Korean Cowboys: Nu'est Aron's new podcast roundup, episodes 1-4
Hi! I listened to Korean Cowboys so that you don't have to (if you don't want to). Here's an episode-by-episode summary of the first four episodes of 'Korean Cowboys', going through details of how the podcast came to be, what life was like as an idol, any random but interesting stuff that they talk about, and any other kpop-related insight that the two hosts offer. Please check for content warnings!
If you aren't interested in the hosts themselves I still highly recommend checking the content of Episode 2, where they discuss details and stresses of training, debuting and living as a kpop idol; they're very open and honest about it. Ren also shows up in episode 3!
[EPISODE 1: WHO ARE WE?]EPISODE 1: WHO ARE WE?
Click to viewAron and his co-host, Joel, introduce themselves. As mentioned previously, Joel is a former member of nugu boy group BTL (I think I posted their mv here when they debuted lol I remember them!). The group struggled for two years before disbanding; Joel now works as a voice actor, variety show panelist and is starting an acting career. Aron, obviously, is a member of Nu'est, and for the first time in his life he gets to introduce Nu'est without spelling out the acronym. The two are (ex?) housemates.
- They picked the name 'Korean Cowboys' as they're both from America and wanted a name that encompassed their Korean and American identities. They both love country music and come from the West Coast. Aron is full Korean, Joel is mixed.
- Joel has been in Korea longer but Aron speaks better Korean.
- Joel originally came to Korea because his Dad was in the US Air Force and got stationed there in 2006. Aron moved to SK in 2011, several years after being scouted.
- They hope to provide the perspective of someone with one foot in each culture, and be a bridge to Korean culture to people from the West.
- They discuss their experiences of moving for the first time, what was new, what was exciting, etc.
- Joel discusses the difficulties of teaching himself Korean after living on an insular American army base for his first few years of being in SK.
- They discuss issues of adjusting to the new culture, and how they could kind of get away with some social faux pas (formal vs banmal speech) since people could tell they were foreigners. Aron says that he didn't feel too many problems adjusting, but says that this is because he feels that his family environment was very Korean due to his Dad.
- They talk in vague terms about upcoming topics and promise future guests, as well as how to get in touch and submit questions etc.
[EPISODE 2: OUR KPOP IDOL JOURNEY]EPISODE 2: OUR KPOP IDOL JOURNEY
This episode is the 'how did we get into being a kpop idol' episode. There is a huge amount of content in this episode.
This episode includes a content warning for talk about weight and dieting, as well as mentions of excessive drinking. I also feel like there's just straight up human rights violations in here?
- Auditioning: Joel is and has been close with some of the girls from Chocolat, they all went to the same school. When he was in college, Tia called him and asked him if he was interested in auditioning, he auditioned and was cast the next day despite the company telling him how terrible he was in the audition (a visual casting lol!). He performed Light It Up by G-Dragon and Tear Eyed by Missy Elliott. A year later he debuted in BTL.
- Auditioning: Aron was cast at a festival in LA in 2009 and sang So Sick by Ne-Yo at his audition. When asked to dance he literally clapped his hands for 30 seconds because he didn't know any dances. He was asked to come to Korea for one-two weeks to assess his potential, he did so that winter and was successfully signed as a trainee after. He finished high school before going to South Korea and trained for all of nine months before debuting in NU'EST.
- Auditioning: Joel took a copy of his audition when his former company folded, Aron has never seen his.
- Training schedule: Joel says his best memories as an idol come from his trainee period. He says that this might be because his actual promotion period was so short. He was attending college at the time and demanded that his trainee contract allowed him time for his education. He had classes til 12, then went to the company and practised until 10:30pm, when he would go home and do homework. His company couldn't afford dorms or many teachers so he was living with friends and commuted from Itaewon to Gangnam, where his training included 5 hours of self-practise a day.
- Training schedule: Aron's trainee period started in June 2011. He admits that he skipped school a lot. His classes were supposed to start at 9 in the morning, but his practising used to go into the early morning such as 3AM or 4AM, so that combined with his utterly terrible Korean made school almost unmanageable. He would instead go to a PC Bang/cafe and snooze. He also mentions that there were about nine NU'EST trainees when he started (we know that this includes SVT's S.Coups, as well as potentially other SVT members signed in 2011).
- Training schedule: They both fret over if they found it difficult at their older teen age, then how do younger children manage it, especially when so many trainees are so much younger nowadays.
- Training schedule/weight: Joel says how hard it was to keep to a diet when on such a busy trainee schedule. At one point he weighted 75.5kg, which is healthy for his height, but was heavy for an idol (his weight was listed at 69kg when he debuted).
- Training schedule/weight: Aron talks a little about his weight experience as an idol and Joel drags him for being an obnoxious instagram gym rat.
- Debuting: Joel and BTL were told they would film a music video with a week's notice. When they came off the stage he actually cried with happiness. Just prior to Joel admitting he cried, when Joel mentions doing the debut stage, Aron takes the opportunity to tease him about his debut choreo.
- Debuting: They talk about how it's company pull that gets you cast on which music show, and BTL were lucky in that they were able to go on all of them like Nu'est. However this is terrible for a group's sleep schedule; Joel estimates he got 3 to 4 hours a night on a good day, because some days he was waking up at 1.30 in the morning to go to the makeup shop, etc. Aron corroborates this and says that it doesn't get better in subsequent promotions.
- Debuting: There is an unwritten rule that if you're a new artist, it's rude to fall asleep in the waiting room, and you're not allowed to leave it either except to go toilet or to a canteen. So you could be stuck in the waiting room, not allowed to sleep, for six or seven hours.
- Early idol life/phones: They talk about the 'no phones' thing for idols: Joel says he had no phone, Aron teases him about this, Joel responds that he had an 'ipod that had kakaotalk installed on it'. He says that if you think no idols ever have phones then you're wrong and that people find ways to get around it. Aron was able to swindle getting his phone back by demanding of his company that he needed to phone his parents at specific times, but he also knew people who had secret phones, or who had stuff installed on ipads. Joel's company were harsher and told them to contact his family (who had moved to Germany) via email.
- Promoting: Aron asks if BTL went overseas - Joel says they often went to Hong Kong. He says they only ever went in the summer, and they were made to walk around in their stage costumes in the midsummer heat. Aron says that he was lucky to go to so many places with Nu'est and it was a highlight of his job to meet fans around the world. Joel essentially moved in with Aron to be his doggy caretaker when he was away.
- Reflecting: The two reflect that despite their hardships they feel lucky to have had the experiences that they've had. Joel mentions the statistic that there's something like 10,000 idol/theatre/dance trainees at any one time in SK these days, so they were both extremely lucky to make the debuting cut.
- Regrets: Joel regrets how he became so blinkered about succeeding as an idol that he completely stopped talking to his friends from outside his group. His Mum would ask him about things and because he was so stressed about it he would snap at her and it caused a rift between them at the time, and then he was left with nothing because the group failed.
- Memories: Joel recounts the first time they met, which Aron doesn't remember: they met at Aron's radio show (that one he got in trouble for lmao) and briefly introduced themselves. Aron admits that he was drinking heavily at the time which affects his memory of things.
- Struggles: Aron says that at some point in his career, being in the public eye became a 'double edged sword' and the negativity became hard for him to deal with. Having to uphold the perfect idol image got in his head a bit and he started getting a little paranoid. Joel remembers this as they were living together at that time. People would follow him home and he would be constantly alert going out to social events with friends. He says he's a lot better now.
- Coping mechanisms: Joel says he's lucky to have a mindset that keeps him on the straight and narrow. Aron says that other than the drinking (which he doesn't recommend) he had a great support base with his family and friends who helped him with his situation.
[EPISODE 3: GUEST EPISODE - CHOI MINGI / REN]EPISODE 3: GUEST EPISODE - CHOI MINGI / REN
IT'S REN! I'm so happy to see his face. This episode mixes Korean and English due to Ren not speaking much English. His occasional English is so charming though! There's still a lot of content in this episode but also a lot of fluff and joking around if you want to watch it for those moments.
- This episode was recorded prior to Ren signing with BPM so he mentions meeting with lots of companies and moans about the stress of all the legalities.
- Ren was cast as a trainee when he auditioned for Superstar K 2, which was fortune as his auditon wasn't even broadcast. He always wanted to be a singer and obsessively watched music broadcasts. His biggest inspiration when he was young was Lee Hyori. He wanted to apply for Hyori's Homestay but Pledis wouldn't let him 😡
- Aron and Ren tease each other throughout and banter, it's very sweet.
- Aron asks him who else Ren admires, knowing full well he's about to trigger Ren's Lady Gaga antics. As Nu'est fans know, he's admired her from his trainee days. He used to ask Aron to tell him about Lady Gaga's popularity in the US. They reminisce on Lady Gaga's MCountdown stage and Ren talks about being jealous of the various kpop stars who have got to meet or interview Lady Gaga.
- Ren also names the love of fans as the biggest positive of being an idol. He says that upholding the rules and image of being an idol was one of the hardest parts. If he wasn't an idol, he says he'd be doing 'this' while taking a sip of his whisky.
- Aron asks Ren if there's any one moment he'd change from his life as an idol. Ren says he would change March 14, 2020. His grandfather passed away that day; as it was the height of COVID he hadn't been able to see his grandfather but they got a call from the hospital inviting them to come and say their goodbyes. He was in Seoul and got the call at 12AM, and would never have been able to get there in time. He was able to have a videocall with his grandfather but his grandfather was so sick he was barely cognizant. He says if he could change anything he would be able to say goodbye in person.
- Aron offers Ren an Honesty Hour about working together. Ren says a good thing about working with Aron is that he's so friendly, and that they could interact as friends even though Aron was his hyung. He says that older people these days can be very 'kkondae' about honorifics etc (it's a sort of Korean form of calling someone a boomer i.e set in their ways, rigid, old-fashioned), but Aron's not like that.
- Joel says that when he lived with Aron, Ren would visit often. They then start to tease each other over a party where Aron ordered raw skate fish.
- For cons, Ren jokingly moans that Aron used to pick on him a lot as the viewers have seen this episode through their bickering. He says that because Aron is a bit of a prankster, they would sometimes have arguments if Ren wasn't in the mood. They both agree that managing everyone's differing moods is one of the harder parts of working in a team.
- Joel talks about having a rough time with his CEO/management team and Ren goes 'seems for the most part it's like that' before realizing what he's implied and slyly goes 'oh, i mean not all of them are like that'.
- Joel and Ren have a cute moment of bartering over how much honorofics they'll use between each other.
- Aron asks what Ren's hobbies are at the moment, he says he watches a lot of netflix and youtube, and goes into detail about what. They talk a little about how Ren's always wanted to set up a youtube channel but again, his company wouldn't let him 😡. Now that he's out of Pledis, he might do so. He wants to do vlogs and fashion-related content.
- Aron likes to embarrass Joel by loudly calling him his hoobae (Joel is older than Aron).
- They discuss the difficulties of learning to turn off your idol persona when not at a schedule. Ren says that Pledis at first wanted him to keep a mysterious personality in keeping with how he was styled but as that wasn't how he is naturally he really struggled with it.
- Aron mentions that when he thinks of self-care, he thinks of Ren. Ren gives some tips, such as eating well when you're wearing your body out, and trying to regulate negative thoughts. Regarding skincare, Ren says that he's human too and feels too tired some days, so he tries not to be too hard on himself and tries to find the energy to do a little something so he doesn't feel too guilty about it later. Aron says that Ren knows so much about skincare that he even knows how to pop his pimples properly.
- Ren and Aron talk about how it was in the days leading up to the disbandment. Ren says that he could barely sleep at night, started getting palpitations and a pounding heart, couldn't sit still and do nothing, and constantly needed to be on the phone to a friend. He describes the idea of doing this alone as "surreal and scary". Aron says that he was constantly thinking about what he was going to do now, worrying about his lack of life skills, but once he had started making plans, he felt better.
[EPISODE 4: ROOMMATE STORIES]EPISODE 4: ROOMMATE STORIES
This one's a more personal one between Aron and Joel, discussing the time that they lived together. Most of this is fluff, but if you're not solely interested in Aron/Nu'est, there's a few details about dorm life, living options in SK, etc.
- Joel and Aron lived together for about 2-2½ years.
- They met properly summer of 2016 at a social gathering with a bunch of mutual friends (orchestrated by Ultimate Socialiser Amber Liu), found out that they lived very close, ended up spending a bunch of time together.
- They used to call each other 'daddio' and they argue about who started it.
- Joel originally moved out from his parents at 18, when his parents went back to the US and he stayed in SK. In between idol dorms and living with Aron, he lived in a goshiwon (a small hostel, student-style accommodation). One of his ex-members also moved in there. He was fairly insecure/embarrassed about this living situation.
- Aron says that he moved out from his parents straight to dorms, and then moved out of his dorms in 2017, which is when Nu'est first saw a paycheck, essentially. He says that having his own bedroom after 5+ years of sharing was a really big deal for him. However he found that he got quite lonely.
- They discuss the pros and cons of living by yourself.
- Joel moved in with Aron in 2018. Essentially this was for convenience. Aron was busy with Nu'est W at the time and kept going abroad or to festivals and Joel was over there multiple times a week to dogsit Noah (rip), who Aron had recently got as a puppy. Joel at some point let slip that he was living in a goshiwon and Aron, alone in a 3 bed flat, told Joel to move in. Aron then also got a rescue dog named Kkotsoon (she makes a cameo at the end of the episode) and their 'family' was complete.
- Joel took care of a lot of the housework and dogcare as he didn't have a lot of work just yet.
- They reminisce about all the stuff that Noah used to tear up/break
- As far as hobbies they used to do together, they would get drunk and do quizzes, they would go to noraebang, and they also went fishing a lot. Aron still has a grudge over Joel stealing a fish once.
- Aron used to swim competitively in middle school.
- They spend quite a long chunk of time reminiscing about trips they took together/with other friends both in Korea and abroad (Guam).
source: koreancowboyspodcast, KOREAN COWBOYS