With delicate hand moves, Julia and Hannah are practicing in the mirror backstage after their live performance in China. The day has come to an end after a hectic schedule to do interviews, a photo shoot for China’s Harper’s Bazaar followed by a stage performance where they perform [POWER UP], [I’m Over You], [Girls Power] and [Daze]. The day has been hectic and Hannah has been dazing the whole day since she can’t speak Chinese but people has been speaking Chinese to them all day long. Though their performance has ended, 5 Pieces is taking their time to change; which means Julia and Hannah who were the first two ready to leave.

Practicing for the concert starts again because they are waiting, go through choreographies and soon starting to sing as well; all pieces join in the singing.

When finally going to the airport the ladies are for once pretty quiet, all being in their own world and thinking of the up-coming week. Well, Hannah is thinking of Tiger. Jonghyun has sent pictures to her during the day to show that he has been there taking care of Tiger; he had been let in by Julia’s mother and the awkward greeting between two foreigners not speaking the same language made Jonghyun send a picture saying how happy he is Tiger can understand the same language. Jonghyun has spent hours in 5 Pieces’ house, playing with the kitten and resting. After he left, Julia’s mom goes to sneak a peek at the kitten, just to make sure she is doing well alone. A kitten can play well alone for hours if you leave her with a lot of toys and things to do.

The China airport is a lot more crowded with people than the airport had been in Korea, there are paparazzi fans who have stalked 5 Pieces around the city all day and Hannah is sticking close to her members as she has absolutely no idea of where they are going, the sound of people shouting and screaming in excitement is as loud as it is crowded with people and there is security helping 5 Pieces come by.

Someone touches Hannah’s back and she is fast to look over her shoulder, just to see Maria walking closely behind her with her hand lightly on Hannah’s back to walk together. Some fans right next to them starts screaming out as if they have been frightened and both ladies give a jump without slowing down. Hannah hides behind her hand when turning her face to Maria with a laugh and Maria smiles back at her since they both got a shock from the sudden scream. The cell phones are held up around them, shaking like crazy and the security guards are actually pushing people away – not roughly pushing just making sure there is a path to walk through the crowd.

Even when passing through security there are people filming and taking pictures of 5 Pieces. Emelia has put on a mask to cover the lower half of her face, so she easily can sit back in the seat and close her eyes to sleep without having to worry about anyone taking weird close-up pictures of her. And she is aware of Julia sitting next to her so she knows the other ladies are there without having to open her eyes. Hannah sits at the end of the other bench with Carolina and Maria next to her, and she is writing in her notebook all focused on that.

“There are even more articles written about my hair now,” Maria is smiling next to Hannah, comfortably sitting there with her cell phone and looking through the massive amount of pictures taken today of Maria’s new haircut.

Going from long blonde to a bob platinum blonde is a big difference and her eyebrows are drawn a little more as well; ever since morning when they took the flight from Korea the pictures of Maria at the airport has been spreading like crazy and during the day Maria has even shown an American fashion blogger using a picture of Maria to say that is the look to strive for. Simply classic, Maria is going worldwide with her new haircut. Maria sits next to Hannah and again talks about how she had thought of wearing a wig today to keep the new haircut a secret to when the pictures for their repackage album is out, but she wanted to show off her haircut at the airport and during their day in China. Hearing the leader going on an on about the latest topics on the internet she butts in with talk about tomorrow’s preparing for SM Town’s concert.

“Yeah, yeah, just stay focused on that,” Maria ends up muttering at Hannah, faking a chuckle when seeing Hannah smile. “A ‘mm’ once in a while won’t satisfy me, baby.”

Hannah lifts her head up to give Maria a eye-smile. “Your hair looks great, Maria, you know that,” she says, as she has said many times the whole week how much she suits the new haircut and colour.

Maria looks satisfied with that. “I like hearing that,” she says and Hannah laughs. Maria keeps smiling as Hannah turns her focus back to the notebook. Maria is looking at her phone for a long time, looking through pictures and other things, completely lost in the world of technology for a long time before she glances up to see the ladies are pretty much looking the same and the surrounding is more crowded. A lot of focus is on 5 Pieces, who are sitting by the wall like models. “Oppa.”

The leader waves her hand at their manager sitting nearby, and she waves her phone at him.

“Take a picture of us. Ladies,” the leader lightly says and Julia nudges Emelia to get her attention too, “Picture time. Give your coolest pose.”

Manager Lee stands up with a sigh and steps forward to take the phone before taking several steps back to get all five members in the frame as they are spread out on two benches. Fans start cheering and cell phones are lift up as 5 Pieces “poses”. Hannah just sits there and tilts her head to the side with a smile, Maria stretches out her long legs and looks pretty cool, Carolina give out her cute pose, Emelia doesn’t move an inch other than opening her eyes and Julia isn’t posing much either. Maria motions for their manager to take another picture and she waves her hands at the ladies to look chill, which means Emelia and Julia doesn’t change at all, Hannah only puts up a v-sign while both Maria and Carolina acts out a different pose.

After being satisfied with the pictures, Maria is chuckling showing the results to her ladies, and she smiles hearing someone among the fans saying in English that they looked flawless in the pictures. Maria uploads both on instagram, parting the pictures to have one at the top and one below, all five ladies sitting pretty much the same in both besides from Maria and Carolina.

{Instagram, 5P_MARIA: Just chillin’ with my ladies waiting to go back to Korea. We do it 5 Pieces’ style, yo!}

On the plane, Hannah tries to sleep, ending up sitting and writing and closing her eyes until she has come up with more to write and the flight back to Korea takes barely two hours. Hannah is eager to get home, in the van sitting restlessly and looking out the window.

When finally coming home she takes a round to greet all their pets before going to her own room to quietly greet Tiger, and she starts playing with her, talking to her about their day and she knows she sounds silly but she is happy to see she must’ve had a pretty good day.

Hannah keeps talking to Tiger while undressing to wear a stripe t-shirt dress in white and gray; suited for the warm weather and comfortable to wear at home. She disappears to wash off but when coming back to her room she is ready to stay, to go to bed after sitting by her laptop for a bit and calling Jonghyun, as he had left a note on her door. Her first comment to him is to ask why he keeps writing notes for her; it’s fun, but really weird. Jonghyun says it’s romantic though.

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Monday is spent working, and 5 Pieces bring their pets with them to work to keep in the dressing-room. All morning Hannah introduced Tiger to Ace and more family, but then keeps her for herself the rest of the day to not overwhelm her. Maria is too busy talking to people at the SM Town concert filming about her hair, how she will paint her yellow room when she has the time as she hasn’t done that yet, she talks about 5 Pieces concert a lot and she is endlessly social the whole day; filled with excitement. Hannah takes every chance to be with Tiger, even if that means she is unsocial with others.

Spending the day with their pets, working and meeting colleagues from SM Town, 5 Pieces can relax a bit – just for a bit – before the panic for their opening concert at Tokyo Dome takes off.

They take the first flight to Tokyo on Tuesday morning, heading straight to a hired practice room to spend the day practicing in there with their crew that has come along. Tuesday is August 5th, it is the countdown to GIRLS POWER in Tokyo Dome D-3, the SM Town concert in Seoul is counting down D-10 and the first music video teaser for 5 Pieces’ repackage [You Thought Wrong Of Me] is released.

Nervously the ladies had looked at the video and response before leaving Seoul in the morning. They were like steel as they have talked about how they know the reaction will be, but to actually read the comments is always different. The teaser doesn’t show much more than the dramatic car scene of the ladies sitting in the car, calling the male stranger pretty and a tease of the song while the scene is shown, and the video ends with a few seconds of the things turned around; Emelia turns around to glare at the man, showing that there is a twist in the story.

‘IN YO FACE! 5 Pieces will end up teaching today’s children about feminism in the correct term. Can’t wait to see this!’, ‘omg they are releasing more songs this is the year of GIRLS POWER can’t wait can’t wait can’t wait!’, ‘5P takes no bullsh*t, time to show how they rule this world ;)’, ‘is that sm rookies???’, ‘wtf did I just watch…’, ‘I am sensing another hit!’, ‘no comment until the full video is out, can’t really say anything about them checking out a guy and then it turns out to be Emelia? I don’t get it’, ‘so … does this video has anything to do with the song or is it just … blah?’, ‘they are imitating everyone else once again, can’t they do their own thing for one?’ and there is also ‘it would be typical sm to then come out with the full video being about something completely irrelevant to this teaser, but EM looks hot so I’ll look forward to it’. Well, since it is a teaser the comments aren’t all that hard but with five ladies nervous about the song overall, since it is a song about being treated equally (which no one wants to face, as that is reality) and as a woman being misjudged, they are more likely terrified for what will be said the next couple of days. The next teaser will come out tomorrow.

In Japan the ladies are pumped for the concert when practicing with their crew, from lunch to midnight they are practicing almost nonstop, the conversations stuck on one thing; GIRLS POWER in Tokyo Dome.

After spending the day in the Tokyo practice-room they all go to the hotel to sleep. Hannah keeps showing Maria and Julia comments she receives on instagram, of someone asking on almost every picture what she is. ‘What are you?’, ‘write what you are’, ‘answer my question, what are you?’ and so on. Before going to bed, after midnight, the ladies look at the second music video teaser that has come out as well as each solo picture of 5 Pieces – the “” pictures they had taken.

‘WTF is THIS???’, ‘no freaking way why do they have to get ? This is NOT 5 Pieces!’, ‘SM actually allows their artists to undress like this? Never thought they would go this low to get some attention…’, ‘NOOOOO and they had like my biggest respect and support, why aren’t they wearing clothes?’, ‘those pictures are hot as hell!’, ‘okay fine, they are cool, but what is wrong with staying dressed?’, ‘Droooooling over this iness!’ , ‘5P doesn’t have to wear clothes to show they are classy, this is really nice, this is 5 Pieces undressing to show it doesn’t matter. I love it. And the teaser is superb!’, ‘I am in love in Maria’s short hair but what’s up with the clothes and lack of clothing??????’ , ‘Upsetting to see such talent go to waste with this.’ , ‘LOOK AT THOSE BODIES THEY ARE THE HOTTEST OMG I CAN’T BREATHE SEND ME A DOCTOR’, ‘this is the next step for girls power, the video is flawless and I can’t wait to hear those beautiful voices. This doesn’t sound like a pop song like the previous tracks, right? Looking forward to see our ladies!’, ‘What are they…?’

Hannah is so annoyed at the negative reactions. If they aren’t receiving comments on how hot their bodies are they are being told to cover themselves or that they look ty, that they are like everyone else. No one is getting the concept!

Grabbing the picture Emelia had taken a week ago of Hannah sitting on the street hugging her legs and hiding her face on her knees, her purple hair really pretty, Hannah decides to follow the request she had gotten by uploading it on instagram, and for the next upload she takes her solo picture that has been released of her hair covering her s with the bright window in the background that they had taken for [You Thought Wrong Of Me].

{Instagram, 5P_HANNAH: I am 22 years old and my name is Hannah.}

{Instagram, 5P_HANNAH: I am a rebel in your eyes because I do not see you as superior}

After uploading the second picture, it takes a second before it begins. She rushes to Maria with Tiger held to her chest, showing Maria what she did and Maria laughs, grabbing the phone and complaints that she didn’t do that first. Maria shows that Emelia had uploaded a picture too.

“What’s the first one about though…?” Maria asks as she sees the first picture.

“You know the one who keeps asking what I am?” Hannah asks, sitting down on Maria’s bed. “I am – that’s it. I’m being annoying.”

“Aaaah AAAH!” Maria nods wildly understanding what she means. “That’s cool, baby, not annoying. You can be good with ideas at times.”

Hannah just shakes her head and looks through the comments she is receiving. “They are commenting that it is cool, that it is very classy, hwaiting, telling me to sleep, that they want us to go to Brazil with the tour…”

“No bad comments?”

“No…” Hannah mumbles, “This one writes ‘rock it lady’…”

Because of the negative response she had seen at first, she expected her instagram to be filled with it too once she uploaded the pictures. This was not what she expected. Maria notices that and tells her to just go to bed; in the morning they are starting the rehearsals at THE Tokyo Dome.

Hannah pouts when going to bed, continuing to check her phone and cuddling with Tiger. Her first time flying went really well, and she clung on to Hannah when they got in the car. The day has been okay too. She doesn’t seem all too overwhelmed with all the people and strange places, though she has behaved nervous and hided in his travel crate. Hannah doesn’t blame her and she gets a lot of advice from Maria and the crew who have had pets before. But now when it is night, she notices Tiger’s worries more because she can’t let her sleep. The kitten hides under the quilt close to Hannah and she has to look up at Hannah whenever she moves and she is listening to their surrounding. A strange place, she must think this is, so Hannah continues to softly talk to her and tell her about how exciting it will be to have a concert at Tokyo Dome.

In the end Hannah realises she is too excited to sleep. That they in a few hours will be standing inside Tokyo Dome, facing their own concert in two days, is too much for her body, mind and soul to relax enough for some sleep.

Early in the morning she finds out she is not the only one when Julia writes on the group’s personal chat-room, asking if she is the only one having butterflies in her stomach already. Maria is the first to answer by writing ‘sdflwhsdf’ and ‘I’ve been reading fan-fiction for 3h bc of Tokyo dome!’

5 Pieces are at a hotel, with their own rooms, so it is fun that they still talk when getting the chance to spend time away from each other. Hannah writes back to them on the chat, writing that she too can’t sleep. Emelia writes that they are all silly and they will be exhausted if they won’t be able to sleep for the next two days.

But when morning finally comes and they head to the concert venue, 5 Pieces are excited and restless – no signs of being tired at all. They complain at Carolina for not being in the chat with them at four in the morning and while they had written on the chat that she was sleeping, Carolina says she had been making music all night. Carolina is preparing for her solo debut. She has had meetings and showed off her music to the agency maybe half as much as she has been letting the ladies listening; every day she has improved something in one of the many songs she is working on, and the ladies keep showing how impressing the songs are and giving their thoughts on it. Emelia notices the details like Carolina, hearing what is different this time compared to last time, which Hannah and Julia can’t hear and Maria only waves her hand at it. Carolina is a great producer, and a lot of her songs sound similar because they have this R&B sound to it. Carolina has tried to make pop and upbeat songs, but in the end it seems like she is much more for ballads and calm R&B. It suits her, definitely, and the agency has figured out what her concept will be like. 5 Pieces’ geeky producer Carolina will make her solo debut in September.

Tokyo Dome is massive, a 55,000-seated baseball stadium that is transformed into the most incredible concert venue 5 Pieces has ever witnessed. Outside the stadium there are countless of people lining up, for days they have been there and journalists are already announcing how big this concert is because of 5 Pieces. The inside of the stadium is worthy for the ladies to drop their souls. It isn’t their first time at Tokyo Dome, they have been here before, even performed with SM Town, but the moment the ladies walks inside the 55,000-seated stadium and sees how incredibly big their stage is and how large the whole place seems to be, they are stuck by the thought that THEY are actually having their concert here.

Maria puts a hand over when staring up at the stage, 5 Pieces standing in front of the stage like ants facing a staircase.

Hannah looks at her side at Maria’s reaction, and she smiles seeing the tears in their leader’s eyes before Maria turns away, starting to wave her hands to her eyes.

“This is too much for me,” Maria whispers and takes a deep breath holding on to her tears. The staff seeing them is smiling, seeing the ladies are like children visiting Disney World for the first time.

“How incredible isn’t this…?” Emelia asks no one in particular, gaping around at the place. “Our Tokyo Dome concert…”

As if they can read each other’s minds, the ladies smile at each other after Emelia’s comment – our Tokyo Dome. People might not understand how deep this is for them. Before going to Korea six years ago, before even imagining debuting in Korea, 5 Pieces laughed at the thought of filling up Tokyo Dome, how crazy that dream was and that it was too much to just dream it. In the end they had laughed about filling the school’s gym with a few people that was going to be their families – that was the concert they thought they could pull off. And now they are standing in front of the stage, they are inside of Tokyo Dome and they will have a three-day concert here. It is something they have barely dared to dream of.

“If anything really proves ‘nothing is impossible’, this beat anything on the list,” Maria comments, starting to wave her hands crazily in front of her eyes again.

Hannah gives out a jump in excitement, excited to actually stand on that stage and begin rehearse and in her excitement she puts her arms around Maria for a hug, almost screaming in the excitement and Maria goes from waving her teary eyes to squealing with Hannah.

Going backstage it is pretty much to just greet everyone and use the polite Japanese phrase to take good care of each other this week, they settle down too as this will be their home for the next five days. One hilarious part is when meeting their crew; the dancers and the band, and everyone is just having the loudest voices going crazy together. It’s like five minutes of crazy before they part ways to see each other on the stage later.

5 Pieces’ dressing-room is big, filled with things and two comfortable sofas, two walls covered in mirrors and make-up tables and so on. The room next too is where all the clothes will be, but they have not arrived just yet. 5 Pieces’ stylists will arrive during the days with all their equipment and clothes.

Tiger gets to have her place under one of the make-up tables. Hannah places her things next to the travel crate, placing a blanket underneath the things and so on, making sure she will be comfortable for these days with her own space.

Walking down the stairs inside the Dome, Hannah and the female dancer Min Na are taking pictures of each other before Carolina comes and says she will take a picture of them. Hannah’s hair is long and purple, while Min Na has dyed her hair to pink. From behind it looks really fun because they are both wearing leggings (Min Na black and Hannah black patterned), sneakers and while Hannah wears a long black shirt, Min Na is wearing a black cardigan to her long white top. From behind walking down the stairs next to each other they look like sisters, which is really fun, and while taking the pictures there are some people walking past them so Carolina wants them to do it again. Hannah is excited heading to the stage, uploading the picture on Instagram to follow up on her ‘I am’.

{Instagram, 5P_HANNAH: I am in Tokyo!}

While fans asks which lady has pastel pink hair now (excited by the thought of 5 Pieces dying their hair), 5 Pieces get on the stage.

An hour later, 5 Pieces are finally working on the stage, walking around and being shown around to get used to this and going through the set list so far of what has been planned and thought through. Hannah can’t stop going from the silliest smile to the nervous spacing-out, but she finds it comfortable being surrounded by Japanese and Korean staff, not having a problem translating at times.

The day passes by quickly. They are looking through the lightning, the sound while practicing through the whole concert, they look through the videos and practice through the lifts and stages and safety and a lot, lot more. The stage is large, and the beauty and charm with Tokyo Dome is the flying stage. A transparent stage that Hannah first saw when she watched KAT-TUN’s Tokyo Dome concert back in 2007 – she watched it on YouTube – and the kind of stage 5 Pieces just had to use for their first Tokyo Dome concert. The stage is at the centre front of the main stage, and it will lift and fly over the audience to the middle of the stadium for 5 Pieces to perform there. It will be brilliant.

Other that the ladies sits down or lies down on the stage when it is in the air, laughing and screaming when it moves over the stadium and the staff is laughing at them.

“How are we supposed to stand up?” Carolina laughs. Next to her, Hannah rolls around on her back, closing her eyes tightly and laughing with the microphone held to her stomach. She is laughing so much, covering from freaking out like this with her members and she laughs more when Emelia calls out that she is going to get sick.

“That’s just messed up,” Maria breathes once they have come down.

“It doesn’t move that fast,” the director comments.

“But when we walk on top of it, we can feel it move from us,” Maria says, a hand to her chest. “Is this really necessary? Can’t we just walk through the crowd instead of being over them?”

“The stage is solid for the band to be on it,” they are told.

Trying to do it again, Carolina jumps off the second the stage starts lifting and she is scolded right away because that is not safe, and Carolina says it is not safe to be on that stage at all. The stage is transparent, meaning the ladies can see down below them, which is terrifying. Hannah didn’t think her members have a fright for heights, but to see most of them freak out on a five or six meters height makes her wonder if they are scared of heights – especially when you can see right underneath you.

“Let’s go through the song on the stage when it is standing still first, so you get used to it’s reaction from you dancing,” the American choreographer Janetta Huddleston suggests as she understands the reason to 5 Pieces freaking out.

“Could we play [I Still Want You]?” they ask the band.

The song will be performed with chairs, and since it is a simple and bouncy song it feels impossible for the ladies to stand on the flying stage and bounce along to the beat. Practicing on the stage when it is on the ground is okay, that is something 5 Pieces have done before. They have even performed on stages that lift up a bit, and after several moments they admit to their team that it is the moving forward part that freak them out.

They do the song over and over again, after trying it standing still they do it lifting up, and when it starts moving forward you can see how their movements are limited to not make the stage shake as much as possible. Even with staff telling them they have had Big Bang and Japanese artists jumping on these kinds of stages, the ladies doesn’t move. Their choreographers says they will have to practice that part, while Hannah mumbles they will probably live in the moment once they do the concert; she doesn’t want to keep practicing the flying stage, uncomfortable with it.

After dinner when everyone is getting back to work, 5 Pieces are on the stage, practicing their acapella singing; they practice for the concert, but when they stop singing the staff starts applauding either way, which makes them laugh. Maria gracefully stands up to take a bow, thanking them for the applauses, and Carolina adds a sweet vocal ‘thank you’ in Japanese.

In a loud voice, the male choreographer Kade Bristol is reading something from his cell phone when walking up to 5 Pieces on the stage;

“‘American Journalists Face The Real 5 Pieces’ Craze Standing Outside Tokyo Dome Two Days Before The Concert’,” he reads the headline and dramatically continues; “‘Pop sensation girl-group 5 Pieces is starting off their Asian GIRLS POWER tour this weekend in Japan’s Tokyo Dome. Two days before the concert, several journalists were lining up with fans outside the Japan landmark in hope to interview fans and maybe get an exclusive interview with the pop sensation themselves. 5 Pieces had been seen arriving in the morning and was rehearsing for the concert, while the fans outside the stadium showed the journalists what the 5 Pieces craze really is about. Thousand of fans have been lining up outside the stadium for days already, and with the knowledge that 5 Pieces is currently rehearsing inside they have spent the whole day singing 5 Pieces’ hit songs in both Korean and Japanese. There is no talk about where you come from as we could spot fans from all around the world outside Tokyo Dome, everyone fluently singing along to 5 Pieces songs. There have been dance battles and chanting all week long outside the stadium and this is only the beginning. The Japanese fans are extra passionate about dressing up like their idols, surprising many journalists on site’ and this is my favourite part, ‘The GIRLS POWER tour is staying as an Asian tour, disappointing many international fans but there is nothing holding back passionate fans to see this concert as it is said a total of 10-15% of people going to 5 Pieces’ concerts in Asia are Caucasian foreigners. Expect the pop sensation become a world sensation!’!”

Emelia is the one applauding this time when he is done reading, while Carolina translates the article to some dancers and band members who had been listening.

The rehearsal continues with a lot of talk and hand motions and planning. The article doesn’t make the tour feel bigger than what it already feels like rehearsing at the Tokyo Dome, the ladies can’t get more excited and nervous at the same time.

“It feels like we need to move something here to here,” Maria says and points with her fingers from first half of the set list to the last half. “Like we need more power in the beginning or it feels like all the toughness comes last.”

“We have sorted it out pretty well to fit the segments though,” their director comment.

“Yeah, but to have these songs at the end is like pushing all power at once. Act three is filled with girls power, we have both main songs there, we have the new song there, we even have [Daze] there. That is four main tracks,” Maria is explaining her thoughts.

“[I’m Over You] and [You Thought Wrong Of Me] have no dance routine and should be after each other because of the microphone stands,” Carolina says.

“Yeah, I know that,” Maria impatiently repeats, “But I’m saying all songs in this act are powerful. First song is [Girls Power] which speaks for itself, then we have [The Best] which also pretty much speaks for itself, then it’s [Daze] that everyone knows and loves, we have these two with the microphone stand but the lyrics are still powerful, and we end it with [POWER UP]. Isn’t that like putting everything in that segment? It will be tough to do that segment correctly.”

“How do you suggest we do?” the producer wonders.

“Do you understand what I mean with the problem here?” Maria asks and points at the segment, having not just the producer but some members nodding. “In the beginning we have the sweet loving songs, right? [I Want a Man], [Tainted], [I Love You], [I Still Want You] and the remix of the two English songs.”

“This one is stuck,” the producer points out with his pen on the paper. “Because we are using the lift for that one.”

“What about switching these two?” Emelia suggests after scanning the set list for a while, pointing out the last song in the first segment and the second song in the third segment.

“That could work,” Julia comments.

“But we put the remix last of the first segment to have familiar songs there,” Hannah mentions and the others remembers that, the new idea fails.

“Wait, wait,” Carolina leans forward to point at the paper too, “This cover for the encore can change place with [The Best]. The song is about women, right? Perfect for Girls Power, while [The Best] will surprise people for the encore.”

“We already have several of surprising songs for the encore though,” Maria comments.

“But no one will expect that song,” Carolina says.

“I still like how it is now,” Emelia says her opinion, “For the third segment we still have what it needs. We have the dancers doing their thing for [The Best] while we mostly just have fun with the fans for that song; it isn’t the most exhausting choreography either. I think it fits well where it is now, and though it isn’t a song about girls’ power it is a song about confidence and power.”

The director nods in agreement.

“True…” Maria sighs, still staring at the paper. There is a pressure to be the best, so they keep trying to find better solutions to things, to make it better than what 5 Pieces is expected to do. Maria feels that pressure, especially now when she knows how everything will look like and she just wants to find solutions to every tiny thing she finds can be changed to the better.

Just like that they are at the stadium to three in the morning, heading to the hotel nearby to get some sleep before heading back at eight in the morning.

D-1 Rehearsals, on Thursday the ladies starts the day trying out all the clothes to make sure nothing is missing and that everything fits. The talk in the second dressing-room is all about clothes/concert and also 5 Pieces’ repackage album that is released today; the music video and repackage album has now been released.

The comments now are not as heartbreaking as the ladies had feared, making them smile when reading out the comments about the music video;

‘speechless…. O_O’,

‘So that’s what the teaser was all about, LOL. This is way deeper than any kpop song I have ever watched. Feminism? Damn, this is more likely 5 Pieces’ religion. I love how they really twisted the scene because it got me thinking so much in how I reacted on the ladies whistling at the boy and then it was reversed and I was like “oh jeez what did I just do”. I will never be the same again… Thank you 5 Pieces!!’

‘beautiful song, honest video, perfection is 5 Pieces’

‘omg maria looks like such a diva!’

‘I love how everyone were like disrespecting 5P when the half pictures came out but now when understanding what it is all about they are like I RESPECT THAT. But seriously, how could you even doubt 5P? I love how they undress to show that they can do exactly the same thing as men, by undressing in videos and the difference with 5P is that they do it for a reason while guys don’t. this is my jam and I will sing it in the face of every guy treating me the wrong way, I’ll be like YOU THOUGHT WRONG OF ME~~’

‘Oh gosh… beauty and class, I never thought wrong of these hotties. And I am watching their street style come back with awe. These women are gorgeous in whatever they wear and they should know it’

‘all I can think of is the ladies freaking out when being told to undress xD especially Hannah who a few years ago was like “I am never showing my legs, back off” kkkk and I love the song, guys! Carolina has ruined my bias list o__o’

‘honestly I loved the teasers because that is the reality we girls live in, but I don’t like the concept. Why being topless? I don’t get that, and what’s up with the clothes it feels like they try to make it look like they are in the US… I like the song, but the rest doesn’t reach me as 5 Pieces’

‘again with the artistic video and drama queens. 5 Pieces is rocking this concept I am loving it so much and I love how the music suits their previous songs this year with the instruments and snapping. And I am deadly in love in this whole if-you-do-that-to-me-I-do-the-same-to-you script in the video and that boy is so pretty!’

‘Carolina actually produced this song? Like, for real? That’s awesome!’

‘They are so beautiful… Maria’s hair is gorgeous, Hannah gets to sing so beautifully, Carolina wrote the perfect song, Julia is like everyone’s lover and Emelia is the powerful glare. Omg I am in love T_T’

‘And people say music is for the ears – when it comes to 5 Pieces, you get music for your whole soul, so perfect’

‘Flawless’

‘SM Entertainment just announced 5 Pieces schedule for repackage album; next week they will promote on music programs! They will perform [You Thought Wrong Of Me] for the first time at their Tokyo Dome concert this weekend too omg I wish I was there it will be brilliant!’

‘The song is written by Carolina, the video is about turning the table around where boys are girls and girls are boys. We get to see 5 Pieces look after a guy on the street, calling him pretty for him to hear, and the uncomfortable response from the guy – then we see it reversed, the way we are used to see it without thinking twice. The video is about being treated as equals, how women are mistaken to just sit at home and do as told while the man has his fun. The song is about breaking up because the boyfriend took her for granted, and that he will never be loved because he doesn’t know what love is, and if he now does find out what love is, she will already be someone else’s. So don’t take each other for granted, show respect! This is a world breaking hit, guys, look anywhere and you will see 5 Pieces’ name; icons and rolemodels that make music from the world for the world.’

‘I was going to watch this only because I thought they were actually going to be . Now I have it on repeat and as a guy I am not ashamed to nod and sing along, admitting they are right and I am turning myself in for their religion. What 5 Pieces says, I do. Their music isn’t just a beat with words; this is actually a melody with deep meaning. Now tell me where I can get this album, I am craving for more!’

“Have I said that I love our fans?”

Maria looks up from the floor with a wide smile at Yong Hyun, and she turns her phone up at him to let him see the amazing comments on the picture she has uploaded from the music video filming.

“Every day,” he warmly answers her and Maria looks like a child looking back down. “Could you try on the outfit now?”

“Oh, yeah, yeah,” Maria remembers and puts her phone away.

Backstage they go back and forth from trying clothes to talking about the concert to tell what they want to eat, cuddling with Tiger, practice singing, going through what to say during the talk segments; they are doing a lot of things before the rehearsals has even began. Hannah has tried on most of the outfits and enters the dressing-room to cuddle some with Tiger, wearing leggings and a gray oversize logo print t-shirt to a pair of slippers and her hair is put up in a pony-tail to keep it out of the way when trying clothes.

Hannah peeks out of the room when she has picked up Tiger in her arms. She smiles apologetic when seeing the Japanese Manager Kawayama standing out there with papers in one hand and cell phone in the other, hugging a bottle of water under her arm and she is talking two a staff member. They get quiet seeing Hannah.

“When is the food coming?” Hannah asks in a low voice, speaking Japanese without problem and grimaces a bit to show she doesn’t mean to interrupt.

“It will be here in a few minutes,” Manager Kawayama answers after checking the time on her cell phone. “Do you want me to go get something else while waiting?”

“No, no, no,” Hannah quickly shakes her head and she laughs when the two Japanese laughs at her reaction. “I can wait a few minutes, I was just curious. Thank you.”

Hannah gets back inside the room to sit down in the sofa, hungry and waiting for food. The amount of people working on this is massive; the crew working on stage with 5 Pieces is the band and dancers, but the amount of people behind are like twenty times bigger. They have the choreographers, the vocal teacher and trainer, there are stylists for hair and make-up as well as designers for the clothes and concept, they have a musical director, tour director, there are managers and the large amount of people working on the stage that are both from the tour crew and those working for Tokyo Dome, there are assistants and co-directors for each group of people, there are a bunch of people just working to get food to everyone and to keep water and towels around the place, there is a lot of security and so on. Hannah is certain she has forgotten someone, but there are just so many people working together.

When food arrives it is Hannah, Julia and Emelia sitting there, just watching the food filling up the low table in their dressing-room. Emelia digs in first and Hannah gets the disappointing news that she is going to test the next outfit; she can eat after. Hannah puts Tiger down in the travel crate, takes a picture of the bento waiting for her before she hurries to the next room to quickly try her outfit.

{Instagram, 5P_HANNAH: I am hungry! Bento, wait for me! xD}

After the last outfit she can go eat, like Maria and Carolina. And when entering the room to finally get some food, the ladies burst out in cheers seeing who is sitting in the sofa. Little brother Kim Kyung Ho is sitting in the sofa and waving a spoon at them, smiling widely and he starts pointing at the travel crate when Hannah comes up to give him a hug.

“She’s cute, isn’t she?” Hannah laughs, hugging her brother briefly before going to pick Tiger up.

It is fascinating how no one is taking her out of his travel crate without Hannah, how she is hers and that not even Emelia has done anything. What Hannah doesn’t know is that Emelia had opened the travel crate and tried to make Tiger come out but she didn’t want to so she actually failed, and she knows not to force a kitten out of her safety zone. With Hannah it is different; Tiger walks to her hand as soon as she opens the crate so she easily picks her up with one hand under her stomach to hug to her chest.

“She is really tiny,” Kyung Ho laughs and holds his hand out when Hannah sits down next to him, wanting to get close to the kitten quickly.

“Pieces, rehearsals start in half an hour,” Manager Kawayama announces by the door.

“Half an hour,” Hannah is the fastest to translate and Kyung Ho looks absolutely clueless at Hannah out of nowhere saying ‘half an hour’. “Rehearsals are starting in half an hour,” Hannah explains for him.

“Kyung Ho was just saying how crazy it was at the airport when he came here,” Emelia says from across the table, motioning for Kyung Ho to tell Hannah.

“Ah, um… there were a lot of fans who are coming to the concert,” Kyung Ho tells her while holding out both his hands as if wanting Tiger to walk to him. “There were some of them who even recognized me and asked if I am in Japan for your concert. … and I said I am.”

“Ooooooh, really?” Hannah sounds impressed.

He is so cute, shyly telling as if he had answered them wrongly and Emelia is smiling widely as if she had been at the airport and supervised him. Kyung Ho was planned to come. He has started to work on a new drama, and just for 5 Pieces he has been given the permission to spend the rest of the week in Japan. He won’t really do anything else than being backstage and watching the concert for three days, but Kyung Ho seems to like it as it in fact was his idea, and now he is more excited as Tiger can keep him company.

Hannah sits in the sofa and eats while talking to the others, having Kyung Ho doing his best to get close to Tiger, ending up having Tiger running back and forth on the sofa playing with Kyung Ho.

After eating they return to work. The ladies need to do a lot of things before tomorrow night’s concert, but with so many people helping out they are in a great mood. The jokes on the stage with their crew seem endless. But the butterflies in their stomachs seem to only grow the more they think of that tomorrow is D-Day.

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Headline 03rd: 5 Pieces’ Maria Stuns At The Airport With A Fresh And Feminine New Haircut

Headline 03rd: 5 Pieces Performs Their Latest Hit Songs In China

Headline 04th: Maria Uploaded A Set Of Pictures Of 5 Pieces Chilling At The Airport

Headline 05th: Repackage Album’s First Music Video Teaser For [You Thought Wrong Of Me] Is Revealed

Headline 05th: 5 Pieces Collaborates With Fashion Brand For Repackage Album Concept

Headline 06th: Second Music Video Teaser For 5 Pieces’ [You Thought Wrong Of Me] Gives You A Better Listen To The New Song

Headline 06th: Preparations For 5 Pieces’ GIRLS POWER Show In Tokyo Dome Is Announced By SM Entertainment To Go Well

Headline 06th: Mixed Reactions To 5 Pieces’ Repackage Album Pictures Due To Lack Of Coverage

Headline 06th: American Journalists Face The Real 5 Pieces Craze Standing Outside Tokyo Dome Two Days Before 5 Pieces’ Concert

Headline 07th: 5 Pieces Releases Repackage Album + Explosive [You Thought Wrong Of Me] Full Music Video

Headline 07th: [You Thought Wrong Of Me] Break All Records On Topping The Online Music Charts Around The World

Headline 07th: 5 Pieces Is Out On Thin Ice According To Korean Journalist With Challenging Music Video

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X. devonalias