“What? What?” Jae Joong exclaimed, pausing his game.
“You have got to listen to this song,” he said, passing the player to Jae Joong and replaying the song for him.
It was the same reaction with Jae Joong; a few seconds of silence, then he burst into laughter as well.
“What inspired this song?” Jae Joong exclaimed. “Not me, I hope.”
“I didn’t write it,” I smirked.
“This is some work,” Tae Goon laughed. “I can only picture me with a doggie collar, trailing after you wherever you go in the MV.”
“Not a bad idea,” Jae Joong said.
“No!” Tae Goon exclaimed. “You didn’t have a dog collar in my MV.”
“There’ll be no dog collar!” I said.
“Then tell me what will I be doing,” he said.
“I don’t know for sure,” I said. “But I have been told it’s going to be a light-hearted video. Most probably you get to ‘man-up’ by the end of the video.”
“I’m picturing you with your hair combed flat and wearing glasses, knitted vest, shorts, and socks that cover your shins,” Jae Joong laughed.
“I think that would be the general good boy image,” I smiled. “We may go differently. We’ll try to redefine a good boy’s look.”
“So you’re giving me no choice,” Tae Goon said.
“I’m asking you as a friend,” I said.
“Then as a friend, I’d have to agree,” he smiled.
“Thank you!” I exclaimed, and gave him a quick hug.
“Hey! Is that a prelude to what you 2 will be doing behind my back on set?” Jae Joong said.
“I’ll take real good care of her,” Tae Goon said in a suggestive tone and slung his arm around my shoulder.
“Ya!” Jae Joong exclaimed, and I quickly scooted away from Tae Goon, over to him.
“Chagiya… I love you, and you alone,” I cooed, as I wrapped myself around his arm and clung to it.
“Araso… araso…” he laughed.
“My turn,” Tae Goon said and grabbed the controller from Jae Joong’s hands.
“So we’re on?” I confirmed with Tae Goon once again.
“Sure,” he said, his eyes stuck to the television screen now. “Just contact my manager. I’ll tell him I agreed.”
Tae Goon went off after our game session, so Jae Joong and I decided to have dinner together before he dashed off on the last flight of the day.
“Himdeureosseo?” I asked him.
We decided to have barbequed meat for dinner since Jae Joong missed it, along with his extra spicy kimch’i chiggae. I had seaweed soup as always, and jabchae.
“I’m fine,’ he smiled, and held out the pork he’d just wrapped in lettuce, indicating for me to eat it.
“Do you always have to make me such a big one?” I laughed, but allowed him to stuff it in my mouth.
“The size of the wrap represents the volume of my love for you,” he said, and laughed at his own cheesiness.
“Tokyo is bad for you,” I laughed. “It’s making you all sappy and girly.”
“I just miss Seoul, and you,” he smiled.
“You’ll come back soon,” I said, and started making him a wrap as well.
“I think we’ll be spending half our yearly schedule in Japan from now on,” he said.
“Chintcha?” I said, and fed him the wrapped up barbequed meat.
“You know we’re doing well there. They don’t want to miss out,” he said, while he chewed.
“Yes… I know… the most No.1s on the Oricon chart for a foreign artiste,” I smiled.
S-Cube has never gotten a No.1 song on the Oricon chart. We once peaked at No.5, but that was it.
“Well, coincidentally, we’ll be going to Japan as well,” I said.
“Good,” he said. “It’s for the 4th album, right?”
“Yes, but that would be next year, after the awards season.”
“It’s better than not being able to see you,” he said. “So what’s your schedule like for the next month?”
“Hmm… the 4th album is done. We’re launching on Thursday, then there’ll be a few live performances on music shows. The mini-album is almost done. I’ll be squeezing in the filming of the MVs between promoting the 4th album, and we’ll probably release it by the end of October.”
“This looks like one of the fastest productions I’ve ever seen,” he said.
“Yea… I thought they’d take their own sweet time with my solo debut, but they’re really speeding through it. They’d chosen most of the songs I’d written, and Ji Yong did all the composing and arrangement. Only 2 songs were written by Ji Yong,” I said.
“The one with the ‘good dog - bad dog’ lyrics?” he asked, smiling.
“Yea… I was a bit skeptical at first, but once I did it, it sounded really fun. It’s something different.”
“Different from the usual idol groups. It sounds more like a song After School would sing,” he laughed.
“They’re going for the ‘versatility concept’,” I said. “They wanna show everyone that I can do anything.”
“And you can,” he said.
“Everyone tells me I can,” I smiled.
“We’ve been through this again, and again,” he said, and reached out to tweak my nose.
“Oi!” I exclaimed, and rubbed my nose.
“You’ll be fine,” he said.
“Ara…” I replied.
After dinner, Jae Joong dropped me off at my apartment. He will meet someone who will send him to the airport and send his car back to his apartment.
“You should really get your license,” he complained, and kissed my forehead.
“I will,” I said. “On my next break.”
“I know you’re afraid of driving on the right side of the road,” he said. “But you need to get around.”
“Ani… I’m afraid of driving on the wrong side of the road,” I joked, and he smacked me on my butt.
“Be serious,” he laughed.
“You’re the one who’s laughing,” I giggled.
He pulled me into a hug, and I rested my head on his shoulder.
“You’re getting thinner again,” I murmured into his ear.
“Cos I don’t get any good Chinese food there,” he replied.
“I’ll visit soon,” I said. “Eat well while I’m not there.”
“Mm…” he replied, and tightened his arms around me.
“Chalga,” I said, and kissed him lightly below his ear.
He released me a little, so that we could face each other to share a kiss. He slung his arms on my hips as we kissed, and I reached up to cup his face with my hands, to pull him closer and deepen the kiss.
“I’ll call you later,” he said, when we finally broke the kiss.
“Okay,” I replied, and stepped back a little.
We held on to each others’ hands, as we slowly stepped apart, until we were too far to hold on any longer. We let go, and I waved. He waved, then got into his car. I watched as he drove off.
There were times I’d forget how Jae Joong made me feel. How his smile brightened the room when he was there. How his laughter infected me, and made me laugh along. He may be the most beautiful man I’ve ever known, and the pressure of living up to the role of his “other half” can be demanding, but at the end of the day, the love he gave me just made everything worth it. I go to sleep everything, knowing how blessed I am to have him in my life, even if he wasn’t there 24/7.
[Skye’s POV]
We’re launching our new album today. We’ve been sitting in the holding room for about half an hour, waiting to enter the hall where the press conference would be held. Our style concept for this album was classic glamour, so Shoei and I were in suits, while nuna wore that flapper dress she had worn for the MV shoot the other day.
“Are you guys ready?” Shi Kyung hyung asked.
“Ne,” we replied.
Until today, he still liked to ask if we were ready. It was his way of giving us a pep talk without having to make a speech.
“5 minutes,” he told us, and walked off to talk to one of the producers.
“Ready?” I asked nuna, imitating him.
“Ne!” she replied in an extra perky voice.
“Ready?” I asked Shoei.
“Ne!” he yawned, and laughed.
We started getting up and ambling towards the door.
“Aaghh… pins and needles!” nuna exclaimed, and hopped on one leg.
I laughed and reached out to slap the affected leg.
“Aaah!” she exclaimed. “Skye!”
“That’s supposed to get the circulation going and end it quickly.”
“It hurts!” she punched my arm.
Just then my phone beeped.
“Turn it off,” Shoei reminded me.
I smiled and put it on silent, then checked the message that had just come in.
Yeobo… you can do it! Hwaiting!
I smiled at the text message from Hae Rin. With her support, I can do anything. But of course, I need nuna and Shoei’s support as well.
The doors opened, and we walked in. The press clapped politely, while our fanclub, S3, cheered crazily from behind. Not all of them were here today, because there was limited capacity in the hall. There was a lottery system to decide who could attend our press conference. They’d been given strict instructions to behave since the conference was mainly meant for the press.
“Thank you for coming,” nuna spoke into the microphone in front of her. “To start off the press conference, please enjoy our new MV, ‘Just a Feeling’.”
The music came on, and the MV started with a slideshow of our photos from the photo shoot, taken in sepia mode. When the first line was sung, the screen showed nuna getting the final touches of her makeup done. The camera cuts to Shoei, who’s getting dressed by a coordinator. Finally the camera comes to me, staring at notes on a piece of paper, rehearsing.
The video then jumps to scenes of our photo shoots, heavily focusing on the theme of me and Shoei being rivals for nuna’s affections, and me being left out. I wondered what went on in the producers’ minds when they decided the concept. It seemed like they liked to create speculations about our relationship with each other. If nuna wasn’t attached to Jae Joong hyung, everyone would definitely believe that she had some kind of scandalous relationship with either Shoei or me.
I just noticed now in the video, when we were doing the ‘Hollywood glamour’ scene, that Shoei was doing his lovesick look again. It has been a long time since I’d seen him look at nuna like that, but I suppose since we were doing an MV where he and her were a couple, he felt free to wear his real emotions on his sleeve. I’d always wondered how he could bear it. We’ve been together as a band for almost 5 years now, and he still felt the same about nuna as he did from the day he’d met her.
If it had been me, I’d had left the band long ago or I’d have found another girl so that I could forget her. Being Shoei, he stuck around, willingly torturing himself with his emotions, and up till now, he has not dated or even looked at any other girl. The closest thing he’s done which bordered on removing himself from nuna was to be paired with Su Bin on ‘We Got Married’.
Perhaps it’s karma. Perhaps in their past lives, it was nuna’s love for Shoei which was unrequited, so he was paying for it in this life. I’m a big believer of the phrase ‘what goes around comes around’. How else can you explain why a man would willingly stand by a woman, waiting to be her safety net when she needed him, fully knowing that no matter how many times he’d saved her, she would never belong to him?
I looked at the both of them. They were watching the screen with serious looks on their faces. I wondered what was going on in their minds.
At the chorus, the scene cut to the one where nuna had on her big hair and gold dress with huge shoulder pads. My lips twitched, trying not to laugh at the memory of what she looked like when I first saw her off camera. It was a pretty extreme look, but she pulled it off onscreen. I felt a light kick under the table, and I looked at nuna. She’d noticed that I trying to hold back my laughter. She glared at me, and quickly turned away so that no one else noticed.
The last scene of the MV was the one of nuna with tears in her eyes, while Shoei sat at the piano in front of her. I still haven’t gotten a chance to ask her what prompted the tears that day. Nuna was quite an emotional junkie. She laughed and cried easily, but there had to be a reason for her to laugh or cry in the first place.
The screen faded out at the end of the song, and the verdict was in… the new MV was well received, judging from the positive response of the press and our fans. Now would come the most tiring part of a new album launch; answering questions…
Friday, 5 June 2009
Monday, 25 May 2009
S3-4EVA
I know I have not been posting for ages and ages... I'm working on the upcoming chapter. Hope my workload doesn't sidetrack me again. But anyway... since S-Cube's album was supposed to be launched already, here's the cover :) You like? My usual cover designer is busy :( So I had to do this really amateur-looking one myself =.="
Monday, 23 March 2009
Chapter 150: Happy Together
[Sierra’s POV]
Ji Yong wasn’t around to watch me record today. The session got a bit boring, but since it was the pop-rock song, ‘Wut?!’, we were doing today, the energy level was still up.
“Let’s take it from the top again, Sierra,” the producer said, and they cued the music.
The loud, catchy drumbeats of the intro played, and I sang my bit for the intro.
[drumbeats]
Wut…
[drumbeats]
Wut… wut…
[short drum solo]
I say, wut!
Here’s a smile, I’ll throw it out
Fetch! [Good dog, good dog]
Here’s a touch, I’ll throw it out
Fetch! [Good dog, good dog]
Here’s a kiss, I’ll throw it out
Fetch! [Good dog, good dog]
Here’s my love, I’ll throw it out
Fetch! [Good dog, good dog]
My arm’s getting tired
I’m sick of your whining
You never seem to change
Why bother to keep trying
[Rap]
You mumble to me all the time
You seem like I’ll eat you alive
I really, really need a man
I can’t keep saying… WUT?!
I can’t hear what you said, you gotta speak up
Speak up… WUT?!
You’re just too soft for me, you gotta wake up
Wake up… WUT?!
Be a man, be the man, or you will lose me
One more try, then goodbye, you’d better please me
Hold my hand, come closer now
Why are you so afraid? [Bad dog, bad dog]
It’s been so long and still no kiss
Why are you so afraid? [Bad dog, bad dog]
You stand 2 feet away
You hardly ever touch me
You keep shying away
Why do we even bother to…
[Rap]
You’d better man-up today
Stop acting like the girl
I’m tired of wearing the pants
And I can’t keep saying… WUT?!
I can’t hear what you said, you gotta speak up
Speak up… WUT?!
You’re just too soft for me, you gotta wake up
Wake up… WUT?!
Be a man, be the man, or you will lose me
One more try, then goodbye, you’d better please me
Boy, I really do think you’re fine
But you’re causing me to lose my mind
Boy, I need someone to take charge of me
I need a man, so man up, or I’ll go crazy
You gotta speak up, man up, tough up, baby…
WUT?!
I can’t hear what you said, you gotta speak up
Speak up… WUT?!
You’re just too soft for me, you gotta wake up
Wake up… WUT?!
Be a man, be the man, or you will lose me
One more try, then goodbye, you’d better please me
I can’t hear what you said, you gotta speak up
Speak up… WUT?!
You’re just too soft for me, you gotta wake up
Wake up… WUT?!
Be a man, be the man, or you will lose me
One more try, then goodbye, you’d better please me
One last time, or goodbye, boy, I mean it!
WUT?!
“Very good, Sierra,” the producer said. “We just need you to repeat the last chorus. More energy, and at ‘I mean it!’ it should be a bit more high pitched.”
“Ne,” I replied, and we redid it.
From the day the song was slated to be part of my album, there had been a disagreement about it between some of the producers. Some are afraid that it may not pass the censors because of the lyrics. They find that the reference to the guy in the song as a dog was pretty harsh and demeaning.
“Come on!” Ji Yong said when they were discussing it again during our second recording session for this song.
It was Saturday. We were only supposed to come in, put in the finishing touches under Ji Yong’s supervision, and then we could go, but the other producers held us back after, proposing that we changed the lyrics and recorded again.
“But the song is different because it defies convention,” Ji Yong pointed out. “Do you have a problem singing the lyrics?”
“It does make me look like a total bad girl, but I think if we keep the lyrics, we will have more freedom of ideas when we’re filming the MV.”
“Keuraejyo!” Ji Yong exclaimed.
The management had decided to make a huge production. 1 MV will be out in time for the awards, but we will follow up the mini album with an MV for each song; even the cover of Sarangha-o. It was a pretty big project, and very daunting since it will be the first time I’m doing MVs on my own. Apart from that, there will be those live solo performances on Music Bank, Inkigayo and other music programs.
“So you’re not afraid your reputation will take a hit with this song?” one of the producers asked me.
“This is nothing compared to some other songs I’ve seen,” I replied.
“I think we can leave the song as it is,” Shi Kyung hyung said.
“If you are all in agreement, we will go ahead. But if anything goes wrong, you’re all responsible.”
The album will be released with ‘Crazy II’ as the title track and ‘Wut?!’ as the 2nd song to be performed with it. The MV for ‘Crazy II’ will be the first to be released, and just before the awards, the MV for ‘Wut?!’ will follow. Seung Hyun will star in ‘Crazy II’, and they’re still looking for a guy to star in ‘Wut?!’. The initial concept for the mini album would be a bad girl image.
After ‘Wut?!’, the next songs up for huge promotional activities are ‘This Is My Life’ and ‘Sarangha-o’. For these 2 songs, it will be a softer, more feminine image, to highlight my singing abilities. They’re pushing for Jae Joong to clear a spot in his schedule and come back to film a video for ‘Sarangha-o’. ‘This Is My Life’ will be a documentary MV filled with videos taken during the time I’m recording this mini album, which means that Ji Yong and Seung Hyun will appear briefly in the footage, eliminating the need to actually get anyone to guest star in the MV.
“I’ve been cheated,” Ji Yong complained when he heard about the MV concept. “I demand to be paid more.”
“You don’t have to allot any time from your schedule just for the MV, that’s earning you double money just doing 1 job,” I pointed out.
“Molla, molla!” he pretended to sulk. “I demand more! I’m G-Dragon, yo!”
“Hey… I’m not the one who’s paying,” I shrugged, and walked off.
“Yah!” he yelled, then broke into laughter.
The last 2 songs, ‘Cutting the Strings’ and ‘Make Me’ will simply have MVs as a promotional channel. They’re not planning for me to make any live performances for them. The good news was they were trying to sell these songs to some companies for CFs. If the deal goes through, there may even be a CF contract for me.
The meeting had ended and I was packing in frenzy since I was late to meet Jae Joong. He’d touched down an hour earlier, and was probably on his way to the studios.
“Whoa!” Ji Yong exclaimed. “Where are you running off to? Are the police after you?”
“I’m late,” I said as I slung my bag on my shoulder and gathered up my files and sweater.
“To meet your hunny-bunny?” he teased.
“Yesss…” I laughed.
“Aight!” he smiled. “See ya!”
“Bye,” I said and dashed out the door.
I got downstairs and he was already there, waiting for me. He doesn’t always call when he arrives, especially when he knows I’m working. I automatically opened the front passenger seat and was taken aback to see someone sitting there.
“Annyong!” he waved.
It was Tae Goon, Jae Joong’s friend.
“Annyong!” Jae Joong leaned across him to wave at me as well.
“What’s he doing in my seat?” I joked.
“He brought me my car,” Jae Joong said.
“Taseyo,” Tae Goon said, getting out so that I could get in.
I got in the front, and Tae Goon went to sit in the back.
“So…” I turned around to face Tae Goon. “Where are we dropping you off?”
“You’re so mean!” he exclaimed, and I just laughed.
“That’s how I like her,” Jae Joong said and reached for my hand.
“What? You like mean girls?” Tae Goon said.
“When she’s mean to other guys,” Jae Joong added.
“Ah… so that they won’t fall for her,” he said.
“They still do,” I smiled slyly, “even when I treat them badly.”
“Ha… ha…” Jae Joong laughed sarcastically.
“Your girlfriend is very funny,” Tae Goon laughed.
“Yes, she is,” Jae Joong replied. “But don’t fall for her.”
“I’ll try,” Tae Goon said, still laughing.
“Where are we going to?” I asked.
“Tae Goon found this game-bang with really nice food,” Jae Joong said.
“Game room?” I asked.
“Yea…” he said.
“Board games?” I asked.
“They have some game consoles also. Let’s see what we can get,” Jae Joong said.
“Okay,” I said. “You guys decide. I’m just coming along for the ride.”
Tae Goon debut earlier this year, and did pretty well. Jae Joong actually guest starred in his MV and the girl in the MV cheated on him with Tae Goon. We all thought it was pretty hilarious that Jae Joong played the jealous, cuckolded boyfriend. After the MV aired, the fans went crazy and had a field day hating on the poor girl for cheating on Jae Joong in the MV.
“So what are you working on today, nuna?” Tae Goon asked me.
“You haven’t heard?” I said.
“I know it’s a mini album. So what song was it today?” he asked.
“Pop-rock,” I said.
“Oh… nice. I’m looking forward to seeing how the MV will turn out,” he said, then a light bulb lit up in my head.
“Tae Goon,” I said.
“Ne?” he replied.
“What’s your schedule like these days?” I asked.
“Some TV and radio shows, and working on my album,” he said.
“Would you like to co-star in my MV?” I asked him.
“What?” Jae Joong and Tae Goon exclaimed together.
“I’ll tell you about the concept when we get to the game-bang,” I said.
We got there, and it was a small shop with many little cubicles done up in a traditional Korean home style. There were no doors on each cubicle, but because it was a step up, and each had walls going all the way up, it felt like a small room. A short table was set up in the middle of the cubicle for the board game cubicles, and for the video game cubicles, which were a little bigger, the short table served as a stand for the television and game console at the end of the cubicle. There were cushions strewn all over the floors, since there were no chairs. You had to take off your shoes before entering the cubicle.
“What do you wanna do?” Jae Joong asked me.
“I dunno… you guys pick,” I said.
They picked a Wii room, hoping to entice me to play with them later on.
“How do you work this?” I said as I fiddled with the controller.
“First, we create a character for you,” Tae Goon said, and took the controller from me.
The 2 guys proceeded to browse through all possible combinations of the female mini-me looking characters.
“She has short hair!” Tae Goon exclaimed when Jae Joong chose long hair.
“I like her with long hair too,” he said, and confirmed it.
It took them more than 10 minutes to configure my character, and this place charged by the hour. Our food and drinks came within15 minutes. Since I hadn’t had lunch, I ordered ramyun while the guys had kimbap and some other snacks.
“So what’s the proposal?” Tae Goon asked me.
Jae Joong was playing some single player game so that Tae Goon could talk to me first.
“That Pop-Rock song… the concept is a bad girl, and a nice guy. The guy is so nice that he drives the girl crazy because she thinks he’s not being a man.
“This song is Pop-Rock?” he asked again. “But the theme sounds so mature.”
“The MV is not gonna be serious. It’s gonna be fun, and crazy, but you may have to do some silly stuff.”
“Silly stuff?” he raised and eyebrow.
“I like it already,” Jae Joong quipped, his eyes still trained on the television screen. “You made me the fool in your MV, now my girl makes you the fool in hers.”
“Oh… so this is revenge?” Tae Goon laughed.
“No… I just thought it would be fun to do it with someone I know. But I’ll have to warn you,” I said.
“About?”
“The lyrics, and the silly stuff,” I said.
“Now you’re scaring me.”
I took out my mp4 player and handed the earphones to him. He put them on, and I played him a sample track from the song. He listened with a straight face for awhile. When the song came to the first verse, he burst out laughing.
Ji Yong wasn’t around to watch me record today. The session got a bit boring, but since it was the pop-rock song, ‘Wut?!’, we were doing today, the energy level was still up.
“Let’s take it from the top again, Sierra,” the producer said, and they cued the music.
The loud, catchy drumbeats of the intro played, and I sang my bit for the intro.
[drumbeats]
Wut…
[drumbeats]
Wut… wut…
[short drum solo]
I say, wut!
Here’s a smile, I’ll throw it out
Fetch! [Good dog, good dog]
Here’s a touch, I’ll throw it out
Fetch! [Good dog, good dog]
Here’s a kiss, I’ll throw it out
Fetch! [Good dog, good dog]
Here’s my love, I’ll throw it out
Fetch! [Good dog, good dog]
My arm’s getting tired
I’m sick of your whining
You never seem to change
Why bother to keep trying
[Rap]
You mumble to me all the time
You seem like I’ll eat you alive
I really, really need a man
I can’t keep saying… WUT?!
I can’t hear what you said, you gotta speak up
Speak up… WUT?!
You’re just too soft for me, you gotta wake up
Wake up… WUT?!
Be a man, be the man, or you will lose me
One more try, then goodbye, you’d better please me
Hold my hand, come closer now
Why are you so afraid? [Bad dog, bad dog]
It’s been so long and still no kiss
Why are you so afraid? [Bad dog, bad dog]
You stand 2 feet away
You hardly ever touch me
You keep shying away
Why do we even bother to…
[Rap]
You’d better man-up today
Stop acting like the girl
I’m tired of wearing the pants
And I can’t keep saying… WUT?!
I can’t hear what you said, you gotta speak up
Speak up… WUT?!
You’re just too soft for me, you gotta wake up
Wake up… WUT?!
Be a man, be the man, or you will lose me
One more try, then goodbye, you’d better please me
Boy, I really do think you’re fine
But you’re causing me to lose my mind
Boy, I need someone to take charge of me
I need a man, so man up, or I’ll go crazy
You gotta speak up, man up, tough up, baby…
WUT?!
I can’t hear what you said, you gotta speak up
Speak up… WUT?!
You’re just too soft for me, you gotta wake up
Wake up… WUT?!
Be a man, be the man, or you will lose me
One more try, then goodbye, you’d better please me
I can’t hear what you said, you gotta speak up
Speak up… WUT?!
You’re just too soft for me, you gotta wake up
Wake up… WUT?!
Be a man, be the man, or you will lose me
One more try, then goodbye, you’d better please me
One last time, or goodbye, boy, I mean it!
WUT?!
“Very good, Sierra,” the producer said. “We just need you to repeat the last chorus. More energy, and at ‘I mean it!’ it should be a bit more high pitched.”
“Ne,” I replied, and we redid it.
From the day the song was slated to be part of my album, there had been a disagreement about it between some of the producers. Some are afraid that it may not pass the censors because of the lyrics. They find that the reference to the guy in the song as a dog was pretty harsh and demeaning.
“Come on!” Ji Yong said when they were discussing it again during our second recording session for this song.
It was Saturday. We were only supposed to come in, put in the finishing touches under Ji Yong’s supervision, and then we could go, but the other producers held us back after, proposing that we changed the lyrics and recorded again.
“But the song is different because it defies convention,” Ji Yong pointed out. “Do you have a problem singing the lyrics?”
“It does make me look like a total bad girl, but I think if we keep the lyrics, we will have more freedom of ideas when we’re filming the MV.”
“Keuraejyo!” Ji Yong exclaimed.
The management had decided to make a huge production. 1 MV will be out in time for the awards, but we will follow up the mini album with an MV for each song; even the cover of Sarangha-o. It was a pretty big project, and very daunting since it will be the first time I’m doing MVs on my own. Apart from that, there will be those live solo performances on Music Bank, Inkigayo and other music programs.
“So you’re not afraid your reputation will take a hit with this song?” one of the producers asked me.
“This is nothing compared to some other songs I’ve seen,” I replied.
“I think we can leave the song as it is,” Shi Kyung hyung said.
“If you are all in agreement, we will go ahead. But if anything goes wrong, you’re all responsible.”
The album will be released with ‘Crazy II’ as the title track and ‘Wut?!’ as the 2nd song to be performed with it. The MV for ‘Crazy II’ will be the first to be released, and just before the awards, the MV for ‘Wut?!’ will follow. Seung Hyun will star in ‘Crazy II’, and they’re still looking for a guy to star in ‘Wut?!’. The initial concept for the mini album would be a bad girl image.
After ‘Wut?!’, the next songs up for huge promotional activities are ‘This Is My Life’ and ‘Sarangha-o’. For these 2 songs, it will be a softer, more feminine image, to highlight my singing abilities. They’re pushing for Jae Joong to clear a spot in his schedule and come back to film a video for ‘Sarangha-o’. ‘This Is My Life’ will be a documentary MV filled with videos taken during the time I’m recording this mini album, which means that Ji Yong and Seung Hyun will appear briefly in the footage, eliminating the need to actually get anyone to guest star in the MV.
“I’ve been cheated,” Ji Yong complained when he heard about the MV concept. “I demand to be paid more.”
“You don’t have to allot any time from your schedule just for the MV, that’s earning you double money just doing 1 job,” I pointed out.
“Molla, molla!” he pretended to sulk. “I demand more! I’m G-Dragon, yo!”
“Hey… I’m not the one who’s paying,” I shrugged, and walked off.
“Yah!” he yelled, then broke into laughter.
The last 2 songs, ‘Cutting the Strings’ and ‘Make Me’ will simply have MVs as a promotional channel. They’re not planning for me to make any live performances for them. The good news was they were trying to sell these songs to some companies for CFs. If the deal goes through, there may even be a CF contract for me.
The meeting had ended and I was packing in frenzy since I was late to meet Jae Joong. He’d touched down an hour earlier, and was probably on his way to the studios.
“Whoa!” Ji Yong exclaimed. “Where are you running off to? Are the police after you?”
“I’m late,” I said as I slung my bag on my shoulder and gathered up my files and sweater.
“To meet your hunny-bunny?” he teased.
“Yesss…” I laughed.
“Aight!” he smiled. “See ya!”
“Bye,” I said and dashed out the door.
I got downstairs and he was already there, waiting for me. He doesn’t always call when he arrives, especially when he knows I’m working. I automatically opened the front passenger seat and was taken aback to see someone sitting there.
“Annyong!” he waved.
It was Tae Goon, Jae Joong’s friend.
“Annyong!” Jae Joong leaned across him to wave at me as well.
“What’s he doing in my seat?” I joked.
“He brought me my car,” Jae Joong said.
“Taseyo,” Tae Goon said, getting out so that I could get in.
I got in the front, and Tae Goon went to sit in the back.
“So…” I turned around to face Tae Goon. “Where are we dropping you off?”
“You’re so mean!” he exclaimed, and I just laughed.
“That’s how I like her,” Jae Joong said and reached for my hand.
“What? You like mean girls?” Tae Goon said.
“When she’s mean to other guys,” Jae Joong added.
“Ah… so that they won’t fall for her,” he said.
“They still do,” I smiled slyly, “even when I treat them badly.”
“Ha… ha…” Jae Joong laughed sarcastically.
“Your girlfriend is very funny,” Tae Goon laughed.
“Yes, she is,” Jae Joong replied. “But don’t fall for her.”
“I’ll try,” Tae Goon said, still laughing.
“Where are we going to?” I asked.
“Tae Goon found this game-bang with really nice food,” Jae Joong said.
“Game room?” I asked.
“Yea…” he said.
“Board games?” I asked.
“They have some game consoles also. Let’s see what we can get,” Jae Joong said.
“Okay,” I said. “You guys decide. I’m just coming along for the ride.”
Tae Goon debut earlier this year, and did pretty well. Jae Joong actually guest starred in his MV and the girl in the MV cheated on him with Tae Goon. We all thought it was pretty hilarious that Jae Joong played the jealous, cuckolded boyfriend. After the MV aired, the fans went crazy and had a field day hating on the poor girl for cheating on Jae Joong in the MV.
“So what are you working on today, nuna?” Tae Goon asked me.
“You haven’t heard?” I said.
“I know it’s a mini album. So what song was it today?” he asked.
“Pop-rock,” I said.
“Oh… nice. I’m looking forward to seeing how the MV will turn out,” he said, then a light bulb lit up in my head.
“Tae Goon,” I said.
“Ne?” he replied.
“What’s your schedule like these days?” I asked.
“Some TV and radio shows, and working on my album,” he said.
“Would you like to co-star in my MV?” I asked him.
“What?” Jae Joong and Tae Goon exclaimed together.
“I’ll tell you about the concept when we get to the game-bang,” I said.
We got there, and it was a small shop with many little cubicles done up in a traditional Korean home style. There were no doors on each cubicle, but because it was a step up, and each had walls going all the way up, it felt like a small room. A short table was set up in the middle of the cubicle for the board game cubicles, and for the video game cubicles, which were a little bigger, the short table served as a stand for the television and game console at the end of the cubicle. There were cushions strewn all over the floors, since there were no chairs. You had to take off your shoes before entering the cubicle.
“What do you wanna do?” Jae Joong asked me.
“I dunno… you guys pick,” I said.
They picked a Wii room, hoping to entice me to play with them later on.
“How do you work this?” I said as I fiddled with the controller.
“First, we create a character for you,” Tae Goon said, and took the controller from me.
The 2 guys proceeded to browse through all possible combinations of the female mini-me looking characters.
“She has short hair!” Tae Goon exclaimed when Jae Joong chose long hair.
“I like her with long hair too,” he said, and confirmed it.
It took them more than 10 minutes to configure my character, and this place charged by the hour. Our food and drinks came within15 minutes. Since I hadn’t had lunch, I ordered ramyun while the guys had kimbap and some other snacks.
“So what’s the proposal?” Tae Goon asked me.
Jae Joong was playing some single player game so that Tae Goon could talk to me first.
“That Pop-Rock song… the concept is a bad girl, and a nice guy. The guy is so nice that he drives the girl crazy because she thinks he’s not being a man.
“This song is Pop-Rock?” he asked again. “But the theme sounds so mature.”
“The MV is not gonna be serious. It’s gonna be fun, and crazy, but you may have to do some silly stuff.”
“Silly stuff?” he raised and eyebrow.
“I like it already,” Jae Joong quipped, his eyes still trained on the television screen. “You made me the fool in your MV, now my girl makes you the fool in hers.”
“Oh… so this is revenge?” Tae Goon laughed.
“No… I just thought it would be fun to do it with someone I know. But I’ll have to warn you,” I said.
“About?”
“The lyrics, and the silly stuff,” I said.
“Now you’re scaring me.”
I took out my mp4 player and handed the earphones to him. He put them on, and I played him a sample track from the song. He listened with a straight face for awhile. When the song came to the first verse, he burst out laughing.
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