Chapter 86: Journey to Country K (3)
K-pop has been developing for decades, and its domestic music shows are no longer limited to domestic artists. To enhance its international influence, artists from China and Japan have appeared on the music stages here in the past.
Of course, whether foreign artists or local artists from Country K, they all need to pay out of their own pockets to participate in music shows.
Costs include stage set design, dancers, makeup, and back-up support. The appearance fees paid by TV stations for promotions often range from a few hundred to a few thousand RMB. The lower the idol's popularity and public recognition, the lower their performance fees.
The cost of a two-week song promotion often exceeds 300,000 RMB, and the artist has to pay this money himself; the company will not bear it.
The main reason is that in the era of streaming media, fewer people watch TV, so the promotional effect of songs on TV stations is not as good as in the past.
Even with low ratings, idol singers continue to pay out of their own pockets to appear on music shows. The primary reason is that music shows offer a rare opportunity for rising idols to promote their work. Even with low ratings, their performances can be seen by tens, if not hundreds, of millions of viewers worldwide through the various music show YouTube channels. Furthermore, participating in music shows is also about maintaining good relationships with broadcasters for future variety show appearances.
Because of these industry rules, aside from local singers and idols, few singers and artists from other countries participate in K-pop shows. After all, foreign artists themselves won't participate in K-pop variety shows due to language barriers, so there's no need to build relationships with TV stations.
As for promoting through a YouTube channel, you can also achieve the same effect by opening your own YouTube channel and filming videos and posting them online. The only difference is that the visual effects may not be as professional and gorgeous as those in Country K's music stages.
For Chinese singers, the country already has a huge consumer market, so whether or not to expand international fame will not affect the singers' and their agencies' earnings.
However, the top management of Pineapple Entertainment has huge ambitions. Their goals are not limited to the domestic market, but they want to make their artists famous all over the world.
It is precisely because of this that Originore, the first idol group under Pineapple Entertainment, came to Country K to participate in a music show.
The management wanted to use Originore as a limited-edition group to enter the international market. So even though the fees Originore, a new Chinese idol boy group, received from participating in promotions on W TV in Country K were negligible, and even though the promotions required significant funding, the company was still willing to cover the costs.
However, the members did not know the story behind this, and at this moment they were looking at the lounge in front of them curiously.
Except for Mo Bei, everyone was participating in the recording of a K country music program for the first time, so everything they saw seemed new to them.
Although they were curious, they were in a foreign country where they were unfamiliar with the environment, so the members were quite reserved for fear of being seen as unsophisticated bumpkins.
Sitting on the sofa, Mo Bei looked at the lounge in front of him, which had hardly changed from more than 20 years ago, and couldn't help but feel a long-lost sense of familiarity and nostalgia in his heart.
I remember when TNO first debuted and appeared on the W music show, they also waited in this lounge. I didn't expect that after many twists and turns, he is now back here as Jiang Mo Nan.
Thinking about this, Mo Bei took a photo of the lounge in front of him and sent it to Lian Cheng.
[Guess where I am?]
This time the other party responded quickly.
[Lian Cheng:...]
[Lian Cheng: (embarrassed) Where else could it be? The W TV building. The news of you guys going to Country K to promote your music has already spread among the fan community.]
[Mo Bei: …]
[Mo Bei: Don’t you think this place looks familiar?]
[Lian Cheng: Doesn't the waiting room for artists on W's music show look like this? You're not saying this is the same waiting room we used back then, are you?]
[Mo Bei: You guessed it. It's the same one.]
[Lian Cheng:! ! ! ]
[Lian Cheng: What a coincidence?]
Mo Bei couldn't help but laugh when he saw the surprised emoji sent by Lian Cheng. Just as he was about to reply, the TV station staff knocked on the door, indicating that they could go to the rehearsal.
So he had to put down his phone temporarily.
This is Originore's first time performing on a foreign TV station, so the company put a lot of effort into the design of their stage costumes.
The clothing adopts a uniform mixed color scheme of light blue, white and orange. White and light blue are the main colors of the clothes, and orange is used as embellishment.
The style of each person's clothes is differentiated according to their personal characteristics.
Lei Lie still wore his favorite sleeveless vest, Zheng Xingye wore a loose T-shirt, Zhong Gaoyi wore a short-sleeved shirt, and Tao Xiaotie wore overalls. Mo Bei wore a white pullover, light blue loose-fitting casual pants, and an orange silk scarf tied around his waist as a decoration.
In addition to the orange scarf around Mo Bei's waist, the members also wear baseball caps, wristbands, headbands, sneakers, cardigans and other items of the same color to achieve overall harmony.
As the members, dressed in their stage uniforms, headed from the waiting room to the stage, another group of singers had already finished their performance. A burst of excited cheers emanated from the audience. After a long moment, the roar of the audience faded, and the performers bowed slightly as they left the stage.
For a moment, the sound of——
"Suguhisoomita (Thank you for your hard work [honorific])"
Unlike in China, the entire K country strictly follows the principle of seniority and respect for elders, and even daily language is divided into honorifics and non-honorifics.
The same is true for television stations.
Idol singers usually greet the program staff with honorifics and also need to express their gratitude after finishing their work.
This is both out of courtesy and due to the idol's status in the industry.
Because in Country K, idols themselves are a kind of fast-moving consumer goods, the result of the joint support of industry practitioners. Although in the entertainment industry, artists need companies to package them, compared with other countries, idols in Country K are actually the most dependent on companies.
From the small things like trainee selection and training to big things like song selection and album release, makeup, promotion and exposure on various variety shows after debut, all of this series is inseparable from the efforts of the company's behind-the-scenes staff.
Companies create personas for artists and design concepts for groups. These are like the beautiful packaging for candy, designed to make audiences and fans more willing to pay for the product's appearance. Whether the artist remains appealing without the company's packaging is irrelevant. After all, with a series of online marketing campaigns, there will always be fans who follow the trend and pay for it.
What they like is not the idols themselves, but the sense of value that these idol groups give them. It is like a niche fashion item, once you wear it, you will appear different from the other mediocre people.
This may have fooled people at first, but as time went by, more and more people realized that today's idols are far less vibrant than before. Although their looks and abilities are not bad, they look like flowers without fragrance.
Over time, when the group's popularity fades and fans lose interest in the existing idols, the company will use fancy packaging to launch new artists. The public will then turn their attention to these more beautifully packaged candies.
Of course, it's not true that all K-pop idols are puppets of their companies. Looking back at K-pop history, there have been many idols with unique personalities and talents, but they remain a minority within the industry. Some, after achieving fame and fortune through their talent, have become self-aggrandizing, crossing the legal line and ultimately ending up in jail and banned.
But young Mo Bei didn't know this. Back then, he simply longed for the stage, which was why he went to Country K to be a trainee. However, after experiencing a long trainee career in Country K and successfully debuting, he gradually began to disenchant the idol industry in Country K.
The repressive environment, the harsh culture of seniority and seniority, and the bullying between idols and trainees often lead to mental illness. In this repressive environment, some people begin to let go and engage in all kinds of messy things behind the scenes. Compared to drug use and promiscuity, idol dating seems to be a minor scandal.
People outside the industry often harbor fantasies about K-pop idols, but they often fail to grasp that these fantasies are simply a bubble created by the companies, ready to burst at the slightest provocation. It's an industry where those who can't break in desperately try to squeeze in, while those who do find it incredibly suffocating.
Not only are interpersonal relationships and working environments suffocating, but so is the living space of idols.
In Country K, many new groups debut every year. In such fierce competition, most groups will only become stepping stones, and the ones who make money are always the individuals at the top of the pyramid.
Although Mo Bei was fortunate enough to be at the top of the pyramid, he had also seen many young artists who debuted at the same time but were frustrated and burdened with huge debts.
Because most companies don't train trainees for free, they need to earn money to pay off their debts after debuting. Unpopular idols can't earn enough money to cover their debts. Consequently, to pay off their debts, some artists embark on a path of no return.
Mo Bei doesn't like the living environment of the entertainment industry in Country K, because it is a deformed product brought about by Country K's distorted social environment.
Fortunately, he is Chinese.
Not far away, five young male idols bowed and thanked the staff before heading back to the lounge to remove their makeup and leave. There was only one path through, and the two sides immediately met.
The members of LEVELUP were stunned when they suddenly saw a group of unfamiliar faces on TV.
Realizing that they were blocking the road, Mo Bei and others immediately made way.
The black-haired boy who was leading the group nodded slightly at the members, and then left with his teammates.
Just as the two sides passed each other, the boy with pink hair at the end of the team suddenly staggered and fell down.
Lei Lie, who was standing nearby, saw this and quickly supported the man, subconsciously asking, "Are you okay?"
At the end of the sentence, I remembered that the other party probably didn't understand Chinese, so I had to switch to English: "Are you ok?"
The pink-haired boy nodded with a pale face.
Hearing the noise behind him, the pink-haired boy's teammates immediately gathered over.
“Hyun Jae, are you okay?”
The pink-haired boy named Hyun Jae stood up straight and forced a smile, "It's okay."
Because he couldn't understand Korean, Zheng Xingye whispered to Cui Junxi: "What are they chattering about?"
Cui Junxi looked at him deeply and said, "If you watch more Korean dramas, you won't need me to translate these two sentences."
Despite this, Choi Jun-hee finally explained it to Zheng Xingye, and concluded with a firm tone: "I think he must be hungry. He is so thin, he looks a little malnourished."
Mo Bei shook his head. "Malnutrition is only one aspect. He looks more like he has low blood sugar."
At the end of his words, he seemed to have thought of something and looked at Tao Xiaotie: "Xiaotie, do you have any candy? Any candy will do."
Tao Xiaotie rummaged in his pocket and took out a lollipop.
"Mind if I requisition it?"
Looking at the orange-flavored lollipop in front of him, Mo Bei asked softly.
It's no wonder he asked this, after all, this little glutton is very protective of his food. Although it's just a lollipop, considering Tao Xiaotie's feelings, he still has to ask his owner's consent first.
Unexpectedly, Tao Xiaotie was generous this time——
"Take it, I have plenty."
Mo Bei nodded, picked up the lollipop and walked forward.
On the other side, the pink-haired boy's teammates were already helping him and preparing to leave.
Suddenly, a tall, purple-haired boy with delicate features called out to them, and the five of them were stunned when they saw him.
The leading black-haired boy was stunned when he saw the lollipop being handed to him. The brown-haired boy beside him quickly realized Mo Bei's intention and thanked him before taking it for his teammate.
The pink-haired boy named Hyun Jae seemed to want to say something, but he saw a staff member running over in the distance urging him to go on stage, so he had to give up for the moment.
After Mo Bei and the others left, a black-haired boy named Li Jae-hee stopped the staff member who was about to leave and said, "Excuse me, who are they? Are they new idols?"
"Originore. An idol group from China, born on a talent show."
The staff member paused and said, "It's not wrong to call them newly debuted idols. After all, they've only been debuted for less than two weeks."
Hearing this, Li Jae-hee nodded: "I see. No wonder I heard them speaking Chinese just now."
In the past, there have been Chinese artists who have come to Country K’s TV stations to promote their music, so he didn’t find it too surprising.
But... they have only debuted for half a month?
Thinking back to the tall purple-haired boy who had handed them candy earlier, his every move and gesture didn't have the usual awkwardness or timidity of a newcomer, but rather more like a mature artist. Not only him, but the other members also seemed full of personality and a carefree demeanor.
This also made him curious about what kind of performance this group called Originore would present.
Looking at the figure that had already vanished into a singularity in the distance, Kim Hyun-jae slowly withdrew his gaze. He peeled back the wrapper of the orange-flavored lollipop in his hand and put it into his mouth. The sweetness of the orange permeated his mouth, instantly relieving the discomfort caused by low blood sugar.
Even he himself didn't notice that the corners of his mouth were slightly raised when he ate the candy.
Originore? He remembered them.
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