Chapter 20 Chapter 20 GD can’t?
The end of the year has been busy. They will be performing two songs, including a new song, at the SBS Gayo Daejeon on Christmas Day. After wrapping up the variety show, Jeon Seong-ae threw herself into the stage adaptation. Fortunately, this work helped her turn down many appointments with her manager, Oh Hyun-ho.
Quan Xingai is very satisfied. She has gradually transformed herself into a creator and producer, which has given her more say and her teammates and other colleagues in the company have treated her better and better.
Currently, her teammates are largely responsible for variety show promotions. Jeon Sung-ae occasionally participates in group variety shows or commercial performances, but most of the time, she's in her makeshift studio. Yes, makeshift. Despite successfully reworking a comeback single, Moon Eun-joo isn't completely convinced that Jeon Sung-ae is truly a creative talent, so she's offering her the use of a vacant studio for the time being.
Quan Xingai felt that she was quite adaptable to the environment. In her previous life, she was born in Japan, grew up in the United States, and lived in South Korea. She went from being a second-generation star to an orphan, and from being a popular singer to being in an obscure girl group. She adapted quite well and even felt that her current identity as a third-rate idol made it easier for her to be a novice.
After all, in her previous life, she had lived in the spotlight almost since she was a baby. Her mother was a very famous soprano singer in Japan and Italy, and she and her Korean hip-hop father had a sudden attraction and gave birth to her. In addition, her grandfather, the Italian classical music conductor, and her grandmother Kotoko Ono and her aunt Yoko Ono liked her very much. She stayed with Yoko Ono until she was 5 years old. Sarah's mixed Chinese and Western ancestry made her look like an angel when she was a child, so she was very famous since she was a child, and paparazzi have been photographing her since she was 3 years old.
Although her parents divorced when she grew up, they remained good friends and treated her very well, so Sarah grew up surrounded by love and seemed to be at ease with starting over.
After all, being alive is her greatest luck.
"Brother, these two songs can actually be adapted and mixed. I plan to discuss the adaptation with the author of the original song." Quan Xingai sat on a chair and 'slid' from one end of the room to the other, with the volume of the Bluetooth headset on her head turned up very loud. Wu Xianhao was startled by her sudden loud voice.
"Hey...you kid! Take off your headphones." Wu Xianhao said unhappily.
"Oh - okay, brother, if I remember correctly, you bought these two songs from Waiji, right?" Quan Xingai took off his headphones and hung them around his neck and asked.
"This song is from the second album, it's Teddy's song. Do you want to go to Waiji to ask Teddy to adapt it?" Wu Xianhao was amazed that Xing Ai, who used to have too many ideas and a heavy heart, has really transformed into a creator. She even looks as professional as a real producer.
"Yes, please help me contact them. This song is nice, but the problem is that it has too much of a chicken coop vibe. Our Neo is not a crooked chicken. If we put Teddy's label on it, we'll be accused of copying someone else's BP."
Quan Xing Ai recently listened to all the group's past songs again. The biggest problem with small companies is that they don't have producers and their own songs, so the style and concept cannot be unified and often drift around.
Although Xing Ai is always lazy about work, she will not allow herself to be perfunctory on stage, so she is particularly concerned about the year-end music festival. She listens to several songs over and over again, and even wrote several bridges to connect them. As long as everyone is free, she will pull her teammates together to discuss the performance of the stage and songs.
"Luckily, you're not indifferent to your work. A while ago, I saw you being so listless and perfunctory about the tasks on the notice that I almost wanted to lock you up in the dark room and give you a good scolding. But when it comes to the essential work of being a singer, you're actually quite attentive."
"An idol's main job is to perform on stage and sing songs. Other announcements are just icing on the cake. My dream is to release songs when I want to and rest when I want to." Quan Xingai's eyes sparkled with longing. In his previous life, he was about to achieve his goal, but an accident happened.
Life's ups and downs are really exciting.
"Okay, I'll contact Waiji for you and send you over when the time comes. Go through the staff passage. You've been involved in a lot of scandals lately, so be careful." Wu Xianhao knocked on Quan Xingai's head with a rolled-up paper.
"Doesn't it bring a lot of exposure to the group? I see the TV station is very happy. Aren't our stages right after Cha Eun-woo's? Why don't we just coordinate them? Hasn't it been a long time since we performed together on the Gayo Daejeon?" Jeon Seong-ae said lazily.
She looked at the TV station's program schedule. The first program was the boy group that Cha Eun-woo was in, and the second guest was RIOT DOLLS. The TV station just wanted to see a performance of a collaboration between a man and a woman.
"Don't even think about it. The current atmosphere is different from 10 years ago when male and female idols could still dream of getting married. Now fans can just eat you up," Wu Xianhao sighed.
Quan Xingai didn't comment. She was too lazy to fall in love and thought it was troublesome. She just liked to play with cats and dogs.
*
Quan Xing Ai was sitting in the production room of Wai Ji's recording studio again, feeling a little dazed. The last time he came to Wai Ji was many years ago. At that time, the chicken coop was still in the old building, but now it has become a brand new office space, bright and beautiful, with clean windows and desks, and the practice room is no longer a cramped basement.
She was just a little emotional, recalling the first time she came to Waiji in 2005. At that time, she was the same age as she is now, she was 21 years old, and she came to Waiji in the same way.
President Wen has a good relationship with several shareholders of Waiji. Wu Xianhao used to be Waiji's agent, so Quan Xingai came without any obstacles. When she arrived at the producer's studio, Teddy had already arrived. He was also very surprised to see Quan Xingai.
"Xing Aixi seems to have changed a lot."
"Brother, I'm recovering now and am learning to become a producer." Quan Xingai is actually quite familiar with Teddy.
When she was still Sarah Kim, she followed her father back to South Korea at the age of 20. Her father was very familiar with Seo Tae-ji and Yang Xianshuo. She returned to Korea to be a teacher for the trainees at Waiji, teaching them rap and vocal music. Later, her father found that Sarah, who had learned professional music theory from her mother since she was a child, was more suitable to be a vocal teacher, so he simply let Sarah be a vocal teacher.
It was also in that year that she met Quan Zhilong.
At that time, she was only 17 years old, young and pure. Brother Jilong had a chubby face and was very serious about everything he did. He was very shy every time he saw her. In fact, Yongbae was obviously better at vocal music at that time, but she just admired Quan Jilong more because of his chubby face, a lot of ideas, always shy, and always afraid to look her in the eye.
Forget it, forget it. That was the once innocent little brother Zhilong, but now he has become a bearded uncle. The past cannot be retrieved, classmate Sarah.
"I listened to your new song, it's amazing. You actually arranged it yourself. For a newcomer, you're amazing!" It was after listening to the new song that Teddy agreed to Quanxingai's suggestion to discuss with him about adapting his old songs that had already been sold. It was rare for him to see a female idol as a producer, and he really wanted to see what the personality of this legendary female idol was like.
"Thank you for the praise, senior. I came here this time just to learn and exchange ideas with you about the two songs we sang before. I want to change the tone..." Quan Xingai smiled, pulled a chair and sat in front of the control panel skillfully, imported his messy ideas from the USB flash drive, and then began to talk about his ideas.
Teddy was stunned by the girl's straightforward words and professional process, and involuntarily followed her rhythm and entered into the discussion of song arrangement.
Both of them are professional song producers. Quan Xingai's thinking is actually more European and American, just like Mike. This time, after communicating with Teddy and landing it in the local market, there were some differences in the process, but musicians will respect different musical concepts. Quan Xingai was finally persuaded to make the adapted version more inclined to the dance style and retro synthesizer sounds that the Korean market would like.
"I didn't expect you could really do it. So, were you learning to be a producer during those few years of silence?" The two of them had a heated discussion about the original songs of two old songs of RD group. Since Zhilong enlisted in the army, Teddy hadn't had such a hearty argument with others about music for a long time. There was no right or wrong, it was all for the better presentation of the songs.
A few years later, he rediscovered the creative passion he had in his youth when he was young, when he would spend a whole day pounding out a melody, in his juniors in other companies.
There was a moment when he thought: Zhilong will definitely like this girl, a music fanatic.
"Big companies are really different. Neon doesn't have many producers, and Mike is from the United States. Can I come and communicate often?" Quan Xingai hasn't been so passionate about creation for a long time. For a moment, she also ignited the passion for creation like Teddy, and even now she wants to continue creating.
"Welcome, welcome, but I'm afraid President Wen is worried that Waiji is trying to poach us." Teddy said jokingly.
"Maybe I'm the one poaching someone. We may be a small company, but we have a lot of freedom. We welcome creators and producers to switch."
"You, junior, dare to confront me like this now? If I really change jobs, wouldn't we have to argue every day? You are even more stubborn than GD back then. The original song has an R&B girl group vibe, so if you want to present it on stage, it must be dance-oriented. Even though it will become a clichéd street song, the effect will definitely be explosive."
"But Senior, I think..."
The two of them returned to the debate about songs, with songs of different genres playing back and forth on the speakers.
"Brother, why are you—oh, writing a song today?"
While Quan Xingai was arguing, the door to the studio opened and Quan Zhilong, still wearing a beard and a dandy look, appeared at the door. As soon as he opened the door, he saw Teddy and a slender figure talking fiercely. The speakers were still playing BB's bangbangbang. As soon as he opened the door, he heard the girl, whose back was turned, talking confidently -
"I feel that it would be totally inappropriate to change the original song into a high-energy song and dance number like "Three Sticks". Also, senior, the suggestion you gave me is full of GD's vibe. Yeah, that's right, don't do GD."
??? What happened to GD? GD can’t do that?
GD BenD frowned as he walked in.
"Ah... Zhilong, you're here... You're a producer, an idol, and a team leader too. Go explain to Xing Aixi... This kid is too stubborn." Teddy saw Zhilong's surprised expression and pulled him in. Quan Zhilong saw the girl's face clearly—how many times had he met her again?
The hateful woman with no makeup on, a serious and unyielding look on her face, biting her lip while thinking - Quan Xingai.
His baby voice came from the 360-degree surround sound of the production room: "Like being shot, bangbangbang"
"Ah, it's Zhilong - Oppa -" Seeing an acquaintance, Quan Xingai didn't feel awkward at all after mentioning the other person just now. He greeted him indifferently, sat on Teddy's chair, and changed the tune of "bangbangbang" into a different feeling.
"Senior, don't you think this combination of lyrical and dance music is more suitable for a girl group? RD is RD, not Big Bang or BP."
Quan Zhilong raised his eyebrows, this junior is quite interesting.
"Why are you here?" Quan Zhilong was pulled in by Teddy, so he looked at Quan Xingai and asked, but before he could finish his sentence, the other party slid away the chair to get to the control panel. He took a deep breath and said to himself: Don't be angry, don't be angry, then turned to look at Teddy.
"Brother, why are you two together?"
"From your tone, you and Xing'ai know each other?" After an afternoon together, Teddy was already familiar with Xing'ai and called her by name. "Oh yeah, you two were rumored to be dating recently."
"Brother——" Quan Zhilong shook his head helplessly.
"Just kidding. Star Love and her group are going to compete in the Music Festival at the end of the year, and she's planning to remake two of their previous songs. I wrote those two songs. The company has been sold to Neo. Don't be surprised that this girl looks so delicate, but she's actually quite knowledgeable when it comes to songwriting. And like you, she's very stubborn about music. She's not just a newcomer; she already has her own style and ideas."
"Such a high evaluation is not like my style." Quan Zhilong was half-believing and half-doubting, and made a joke jokingly.
"Oh, that's right, this is it, a mix of citypop and dance music, with a millennial retro feel. How about this song?" Quan Xingai suddenly shouted excitedly, interrupting the conversation between Teddy and Kwon Ji-yong. The two were attracted by Xingai's music.
Quan Xingai simply randomly found some citypop music from the existing songs and roughly mixed them together. Quan Zhilong saw the girl's slender fingers working flexibly on the operating table with a serious and focused expression. He nodded approvingly in his heart. Yes, this is how it should be done seriously.
Then he was attracted by the new song adapted by Quan Xing Ai. It was quite interesting, with a completely fresh approach, a bit of a retro dance tune, but not old-fashioned.
"This time, you can add producer Quan Xingai to the behind-the-scenes staff of your stage. A talent like you should have come to Waiji back then, then you wouldn't have been..." Teddy was halfway through his words when Quan Zhilong interrupted him.
"I seem to have heard this style of music somewhere before. Do you like city pop too?" Kwon Ji-yong sat crookedly on the sofa with the brim of his hat pulled down low, making it impossible to see his expression.
Quan Xing loves to raise her eyebrows. She does like city pop. She grew up in Japan until she was 8 years old, which coincided with the city pop trend in the late 1980s, which left a big impression on her.
Her first album released at the age of 15 was a combination of citypop and rock, which became an instant hit in the music scene. The cover of the English version of the song "Plastic Love" produced by Maria Takeuchi & Tatsuro Yamashita in 1984 set off a retro wave of citypop in the European and American music scene.
"Yes, I like it very much. I especially like an old song from the 80s - Plastic Love. Have you heard of it?" Quan Xingai spun around in her chair and spoke casually. She smiled mischievously, and of course she did it on purpose.
"How could you like such an old song? It was released in 1984, which was a long time before you were born." Kwon Ji-yong crossed his arms in a defensive posture.
"Who knows? It's probably because the singer I like... was also born in 1984. Do you know her, senior? - Her name is also Sarah." Quan Xingai smiled.
Quan Zhilong's eyebrows and heart skipped a beat, and a nameless anger surged in his heart. Although Sarah was not his first love, she was definitely the woman he found most difficult to let go of. From the day she passed away until now, Quan Zhilong could not let go and could not enter into a new relationship.
Ha, this young junior, looking at me with a smile with those cunning, hateful yet charming eyes, as if it was just a joke, but also as if she was pretending to be serious and testing me...
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