Sorry," said Mishil, "I interrupted!"

"That's ok, I don't mind!" replied Yun Hee: she was still getting used to the idea that, as a successful pop idol, people would now recognise her.

Bong-Cha started to speak in Korean to Yun Hee. "Don't worry, I'm just explaining to Yun Hee what I'm about to do," she added afterwards.

Mishil gave Yun Hee a pair of dark glasses, then Bong-Cha lay the chair almost flat, and lifted Yun Hee up. After adjusting the bright lamp, she started speaking to Yun Hee again in Korean, clearly asking her to open her lips, and do certain bites and jaw movements. Next she fitted Yun Hee with lip-spreaders, and started to look at her teeth in more detail, finally removing the lip-spreaders.

"Your teeth are all in excellent condition, and whilst your teeth are not particularly straight, your mouth does not seem to actually be crowded. The width of both your top and bottom jaws are both good, and they fit together reasonably well: this means that your treatment should be fairly simple. Let me scan your teeth, and then I can make sure my feelings are correct. Carol, Jenny, please come over and watch on the screen over there...."

After re-fitting the lip-spreader, Bong-Cha took the wand that Mishil had passed to her, and started to scan Yun Hee's mouth and teeth. Of course, whilst Carol and Jenny had seen her - quite crooked - front teeth, they had never actually looked right into Yun Hee's mouth, so they found it interesting to see what her teeth really looked like. As Bong-Cha had explained, her teeth were not actually over-large, and seemed to fit her mouth well. One of her upper pre-molars was definitely a bit out of line, with two of her lower premolars being slightly out of line too,  but most of the issues seemed to be with Yun Hee's front 12 teeth.

It was clear that Bong-Cha was very familiar with the scanner, because she was able to get a really good scan of Yun Hee's teeth very quickly. With the scanning done, Mishil removed the lip-spreaders, and Bong-Cha sat the chair up again, whilst at the same time turned off the bright light.

"I'm going to spend a few minutes using the computer to move Yun Hee's teeth into something very close to a final result: I need to confirm that there's enough space. You are very welcome to watch!".

All three girls watch on in fascination as Bong-Cha manipulated the teeth, moving them into much nicer positions: the end result looked very good.

"As I thought, there is enough room... so, come back over and let's talk....". The four of them went back to the chairs on the other side of the room.

"So, you are an excellent candidate for clear aligners. I see from your notes that you are a singer, so that would work well for you..." suggested Bong-Cha. Yun Hee was silent.

"Actually, Yun Hee specifically doesn't want clear aligners," said Jenny.

Bong-Cha looked a bit surprised. "But I assumed...".

"I would actually like braces similar to what Jenny has..." explained Yun Hee. Jenny smiled, showing off her braces.

"You see," explained Jenny, "there's several reasons for getting braces. Yes, the most obvious is to get your teeth straightened, and whilst I needed an upper expander and headgear to start with, I too could have had clear aligners for the rest of my treatment. But, like Yun Hee, I'm a singer in a well-known girl-band, and I wanted to make a statement. To tell our fans that 'there's nothing wrong with having braces!'. As I said, I was offered clear aligners, as well as white ceramic braces, and I refused both."

"Ah, OK, I was wondering why someone in your position had metal brackets - and I notice that they aren't small metal brackets either. And your friend, Carol, has traditional retainers too..."

"Actually, it's more than a retainer," explained Carol, "there's a spring clasp here, to move my canine tooth back into position - I had braces several years ago, and everything was fine, until I spotted that tooth had moved a tiny bit. Yes, I guess I could have had clear aligners, but to be honest, while they are described as 'invisible', by the time you get those little bumps on the teeth, they are actually surprisingly visible. And I knew Jenny was happy showing off her braces to the world, so I decided that I might as well make my braces a bit more visible too!"

Bong-Cha smiled (showing off a 'perfect' set of teeth!). "I admire you both, many people in your position would go for the aligners, but I understand your reasons. So, Yun Hee, you are certain you'd like to have metal brackets?"

"Yes, I would. I want to be proud of the fact that I am having my teeth fixed!"

"Ok, I can certainly treat you with metal brackets. The brackets that Jenny has are relatively large, and there's much smaller brackets available, although I suspect Jenny will tell me - quite correctly - that your treatment would take a bit longer with smaller brackets. They would, of course, be less visible. And if you REALLY want your braces to be visible, I could specially order some even larger brackets for you!"

Yun Hee smiled. "No, I don't think I would like to go with anything bigger!"

"Jenny, I saw that you have molar rings on your rear teeth.."

"Molar bands, you mean? Yes, I do. I needed them for my headgear."

"Ah, ok. Yun Hee, you won't actually need to have molar bands like Jenny does, as I won't need to move your molar teeth at all. Which means I could fit your braces this afternoon, if you like?"

Yun Hee was actually a bit surprised: she had assumed that she would need to come on another occasion to get her braces fitted. After getting over the shock and surprise, she smiled. "Yes please..."
 
"You know, she's so lucky," commented Jenny, "no molar bands means no separators!"

"Oh, yeah, I remember those!" said Carol, wincing.

"What's separators?" asked Yun Hee.

"Oh, little tiny rubber rings they put between your molars, to make them move apart a bit, so the ortho can fit a metal band around the tooth. They may only be small, but they really hurt for a day or two!" explained Jenny.

"Before I can treat you, I need to complete a treatment plan for you to sign." said Bong-Cha. "FY Entertainment have already agreed that they will be paying for your treatment, you are just signing to accept the actual treatment. And I'm sure FY will be happy with your choice of braces, as it will actually save them some money!"

Having signed the treatment plan, Yun Hee put the dark glasses on again, and lay back in the treatment chair while Bong-Cha cleaned her teeth, etched them, and one-by-one glued the 24 brackets to her teeth. As Bong-Cha did this, she explained to Yun Hee what she was doing. With the brackets now fitted, Mishil temporarily removed the lip-spreader, allowing Yun Hee to both rinse her mouth out, as well as have a feel of her brackets with her tongue.

"To start with, I will fit a very gentle wire." explained Bong-Cha. "Then, as your teeth get straighter, I'll fit stronger wires. I would also suggest that you might want to consume some pain-killing tablets when you get home."

"I'd definitely agree with her on that!" said Jenny. "Also take some before you come for an appointment: when she fits a new archwire, it will hurt... I say that from my own experience!"



(8834)

Chapter 44 - Wednesday evening: Open Mic Recording

So, this next chapter describes the recording that they all made later on that Wednesday evening, but I decided it was more fun to write it from the perspective of the next evening, when it got played at the Open Mic Night at the pub!

----

It's Thursday night at The Crown, so once again it's Open Mic Night.

"Hi everyone" said Steve, the guy who did the sound, and basically ran the event. "So, I have some bad news and some good news for you all. The bad news, that you probably worked out for yourselves already, is that Carol Danvers can't make it again tonight, some feeble excuse about 'being over in Korea'. The good news is that she sent me something she recorded yesterday to play to you all instead, and I'll guarantee that you're all going to love it! So watch the TV screens, and enjoy!"

"Hi everyone" said Carol on the video. "Sorry I can't be with you again this week, but as you probably heard, I'm over in Korea with the girls, and it's more than a 10 minute drive to come over to The Crown! So I thought it would be fun to send you a video instead. Ok, let me start by introducing Linda, you've heard me mention her before. This is a song that Linda started to write... well, just before I came along to the Open Mic Night for the first time... ready Linda?"

The camera had panned out when she introduced Linda, and the two of them started to play acoustic guitars (that belonged to Jelly Fish) then sang together. When they finished, the crowd at the pub all applauded.

"Right, so maybe it's time to introduce everyone that's here. I should explain that everyone except Jenny's parents - they're our managers - are staying in the apartment next door, and we're currently all squeezed into Jelly Fish's apartment! So, this is Linda, who you just saw playing with me. Then we have Jenny, and her Fiance Ben..." as she spoke, Paige, who was behind the camera, zoomed in to Jenny and Ben. "Then there's Dianne, and her fella, Mike... and Callum, Jenny's brother. Behind them is Jenny's mum & dad, they are our managers. Behind the camera is Paige...". Paige walked around to be in front of the camera, and waved.

"And finally, let me introduce the four girls from Jelly Fish: we are are jointly number one in the Korean charts with them with one of our songs, which is why we're all here... so say hi to Ahnjong, Min Jee, Taeyang and Yun Hee".

"So, I asked if a couple of the Jelly Fish girls could sing us some sort of traditional Korean song... so over to Min Jee..."

"Hi everyone! This song is a traditional Korean romantic folk song, called 'The Story of Kap Do-li and Kap Soo-ni', we hope you like it!". While Min Jee and Yun Hee played guitar, all four of them sang the song. At the end, everyone in the pub clapped again, as did everyone else on the recording.

"Wasn't that lovely?" said Carol, who then paused for a few seconds. "Next up is something special, but I think I need to explain a bit about it first. Over the last year or more, Jenny has been 'given' some amazing worship songs from God. Now, you're probably poo-pooing that idea, but let me explain: Jenny is really great at writing music, but she'd be the first to admit that she's not so good at doing the words..."

"Oh, I'm crap at writing lyrics!" said an off-screen Jenny.

"So if she writes a worship song, and it has beautiful words, then clearly it wasn't her writing them, and that leaves one other 'person' who could have, and that's God! So, anyway, we're on the plane on the way over here, up at about 35 thousand feet... so maybe that makes up a bit closer to God? I had just woken up after a bit of a sleep, and went over to see Jenny: she was wide awake, writing music and words on her laptop... I took a look, and could see that it was a 4-part acapella song, and it didn't look particularly simple."

"That's one hell of an understatement!" said Linda loudly, also off-camera.

"So, we've been practising it since then, we've managed to sing it correctly just twice so far... so we're hoping to make it the third time tonight!". There was a slight cut in the video, and the video now showed Carol, Linda, Jenny and Dianne standing in a line. "Are we ready?" asked Carol. We hear a few notes being sung, and the video cuts again.

"Take two?" asked Carol. Another cut.

"Third time lucky?" asked Carol. Yet another cut.

"Ok, girls, let's hold hands.... Dear God, once again I think we need to admit that we need your help! We really want to sing this song to praise you, so... please?". A short pause, then Jenny starts to sing. Over the next few minutes we hear a quite spectacular song: in some places the girls are singing the exact same thing together, in others they are singing harmonies, in others they are singing different things, almost against each other, and in other bits there's even a hint of discord. The four of them finish singing at exactly the same time.

The girls stood in silence for a moment, then everyone else on the video started to clap, as did everyone at the pub.

"It's interesting, but the only times we've managed to actually sing that has been after showing a little humilty to God." said Carol. "I think the message has finally got through to us!"

Ahnjong joined Carol in front of the camera. "Tell you what, we gave it a few tries too, and we managed to sing about 3 or 4 lines before we went wrong! Respect you you guys, that was amazing!"

"Thanks, Ahnjong!" said Carol, with a big smile on her face. "Right, so last song coming up, and as you know, I love to end with one that you can all sing along to. However, before I go any further, I think I must ask your forgiveness for what I'm about to do! Most of these guys here have no idea what's about to happen... Ahnjong and Taeyang do, coz they're gonna be playing it, and Paige knows half of what's about to happen, so she can point the camera at the right people. I'll get Callum to put the words on the video for all of you when he edits it, so you can all sing along, and I have some words here on a pad that I'll show everyone here. This song is actually American, I think, but a certain Korean YouTube video made it rather popular... So, before we start, let me show the camera the words for the first verse...."

Carol moved closer to the camera, so noone else there could see, and turned the first page, to reveal 2 words: 'Baby Shark'. Paige smiled as she saw it, and the crowd at the pub all cheered, realising what was about to happen.

Carol turned to Ahnjong and Taeyang: "Ok, when you're ready!". As they started to play, the words 'Baby Shark' appeared on the video, and the camera started to pan in on Jenny, then Carol showed them all the words, at which point everone in the apartment reacted.

"Ok, let's go...." said Taeyang... "Baby shark, do do, do do do do... Baby shark, do do, do do do do... Baby shark, do do, do do do do... Baby shark!". The camera zoomed back to reveal everyone doing small 'shark mouth' actions. Carol turned the page for the second verse.... The camera zoomed in on Jenny's mum. "Mummy Shark, do do, do do do do... " they all sang... as did pretty much everyone at the pub.

Next verse was, of course, 'Daddy Shark' (with much larger 'biting jaws' actions), followed by 'Brother Shark'. With the family all covered, it was 'Boyfriend Shark' for Ben, 'Lovers Sharks' for Dianne and Mike, 'Cameraman Shark' for Paige, followed by 'Linda Shark' and 'Carol Shark'. All the time, people were making 'biting jaw' movements, and singing and laughing.

The camera now turned to the four local Korean girls, and the words on screen were now 'Jelly Fish...', with everyone now doing strange 'wobbling' actions.

Finally, it was the last verse... 'We're All Done! do do, do do do do...'. By now, in both the pub and on the video, there was a lot of laughing and clapping.

"I really am so sorry for doing that to you all, but it just HAD to be done! By the way, they've had over 12 BILLION views for that on YouTube, and earned a HUGE amount from it... maybe we need to post OUR version online?" said Carol. "Well, I hope you all enjoyed our performance from Korea, I'm hoping to be there with you in person in 2 weeks time. Bye for now!" The camera panned back, showing everyone waving.

While the noise at the pub slowly subsided, Kevin went up on the stage: he was still grinning.

"Wow, what can I say? For a start, I will say that there's NO WAY that I can beat THAT! Completely amazing, and Steve, please tell Carol that we all thoroughly enjoyed what they did! So, what can I sing you? Maybe I should start with..." and he started to strum his guitar.. "Baby Shark, do do do...", and quickly stopped again. "Ok, maybe not....." he added with a giggle.


The next day a new CJDL video appeared online... it was their 'Baby Shark' performance, editted down by Paige and Callum.




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Chapter 46 - Thursday evening - call from a TV production company.

The last few days of dancing had been fun for the CJDL girls, but a bit tiring. In the evening, Jenny and Ben along with Dianne and Mike had gone off with Brian and Lisa for a 'couples meal out', while the rest of them had opted to join the Jelly Fish girls for dinner in their apartment.

After dinner Paige, Callum, Linda and Carol went back to their own apartment, and were sat drinking some beers, when Paige's phone rang.

"Hello, this is Andrew Fisher from BD Media Production in London, is that Paige Turner?" said a voice on the phone.

"Yes, that's right."

"So, I spoke with Brian Stevens earlier on about a possible CJDL documentary, and he had some video sent over for us to look at. But he said you were driving things, so to speak to you..."

"Ah, ok... hey, look, Callum also needs to hear whatever we talk about, so why don't we make this a video call, then everyone can listen in?"

"Sure, go ahead!"

Paige pressed a few 'buttons', and got the video call working. "So, I'm Paige... let me introduce the rest of who's here..." Paige pressed a couple more buttons to activate the front camera. "This is Callum, he looks after a lot of the technical stuff, and we have Linda and Carol here too!" Carol was taking a sip of beer when Paige pointed the camera at her.

"Oh, sorry, did I call at a bad time?"

"Not at all, we've all had dinner, and now we're just relaxing with some beers. So, you saw the stuff that Callum sent you then?"

"Yes, we have: there's some amazingly intimate footage you have there, something we don't see very often, and it's enough to tell us that we'd absolutely love to work with you on this. Hey, Carol, that bit where you told that record producer 'what's what': my respect there!"

"Hey, don't be too nasty about Yu-Eye, she's actually a great singer, and a nice person too" said Linda.

"Oh, I'm sure she is, but it was just nice to see you guys being in control of things. Anyway, Paige,  what's your actual relationship with the band? I'm guessing that, if you're drinking beers together, it's pretty close?"

"Yes, I work for the band, I look after a lot of the media and press releases and stuff, and when I discovered about a week and a half ago that we were all coming to Korea, I just felt it should be documented."

"Oh, so the trip was only arranged recently, I hadn't realised. So it's just you doing the camera then? I'm not implying it's a bad thing, just a question..."

"I'm doing most of it, but Callum often runs the spare camera, and we have some GoPro's too, that capture some fun bits, and sometimes the girls do bits on their phones too. Am I doing it ok?"

"Oh, absolutely! I mean, it's clear that you've never really had any proper professional training, but that doesn't matter, the footage is actually very good, and it has a nice 'raw' feeling to it at times. So don't change, keep on doing what you're doing!" Paige had a big smile on her face. "So, how many hours of video do you reckon you have so far?"

Callum was thinking... "So, we've been here a week, and Paige, you must have done about 2 to 4 hours most days, if not more, then more the day we flew out, then a load extra on Saturday, and several cameras.... must be about 30, maybe even 40 hours so far. Although I suspect the daily amount will go down a bit from now... Is that enough?"

"Oh, yes, that is plenty enough!"

"So, is anything else you think we should be doing?"

"I'd say to avoid the sort of stuff that we can just get from mainstream media, it's the close-up intimate stuff that will make this interesting. Hey, done any interviews with the band yet?"

"No... not quite sure I'd be much good at that either" suggested Paige.

"Hey, how about we just interview each other?" suggested Carol.

"Now that could be an interesting angle, so yeah, why not? Yes, we can do more formal interviews when you're back in England, but you guys doing them there, well, it's just going to 'fit-in' better. A quick suggestion, I know it will be hard, but try and keep the questions as second-person as possible... so 'you' rather than 'we'... make it an interview rather than a conversation. By all means do some chats too, but keeping the actual interviews second-person will make it a lot easier to edit them down. So, how's it going there, over in Korea, what are you actually doing there?"

Paige explained about the song, and Jelly Fish, and the Park Festival, and the dance lessons.

"When you go on TV, I'm assuming you can take back-room footage, but not out on the studio floor?"

"That's right.."

"In that case, if you are able to get any contacts at the TV company, it would be useful, then we'll have an easier job getting some of the TV footage."

"I'll try and do that," said Callum, "I suspect someone will want the girls on TV again before we come back to England"

"Well, it has been great talking to you all! I guess we just need to negotiate the details with Mr Stevens... hey, Callum, would I be right in saying he's he your dad?"

"Yeah, Jenny's my sister, and mum and dad are the band's managers, so yeah, you need to talk with dad..."

"In that case, I'll say goodbye for now. Nice to have seen you all! Ladies, have a great time over there, and just make sure Paige films all the good bits!!"




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Chapter 48 - Karaoke

Paige and Callum set up the two main cameras on their lightweight tripods, and also put three of the GoPro's around too: not only did they want to see whoever was singing, they wanted to see people's reactions.

"So, who wants to start?" asked Taeyang.

"I think mum and dad should!" said Jenny, "while we look to see what else we can sing to..."

"Well, what English stuff do they have?" asked Brian.

"Let me see..." said Min Jee, typing on the keyboard, and managing to get a list of English stuff. "Do you know... 'Elton John'?".

Brian smiled. "Yes, he's very well known in England!" Brian took a look at the list. "Hey, Lisa, want to be Kiki Dee?"

"'Don't go breaking my heart?' Yeah, ok...." replied Lisa. Thus it was that Brian and Lisa started off the evening with a duet.

"Can it sort by 'duets'?" asked Jenny. Moments later, Jenny and Ben sang 'You're the one that I want' from Grease: Ben was surprsingly in tune, and of course Jenny was pitch perfect. Dianne and Mike did 'I got you babe', the classic Sonny and Cher song - despite being in a band, Mike's singing wasn't all that great, but noone cared! While they were singing, their tray of drinks arrived.

"Ok, we something for Callum and Paige to sing.... hey, how about 'you don't bring me flowers, that should be easy enough for both of you!"

After doing duets, the 4 CJDL girls challenged Jelly Fish to a couple of Spice Girls songs. In return, CJDL had to sing Bananarama. Then it was Pussycat Dolls, followed by All Sints, and Atomic Kitten... and then someone found some old 60's songs, including some Supremes songs, and stuff like that.

"Ok" said Min Jee, "I think it's time for you to sing some K-Pop songs!"

"What, in Korean?"

"No, don't be silly, there's plenty in English!". So they sang some Blackpink, Miss A, Sistar, and a few other female K-Pop bands. Then the Jelly Fish girls found some  male K-Pop stuff for the guys to sing!

"Shame no-one can speak Japanese... I just found a couple of Baby Metal tracks!" exclaimed Ben.

"Baby Metal?" asked Callum.

"Never heard of Baby Metal?.... you gotta look them up on YouTube! 'Give me chocolate' is great!". Ah, finally, some 'Darkest Knights' stuff...." said Ben joyfully. "Jenny, fancy doing some 'Darkest Knights' songs?"

"Only if you sing them with me. Then after that, maybe Mike can join us?".

Carol had a word with Taeyang. "Looking for some anime songs - any idea if there's any on here?"

"Should be - looking for something in particular?"

"Yeah, what's that big song that Yu-Eye did?"

"Ah, yes, know the one you mean: you gonna have a go singing it?"

"No, I'd like to hear Linda sing it: you weren't there when we dubbed 'Roller Skates', but Yu-Eye played it then, and Linda sang to it, she was pretty good, just didn't know all the words."

"Ah, here you go... Linda, Carol says this next one is for you.....". This time, Linda sang the song flawlessly, hitting all the high notes perfectly, gaining herself a big round of applause from everyone else there.

They all had a great couple of hours both drinking and singing: they even got the two security guys singing too! Finally, they arranged for their coach to collect them nearby.

====

Back at the flat, with the two security guys gone, and Brian and Lisa dropped off at their hotel, most of the girls sat in the lounge, drinking a variety of things, including beer and coffee, although Jenny and Dianne had already left with their fellas.

"Well, thank you Taeyang for organising this evening... what you got lined up for us tomorrow then?" asked Carol

"Well, I think Ahnyong has organised an e-bike tour of Seoul for us all tomorrow morning."

"I'm so glad you put the letter 'e-' in front of the 'bike' word there, I'm not sure how much energy I'll have tomorrow! But yeah, that actually sounds like a great idea. I trust you have something special lined up for lunch?" said Linda.

"Yes, we're going have a wander around the big market, and then have lunch there too."

"Oh, great, at last!" said carol.

"Oh, this isn't one of those 'restaurants in a tent' that you want to try out, this is real street food, eat it while we walk, or sit at tiny tables.... don't worry, we'll find you a 'pop-up-bar' later in the week!"

"And after lunch?"

"More sight-seeing around Seoul, then somewhere special for dinner! You're gonna be busy tomorrow, but I think you'll enjoy it!"


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