Why Did Alex REALLY Leave Rania? The First Non-Asian KPOP Idol #Thetruth

[Applause] [Music] really yeah they'd like to you know Alex perspective huh well tell us about what happened you just had a surgery and it was horrible but like when I was in the hospital like all those drugs that whatever they gave me it was like fun times when I was leaving hospitals like banging on this card or like I will leave I remember it now we're gonna get a little bit the oh shoot really yeah girl I know I've been researching about you and the first thing it says is you were the first nun Asian sash black woman in a k-pop group what do you feel about that title the funny thing is you know for I debuted I knew that that was at first but I didn't really process like that it was gonna be you as just battling I kind of thought being like just I was like another member of the crew but I didn't expect it to be like the whole like good luck idol thank you I you know right I did probably was gonna be like that but then once it was I feel really good about it because I feel like the reason I never thought it could be in kpop is because I never saw somebody likes me in kpop so if I had a role model you know then I probably would have pursued it harder I'm like actually felt like it was more than a dream so it feels good to know that like you know other black girls like me who just love kpop and get made fun of all the time you know they're like you get you yeah like they could have someone to look up to if I google you everyone wants to know Alex's ethnicity black okay Swedish and Hungarian my mom's from Sweden and then whenever I say that people are like okay so your dad is Swedish because your mom is black I'm like there are black people and Sweden oh my god my mom is Swedish Kiboko Swedish in Hungarian and black my dad is white and white and white so I guess you don't have any Asian blood of you but some people so you were half Korean no I have no Asian blood in me and that's actually when I got scouted I was like thinking like they think I'm part agent so I was clarified it was like Ghostly I'm not I came and I was like okay okay how did you first get even into like the group how did you get casted okay so I was in LA I was songwriting and I've been doing that like professionally for like forever like thousand teenagers to new york miss de la and then out here i was just kind of writing in a bunch of different sections long story short i end up in a k-pop song camp oh there was a k-pop song camp going on in the studio and i didn't realize that that's where I was going I thought it was just like another session and then I ended up impressing the A&R from Rania and kind of just like took the memory of me and then randoms me again and was like wow what but I didn't let on because I was a writer so I wanted to look professional and I thought oh like I could be like a k-pop song writer but wasn't like but like in flatus so then after I got discovered basically I was in Korea less than two weeks after that yeah so I told my parents like guess what I'm going to Korea I'm gonna be in kpop and they were like it's a scam something terrible is gonna happen to you oh no it's not it's legit they're like how do you don't look it just trust me I'm going oh they weren't strict no like my they know they can't like tell me anything because I since I was like a teenager like I moved to New York by myself and then I moved to LA okay so you're like a free bird free spirit yeah yellow like can you eat Korean food we first got there when I first got there I was like obsessed with great food what the first meal I had I had bulgogi then I had bulgogi jungle it is like my favorite like I don't eat meat anymore if there was one thing I would yeah damn I ate so much kimchi - kimchi Queen how did you like communicate with the girls and like your company back then it was like I knew no Korean when I first got there so I was like hustling trying with everything within me to like learn as fast as possible and then one girl in the crew was actually good English okay so she would help me out all the time and I thank her so much for that because I didn't have a translator and I didn't know what was going on I was and why didn't they put you a translator come say that first like demonstrate come back I've never been so lost in my life like I never knew we were going what we were doing what was happening I was always like wait what what didn't you feel lost soon as they see that in you she was trying to help me okay like she was trying to help me but I kind of felt you don't want to be me t you know I mean I don't want to be like the victim yeah I don't want to be the one who's like oh we all feel so bad for Alex so like as much as she was helping me out she's an idol with her own problems you know what I mean like it's a stressful life though for me to feel like I was like her other things she had to worry about I didn't want to be a burden so I tried my best to like just keep that to a minimum and not really ask for too much help Elsa end it what is she still in the group we're like I actually don't know like I don't know what's going on really what they grew nothing disbanded or you don't know no I think they're I think they're still unless you know something I don't know I don't know I'm pretty sure they're still together but I think they've had a comeback like okay minute and what's with Ted Riley because there's so many talk with Ronnie Oh Ted Riley and you I mean did you not have rightly first or no I met Teddy after people thought that because they were like you know if he like started Rania and then like you're the know your nails of black role and you know they kind of made a connection but it actually wasn't like wow like I reached out to him after and also hey I'm in your girl oh really how did you reach out to me I think I just found him on Instagram and like I got him a message BAM you're like out there yeah nowadays it's like so much more easy to hustle because it's social media I remember like when I was trying to get signed and I was a teenager and it was like how am I gonna get out of Texas like sure how am I gonna get anywhere nowadays like you can find every head of every record label and harass them on their Instagram until they answer you what was your relationship like it the girls honestly it was it was very confusing like I said right you know looking back the communication wasn't as good as I even thought it was at a certain point I thought that we were really on the same page over time it became clear to me that just because of the communication issues we weren't able to form the bond that I might have in ball we were forming before I got into kpop I just felt like they were gonna be like just like my sisters you know I want to be cheesy yeah I was actually really looking forward to it I feel like it was just gonna be like a big like hard work but anywhere like we had each other type by there's such a difference in communication and just culture and I think it was very hard for them to understand like where I was coming from and for me to understand where they were coming from you know they've been training and probably saying but I thought that when I got there just because I was kind and I respected them and I was like humble that there that they had been working I didn't really consider the fact all the attention that was thrown all of a sudden to me like all these newspaper things like it was crazy was like literally on every newspaper everywhere in Korea like you know first black idol doesn't it up and so I think at that time I didn't think of it like hold on they're seeing this for all they know I could just be like deivis dad is like yeah give me all the attention yeah so for me I just thought like okay because we're cool I didn't think I need it's like overcompensate for that and be like trying to have conversations about it like I thought it was like clear that like I respected the hierarchy in the group and that I was the rookie and I didn't expect anything different they had a little bit of jealousy I guess maybe when I got there it wasn't like I received not a warm welcome like it wasn't like they were mean to me right off the bat if we had spoken the same language and had the same culture they could have seen that that wasn't yeah that's not what I cared about I mean did that lead to some kind of bad by a tour like racism or was there something not with the first group not like the demonstrate cycle with a demonstrate cycle I actually feel like a we're more welcoming and kind to me but I think looking back I can see how even though they weren't outwardly like I'm saying how they feel I feel like looking back because we couldn't communicate I think there was this like elephant in the room who's the girl who just showed up oh no we're you know after we've been working this whole time what happened to the fire there the start of fire era so that's when the veteran girls had left well and that was actually really hard for me because at the time again I was so in the dark I didn't know they were leaving like I did not know what the heck was happening me and it ain't no one's here in your dorm room and I just remember a practice there being a weird vibe and then I remembered like texting the leader the next day I thought some choreography and being like hey girl like I know we have tomorrow off like is there any way we could get together because it was choreography they already learned and I didn't know it so and she'd answer me I never heard from anybody ever again and I was like wow oh they're gone and I was like devastated like I felt like we were family you know have you ever dated or flirted or exchanged numbers with the male idol or celebrity am i red yes oh you're right the short answer is yes okay how many times dated like like a real thing we all well not multi on really why are you like this because you didn't tell me not I told you about the first time I got a number yeah yeah we thought the same thing no that was different this was right before I start a fire okay so this was like in the hole where the veterans left and we were like in a rebuilding phase like we were being Joey yeah it was just like practice and things so I had like some time on my hands to kill and at that time I was like very stressed yeah how did you get this number oh so I got it there and demonstrate okay so it wasn't the person you talked about who did I tell you this is a different guy this is same like during demonstrate like when you go out and you like you're waiting all backstage to go out for the award so he split the number well like he were ordered on the it wasn't a number as a cacao pop okay oh my god like in a paper a little people in a little paper and then they looked at his face just to see who he was you know maybe shoot I didn't everyone I kept it cool again girl you ballin I wouldn't say the title boyfriend but we had like a very special like I said I was like in a stressed out place and I was like really like not feeling good Maria where did you guys meet it's really funny because I felt like we were being all like incognito but we went there's like a park by the river by Han River why do you still keep in touch with us um we haven't talked in a bit but yeah like me coach wait that's my phone no in this box oh yeah maybe it's ham I'm just kidding oh it's not like oh my god it was really cute at first because I feel like our communications were not communications it was like laughing like all we did was like smile and laugh and and then like say stupid things like you think I'm funny I'm not funny you're funny and then after that we got the comes the great idea eat live we used to use line and type in what we want to say and then it would translate so like what happened did you guys sup great cuz you left Korea were like promotion started for him and then that was not a good time for anything but this went on for like a minute like this was going on for like we saw each other a lot it was just like we were really enjoying each other and it was sweet and it was romantic he's still promoting you thank or yeah you know the number is that's like very day I find creative ways to like do it what was one of the most creative place well I thought the first one with the bowing with the exchanging of the CDs was really crazy like we exchange CDs he bowed and I like we all about right and he kept coming like closer and then my teammates looked at me like I was crazy cuz I didn't know I'm supposed to hand the CD I didn't know what was going on so we're doing the bowing and I did the done and I'm getting the CD and then under the CD like you know it's it's big right but then if he had his number inside his CD what if like the manager took it away or some other would have been terrible but it wasn't in the CD it was under the CD so it was actually riskier I feel because it could have dropped he wasn't the leader oh so I was thinking why does he have the CD the group was I think the group was reading him enough he usually a leader like that's why I had two CDs I was handing you know what did the other girls say were they're like yeah so like no didn't know they didn't know I would never let me know they didn't know the first time I got a number I was so naive I didn't know it's a problem and I showed my manager she took it and also give it that she was like don't use it you know like my like in advance you can watch that seriously you cannot like she was like really like serious with me like you cannot and I'll say okay I want madam you guys cited multiple times and she did it get awkward did he try to ask you oh we invited her back there yeah no no there was no follow-up no I mean like why wouldn't he follow up but you know everyone to the bathroom like he might have been like let me go to that bathroom our managers go with us Wow so there's no time to like know one of the only time is when like you're standing the group will be behind you and a group will be in front of you and you're waiting is let's soundcheck camera check all that all day and then like at the end of the day with the awards like those are the times when you're like in the middle so that's like if it's gonna go down it's gonna go down or in the cafeteria like if you go get food our Mandarin always came with us when they were like boy groups who would be without their Mandalore's so I feel like they could have made more stuff happen giving you the members I thought maybe their numbers are the same oh thank a couple maybe your manager like contacted him Moki she was like in love with him but I was like Asik you know who he is she was like yes I know we go what do you mean yes I love him yeah great times crazy times but was there any racism you face in Korea like not so much on the stage like an idol side outside like I had a weird interaction with like a cab driver well in that was that colliculi kicked me out of the car what I hadn't been volunteering it was Christmas Eve and I and I got in the car I told him in Korea and that's where I was going yeah like turn around like looked at me and was like no no don't no no no like and it was like just like signaling to get out yeah so I told him like no no I speak Korean so I thought maybe he was scared like I know he was gonna have to make me speak English so I was like no no and he just like started yelling and like going crazy I don't know what he thinks he's screaming and yelling and I like just jumped out and then one of the guys who I've been volunteering with was right there I was like he was also like mixed and he was like yeah like sometimes they're a little like racist like they don't like to sorry that happened this is but I think like people I think assumed that like I would deal with it in the industry but I was like super embraced by the Koreans when they would perform like they would go crazy when I would come out on stage but they were so nice it what other lines for me and everything so I didn't experience weirdness at all so maybe the dancer and one good thing and one tough thing about being a kpop idol there's a lot of good things just being able to look back and know that I like fully live my dream you know I can physically like look back at stages that we did and then the toughest thing I would say it's just you don't really have control over yourself if you like a lot of times it feels like you are property of you know the industry of the companies I kind of like that in America as well no it's not so much like that in America I think in America the artist has more power in America like I was told over there it really hurt my feelings they were like the people who go into kpop and who are idols is the people who weren't good enough to do anything else they said like it's for people who weren't smart enough to like have a real job why did you say well that no I really liked it was one of those moments where I just like was frozen I had to process it I was like my subscribers this guy series right on so all the people who have a dream like all young people who are willing to literally sacrifice time with their family and you miss holiday you miss everything like it's because you're passionate not because we don't have the ability to do anything else well I was looking at your performances and I had a question why were you always just at your parts and but didn't go through the whole Korea Rafi okay that's yeah that's the million-dollar question because I can't honestly say I know on your one-man aftering demonstrate I was told that I came in last minute which I did so I totally understood that was one of those times when I was like I don't want to be the girl who comes in after they've been like working hard and suddenly they have to change their formations and they're more ography to accommodate me but start a five you've been in that career brand yeah whole Korea you know so that's when it gets confusing for me because then I over time it became like I was in the dark I would be in America and when I'm coming back and then when I would come back it would be like late and then they'd be like it's too late we can't fit you and I'm like bring me well then why I wasn't here yeah well what was I doing besides freaking out and panicking and wondering when I was allowed to come back like oh my you don't mean like what am I like make me ahh I was on the stage the whole time and I was nine oh you're saying like that was nice that you were in the full City yeah it was really nice like I remember that first day we performed it it was Valentine's Day and that's my favorite holiday mm-hm and it was the first time I was in the full choreo so it felt like I was like fully part of the group why did you ultimately leave Rania it's funny I think people all think I gotta keep them I was gonna ask yeah I think everyone thinks I got kicked out but that's okay because I don't care you know I did actually leave and it's because there was a point where everything had hit the fan in a big way like things were so stressful I just felt like it wasn't a healthy situation for me anymore it became like why am i sacrificing my own happiness just to prove that I could like yeah I can handle it so I decide to walk away it was just like a series of things leading up and I know it's like you know what this is not a situation that it's made for me like I can't be here and do you ever regret leaving no it was the right thing for sure like I definitely miss it like I miss I mean even the hard stuff I'm in would you ever join a group again of course I'm gonna be in a girl group no like yeah we like you make it a group like I was thinking like join a group like make a girl make you know anybody else who's talented I'm sure we could find someone they like bring a little project like korean-american like yes we shouldn't really do serious I'm serious what did you plan from now on ever since I let Rhea men-men writing a book about my time in Korea oh it's so juicy it's really so juicy like it's impossible to avoid the Shawn value in this case it's like every time I'm writing I'm just like well if people are gonna be so blown away really like behind the scene and then my help I've had a lot of health stuff going on I have an EP that's ready to remove when when yeah I don't know exactly I know this thing was coming out soon thank you so much thank you for having me I love you yeah I try to like you the things you'd be like a wink that's good that's good

Channel: GRAZY GRACE

Views: 1,188,438

Keywords: grazy grace, grazy grace kpop, rania, rania kpop, rania alex, 라니아, 알렉스, 라니아 알렉산드라, 이웃집 찰스, kpop, non asian kpop, non korean kpop, girl groups, girl group kpop, the truth about, grazy tv, alex reid, alex reid kpop, blackpink, bts, exo, monsta x, red velvet, 레드벨벳, kpop random dance 2019, kpop audition, yg entertainment news, kpop girl groups, stage k, stage k exo, jtbc, m countdown win, music core, music bank, dance practice

Id: 0WfgB4bnMOI

Length: 17min 59sec (1079 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 22 2019