[INTERVIEW] Secret's Sunhwa(1): A Little Girl's Dream , (2): Dreams Come True, (3): "I thought about dropping out of high school..

“Hello, I'm Secret's Sunhwa. Nice to meet you.”

With her unique liveliness, Sunhwa's smile never disappeared once throughout the interview. Our expectations of her was high due to the fact that she played a huge role in increasing Secret's popularity through variety shows.

Sunhwa did not disappoint. With her natural humor, she started off by talking about her childhood.
“I had a lot of interest in Art ever since I was little. Being an artist was my dream. I have no idea I would end up becoming a singer.(laughs) I would spend my time drawing my parents while they were sleeping or painting landscapes. I drew whenever I had free time and I began to get better and better.”

Sunhwa pursued her dream to become an artist by going to after school art programs during her elementary school years. With her outstanding skills, she won several awards from competitions and began working her way towards her goal.

However, one day while watching Boa's performance on TV, she realized something that would change her dreams.

“When I was in sixth grade, I watched Boa sunbae as she performed 'Atlantis Princess' and thought that she was just amazing. I became her fan right away.(laughs) Ever since then I began to like singing and dancing. It was hard to give up my dream of becoming an artist, but watching Boa sunbae was a huge turning point for me.

A determined Sunhwa began auditioning for various big companies. She took part in the 'SM Entertainment Youth Best Competition' which took place that winter, but the results were disheartening. Sunhwa had experienced her first failure so soon after discovering her dream of becoming a singer.

“During my summer break in 8th grade, I came up to Seoul by myself to audition. Back then I didn't just audition for singing, but for modeling, minor movie roles, and other various things. I'm sure many people thought that I only auditioned because I just wanted to become famous. But in my young mind, I thought if I could become famous I would be able find some way of debuting as a singer.(laughs)”

In her persistent journey to become a singer, she has experienced unfortunate events as well. A company scam had tried to take advantage of Sunhwa's dreams.

“In 2005 I auditioned for a company in Busan. They told me I had passed and kept insisting that I bring them money. Even at age I could sense something wasn't right, so I took my parents to the company. We found out later that the company was a scam. After that incident, I had many doubts about my dream to become a singer.”

It was after that incident that Sunhwa began to think that becoming a singer was going to be much harder than she first thought.

Part 2
--
Source: Asia E (1)
Credits: dunlop09 @ secretfour
Continuing from Part 1

But even these unfortunate events could not deter Sunhwa from her dream. It was a lot to go through at such a young age, but she could not give up on her dream. A chance came sooner than expected to the girl who never gave up.

“In 9th grade, I saw an ad for SBS's 'Superstar Survival' and applied for the preliminary round and got in right away. It turns out that they accepted quite a lot of people for the first round.(laughs) The second and third rounds were held in Seoul and I was very nervous., especially when they were announcing the results of the third round.”

“Even after I saw my name, I couldn't believe it. Later, I was so happy I began tearing up. I should have been embarrassed, but I cried my heart out.(laughs)”

Among the twelve were Junho, Taecyeon, and Chansung from the popular group 2PM, and JOO. Sunhwa received vocal and acting training with these four. For the country girl, everything was so fascinating. She finally began to realize that she was taking a step towards her dream.

But the moment was short-lived. Sunhwa got eliminated from the show in the 5th episode. As for the reason, Sunhwa frankly said it was due to her lacking vocals.

“I think I really lacked in skill back then. At the time I just felt very disappointed about it, but as time went on I realized my flaws.(laughs) I realized I had to work even harder.”

“Back then, Junho Oppa took care of me as if I was his own little sister. Every time I came up to Seoul, he would give me advice. I'm really thankful for that. Not only that, going through everything together brought all of us(contestants) closer together.”

After her elimination, Sunhwa packed her bags and went back to Busan right away.

I had my hopes up because they said the final twelve would get a contract with the big companies, but in the end only a few got picked. Because I had my hopes up, my disappointment was just as big. After that I thought that this wasn't my calling, so I went back home.

It seemed that the country girl's dream of becoming a star through “Superstar Survival” had ended in vain.

Part 3
--
Source: Asia E (2)
Credits: dunlop09 @ secretfour

Continuing from Part 2

Following her setback, Sunhwa went back to being an ordinary high school student. However, there was a big change in the way Sunhwa peers looked at her.

“It turns out they thought I was a JYP trainee. There were false rumors going around about me and I had no clue. It was hard to see my peers looking at me through the classroom window and hearing things like 'She's a celebrity?' It was the to point where I was afraid to go to the bathroom.”

Sunhwa admitted that she became afraid of people because of the jealous stares of her peers.
“At that point I really just wanted to drop out and take the GED. I think it was a really hard time for me”

While Sunhwa struggled through her hardship, there was a teacher who gave her hope. Mr. Sung Yongho, in charge of the school choir, approached the struggling girl.

“He gave me a lot of chances to participate in competitions. Thanks to him, I won awards and began to enjoy my school-life.

Thanks to her teacher's efforts, Sunhwa worked much harder on her school work. Seeing her taking on the worst chores in stride(Students in Korea are often assigned chores around the school) and her constant bright attitude, her peers began to slowly come around.

After giving her all in numerous competitions, she was admitted to Baekjae Art College with her skills alone. Up until then, Sunhwa thought she would go through an ordinary college life. However, another chance came by sheer coincidence.

“A few days before my college entrance ceremony, I got a call from a agent who watched 'Superstar Survival'. We talked on the phone and they told me it was nice to see someone who was so hard working. I found out later that this person knew someone from my current company. After we talked a bit more I got recommended, and that's how I ended up in the company I'm in now.”

“To be honest, if I couldn't become a singer by the time I was done with high school, I was planning on pursuing fashion. But I got the call the day before my tuition was due. After deliberating, I paid my tuition and signed the contract with my company. The day after I graduated, I headed off to Seoul right away.(laughs)”

When asked if she had any regrets about becoming a trainee right after high school, she laughed and replied, “Of course I do. I'm really sad that I didn't even get to have a drink with my friends.”

Part 4 coming soon.
--
Source: Asia E (3)
Credits: dunlop09 @ secretfour Sharing is sexy