Raising a Neglected Singer-Songwriter - Chapter 111



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Raising a Neglected Singer-Songwriter Episode 111

111. Article

The comeback date of the mysterious girl that Yonggo had told us was about a month later.

For this, plans such as concept photo and music video filming are lined up.

And they asked if I was going to announce my comeback to the media soon.

– As we discussed in advance, we are planning to release this single ‘Salgeum’ as Sungjun took charge of writing the lyrics, composing the music, and being the main producer. Is that okay?

“Of course.”

This is my first time producing for someone else’s album, not my own.

My heart was pounding and at the same time, I felt a weight on my shoulders.

As a producer, having your name on it isn’t just a badge of honor. It also means you have to take responsibility for it.

Well, I wasn’t particularly scared.

Well, ‘Salgeum’ was chosen very well.

The same goes for the sound source created through infinite directing.

The cat choreography that the subtle girl sent was also perfect.

If the draw is good, I expect we will definitely get good results.

– Producer! We will work hard!

“I’m looking forward to it. Let’s aim for first place together!”

– Yes!!! 1st place!!!

The subtle girl repeating the word ‘number one’ also conveyed her strong will and desire in her voice.

I hope that their fighting spirit and efforts will shine.

Sungjun was thinking of sending a surprise cheering gift to the music video filming set.

*

Besides Mimyeo Girl, there were other girls that Sungjun produced.

Last week, the ‘Favorite Girls’ were revealed to the world from MXM Entertainment’s Jewel Box.

“It’s already the 5th round. Time flies so fast.”

“That’s right. Round 7 is the final live broadcast, so it’s already more than halfway through.”

Hailey and Jiwoong exchange a conversation that could be used as the intro comment for today’s recording.

Seongjun, who was sitting between the two, also naturally recalled the past four missions.

To summarize the intense missions the girls have gone through so far, it was like this.

[Round 1: Appeal to charm]

A mission to introduce yourself through a song that shows off your charm.

[Round 2: Unit Battle]

A mission where 10 girls formed 2 units of 5 each and tested their expressiveness with songs from senior girl groups.

[Round 3: Genre Digestion]

A mission that shows the trainees’ own charm and temperature differences depending on the genre.

The genres given to the girls are the current popular ‘Moombahton’ and ‘Girls Hip Hop’.

[Round 4: Position Battle]

A mission where 10 girls each choose two positions they are confident in among the three positions that make up an idol group, ‘vocal’, ‘dance’, and ‘rap’, and then compete for ranking within those positions through two performances.

Also, the mission where the first person was eliminated was the 4th round.

Meanwhile, during the mental coaching session to comfort the girls who were feeling depressed, Sungjun was given a promotion mission to ‘make Jin Ha-neul number 1’.

Thanks to that, Sungjun’s determination to film today couldn’t be any different.

“The theme of the 5th round mission is [Concept Ability].”

As the camera flashed red, MC Ye Seon-ha, the queen of the fairies, announced the start of recording by introducing the mission content.

This time, a total of 4 concept keywords that have been expressed by girl groups from the first generation to now were given.

[Innocent] [Cute] [Sexy] [Girl Crush]

Of course, these days, rather than a concept that is simply defined by one word, a variety of concepts are applied by combining various concepts.

There are concepts such as dreamy, high teen, retro, and even narcissistic.

However, for the sake of convenience, in ‘My Favorite Girls’, four keywords of stereotypes were selected from a broad perspective.

And among these four keywords, the girls each chose two keywords that either suited them the best or were concepts they wanted to challenge themselves with, according to Ye-seon Ha.

“Anyway, the keyword hasn’t been missed since ‘Who’s the King’. Isn’t that right, Mentor Sungjun?”

“I failed that keyword mission again. You’re poking at my painful wounds…”

“Oh, I didn’t mean to.”

“Poohahaha.”

Seongjun and Jiwoong’s jokes make people burst into laughter.

“Then, let’s check through the VCR to see what keywords the girls chose.”

Then, behind Ye-seon-ha’s smile, a VCR was played on a huge screen.

After finishing selecting keywords, the girls headed to a set decorated as a fairy forest.

In a garden filled with greenery, four large, egg-shaped structures with doors stand side by side at a certain distance.

And each egg was covered with four intuitively colored flowers that corresponded to the four concepts mentioned above.

White, yellow, red, and black.

It was clear to anyone who saw that the colors each represented the concepts of [innocence], [cute], [sexy], and [girl crush].

Meanwhile, right next to the four eggs stood tall mailboxes, each in its own color.

At that moment, the mentors were tilting their heads wondering whether it was just an interior decoration or had a separate use.

Suddenly a girl appeared in the garden.

He was a trainee who was currently ranked 9th.

– Hooooom···.

The girl, who was walking back and forth in front of the four doors, stopped in front of one of the eggs.

Then, he took one of the name tags he was holding and put it in the mailbox, then went inside an egg of a different color.

“As I mentioned earlier, each girl has her own 1st and 2nd concept keywords in mind.

And as you can see now, the 2nd concept song has you put your name tag in the mailbox, and the 1st concept song has you open the door and sit down.”

Then, he added that the preliminary selection will be done by giving priority to the concept song in the first place, and giving the next priority to the second place song.

“Oh, that’s amazing?”

“This way, the kids can at least take one of the two songs as a song of hope.”

The mentors who understood the rules banged on the table and exclaimed in admiration.

There is no change to the rule that a natural push occurs when the song’s garden is full, but for the trainees, especially the lower-ranking trainees, this alone was a huge consideration.

Starting with girl number 9, the remaining eight chose concept songs one by one.

In the process, as expected, the top trainees pushed out the lower ranks.

It was expected since it was a concept that everyone relatively avoided.

And the concepts that were avoided were [cute] and [sexy].

[Cutie] was especially difficult for trainees in their twenties, and [Sexy] was hesitant, wondering if young trainees and girls with innocent images could pull it off.

In addition, several challengers who threw themselves into adversity to change their image were also shown.

Soon, the four concept songs assigned to the trainee girls were revealed.

[Innocence] Girlfriend – Across Time (5 people)

[QT] Hey My Girl – I was a little nervous (5 people)

[Sexy] Sisters – Alone (4 people)

[Girl Crush] Pink Rose – Tear This Love (4 people)

“Wow, the song selection is amazing.”

“They are all true craftsmen in their respective concepts.”

“Oh, I see MC Ye-seon’s song over there too?”

The mentors cheer for the representative song of the named girl group.

Following this, the faces of the people who will participate in the song were also revealed one by one.

Seongjun’s eyes followed Jin Ha-neul’s face, who would become the muse for the promotion mission.

[Innocent] and [Sexy]

Her face was hanging beneath two concepts running at opposite ends of the spectrum.

One of the brave challengers who attempted to jump to the top ranks through image reversal was Jin Ha-neul.

To be honest, it was a surprising and yet welcome choice.

Jin Ha-neul received a report card with 4th place in the last 4 rounds.

In the continued missions, I was barely within the debut zone, but I thought that I needed a strong move at this point to ‘debut in first place’, which was the condition for the promotion mission.

So I was wondering how to motivate them…

For some reason, I figured out how to make a winning move on my own.

‘When I hurt my ankle, I felt it in his toughness, but contrary to his delicate appearance, he has a tough temperament.’

A smile naturally forms on my face at the uniqueness.

The timing isn’t bad either.

Since last week’s broadcast, global voting has also opened.

In Jin Ha-neul’s case, she was quite popular because of her stunning visuals and surprising skills.

So, if you do well in this mission, it will definitely appeal to the public.

In addition, the members who are currently predicted to debut are:

Haru Ichinose (Haruka Ichinose), a mixed-race Korean-Japanese main dancer.

‘Eunhye Min’, who has been the main vocalist since the first round.

Alice Jeong, a Canadian mixed race woman with a long, slender figure and an exotic mask.

This is ‘Nang Pha’, a Thai girl who raps with an attractive tone and looks completely indistinguishable from a Korean.

Among them, Jin Ha-neul’s consolation was firmly held by Lee Haru and Eun Hye-min, who are strong in the vocal and dance categories respectively.

If Jin Ha-neul wants to take first place, she must show off more charm than the other two in the remaining rounds.

“Then, let’s take a look at the song prepared by the innocent concept trainees.”

Five girls came up on stage during the preliminary round.

The pure and innocent stage costumes that are reminiscent of school uniforms somehow make the viewers’ eyes and hearts feel purified.

“Come to think of it, Sungjun, you weren’t able to see the kids’ preparation process separately because of filming ‘Begin One More’, right?”

Hailey whispered softly.

As expected, Sungjun was absent from the preparations for Round 5 due to filming in the United States.

Instead, his vacancy was filled by an artist from the same entertainment agency as a ‘special mentor’.

And what about that special mentor?

The wannabes, idols, and role models that ‘the girls we love’ dream of.

A being that makes both men and women’s hearts flutter just by hearing its name.

‘Hello everyone, this is ‘Yuna’~’

It was Yuna.

There is an anecdote that the girls’ sighs upon hearing the news of Sungjun’s overseas filming turned into screams of happiness with the appearance of Yuna, creating a sad and funny scene.

‘Instead of giving you a special mentorship, how about buying me a nice souvenir from America? Okay, Oppa?’

I had made such a promise with Yuna.

Thanks to that, I was able to go filming with peace of mind.

The promised souvenir is kept in the studio, so I plan to meet you and give it to you when I have the chance.

When I am lost in such fleeting thoughts,

♪~ ♬~

The stage lights changed and a familiar melody began to play.

At some point, the screen behind me had transformed into a schoolyard with pure white flower petals fluttering in the wind.

The stage for the innocent concept song began with a group dance by girls lined up in a row.

*

Jin Ha-neul’s first stage was a success.

She, who usually made concessions without much greed, applied for the center position for the first time in this mission and won the position after a competitive process.

Visually, Jin Ha-neul is the very embodiment of the word ‘innocence’.

The stage led by her showed off overwhelming innocence from the start.

She was bound to stand out on this stage thanks to her perfect combination of vocals, dance, and visuals.

in result,

“No other words are needed. It was truly fresh and innocent.”

“It was definitely a good choice to have Sky trainee stand in the center and make the overall picture come alive.”

“You prepared well for both vocals and dance. Thank you for your hard work.”

The mentors, including Sungjun, also generally gave favorable reviews to this stage, especially Jin Ha-neul.

Well, it’s a concept that is Jin Ha-neul’s specialty.

Seongjun didn’t feel particularly happy or sad.

Next, the evaluation of the [sexy] concept she will show is real.

After that, the [QT] concept song followed after some time.

After two stages, the scheduled break came again.

“I’ll hang up for 20 minutes and then go.”

It was when Sungjun was stretching and rolling his shoulders in response to the PD’s words.

“older brother!”

Oh Hae-soo came running with an urgent voice.

“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?”

In response to Sungjun’s question, Oh Haesoo suddenly held out his cell phone.

“Hey, the article is out!”

“What kind of article is this?”

Seongjun checked the cell phone that Oh Haesoo handed him without thinking much about it.

At that moment,

“What is this···?!”

Seongjun’s eyes widened.

There was a picture of himself having a secret conversation with someone late at night.