5 Pieces returns to the practice-room after having two performances of [Black & White] during the day. They had a special guest performance outside Seoul in Suwon for an event and then have also performed on a TV channel at some kind of open concert, but their schedule hasn’t ended. When entering the practice-room, they are met by a small Swedish camera-team and staff that have prepared to film in the practice-room, and not being surprised by the sight, 5 Pieces does their group introduction the moment all five ladies have entered the room.

Hannah has her blonde hair wavy lying down on her sponsored u-neck t-shirt, the soft fabric a little loose on her body even if it can’t really hide her figure and to the t-shirt she is wearing a pair of two-tone leggings in black/white, and sneakers. They have come prepared for the interview in the practice-room, wearing casual sponsored clothes almost like they did yesterday for ‘We Got Married’. Beside from that today they have make-up and hair still prepared from the day’s performances, and the clothes are more to show the style of 5 Pieces’ concept than just for a random Korean variety program. This will after all air in Sweden. The camera-team and staff are there to film a special program for a Swedish channel about 5 Pieces and their sight on K-Pop that is growing world-wide, and with 5 Pieces being part of K-Pop and once being part of the fan-base from a faraway country, who could be better to interview than them?

The cameras are rolling since the beginning, filming 5 Pieces entering and introducing themselves as they have been taught in Korea and then they are introduced to the Swedish reporter – whose face they do recognize, so he must have been on TV in Sweden many times – and not many minutes later they all sit down on the floor where the interview will be done. It will be a comfortable interview, so they found the floor the most comfortable seat and also because the Swedish staff were curious of how 5 Pieces normally would sit down and talk between their practices, this was their answer; on the floor. It isn’t the same practice-room that 5 Pieces was in yesterday; this one is the same that mostly is used for the SM artists’ practice videos that are uploaded online, with a the white clouds in the background wall and on their right wall there are posters of DBSK, SNSD and the other seniors. Maria’s cold from last week went to their manager in the weekend, but now it seems like Julia has caught it. They are taking turns it seems like, and today Julia is coughing and taking medicine for the cold, and when sitting down, right before the interview is going to begin, Julia is sighing next to Hannah, as if she is preparing herself. She even has some paper behind her back in case she needs to sneeze. 5 Pieces is sitting in their ordinary order, and sitting on Hannah’s left side is the Swedish reporter. He is sitting tailor, half a meter away from her and also a little more to the front to have his body turned towards the ladies to be able to see them all when doing the interview. He is very friendly and he seems to be curious and interested in K-Pop.

Starting off with the actual filming and interview, 5 Pieces introduces themselves in first Korean and then Swedish as a group.

“Talking about 5 Pieces, you girls have done what people around the world are saying ‘showed that everything is possible by doing the impossible’. Five Swedish girls are today leading the Hallyu Wave of Korean pop music. How is that possible? First of all, how did you all end up becoming a group in Korea?” the male reporter asks them in Swedish, and Hannah automatically turns her head from left to right to look at her members.

“We came to Korea back in 2008, after joining an audition program for the record label SM Entertainment. We went through an audition like Idol or X Factor, and the winner would win a contract with SM Entertainment to debut as an idol group. Before joining the audition, we were just normal K-Pop fans in Sweden,” Maria is answering from the very far right side.

“What made you start liking K-Pop in the beginning?” he is curious to know.

“K-Pop has really gotten a lot bigger than what it was when we started to listen to it. The reason we stayed to it was because it reminded us a lot to the music we grew up listening to, such as Backstreet Boys and other pop groups. It was fun listening to them; their songs made you just want to get up and dance and sing,” Maria says, answering again.

“Some people get these huge question-marks on their head when hearing us say that,” Emelia adds up, “and they mention that we can’t even understand what they are singing. Which we couldn’t at the beginning, but we didn’t understand English either when we were kids, that didn’t stop us from listening to all the English songs, right? Though Korean isn’t exactly the same as learning English, but you still don’t know until you learn.”

It makes sense, the reporter agrees. “For the past four years you have been living as Korean idols, how has the progress been like?” he wonders. “After the audition, you won a contract. How did you debut and practice, and what was the difference of your practice with other K-Pop groups?”

“Normally here in Korea, you enter an agency – like SM Entertainment – and then you spend a few months or even years practicing to become an idol. It is like a school where you learn everything you need to know about singing, dancing, performing, you get an image that matches your looks, you get to learn other languages to become international and all of it is preparations to one day debut as an artist. For us, we went straight to recording songs, take classes in singing, dancing, learning Korean, and for about two months we did that every single day from early morning to midnight. It was exhausting, but when we debuted we would stand on the same stage as people who have practiced for four years or even seven years, while we just had been in Korea for seven months,” Maria explains. “So though those months and the following months were really difficult for us as we had to adopt to a totally new culture that is so proud like Korea, we still did our best and worked hard because once we got up on that stage, we didn’t want to get off.”

“The room we are in now, is this were you practice?” he wonders and puts his hand up for them to notice the room.

“This is one of the practice-rooms at SM Entertainment,” Emelia answers, “we and other artists share this room when we have a dance to practice. It’s like a second home in Korea, because we spend a lot of time here.”

“How much time do you spend practicing in here for a new song?” he asks and is still looking like his focus is about the practice-room.

“It is all different,” Julia says and Carolina continues to say; “For some songs it is just a few days practice while for other songs it can take one month or two. It can also depend on if the song is for a single or an album, and what other activities we are having.”

The reporter turns to the main camera. “A little later we will actually get to see 5 Pieces practice one of their latest songs right in this room, you don’t want to miss that” he tells before turning back to the girls, “Then to be mentioned as the leader of the K-Pop Wave today, do you get a lot of talk for not being Koreans?”

Hannah looks a little confused with the ‘leader of the K-Pop Wave’; she has never heard of it. Well, not that 5 Pieces is the leader of it anyway. Maybe part of it, but not leading.

“Of course it can be confusing as we are singing Korean music but we aren’t even Asians,” Carolina starts answering, “But we are singing Korean pop music and Korea is the ground of our group, it is also where we promote our music so our fans too says we are a K-Pop group even if we are from Sweden. There was a lot of talk in the beginning when we released our first single and people would mention us as copy-cats or wannabe’s, now there aren’t like that because we have been doing this for four years.”

“You mentioned earlier that Korea is proud over their culture, and I wonder if you get affected by it and if you ever mix up your culture and nation?” the reporter wonders.

The girls seem to glance a little at each other, but it is Maria who takes to word first, knowing what she wants to say. “Since we live in Seoul and spend most of our year here, of course we get affected by the Korean culture. And that’s not a bad thing. It’s not either that we start to think we are Koreans. We are more like … mixing up the culture we grew up with in Sweden to the one we are being taught here in Korea to not be impolite to Koreans but still being able to show that we are from Sweden and this is how we do things.”

“What about the other K-Pop idols; is there a rivalry because you are from Sweden; do they treat you different?”

“It would be a lie to say we aren’t treated differently,” Maria opens first. “But rather than saying there is a rivalry between us, it is more like they are curious. The other groups are interested in knowing more about Sweden, their international fans and they are curious of how differently we all live yet how alike it is.”

After sitting down on the floor for a time, it gets rather uncomfortable. Hannah has been smiling at times during the interview so far, especially when Julia leaned behind her to quietly hide her coughing, and Hannah had just looked at the other members talking while seeing Julia at the corner of her eye. “Before we came in here, we saw that there were fans waiting outside, and the fans said that they can wait hours just to catch a glimpse of their idol. When you see your fans line up outside your practice-room, do you remind it of yourselves at times, as you once were K-Pop fans?”

Hannah shakes her head, not having a single memory but she has thousand of memories of fans waiting outside for 5 Pieces.

“Not when fans are outside our practice-room we remember how we were, because our idols were in Korea and we were in Sweden,” Maria answers. “But definitely can we recognize the reactions from fans. But I think it is what everyone recognizes as idols have their own idols they look up to too. At times I think we become fans of our fans because of the way they happily react by seeing us, we at times react the same way when seeing them.”

“5 Pieces’ fans are called something particular. Why are they called like that and who came up with it?”

The ladies smiles when getting the question, this time it’s Carolina who answers. “Our fans are called Puzzle. It was actually Emelia who came up with it, as she always said ‘you can’t finish the puzzle without one piece’, our fans and also the agency thought it would fit well if our fan-club was called Puzzle.”

“What does it mean then?”

“5 Pieces, our group-name, stands for the five members,” Emelia starts explaining and moves her hands at her members, “And we are pieces of a puzzle. The puzzle has six pieces, so Puzzle basically means the final piece to finish the puzzle.”

“That’s pretty smart!” the reporter sounds and looks impresses and Emelia looks proud by that. “So when you all say ‘you can’t finish the puzzle without one piece’, you are saying all six pieces have to be together?”

“Exactly right,” Maria answers happily and Emelia gives a simple nod.

“I actually,” the reporter says and leans towards the staff to get a bag, “met up with a few fans having a so-called flash-mob in Sweden, before I went here. They are part of the Swedish Puzzle and some of them have been part of the fan-club since 5 Pieces debuted here in Korea, and this is something they asked me to give to you as a special gift from the Swedish Puzzle.” While saying the final words he takes out something from the bag – caps. Black caps with the front and the shield filled with small buttons of different colours and patterns. He reaches over one to each member and when taking a closer look, Hannah’s mouth drops when seeing that the buttons on the cap are in fact pictures of 5 Pieces, all kind of pictures taken of the whole group or of each member individually and there are more than fifty fitting on the cap. It looks really cool. Then at the under-side of the cap’s shield there are studs decorating like dots following around the shield. But the coolest thing must be that on the inside of the cap, it is written pretty small ‘you can’t finish the puzzle without one piece’ and also ‘from Swedish Puzzle’, and Emelia is the first to notice it, telling it for the other members that also check it. While admiring the caps, they have forgotten about the interview at the moment, just looking amazed at the gift with the reporter saying that the Swedish fans worked really hard on it.

Hannah looks up at Carolina trying on the cap; Hannah not sure if they actually can wear this or if they should just put it aside and wear it out with their eyes. All of them thank their fans for the gift, and Hannah quietly tries it on too – she leans a little towards Julia to try see behind one of the staff members at her mirror reflection. It looks good. Hannah smiles happily when touching the cap a little, keeping it on for the moment before she takes it off to keep in her lap; she doesn’t want to ruin her hair by wearing the cap.

“Do you have any plans to promote in Sweden as you have done in Korea?” the reporter asks, now when they are all thinking about Sweden. Hannah keeps on the cap, trying to melt that their Swedish fans have actually made these. Talented fans they have.

“Korea has so much more focus on the promotions of music,” Maria starts to answer, “there are several music programs each week and you do so much that don’t exist in Sweden, but to have concerts and such, of course we would want to do so. We have had the chance to have both fan-signings and a concert in Sweden, and we would gladly come back for more. At the moment, there are no plans though.”

“We say that we will go wherever our fans lead us, so in the future we will definitely try to have more activities in Sweden,” Carolina adds.

The interview comes to an end, and then it is time for 5 Pieces to perform their [Black & White] song as a practice version for the TV channel. The reporter asks if there is something they think about when practicing for a song like this and Maria says that they try to think of practices as a real performance, so they give their all in practices as they do in performances. The camera-team and the reporter all moves to the sides or corners, setting out the cameras to film from different angles to make it look like a real performance though it is a practice in the practice-room.

Though the group has an English version to [Black & White], it is the Korean version they practice. They see their mirror reflection and instead of thinking of the cameras filming them from around, they focus on just do their best. Hannah is awkward with the cameras and she tries to pretend they aren’t there, but her mind keeps saying ‘Sweden, Sweden, Sweden’ and she is curious if her family will watch this show when it airs tomorrow. Her mind returns to the practice-room as [Black & White] is played. After performing the song so many times in high heels it feels weird doing it in sneakers, so she had smiled when seeing Carolina standing up and down on her heels before the music started and the moment the music started to play, the staff got a shock by the change in 5 Pieces. From the laid back 20 year old girls, just chatting and smiling, to the charismatic idols that always are seen on the stage. Their face-expressions changes, their bodies’ starts to move to the song and their eyes are focused. For the Swedish staff it is slightly amazing to watch them in the practice room, looking as if they actually are on the stage. 5 Pieces move in the choreography really well, changing positions and the dancers appears and walks on the side, then appears again. Hannah does her side-kick too, doing it with power as they aren’t singing live. It looks really good, and they have that paper of white clouds on a blue sky background on the wall too.

Once the practice filming is over, they starts to say their goodbyes and chat a little, and all Hannah can think of is that she is going to the gym when they are done here. Trainer Park Hyun will have to take her boxing today; she has a strong will to train boxing today.

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Music Bank has ended and 5 Pieces have finished recording a song in the recording studio. Only left in there are Hannah, Maria and Emelia, also Pete who helps with the. The girls are laughing and playing around. Today they have done the song-recordings for a talk show they are preparing for, and beside from the Elvis song the group will perform, Emelia and Hannah are preparing a special duo of the song [Fly] by Nicki Minaj and Rihanna. SM Entertainment suggested a song to show off Emelia’s rap, so Emelia choose this song. The recordings of the songs are just to make them fit 5 Pieces, to maybe clip out parts and such, because at the talk show they will perform the songs live. Their Elvis cover went well, so now the two girls are working on the other song cover.

“So the rap begins right away in the beginning?” Maria wonders. She had just come back from the bathroom, not really knowing what to do at the moment while waiting for the others to get done.

“Right away. It will sound good,” Emelia answers, digging her head to the music they just played.

Julia and Carolina have left already. Julia got to borrow one of the company’s cars, wanting to use her spare time to drive around as she has a driving licence that she can’t get to use that often. What the two of them are actually doing or if they are just driving around, Hannah doesn’t know. But Hannah is focused on other things. She will sing Rihanna’s parts in the song, and she is practicing to see how to make it sound good. Hannah doesn’t really have a voice fitting for this part, but Emelia said their voices (Emelia’s and Hannah’s) fits the best together, and she also wants to do it because these two rarely do things together.

They listen through what they have made so far with the sound and removing things, and to make the performance shorter they cut out some parts in the song too. Hannah is sitting with her back leaned over the table where she is making marks on the lyrics they have printed out. It’s easy to learn. Hannah’s chorus is the same throughout the song, she just isn’t sure about how to sing it. Emelia says she is silly. Hannah actually doesn’t have much problem to sing the part at all, and Emelia tells her that Hannah makes the song sound different.

“I don’t want to miss it anyway,” Pete mentions when they talk about it. “I was still crossing my fingers for the two of you to perform that Japanese song you did for EM’s drama, do some kind of Korean version of it. That song was sick.”

Emelia smirks and does a high five with him. She had thought of it too, but no one else seemed to like that idea. For Emelia’s Japanese drama, she and Hannah had sung a song named [For a Lifetime], and that song had been good – they are going to sing it when they start their Japanese activities, so Emelia can’t wait for that. Their voices do fit very well. Emelia has a low rap voice while Hannah’s voice, rather than how to explain if it is dark or light she has the attitude in her voice that fits well with Emelia. Though SM likes Emelia’s dark voice mixed with Maria’s light voice, thinking it has such a difference that it sounds good together, but that mix can’t have the same attitude as Hannah and Emelia has. No matter what, today they still do well at the recording.

Leaving the recording studio, Maria keeps making loud sighs and her arms are hanging.

“Can you guys believe this is the last weekend performing [Black & White]?” she asks, walking behind them. She gives an upset sigh again. “It was like two weeks ago we made the comeback it feels like… And then it’s Christmas! And New Year! And then it’s freaking 2013!”

“It’s sad,” Hannah says quietly, looking at her own feet when walking, stretching out her feet at each step. They aren’t in any hurry at all. “The year just flashed by like lightening.”

“Exactly!”

“2013 will be the year we turn 21 and have spent five years in Korea,” Emelia mentions. Both Hannah and Maria look shocked at her. Hearing those words, it feels like time just has disappeared. Though they just yesterday did the Swedish interview and heard the reporter tell how big they are becoming, the girls can’t seem to grasp the reality. They still see themselves as these 16 year old girls, giggling and laughing and fighting over everything and nothing. It’s sad that their promotions of the song are coming to an end so soon, though seven weeks have passed. Hannah will miss wearing the boxing wraps on her hands, if it’s one or both hands doesn’t matter, she will miss it. But already next week they will come back with [Daze] that will be on their repacked album, though the repacked album will be released in January.

The girls’ head to one of the resting rooms to wait for their manager to come. Hannah and Maria are dancing on the spot towards each other, jumping and throwing out with one foot. They are going to go through some things before heading home, but their manager seem to be late so the girls entertain themselves a little.

“What if the other ladies went home already?” Hannah wonders out loud, curious of why Julia and Carolina haven’t returned. Maria laughs by the thought, saying it could be possible if it’s those two.

“With the company’s car?” Emelia seems doubtful.

Maria gives her a look. “It’s Julia and Carolina; they maybe even went to the cinema- well, not the cinema, that’s not really their style, but they could’ve gone to eat… Oh, what if they are eating? Have you called them?” Maria chatter. She wouldn’t like it if the two girls went to eat on their own, and she puts her hand sadly on her own stomach, saying she is hungry too.

The girls out of nowhere cheers when their manager enters the room, asking why he is late and saying that two ladies are missing and just being in a good mood. Hannah sits down by Manager Lim’s entrance, sitting by the table and waiting to start so they can end.

“I got bad news for you, ladies,” Manager Lim says and he puts a hand on Maria’s back to lead her to a seat too, but he doesn’t seem to reach the happy level the other three girls are on. “It’s nothing serious, so do not panic, okay? It’s not serious.”

Hannah’s smile starts to fade, not even Emelia making a joke about his behaviour makes her smile. She doesn’t like bad news, well, who does?

“Carolina and Julia have been in a car-accident,” their manager informs them and without giving much of a reaction, Hannah’s eyes just starts to water. “It’s nothing serious at all, another car bumped in to theirs but they are at the hospital for a check-up. Hannah, don’t cry, they aren’t hurt and barely even bruised.”

Hannah hadn’t started crying though she got tear-eyed, and by him telling her that she lowers her head to try dry her eyes with her fingers. Emelia’s joking face had totally changed and she checks her phone to see what time it is, asking if they can go there. Their manager shakes his head.

“It’s not serious. I will give you a ride home and then I will go pick them up, it’s nothing more than that.”

“Then we can come with you to pick them up,” Maria suggests.

He doesn’t agree on that, and in the end he sends the other three girls home first before going to pick up the final two at the hospital. Hannah just sits and waits for them to come home, not getting ready to go to bed but just nervously sitting and waiting, wondering how they are feeling and if they are hurt or something else. Maria is also restless. She even open the doors to peek out, trying to hear if the elevator is moving and she is texting their manager to see where they are.

“They are here!” Maria shouts when the front door is opened and she comes running to the hall with Ace in her arms. She puts down the cat on the floor before embracing Carolina and Julia, hugging them with each arm. “You crazy ing idiots! Are you okay? Damn you terrified me there!”

“Maria… that hurts,” Carolina groans and Maria quickly takes a step back.

“Are you hurt? Where does it hurt? Is it serious?” the leader is panicking. The whole group is sensitive about car-accident, so of course the members have been worried when hearing two of them have been in a car-accident. Hannah is standing there too, not hugging them as Maria did but watching them from the side, looking like she is going to start cry.

“We’re fine. Just a little sore, so don’t hug us,” Julia tells and pulls off her jacket. She steps up to the youngest who is pouting at her. “Were you worried?”

Hannah nods as a child and though Julia had told them to not hug them, Hannah still puts her arms lightly around her friend. Though it wasn’t a serious accident at all, just the thought of that something could’ve happened has shaken her up. It’s good to see that none of them have gotten bruises, that another car just bumped in to theirs so Carolina says they probably wouldn’t even have to go to the hospital because nothing really happened – the car is barely damaged either.

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Headline 06th: KBS Airs Episode 6 Of 5 Pieces ‘A Good Cause’ – Helping The Elderly

Headline 06th: Swedish Reporter Takes Picture With 5 Pieces

Headline 06th: 5 Pieces Sends Their Thanks To Swedish Fans For Special Gift

Headline 07th: ‘Wide Entertainment’ Reveals Backstage Clip Of 5 Pieces’ At MAMA

Headline 07th: Artists The Most Focused & Curious On 5 Pieces’ MAMA Rehearsal Shown At ‘Wide Entertainment’

Headline 07th: 5 Pieces Says Goodbye On Music Bank With [-erase you-] + [Black & White]

Headline 07th: [Breaking] 5 Pieces’ Carolina & Julia In Car-Accident!

Headline 07th: Sweden Airs Special Program With 5 Pieces Leading The K-Pop Wave In Europe

Headline 07th: SM Entertainment Assures Puzzle That The Car-Accident Wasn’t Serious