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‘A little princess off to the army’: Singaporean schoolgirl Joye Cai readies for K-pop trainee life

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ST20240402_202403556540/jastar13/Heng Yi-Hsin/Jan Lee

Secondary School Student and K-pop Trainee Joye Cai (left), 15, at her private dance training session at Recognize! Studios while her mother Milona Xia (right), 37, records a video of her. Photographed on April 2, 2024. 

ST PHOTO: HENG YI-HSIN

Ms Milona Xia (seated) taking videos of her daughter, Joye Cai, who is taking intensive dance classes to prepare for her move to Seoul to join Evergreen Korea agency as a K-pop trainee.

ST PHOTO: HENG YI-HSIN

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SINGAPORE – In exam-centric, grades-obsessed Singapore, parents sending their kids to scores of tuition and enrichment classes is par for the course. From early childhood Chinese lessons to preparatory courses for landmark examinations such as the O levels, there is a laser focus on academic excellence.

And while some might see merit in nurturing their children’s interests in well-established arts such as classical music, painting or ballet, or honing their discipline in athletic pursuits, rare is the parent who backs his or her child to chase more amorphous ambitions like pop stardom.

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