Meet OMG Challenger : CJ Crew

We've got more girls on the show again!

We were down to just two girls on the show, Jill-Marie Thomas and sweetiepie Ruby from the Baos!, and all that testosterone was just overwhelming! Plus I'm sure mankind shed a tear when resident OMG! eye candies Desert Roses and Vertical Dancers left the show last week. But the OMG! Gods hath mercy for where they have removed five babes from us, they have no given us SEVEN in return.  These girls are a K-Pop dance group.


And just coz they're new to the show, doesn't mean they are exempt from the theme. They'll also be incorporating kids (apparently, very cute kids) into their performance for this week's 'School's Out!' theme like the rest of the Contenders. No special treatment for newbies k!


CJ Crew is made up of Sam, Jojo, Yu Zhen, Joanna, Jun, Evy and Diyana who raps. Yes the girls can sing too, but not for tomorrow night's performance. Its all about dance tomorrow and the girls will be showcasing original moves that they've choreographed and also some of Beast's moves from their music video 'Shock'. (Video reference right at the bottom for the uninitiated to the K-pop world).


I caught up with Sam, the leader of the crew, earlier this evening for a quick chat. Here's the phoner : 


So how do you girls know each other? 
We all got to know each other at the school. We're all part of the Celine Jessandra School of Performing Arts. (Click to go to the school's blog).


summerr says : 
I actually spoke to Celine last night and basically her school is a K-Pop dance and vocal school focused on teaching students how to move and groove like their favourite K-Pop stars.


What made you guys decide to join OMG!?
We thought it would be a good opportunity for us to gain some performing experience. Some of us are still quite new. Its also a good way to let the audience know a bit more about K-Pop! We also haven't performed on tv before, so it'll be good to experience all that too.


If you won the $50,000 what would you do with it?
First thought would be to pay off all the PUB bills! We train a lot in the school, so we use all the facilities like the aircond and the lights, so we'd like to contribute to that. But seriously if we do win, we'd probably use that money to go on dance training trips to Korea. A lot of dancers go to Japan, L.A. and Korea to join the dance classes there to gain experience and learn new steps etc. If we get to to Korea, we'll like join Haw's (the very famous instructor/choreographer who did the Beast video) class.


What do you think of our OMG! judges?
I think they're quite nice. Eventhough its obvious they may not have liked a certain performance, they still give very constructive criticisms, so that's very encouraging. We're quite nervous actually about what they're gonna say about us.


What about the Contenders, have you sized up the competition?
Well, we've watched the performances by Desert Roses, Vertical Dancers and Luminiq Crew especially.  Desert Roses and Vertical Dancers were not really in our genre anyway. As for Luminiq Crew, they have really great stage presence. Their facial expressions and everything is all there, they know how to entertain the crowd., so they'd be tough competition. 


Give us an idea of what you'll be performing tomorrow night?
Its a dance routine but it also has a story. We've incorporated the kids and they'll be doing a very cute dance routine. The music is a medley of about 4 Korean songs and our moves are a combination of some steps from Beast's 'Shock' music video and also our own choreography. 


Who are your favourite K-pop groups?
We like Dongbangshinki, Beast, Shinee, 2Ne1 and Afterschool.


Will you be showing off your singing skills if you get through?
Yes definitely, we will sing later on if we get a chance to. For K-pop its actually a combination of singing and dancing. For them, you have to be good at everything - you have to sing well, dance well and look good, otherwise you won't be accepted by the media industry there. The media there scrutinises them very closely.


summerr says : 
To be honest guys, I've no clue about K-Pop. The most I know is a girl group called 2Ne1 (which Sam mentions above) and its only because I saw their videos while shopping for a tv at Best Denki - they were looping their music video 'Fire' and whoa, they are pretty awesome - lots of attitude and power - worthy of a stint on So You Think You Can Dance. But the more I google, and the more I learn about the genre, the more intrigued I am about this 'world'. 


Can't wait to see the girls perform - I'm thinking high-powered performance. Ooh, and Sam mentioned something about dressing up like 'Schoolgirls' but not cutesy but 'power'-type! - EXCITED!


Catch CJ Crew tomorrow night on One Moment of Glory, 8pm, LIVE on Channel 5!
Tickets are available at the reception from about 7pm onwards, so if you wanna watch the show live at the TV Theatre, come on down tomorrow!


Sam and rapper Diyana will also be dropping by the Class 95 studio tomorrow morning for a chat with Vern, FD and Glenn. Tune in to Class95's Morning Express to catch them, from about 9am onwards!


ps. As promised, here's the video of Beast's song 'Shock'. The girls will be using some of Beast's moves in their choreography.