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SM Entertainment sends Irene, one of Hallyu Wave’s most respected senior idols, to its Toronto audition. Enter Wendy Shon, first generation Korean-Canadian, tiny smartypants, and street musician extraordinaire.

85 Bloor Street East

Joohyun: Gaga-esque Adjectives Diarrhea

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In the one minute and fifty-three seconds (Joohyun does her counting, yes) it takes Wendy Shon to go verse-verse-chorus-bridge, Joohyun finds herself thrown in the second year of her career, in the studio booth where she labored for days for July 7, her first ballad title track. Wrong, she’d been told. That’s not where it was supposed to go. Can you do that again, Joohyun-ah? Oh, that’s good, but that’s a modulated key. You should go a bit like this, and a bit like that, and here, and there—

“Irene?”

She is pulled out of her memory vault. Producer Kim and Coach Ahn are looking at her, waiting for a comment. Wendy Shon, too, is looking at her, now back to standing, apprehensively waiting and even preparing for a rebuke.

“Oh. I—” She swallows, throat drying just now. She swipes the back of her finger under her right eye. It’s comic, a sure gesture meant to deescalate tension (with hostile TV hosts) and incite humor (among fans), but at the moment she is just being honest. She does shed a tear—not that she’ll admit it openly, no. “Wow. Wendy, isn’t it? Wow. Wendy, you’re—that’s just so—” She pauses again, considering her words. Beautiful, wonderful? Incredible, amazing, show-stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique, completely not ever been done before, and all other Gaga-esque adjectives diarrhea? “—good.”

Wendy Shon’s face falls a little, and Joohyun wants to smack herself (preferably in the area where it requires no serious reparative surgery, of course).

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Joohyun: Al Bacio

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“Nothing big.” Wendy shakes her head, smiling a little. “It just hits me that you’re really Irene Bae, greatest woman of her generation.”

Her generation? Can’t Wendy Shon say things that do not make her bristle, really?

At her seemingly changing mood, Wendy hurriedly adds, “I meant well. You know what your fans said about you, no? Now I see where that epithet comes from.” It’s Wendy’s turn to lean back as their server comes back with their meals. Before leaving, the server wishes Miss Bae an enjoyable dinner, complete with a blinding smile. Wendy’s eyes linger on the server’s disappearing figure for a moment. “You see? That’s the effect you have on your fans.”

“What effect? Stunned from seeing a pretty face?”

“How awfully confident of you.” Despite the tension, Wendy laughs. “Just know that I’m not arguing about that, okay, but I’m talking about how they say you do what you do best.” Joohyun pulls her cocktail glass closer, waiting. “And that is being Irene Bae. Headstrong and unruffled.” Wendy takes her own glass and raises it for a toast. “You’ve just gained a new fan in me today, Miss Bae.”

“Excuse me?” Despite her rising tone, Joohyun accepts the toast. “What do you mean you’re not my fan already? You sang my song for the audition.”

Rolling her eyes, Wendy lowers her glass. “And out of the many things I said, you zeroed in on that.” She takes a sip of her saketini. “I chose July 7 because it’s a great song. The modal mixture, the drop, the amount of restrain required for the vocal in there….” Wendy pinches her forefinger and thumb, kisses them, and release them into the air. “Al bacio.”

Joohyun kind of forgives her—for now.

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Wendy: Small, Round, Can Whistle High

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One of the corners of Irene’s mouth ticks upward. “You two seem like good friends.”

“Oh we are, we are.” Wendy stands on her tiptoe to sling an arm across