Date of Birth: Nov 8, 1988
About: Elaine Yuki Wong was a full-time model-blogger born in Singapore to a Hong Kong father and a Singapore mother and has always been crazy about Korean and Japanese pop culture. In April 2011, Elaine became one of the only few Singaporeans (Ferlyn Wong, Natasha Low and Alfred Sng) who were offered a full contract up to 5 - 7 years from a Singapore-based entertainment company, Alpha Entertainment to be part of a five-member Korean girl group. Earlier on, Elaine auditioned at the JYP & Alpha Asean Region Audition 2010 help in Singapore and Hong Kong in December 2010 alongside with over 5,000 K-popster wannabes.
Imagine a life like this. Day in day out, you are told what to eat, when to eat, where to eat. When you need to pee or take a dump, a "guard" is stationed outside the toilet cubicle. You are to obey the authority figures around you. You are stripped of your name, your identity, your freedom, your mobile phone, your friends and family. And don't even think about using Facebook. If this sounds like a prison sentence, then starry-eyed Singaporean wannabes Elaine Yuki Wong is a voluntary inmate. After all, this is apparently what's required of carefully manufactured K-pop female idols these days. For someone who can't tell Wonder Girls and Girls' Generation from 2NE1 and 4minute, it's all looking very "factory production line".
Snippets from Elaine's last blog post:
"A little update on what I'm doing right now. I just came back from Seoul. Went there to train, sign contract and for photoshoot. Now, I'm back in Singapore and am busy preparing to fly over end of this month and will be staying there for good for my career. Talking about my twitter and facebook, I'll have to shut my current twitter account(not sure when but soon) while my manager will set up an official twitter for me.
And sadly, this is my last blog post. There won’t be anymore posts. As you can see, I've deleted my old entries as well. As I delete those post, my heart was crying. I feel sad. It was all my hard work and it's like my 'journal'. It has been with me for many years and has already been a part of me. But I know I'm closing it down for something bigger and better in life.
Alot of you have been supporting me and sending me emails as well as twitter. I really appreciate it and I really thank all of you. I'm really touched by all the support given. Although yes I feel very stress and under alot of pressure because a lot of you told me this:” make Singapore proud and we'll be looking forward to your debut!” and I’m very worried I can’t live up to everyone’s expectations. But on the other hand, that very sentence also motivated me very much. I brought that sentence along with me to Korea and kept telling myself that I’ll have to make it no matter how tough the road is. Everyone is waiting for me. I'll work really hard for my debut next year and see you guys again."
Elaine has given us a peek into what goes on in the sweat shop of showbiz dreams. However, the rules she has to comply with are, in a word, insane. These young ladies have only experienced the tip of the iceberg with their one-week immersion programme in Korea. But once the honeymoon is over, one wonders if they'll still be smiling. Even though they are going in with their eyes open, nobody can see what lies ahead. Are they truly ready - physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually? Have they been counselled to handle stress and even failure? And ultimately, will they be losing more than they stand to gain?
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