SERA00 6th General Election 2016 RESULTS

Hey everyone!

Elections, elections, elections... Amidst the wake of last week's election, here we have another election - one not revolving around politics, but love. Although, some of you may be tempted to point out the hypocrisy in that the SERA00 General Elections are based on paid votes, and therefore cannot be considered a true election. Well - money makes the world go 'round, right? To that fact, SERA00 Management has recognized the concern and is launching a brand new initiative, which I will address in the following post to prevent this one from becoming too long.

I know I'm always late on recaps, so I was pushing to get the results from last Saturday's election published. I analyzed the results during a math class...and ended up not paying much attention to the contents of the lecture XD. Ah, well, three hour lectures don't sit very well with my attention span anyways. At least I got something done, even if it wasn't what I was supposed to be doing. Oh, and I'll edit all the member information on the site to reflect the new rankings soon.

Here we go...

A ranks

1.      Sakiko Mihashi “Sassan” (–) 2.      Luna Remington (–)

3.      Maya Shale (–)

4.      Annelise Gillian “Angel” (–)

5.      Evangeline Vera "Evie" (+1)

6.      Harley Breeze (-1)

7.      Kotoka Aida (–)

8.      Geneviève DuPont (+6)

9.      Alura Land “Luraland” (-1)

10.   Yumi Tsukino “Yumichan” (-1)

11.   Fallon Mackenzie “Fracken” (-1)

12.   Alyssandra Houser “Alyss” (+1)

13.   Romanne Taylor “Rome” (+4)

14.   Sayoung Yoon (+7)

15.   Samantha Willis “Sammi” (+5)

16.   Wyoming Delaney (-1) B ranks

17.   Tomiko Hamasaki (+5)

18.   Brynn Dell “Brindle” (-2)

19.   Kansas Sommerset (-1)

20.   Alison Li “Liz” (-1)

21.   Willow Stockholme (+2)

22.   Katarina Ren “Katalie” (+9)

23.   Evalyn Trent (+4)

24.   Hollis Stern “Holly” (+6)

25.   Bryce Immelman “Imery” (–)

26.   Sora Takashi “Soracchi” (+8)

27.   Cassandra Seong "Cassie" (NEW)

28.   Tang Tang Tsang (+5)

29.   Gianna Li "Joy" (NEW)

30.   Eclair Holland "Echo" (+6)

31.   Reece Walters (-7)

32.   Dana Jennings (+31) C ranks

33.   Henley Rey (+9)

34.   Saerim Kim (NEW)

35.   Macey Fent (-3)

36.   Raine Colbert (-8)

37.   Cherie Delacroix (-8)

38.   Jessica Caves (+3)

39.   Kaira Hayes (NEW)

40.   Emma Jung (+4)

41.   Isla Hedley (+9)

42.   Fawn Cobbleton (-7)

43.   Kai Lee “Kailee” (+2)

44.   Mikayla Iverson (-5)

45.   Felicia Russel “Felicity” (-8)

46.   Piper Weston (-6)

47.   Yura Chung (-4)

48.   Xue Ling Kuo (+3)

49.   Kerria Santivejkul (-2)

50.   Shannon Hunton (-4)

51.   Poppy Ganeson (-3)

52.   Briar Ross “Briar Rose” (-3)

53.   Celia Park (NEW)

54.   Haley Wickham (+3)

55.   Cindy Howe (-2)

56.   Milla Cassano (NEW)

57.   Koto Lazos (NEW)

58.   Ariande Wong “Ariel” (-4)

59.   Liesl Surrey (-1)

60.   Yuzuki Ito (+1)

61.   Kaya Courtland (-1)

62.   Izumi Kimura “Ice” (–)

63.   Celestia Charrete (-4)

64.   Eliza Moir (+3)

65.   April Heffron (-1)

66.   Leanne Chen “Lychee” (-1)

67.   Emily Wattana (-1)

68.   Jenna Moore (+1)

69.   Romy Stokes (-1)

70.   Valerie Trent "Velvet/Vel" (NEW)

71.   Cora Hyland “Coral” (-1)

72.   Linden Kelly (NEW)

73.   Judy Kim “Juhyun” (–) Graduating (participated): Geneviève DuPont Graduating (did not participate): Thalia Zhu "Taz" Ginelle Gerald "Ginger" Oakley Canterbury Braelyn Rowe Aspen Wilkenson Erica Cortez Seren Ellery Linda Hoang "Liha"

So? Any surprises? I did say last year that the results would be more interesting last year, since River and Rosie's graduations would open up the glass ceiling for members to advance into the A ranks. And it looks like the prediction held true. The most movement occured not near the top nor the bottom, but in the middle.

Let's address the results from the top down. Solid performance from the top four - Sassan, Luna, Maya, and Angel are locked in the same position as last year's election. I wonder what it'll take to shake up SERA00's top girls?

I am glad to announce that I somehow somehow somehow managed to MOVE UP A RANK! To be honest, I never know how to feel about this. I've always looked up to the top members and treated them as role models, so it's an ambiguous feeling to realize that my success comes at their expense. But I remain forever grateful to all of you who support me. If what I do can make you just a little happier, then that's good enough for me :) 

Geneviève! For the first - and sadly the last - time since SERA00's 1st General Election, she will be able to claim the title of a media member. Her fans, both new and longtime, have rallied to give her a farewell she'll be proud to remember. 

Who are the newcomers in SERA00's A rank? Rome, Sayoung, and Sammi! I'm so proud of these girls, who are no doubt experiencing extreme pride at grabbing a spot in the coveted A rank. ESPECIALLY ROME - CONGRATULAAAATIONS!!

The trophy for most impressive improvement goes to...Dana! She's actually made SERA00 history for having jumped the most ranks between two elections - 31 places! That is an astonishing feat - from #63 to #32, just making the B rank cutoff. If I were to pinpoint any one reason for her improvement, it would be her appearance on SERA00 Star City, the SERA00-centric survival show that began this February. She competed in the Star Talent stream, and gained a lot of popularity for her singing talents. When I mentioned the Star Talent stream winners in a previous post, I only listed the top three and the first runner up, but actually, Dana was the second runner up. Again, an impressive feat, considering she was a 00 rank at the time of the competition. 

Tomiko, whose rank climbs consistently every election, takes the B rank centre, and Henley takes the C rank centre. This is also the 9th Generation's first election. Two 9th gens managed to place within the B rank, Cassie and Joy. They happen to be the two YS trainees who were placed in the 9th Generation. Other 9th gens who placed well include Saerim and Kaira, who is the 9th gen ace.

Moving on from the ranking achievements, I'd like to briefly discuss an issue that comes up every election. Feel free to skip to the bottom if you want to avoid this spiel. In the election, all the girls are ranked. Every single one of them. That means that whoever received the most votes will be revealed to the world, and whoever received the least votes will likewise be revealed. For the members who are struggling in the rankings or just starting out, seeing their name so low in the rankings can be a serious blow to their morale and self-confidence. Even if they can put aside the numbers and work hard for the next time, they're still stuck with that number for the entire year. I know Management has been toying with the idea of a ranking cutoff - for example, cutting the rankings off at 48 to make for 16 A, B, and C ranks. Rankings below #48 wouldn't be revealed, and accordingly, no one would know who ranked dead last. But of course, this raises other problems as well. In a way, the ranking results are a service to the fans who voted. Fans want to know how the member they voted for performed in the rankings. How would you feel if you bought an album, voted for your favourite member, but end up not being able to see how she ranked, how many votes she received, or whether she improved? So this is the main reason why the election system hasn't changed since it was first introduced.

I'll wrap it up here. I've covered the major developments from the election that stood out to me. However, if you're curious about my thoughts on anyone in particular or anything SERA00 election-related, just comment below and I'll be more than happy to respond :)

Please support SERA00!

FOLLOW, election, graduation.

Hey everyone!

I bet you're thinking, the Follow concert happened last month! Why hasn't she posted anything? Well the truth is, Evie wrote her last midterm yesterday! (Although she is very sad that she second-guessed the answer to a question, when in fact, her first try was correct ㅠㅠ) She will now tell you all about the concert.

Digressing for a moment, don't forget to submit your votes for the SERA00's 6th General Election! The last day to vote is until 11:59 PM EST on November 5, which is this Saturday. If you've enjoyed reading this blog, perhaps you'll consider giving me a vote... :D

Now, the Follow recap, here we go! I was quite impressed by everyone's ability to find the mini-concerts so easily - tons of you showed up! My non-SERA00 friend, who attended the festivities, told me that you guys were all over social media, updating other fans on the performance locations. (#wheresSERA00 #FollowConcert) When the arrow at the end of a performance was revealed, the next location would start blasting SERA00 instrumentals for the next half hour until the next team appeared onstage. But the venue turned out to be packed just fifteen minutes after the previous performance. You were all pretty quick to get to the next location! Hehe was it fun? At least everyone got some exercise! I think the later performances were easier to locate, because fans were narrowing down the probable location of the final concert. Once it was pretty obvious where the final concert would be held, then everyone knew that the rest of the mini-concerts would be along the way.

Ms. Tallan - do you remember Ms. Tallan? She was the SERA00 Complex manager, but the SERA00 Complex is no more - she's now the SERA00 City manager. When we made the move to the City, we jokingly started calling Ms. Tallan the mayor XD. Anyways, what I was saying was that Ms. Tallan didn't come out with us, she was working at the City. Apparently, early in the morning, there were fans outside the City waiting to see if members would be coming out. But this was anticipated, so all the teams were already on location the night before. We traveled there secretly and spent the night close to wherever we were performing the next day, in order to prevent anyone from leaking the concert locations beforehand. 

Team Evie was in charge of the second mini-concert. It was actually really fun performing a set list as a small group. I had Rome, Cassie, Sayoung, Piper, Emma, Liesl, and Jenna in my team. As I mentioned previously, team captains get to perform a solo song, and I performed "It's Okay, Wolf Boy". If you were there, you would have witnessed my surprised reaction at the fan chants during the song. IOWB doesn't even have an official fan chant, so I wasn't expecting it. Uhhhh yeah I've been seeing photos of my reaction circling around on SNS 😅 ha..haha...

Here's the set list from the final concert. (MC = the main cast of that single)

    Opening: Follow Me by Luraland [Luraland's 5th single]

    1. Countdown 
               by 00 ranks [00 rank 6th Stage]

    2. Follow the Railroad Home
               by MC [36th single]

    3. She Knows
               by B-ranks [36th single b-side]

    4. Uncharted
               by CASUT00 [CASUT00's 4th single]

    5. 5 Days 
               by Team Aurora [36th single team song]

    6. Spectacular 
               by Team Angel [36th single team song]

    7. Deadline 
               by Team Night [36th single team song]

    8. Together We Will 
               by C-ranks [36th single c-side]

    9. Airborne
               by the 1st and 2nd Generations [8th single]

    10. When the Bells Toll
               by everyone w/ Geneviève centre [4th single]

    11. This Way to the Moon
               by MC [35th single]

    12. Genesis
               by the 1st Generation [1st single]

Ah...the sad part of the happy show. "Airborne", SERA00's 8th single, was the first and only single that Geneviève centred. After the 1st and 2nd generations' performance of "Airborne", Geneviève remained centre stage and addressed the audience. At this time, crews began to set up risers at the back of the stage. 

"As of 2017, I will have been in SERA00 for ten years." Geneviève described her experience as a member of SERA00, starting all the way back when SERA00 was an unknown name, to now, when she is one of the four remaining 1st gen members. Although the concert was outdoors, with a big crowd, it was dead silent during her speech. Everyone knew what was coming next.

"I, Geneviève DuPont, will graduate from SERA00."

Although the line always sits at the back of our minds, no one is really ever ready to hear it said aloud. As the exclamations from the crowd rose to a clamor, SERA00 members began filing onstage. The 1st and 2nd generation retook their positions with Geneviève at the front of the stage, joined by the rest of the A ranks. The B and C ranks lined up on the risers, and the 00 ranks and CASUT00 appeared on the ground in front of the stage. The crowd had quieted considerably by now, but the commotion rose again as the first notes of "When the Bells Toll" began to play, as if in protest of the impending graduation. The members at the front of the stage performed the song, while the members in front of the stage danced and the members on the risers provided a chorus of vocals.

I was a bit nervous after that, since I was the centre of the follow-up song. But I hope we succeeded in lightening the mood a bit and lifting everyone's spirits. "Genesis" was an appropriate end to the concert, performed by Geneviève, Sassan, Angel, and Luna. It'll be one of the last performances with four members - after Geneviève's graduation, there'll only be three members left to perform that song. Don't worry, Geneviève won't be graduating right away - her last concert will be SERA00's 2017 Winter Concert, so there are still a couple of months left. Until then, please continue to support her, and...

Please support SERA00!

P.S. On another note, that math question ㅠㅠ Ahhh stop obsessing, Evie!

FOLLOW: the concert

Hey everyone!

To promote the upcoming SERA00 6th General Election and the 36th single, we are holding our first one day concert series - "FOLLOW"!

On Saturday, October 22, SERA00 will be hosting a free guerilla concert in various locations around Toronto. How it works - there will be ten mini-performances, each with a different set list, performed by different groups of girls throughout the day. The first mini-performance begins at 10AM, with each subsequent performance starting at the top of the next hour. The members have been grouped into 10 groups, with one leader per group. The "leaders" are actually the top ten ranking members from the previous election (which means I get to lead a group too!). You can refer to the concert poster above to see who's performing when.

At each mini-performance, we'll be performing four songs - three group songs and one solo by the leader. If you're interested, I'll be performing "It's Okay, Wolf Boy" :D. There'll also be a chance for each member to give a short spiel to promote herself for the upcoming election.

What's the catch? Location ??? Hehehe, that's right - you'll have to find that out yourself! We'll be posting clues on social media as to the location of the first mini-performance. Each performance lasts half an hour, and at the end, a giant arrow will light up, pointing in a certain direction. That'll be the only clue as to where the location of the next performance is until it starts. The fans will have to work in unity to follow the arrow to the next group of girls, and so on. The location of the next performance will never be more than a half hour's walk from the previous performance. And at the end, congregate at the city square to join the main event of the night - a full length concert with all of the members of SERA00! CASUT00 will be making a special appearance as well.

If you make your way to the location of the final concert, you'll be able to hear some new, unreleased music - Luraland is opening up with her solo single "Follow Me".  You'll also present for the first playing of our 36th single, "Follow the Railroad Home"! The MV drops at 12AM the next day (technically 4 hrs after the final concert begins).

The set list for the final 8PM concert is a secret for now, so I'll update you after the concert, along with how the event went. I was really excited when Miss Avery first told us about it, and I'm still really looking forwards it. I hope I'll see you all there!

Please support SERA00!

36th ELECTION single: Follow the Railroad Home

Hey everyone!

Finally dropping the streak of fantastical concepts (but keeping the long titles :P), SERA00's 36th single adds a touch of nostalgia to the fall.

The album drops October 23, 2016. Voting opens up 12 AM the same day, and lasts the usual two weeks, ending November 5, 2016 at 11:59 PM. The election results concert is being held the next day at the Canada Stadium in Toronto. Oh by the way, did you know that this year's album includes a raffle ticket for one of five free pairs of tickets to the results concert? Ooooh :D For those of you who are not as lucky, tickets can be bought during the voting period as well. For any first time buyers who are worrying that the two week voting window will be over before your CD arrives in the mail, worry not - as long as you purchase your album through an official supplier, you can apply to receive your voting code and raffle ticket via email.

TRACKLIST*

Follow the Railroad Home (title)

?

?

5 Days (Type Aurora)

Spectacular (Type Angel)

Deadline (Type Night)

Online release:

She Knows (b-side)

Together We Will (c-side)

*the track list is kind of ambiguous at this point - I've explained why below

MAIN CAST

Centre: Sassan

Luna, Maya, Angel, Harley, Evie, Kotoka, Luraland, Yumichan, Fracken, Alyss, Geneviève, Wyoming, Brindle

I've been hearing that the b-side and c-side won't be included in the CD. I haven't heard it directly, since I wouldn't be participating in it regardless, but apparently the B and C ranks haven't had their recording session yet. There's usually a deadline for recording - past a certain date, nothing more can be recorded for the single, since they need to master all the music and send the CDs into production. If the b-side and c-sides haven't been recorded yet, then they probably won't be included in the upcoming single. I can understand why they'd be upset. The election single is the last chance before the upcoming election to promote themselves through an official release. The b and c-sides give these girls a chance to shine, where they aren't pitted against the more well known members. But if the b and c-sides won't be included in the CD, why did they give them songs to begin with?

I just took a break from writing this post to attend a main cast dance practice for the upcoming single. I asked Angel about the b-side c-side situation, and she confirmed that they won't be on the track list like usual, but they'll be released online. I know Management wouldn't release the CD with just the title and team songs - so the fact that they're not including the b and c-sides probably means that they're leaving the spots open for other songs. A solo, likely, since I haven't seen any groups of girls in the recording studios. Although, there is a rumour that Sassan, Angel, Luna, and Geneviève have been seen meeting frequently. They happen to be the four remaining first generation members. Perhaps there's something going on there?

Anyways, the B and C ranks shouldn't have to worry too much about lack of exposure before the election, since this year SERA00 is holding a promotional event we've never done before, both to introduce the 36th single and to promote the election. We're holding a special event titled "FOLLOW"...which I will tell you the details of in the following post...ha...haha...okay. I'm very excited for it. I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving!

Please support SERA00!

SERA: The Musical

Hey everyone!

Remember a while back, this past February, to be exact, SERA00's first survival show, SERA00 Star City, was going on? I never did tell you the results of that, did I? Well now there's a reason to bring it up again. There was more than one prize for the winners of each stream, and if you recall, getting cast in the next SERA00 musical was one of them. That musical is premiering this Sunday! Why has it taken more than seven months for the musical to begin its run, you ask? At the time of Star City, the musical didn't actually exist. So the musical first had to be created, songs had to be written, dances choreographed, before the cast could even begin rehearsals. All the while, the members had to continue their SERA00 activities as well.

Let's talk about the winners. There were two streams, Star Talent and Star Power. You can refer to the second Star City post from February for the full list of contestants in each stream. Here are the results:

Star Power
1. Arron
2. Sammi Willis
3. Tang Tang Tsang
Runner-up: Holly Stern

Star Talent
1. Rachel
2. Macey Fent
3. Sayoung Yoon
Runner-up: JY

There's actually an overwhelming CASUT00 presence in the rankings, given the ratio of CASUT00 and SERA00 contestants. The first place from both streams were snagged by a CASU member. Miss Avery is pretty pleased by the results. It shows that CASUT00, who debuted after SERA00, is gaining traction in the entertainment industry.

To the musical - it's actually an adaptation of the 2013 movie "SERA", which was headlined by SERA00 members playing the four main roles. Actually, Angel's role was more of a cameo. Anyways, I listed the runner-ups in the rankings above, but as mentioned in the original Star City posts, only the top three from each stream will be cast. Perfect, since there are three main roles in the movie: Agent R, who was played by Luna, Agent T, who was played by Fracken, and Sera, who was played by Sassan. The cast of the musical will rotate between the winners of the Power and Talent stream. On the day of the premiere, there will be two showtimes, one by each cast. We skip Monday, which is Thanksgiving, and then from Tuesday, there will be one performance each night, alternating between Power and Talent from thereon. The last day of the run is October 31st, Halloween!

"Power" Cast
Agent R: Arron
Agent T: Sammi
Sera: Tang Tang

"Talent" Cast
Agent R: Rachel
Agent T: Sayoung
Sera: Macey

Of course, the musical is not devoid of participation from non-Star City contestants. Angel had a cameo in the original movie as the character "Gillian," and she'll be reprising that cameo throughout the run of the musical, with Harley filling in on days Angel isn't available. If you've watched the teaser for the musical, you'll recognize that the theme song in the background, "Follow Me", is sung by Luraland. She'll be releasing that as a solo single as well.

As a special treat and tribute to the original cast, the last performance on Halloween will be a special - sung by the original cast of the movie. The acting and dancing will still be done by the Star City girls, since it takes a lot of practice and rehearsal to coordinate the performances. Luna, Fracken, and Sassan will only be appearing on stage during musical numbers.

As for the technicalities... pricing remains the same as they were for Dreamweavers - $119, $89, and $59 for the three tiers, and the Halloween special is priced $144, $114, and $84. Run time is 120 minutes, 8 PM every day at the SERA00 City. Except for premiere day, which has two shows - 5:30 PM and 8:30 PM.

Anyways, I hope you can catch one of the shows during its run - if not, we'll be posting videos of the musical numbers from the two premiere shows, and the Halloween special show. SERA00 is also coming back with a new single soon - the election single, in fact ;) So look forwards to that as well. As always -

Please support SERA00!

Uni life + Yura's birthday

Hey everyone!

Yura's birthday just passed - for those of you who are wondering, who's Yura? That's a good question! She's another member of SERA00, and this blog's (supposed) co-author. She's an '02 liner, brought on to supplement this blog's posts as I transition into university. Yep, Evie is not a high schooler anymore...

Anyways, I told Yura that if she wasn't going to write anything for the blog, she should at least post some pretty photos for you all to see. (Of course, that didn't happen either.) But no worries! I have photos of the event as well...so without further ado, Yura's birthday cakes:

It's only the second week of university, and it's already beginning to feel overwhelming. I really wonder how my SERA00 seniors juggled both university and shows. If you've been attending the nightly SERA00 Stages, you may have noticed that my appearance in the Angel stages have been somewhat erratic. Shout-out to the 00 ranks who have been filling in for me! I do apologize for that, and once things settle down (hopefully soon), I believe Management will release more accurate member schedules for the upcoming season. Here's where I've been spending most of my mornings:

I took this photo with my phone. You may recognize the building as the Isabel Bader Theatre (or you can just read it from the photo :P), one of the locations at which U of T classes are held. Come say hi if you see me around!

Yes, many things have happened since I last posted. I do realize that it's unrealistic for me to post as often as I did before (although you may have things to say about my frequency in the past year as well...), but I'll try my best to post periodically. So yes - many things have happened, and there are many things happening soon - I'll see you then! For now-

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SERA00 in Orlando: Universal & Disney

Hey everyone!

In my last post, I told you guys we were going to Orlando, so here's my first photo update post! I apologize in advance if the formatting of these posts are off. I don't have access to the laptop I usually post from, so I'm doing it all from my phone.

In front of Hogsmeade's Forbidden Journey at Universal Studios' IOA

Diagon Alley

Gringotts Bank in Diagon Alley at night

Mt. Everest in Disney's Animal Kingdom

Entryway in Morroco at Disney's EPCOT

I'll update the formatting once I'm back in Canada. So for now-

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Vacation & flight delays

Hey everyone!

With the summer concert now over, SERA00 is going on a working vacation! We're taking a flight over to Orlando, Florida. First stop, Universal Studios - then we make our way over to Disney World. If you're going the same time as us, you may be able to see us perform :) Hehe, it's been a cool experience being in the centre of our latest performances of This Way to the Moon. We'll also be filming the music video for our 36th single while we're there. I'll keep you guys updated! Here's a photo of some free food, because our flight was delayed...

Please support SERA00!