Made in Korea: Could K-pop trained Brit band be the new One Direction?

Reese says they also relied on each other for support.

“We’ve [the band] grown closer and closer over the last couple of months. Much as it was great to have welfare there, there was a lot of times when we didn’t need to go to them because we’re strong enough as a group.”

Blaise Noon, 19, from London, is the baby of the band but appears to be taking it all in his stride. He is a Brit School graduate and comes across as the most confident.

He says they are really “lucky” to have had the advantage as a British band to be immersed in the Korean training regime: “There’s a lot of really good things we can take away to create this hybrid fusion.”

Interestingly, most of them have never had any desire to be in a boy band until now.

James Sharp, 23, from Huddersfield, is one half of the Sharp twins, whose TikTok account has amassed 5.5 million followers.

He says he thought boy bands were “cringey”, Blaise laughs as he recalls feeling “too cool” for them although Dexter was always a fan. And Olly has had a K-pop education from his auntie who runs K-pop fan pages.

All agree, though, that this was too big an opportunity to pass up.

But how did they come up with the band name?

After Olly’s suggestion of British Bulldogs was quickly scotched (can’t think why), they stumbled upon a restaurant in Seoul called Dear Alice.

They all liked it and it stuck.

“The ‘dear’ is like a letter to the fans” and Alice stands for ‘a love I can’t explain,” says Blaine.

More to the point, the restaurant “sold the best beef wellington in the world” according to the lads.

Not exactly your classic Korean dish but Dear Alice will be hoping a similar culture fusion will be the secret to their success.