a + main Rapper, vocalist and dancer : lee miso.

"VICTORY ISN'T DEFINED BY WINS AND LOSSES. IT'S DEFINED BY EFFORT."

PERSONALITY TRAITS :　Miso is the type of character who is easygoing, but she tends to shrug off responsibility when it does not involve performing. Therefore, she is approachable and easy to talk to but she can be careless and unreliable sometimes. Her hardworking self is reserved for the practice room and she is known for being a practice maniac if it involves rapping or singing. Miso can be charming too and prides herself in being the moodmaker of whatever team she is in. However, this bright energy can have a negative effect on her peers at times since she can be too loud when others may prefer peace and quiet. Miso can be sensitive at times and is the type to become noticeably quiet or serious instead of causing drama. In relation to her personality traits, inspiration for her character lies in people like EXO's Baekhyun, UP10TION's Hwanhee and Mamamoo's Wheein.

PERSONALITY :　For Miso, if her fashion sense and appearance suggest that she is subtle and your typical girl-next-door, her personality tends to suggest otherwise. As she is used to not having many social expectations growing up in Seattle, she is not as conservative or traditional as her Korean peers. However, this easygoing side of her personality allows her to be more open and expressive. In the practice room and onstage, she is hardworking as rapping and singing is what she takes seriously. However, for dance practice, you can always count on her to be the last to arrive and the first to leave. In life she prefers to adopt a lifestyle that allows her to be as carefree as possible, even if it means she can be unreliable or careless. Miso understands the serious and tough aspect of the trainee life too well so she uses this to motivate herself to be the energetic one in the room. As someone who is loyal and easily devoted to those she is closest to, Miso tries to be the vitamin to everyone else to raise their morale. Therefore, she tends to be part of the beagle line no matter what team she is in. However, as someone who has struggled with the idea of identity by being a mixture of Korean and American, she can be sensitive to personal comments that are not related to her work or career. Instead of causing drama, Miso results in staying quiet and silent, which is noticeable as it strongly contrasts to her loud personality. As an only child, Miso is used to being the youngest in the family, so this is another reason why she is playful and bright. However, amongst trainees, she tends to amongst some of the oldest, which means she is always willing to take care of those younger than her when needed.

"EVEN THOUGH THE LANGUAGE IS DIFFERENT, THE MUSIC IS THE SAME."

RELATIONSHIPS :　

▸ Mother — Lee Mi Young (40). / Receptionist. / Lee Miyoung is an older and a somewhat more mature version of her daughter, Lee Miso. She can also be playful and bright but tends to be more serious and hardworking as she is the main breadwinner of the family. Miso's mom is the most reliable, a characteristic that Miso herself lacks in. / After having Miso at the age of 18, she was initially a single mother and Miso's father, who was also 18 at the time, chose to not take responsibility over their child. Therefore, Miyoung has had to work a lot in order to support Miso and Miso's grandmother. As a result, Miso and Miyoung are not incredibly close because she is normally busy with work. However, because of her young age, she tends to seem more like Miso's friend instead of her mom.

▸ Grandmother — Lee Sun Young (70). / Unemployed. / Lee Sunyoung is just as playful and youthful as both Miyoung and Miso put together, despite her more elderly appearance. Miso's grandmother is very kind, helpful and sweet. Therefore, Miso adores her grandmother the most. / As Miso's mother has had to work for most of her childhood,  her grandmother has taken the primary parenting role and Miso is closest to her grandma the most. Sunyoug is the one who is most knowledgable about Korean culture and has taught Miso about South Korea as they could not visit before. In fact, it is because of Sunyoung that Miso was inspired to pursue a career in South Korea instead of America. Even though Miso is now in South Korea, she keeps in touch with her grandma through regular phone calls throughout her busy trainee schedules.

BACKGROUND: Lee Miso was raised in Seattle and she grew up in its urban scene by mixing in with underground rappers whenever both her mother and grandmother were busy with work. Being a part of these rap crews allowed Miso to develop her passion for rap and she has always managed to perform well in whatever rap battle or cypher she performs in. However, she had always maintained an interest in preserving parts of the Korean music culture passed down through her mother, who would make playlists of first generation idols like H.O.T. and S.E.S for her. Initially, Miso's initial plans were to become a music producer in Seattle but this changed after a trip to South Korea. At the age of sixteen, Miso was visiting the country for the first time and RBW Entertainment also happened to have an audition then. Out of curiosity, Miso auditioned with her rap skills but failed to pass as the judges felt as though her image was not relevant enough for an idol group. However, that same week, she had returned with her singing skills and had passed the audition despite only informally training her vocal skills with her grandmother. After passing, it was decided that Miso would stay in South Korea to live the trainee life in hopes of becoming part of a future girl dance group. Miso's motive for staying in South Korea instead of returning to America is to build a comfortable home for both her family who have always expressed their desire to move back to their native country. Throughout her trainee life, Miso participated in the underground rap scene and developed her rapping skills further, yet remained in RBW Entertainment as it was her family's preference that she debut with in a stable girl group in a company instead of by herself in the underground scene.

LIKES: Miso has a strong love for dogs and used to have the part-time job of being a dog-sitter during her trainee life. However, she has never had enough money or time to look after a dog of her own. In order to de-stress and relax, Miso does colouring as it is does not require much energy yet still allows her to be creative. Her likes also include listening to music, especially electronic music, and she tries to produce her own music whenever bored. Exercise has always been important and Miso has always preferred playing team sports instead of going to the gym. She often plays basketball, baseball and soccer whenever she can. Although she lives in South Korea, Miso has always maintained her strong love for telenovelas and also Keeping Up With The Kardashians. More than anything, it should be noted that Miso has an incredibly strong love for miso soup and always orders or makes it whenever she can.

DISLIKES: Like many others, Miso dislikes bugs and insects, always being the first to run away when they are in sight. Miso also dislikes going to the gym as it is too monotonous for her and she prefers team sports since she gets the opportunity to be social and interact with others. As Miso is afraid of heights, she has an incredibly strong dislike for scary rollercoasters and ferris wheels. She is always the first to volunteer to hold everyone's bags when they are visiting a theme park. In relation to food, Miso dislikes spicy food and can not seem to handle it at all.

FEARS: As well as being scared of heights, Miso is also afraid of fire. No one really knows how this fear came to be but it is assumed that she must have had an accident with fire as a kid. As a consequence, anything with a large spark or flame scares her. Miso also has a phobia of clowns because they are scary as heck. The scariest of them all is the McDonald's clown.

TRIVIA :

▸ Miso bakes as much as she can but she takes more enjoyment in decorating than baking itself.

▸ Miso enjoys watching Weekly Idol and Running Man the most.

▸ Excluding her family, her role models are Yoo Jaesuk and Yoon Mirae.

▸ When bored, Miso is either seen listening to music and dancing or colouring.

▸ Miso was taught how to play the piano, guitar, drums and flute by her grandmother.

▸ As a trainee, Miso learned how to use instruments like the portable synth for producing music.

▸ Miso's number one goal on her bucketlist is to go fishing.

▸ Miso does not know how to ride a bicycle but she already has her driving license.

▸ Miso's favourite place in Seoul is the Han River and visits for alone time, if needed.

▸ She is fluent in both English and Korean, but is known to make quite a few mistakes in Korean.

▸ She would eat miso soup every day if she could.

▸ Although her acting skills are lacking, Miso can MC effectively and is strong in the variety area.

▸ Miso can do accurate voice impressions of CL's rapping and of Cristina Confalonieri.

Q&A

WHY DO YOU WANT TO BECOME AN IDOL? : 

▸ Growing up, the one constant in my life has been rap. It is my strongest passion and, at first, it was my number one goal to become a music producer because I never believed I could be good enough for the stage. However, my family has always taught me to dream big. After admiring idols like H.O.T. and Girls' Generation, I want to make my mark on the Korean music scene with my rap and I want to perform on big stages, not only underground ones. I have grown used to being kept behind the curtains but I believe that if I am given the chance to perform under the spotlight, I will shine. However, I also want to take it to the next level. Rapping is everything to me and it's where my passion lies, but I also want to connect my Korean identity to my American one. I will not only become an idol who works hard in South Korea, but also does well internationally. In terms of working hard, there is more to being an idol that only performing. It is my goal to bring smiles to those who watch me on stage or on their television screens. Through performing, MC-ing and participating in variety, I hope to entertain and bring laughter to those around me.

WHAT SUBUNIT WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE IN, WHY? : 

▸ I would like to be in sub-unit A as the music genre fits my personal style more. I have been influenced by both Korea and America's urban rap scene and I believe that my style is enough to bring about the uniqueness needed for sub-unit A. As someone with experience in underground rap, I am a little different to the typical idol rapping style. You can count on me to deliver and execute the desired image for sub-unit A to a high standard as it is one that comes most naturally to me. I have a certain edge that adds more charm into my dance and singing also. I will work hard to create a distinct identity for sub-unit A that will stand out from other girl groups.

TALENT TWIN? : 

▸ I would say that my talent twin is Fiestar's Yezi as we both follow a similar style of rap. Throughout training, I have learnt to be more feminine in my movements and strong in my rapping, something that Yezi mirrors. Yezi and I are able to mix both strength with fluidity and lyrical elegance in rap. In addition to our strong ability to perform well, we both have stable vocals that add more charm to our performance as a whole.

WHICH IDOL IS YOUR ROLEMODEL, AND WHY? : 

▸ My role model is Gilme. She is a senior who has always shown a strong image as a rapper in a group and I admire her competence in a variety of rapping styles. You can always expect her to perform well and she has a certain charisma to her voice that is unrivalled. Although she has promoted with others during her career, Gilme has never failed to let her fans and others know that she is the one in charge of rap and I hope to be able to have the same control over the stage as she does. Whether I'm peforming a slow song or a more upbeat one, I want to be able to exceed my rapping limit as she has done in her career.

ROLLINGLIKEABuffalo7 : ACTIVE almost EVERY DAY

PASSWORD : Hello, I am Lee Miso, the human version of Pikachu who will take a bowl of miso soup to her grave. Please take care of me! [Audition Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9zHH2gy1GM ].

 story : cheatsheet