Dal Shabet's Serri spills the tea on sponsorships, drugs and more
Dal Shabet's Serri, who opened a Youtube-channel Serriday, has been talking about some pretty dicey topis!
Her agency's CEO advised her to get a boob job predebut
She confessed, “Before any idol debuts, they usually get the full set. They come out after getting their face taken care of.”
Serri then shared her experience by adding, “Before I debuted, my agency advised that I get a boob job. But I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t know why it was necessary because I thought I was young and pretty.”
But according to Serri, the agency continued to insist by claiming that it would work in her favor during her activities in the entertainment business. She responded to her CEO with, “Sir, I already have breasts.”
Talks about how sponsors slip into idols' Instagram DMs
After pointing out that everything is based on what she knows and experienced as an idol, Serri dished that there are entertainment agencies who actively connect their managing artists to such “sponsors”.
"To be honest, it is a matter of which agency you’re signed to. There are agencies which accept these sponsorship offers and the CEO passes on the suggestion to the agency artists. There are also sponsorship offers that reach the stars individually."
Serri clarified that while she was actively promoting as a part of Dal Shabet, she and her group-mates never had to attend any occasions that made them uncomfortable, thanks to their agency’s CEO being against sponsorships.
"Personally, my CEO never took the group out to bars or anything like that."
Unfortunately, Serri did have experience with receiving sponsorship offers via Instagram. As more K-Pop idols start up their own social media accounts to communicate better with their fans, such platforms have become a way for sponsorship offers to reach them as well.
"I’ve gotten a DM before. Everyone gets such DMs. It is up to the person who received the DM to either ignore it or get offended by it and do something about it."
The DM that Serri received detailed out the offer by listing the “assets” that the sponsor had and the “benefits” that Serri would reap from the relationship had she agreed to it.
"I check all my DMs. So I ended up checking this one too. It listed the person’s name, age, occupation, and other personal information. It also listed how much I’d be paid if I agreed to do this and what kind of advantages I could get out of it."
Serri also revealed that facing revengeful disadvantages in the industry for turning down sponsorship offers is an actual possibility. She dished at such “sponsors” for abusing the trainees and artists by threatening to meddle with their careers.
"There could be revenge for turning down a sponsorship offer… like getting fired from a role or being excluded from debuts. So it’s a nasty thing for them to do. Not that these artists and trainees wouldn’t be able to survive without the sponsorship money - but for their dreams and goals to be messed with and threatened like such, I think that’s horrible."
Serri assured the viewers, however, that not everyone in the industry are bad. Like her own CEO, who did not fall to the sponsorship offers, Serri clarified that there are also trustworthy people who will try their best to guide the trainees and artists in the right direction.
Talks about the recent drug scandals and how an idol offered her drugs
Serri first expressed her shock and concern for the industry. It was hard for her to grasp that such illegal things had been - and are - happening around her, and that it involved people with whom she worked before, on the same “home ground”.
"It’s a serious problem and I’m shocked by it. Drugs are illegal and using them is a crime. But it’s happening all around us without us noticing. And we’re talking about people that I’ve worked with before. We were in the same industry. So it was really shocking when I found out the truth about them…"
However, Serri also admitted that, while she was actively promoting in the world of K-Pop as a part of Dal Shabet, she was offered to try a type of drug. While at first, she hesitated to spill the details…
"Hm, I’m not sure if I should talk about this… Can I?"
… she soon decided to reveal the truth. While Serri bleeped out the details, from what could be told in context, she was at a certain location where idols could gather and mingle:
" I feel like now I can. It was at (beep). At (beep), an idol from one group brought a bottle of pills with [him/her]. It had vitamin-like pills inside…"
Serri added that this idol-in-question offered to share the pills with her in a very casual manner that caught her off guard.
"[He/she] said, ‘Taking this will make you feel better. Do you want some?’ But it was so casual the way I was approached. It wasn’t like low key or under the table at all. It was out and open where everyone could see and hear."
The idol-in-question referred to the substance as “vitamins” and offered it to everyone who was present at the time. Serri, who usually does not accept food that isn’t hers, passed on the offer and moved on…
"It was very casual. [He/she] was like, ‘Oh it’s time to take my vitamins.’ Nothing was serious about the whole situation. I ended up not taking any because I usually don’t take things that are offered to me by other people…"
… but shortly after, she came across the news of this idol being charged with drug use!
"Soon [he/she] was all over the news for drug use. Looking back, I just want to hit [him/her]. Why would [he/she] offer that to me? I could’ve taken it if I didn’t think too much about it… but anyway, that person was arrested, so…"
Serri added to assure the viewers that drug use and offering aren’t actually that common in the world of K-Pop.
"It sounds like the drug problem is serious in the entertainment business because we get a lot more spotlight than others. But drug use is probably happening everywhere, not just in this industry. We’re just a bit more exposed. I’ve been in the industry for 8 or 9 years now. And it’s really not that common. Not all K-Celebrities do and offer drugs."
source: soompispanish, serriday 1 2, koreaboo 1 2 3, dispatch