Chapter 27 Chapter 27
On the night of the stage recording, Seven and Gummy were invited to judge the second episode. Due to other schedules, 1TYM and Bigbang members were not present.
Lia wore a simple white shirt and dark trousers, with her hair loosely tied up. To match the atmosphere of the performance, the styling team gave her a more mature look than usual. Coupled with the intense filming and weight control during this period,
The baby fat on her face began to fade, and her features became more distinct, giving her a beauty somewhere between girlish and womanly. She didn't make too many changes to "If You Come Back." This time, she focused on singing the song.
She only added a little bit of her own melody at the beginning. After all, this is a girl group debut program, not a program to select producers. During practice, she repeatedly pondered her voice, pronunciation, and emotional handling. Although she doesn't understand love,
But she had a lot of anticipation. Ever since they first met, that constant and restrained feeling had been there. Her voice wasn't as rich as Boen's, and her timbre wasn't perfect either.
Yet, there's an indescribable narrative quality to the performance. It's like someone quietly sitting down and telling you a moving story. Yang Hyun-seok raised an eyebrow in surprise from the judges' panel. Gummy lowered her head, her lips curled slightly.
Bao En, from the same group, also gave a brilliant performance. Her vocals were solid and full of emotion, and she controlled the high notes in the chorus with ease. For her, this was both her comfort zone and her dominant position. After the performance, the judges began voting.
"It's hard to choose." Seven scratched his head, looking quite distressed, "Two completely different ways of presentation." "Technically, Boen is obviously much more mature, and his vocal conditions are also outstanding." Gummy commented.
"I'm not surprised that Bo Eun sang well, but Lia really surprised me today - 'This child can sing too', this is the first time I thought so today." Yang Hyun-seok added with interest.
"I really like Lia's emotional expression. It's so immersive and... so touching." Gummy nodded approvingly at Lia. In the end, Gummy voted for Lia.
Yang Hyun-seok and Seven both voted for Bo-eun. ... The remaining three groups also began their performances. Park Sandara and Min-ji chose "e Back to Me," a bright and youthful song.
Park Sandara attracted attention with her sweet looks and playful expression management, while Minji put a lot of effort into the choreography and her stage presence was very contagious.
In the "HOT" group, Bona tried a sexy style and performed a solo dance to a strong drum beat, looking much more confident than in the previous episode. Chan Eun continued to play to his rap strengths, re-arranging the original song's bridge, and going all out.
The final act was the "Lies" group. Chaerin and Eunjung's performance was undoubtedly one of the most anticipated.
Cailin was as steady as usual, reinterpreting the rap in the introduction section and the chorus climax, which not only retained the essence of the original song but also demonstrated her own dominance on the stage.
At Kwon Ji-yong's suggestion, Eun-jung introduced the performance with a short, exquisite scene, richly layered with emotion and full of creativity. Their styles were distinct, yet each had its own unique charm. Seven watched with rapt interest.
"Ah... I really envy the president for being able to sit on the judging panel and watch such performances." He sighed half-heartedly while judging.
"Nim, will you watch Project A on time after this episode?" Gummy teased. "Of course!" Seven quickly waved his hand to clarify, "I was already a loyal viewer before I became a judge!"
As he spoke, he gave the trainees in the audience a heartfelt cheering gesture, which drew a chuckle. The atmosphere relaxed, and then the lights came back on, and the show moved on to the next segment.
Amidst warm applause, Seven took center stage.
He held the microphone, his tone solemn yet friendly: "The second round of performances has come to an end here. Audience voting for this round will be open from April 15th to April 18th. We ask our audience to support our trainees and look forward to their upcoming wonderful performances!"
He paused and looked towards the camera. "Next, I will announce the next episode's program structure on behalf of the president—"
"Next up, the group showdown I've been waiting for. The theme is—re-creations of Bigbang's hits!" As soon as he finished speaking, the screen scrolled, revealing the names of two tracks: 1. "Fool"
2\\. "The Last Goodbye" A burst of whispers immediately arose among the trainees.
Seven smiled and continued, "After the show airs, the top two trainees in the real-time voting will serve as team captains for the next episode and will each select members to form their own teams." "And the special guest instructor for the next episode—"
He paused for a moment, then continued, "They are our YG Entertainment's representative artists, and my beloved brothers—Bigbang members Jiyong and Youngbae!"
The camera quickly cuts to the audience, where the girls' faces reveal surprise. Just then, the big screen shifts to a pre-recorded clip. In it, Dong Young-bae and Kwon Ji-yong stand one after the other in front of the YG practice room's logo wall.
"Hello, fellow trainees!" Yongpei smiled and raised his hand, waving toward the camera. Behind him, Quan Zhilong, with a calm expression, nodded gently toward the camera. Another round of exclamations erupted from the audience.
"Please carefully choose your first and second choices from the two songs on the screen," Yongbae continued. "Zhilong and I will each choose one of them as our favorite track."
"Of course, the songs chosen by the top two voting members will become the final songs for her group. At that time, we will automatically become mentors for both teams."
Yongbae briefly explained the rules and winked. Lia stared at the screen, her mind shifting. Eunjeong couldn't help but whisper to Bona beside her, "What do you think they'll choose?"
"I don't know..." Baona turned slightly to the side. "It doesn't make any difference to me. I can't be ranked at the front anyway. In the end, I was chosen by the captain."
"That's right, I wonder if I can get a spot in this vote..." Eunjung sighed and added softly, "GD sunbaenim will probably choose 'Last Goodbye', right?"
"Why?" Minzhi, who was standing by, was also curious and asked.
"Well, this song is newer. I think he said in an interview that he would have a deeper memory for songs he just wrote..." Eun Jung was not very sure, "It's just a guess anyway." "Okay." Min Ji retracted her head.
"Now, everyone, please come up on stage one by one, write down your preferred songs on a piece of paper, arrange them in order, and place them in the ballot box." Seven pointed to a transparent box that had been prepared on the side of the stage. "The production team will announce your choices after the voting rankings are announced."
The trainees stood up one by one and walked to the stage. Lia thought for a moment, wrote two lines, and dropped them into the box. Even though they knew the final choice lay with the two captains, the trainees still carefully wrote down their preferences.
"Well, this episode ends here—" Seven turned around and looked at the camera with a smile: "Dear viewers, please continue to pay attention to and enjoy Project
A”, let’s welcome the hot summer together with the trainees! ” … Due to the participation of senior artists, the popularity of comments on the official website of “Project A” soared after the broadcast of this program.
Many passersby began to pay attention to this program - "I just watched it when I passed by, and the more I watched, the more I got hooked..." "I'm almost hooked~~~" "Goddess Gummy is so beautiful, and she's so gentle when communicating with the trainees!"
"Oh my god, GD and Youngbae are in the next episode, so excited!" "Seriously, how many will debut in the end? I hope all eight won't debut..." "Not impossible... I like all of them."
"Don't... that's just like fooling around with the audience..." Because the editing was more balanced than the first episode, and there were also clips of dormitory life, the trainees generally received more attention:
"Park Sandara is absolutely, stunningly beautiful." "Really, she doesn't look like a YG kid at all." "The guy above, that's hilarious, what about the others when you say that?" "Yeah, I don't think any of these people on the show are ugly, right?"
"There are so many beautiful ones, not just not ugly." "Their abilities are truly beyond measure, Minzhi's dancing makes me tremble." "When Cailin saw the rankings, I felt pity for a second. Strong children shouldn't be treated like this."
"Everyone's state has improved in this episode, and Bona is also much more confident. I look forward to the next episode~~~" Of course, the most discussed topic is about Lia. Her performance in both episodes was remarkable, and she was unexpectedly popular with the audience——
"I didn't expect her to sing so well." "There are so few shots of her in the dormitory, did the production team do some editing?" "No way, I think Lia Bao doesn't really like to be in front of the camera."
"Am I the only one who noticed she was doing her homework in the corner? She's so hardworking, my darling." "The judges actually didn't choose Lia. I like her version the most. I've played it on repeat 1000 times."
"Yes, yes, her interpretation is so touching! Who can understand a girl's inner thoughts?" "My baby's eyes were shining at that time, was she secretly in love with someone!!!" "Dreaming of a GD, double ecstasy!"
"Don't bring the senior upstairs, you'll get scolded." "Really, don't bring Qiuqiu. Didn't you see that the girl didn't choose his song to avoid suspicion?"
"But seriously, my baby didn't choose 'Lies', and GD must have been mad. He suddenly said 'Can't lose to the Gummy team', and I really laughed to death!" "Ah, now that you mention it, it really does sound a bit like that..."
"Everyone is Conan, damn! He was so professional at the beginning, but suddenly he was confused there." "Stop it... Focus on Lia in the building, there are still many senior fans here, don't quarrel again..."
"Am I the only one curious about what song my baby will choose next time?" "Fuck!!! I just did a quick search! The third arrangement of "Fool" is by Lia Kim!!!" "Is it the Lia Kim we are discussing?
Kim? ? ? ” “? !!! !!! !!! ” … * Regardless of the chaos in the forum, a meeting was also held within the YG planning team.
"Young Bae's solo album is about to be released in May. We are considering releasing the audio and MV of "Only Look at Me" in advance.
"A" will be released simultaneously before the third episode airs. Taking advantage of the show's popularity, it's a good opportunity to attract traffic to each other." The planning team leader flipped through the report in his hand: "Hmm...anything else?"
"There's one more thing. We're still communicating with the artists and the production team. If the traffic generation is good, we'll consider incorporating Yongpei's music stage into the program and letting the trainees with higher voting rankings participate in the stage performance." The team member reported in a low voice.
"Well, overall, there's nothing wrong with it," the team leader nodded. "But... the current popularity structure seems a little less than ideal," the bespectacled man sitting in the corner of the conference room whispered. According to the latest voting results, Lia still held steady in first place.
While her overall popularity has increased significantly, the gap between her and the second-place vote is a staggering 30,000 votes. The gap between the other trainees has narrowed. Chaerin's outstanding performance this episode has vaulted her to second place, with Eunjung in third.
"Didn't Lia say before that she might withdraw from the competition?" The team leader looked at Bao Heng, "How is it now?" "There is nothing abnormal at the moment." Bao Heng shook his head and responded calmly.
The team leader paused for a moment, then turned and instructed, "Talk to the production team. Their screen time can be reduced appropriately for the next episode." Unequal popularity wasn't what the company wanted. Furthermore, she was an unstable member.
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