Generally, idols held a press showcase before their fan showcase.
That way, articles could be published as soon as the fan showcase began.
But Debonair was different.
‘They’re holding the press showcase together with the fan showcase...’
Music critic Lee Youngsu had been invited to Debonair’s showcase and calmly took his seat in the press section.
It meant he would be getting off work late, but this much was fine.
TopEast had shown a measure of sincerity, after all.
They probably wanted the fans’ reactions from the venue to be vividly included in the articles.
‘Or maybe they don’t want the members’ first performance to be at a press showcase.’
Press showcases were quiet and orderly.
It was customary.
The reporters were busy writing their articles, and they had to fully hear and watch the performance for the sake of those articles.
Of course, it wasn’t his concern.
‘Still, the articles will go up a little late this way...’
As a substitute, TopEast had prepared pamphlets containing the song information and distributed them early, so that articles could be reported even during the fan showcase. He had no choice but to use that as a foundation, at least.
‘I’ll write the song review after watching the music video at six... and I can handle the fan reactions separately as follow-up work during the showcase...’
Anyway, as Lee Youngsu read through the pamphlet, he found himself intrigued.
‘The title track, “Debonair”... It says it has Latin influences?’
Korean idols did not usually do Latin pop.
‘And they’re even making it the title track... Are they trying to target the Latin pop market, perhaps?’
The Latin pop market was certainly much larger than the public expected.
It was the second-largest market after English-language pop music.
Of course, Lee Youngsu quickly reached a conclusion a little later.
They were probably just trying to target the South American market, where K-pop was traditionally strong.
Still, one question remained.
South American K-pop listeners might actually dislike overt Latin pop.
‘If they want Latin pop, they can just listen to songs from their own countries. Why listen to K-pop?’
Looking at this, he wondered if TopEast still hadn’t found a clear direction compared to the Big Four entertainment companies.
Even so, he still felt a sense of anticipation.
‘Oh...? But this is another disco song...?'
The description also called it a disco song—obviously an attempt to capture mass appeal.
Now in his forties, Lee Youngsu had once frequented nightclubs, and he was someone with nostalgia for disco.
‘That’s right. Disco is the root of dance music!’
Most K-pop songs took the form of dance tracks.
And if one had to choose the genre that best represented dance music, it was undoubtedly disco.
In fact, it would not be wrong at all to say that most of today’s idol songs were derived from disco.
‘House, synth-pop, hip-hop... They’re all subgenres of disco.’
Of course, each genre had branched off and developed independently in its own direction.
Hip-hop, among them, was considered to have strayed the farthest from disco.
Perhaps because that style had caught on, hip-hop was often seen sweeping the upper ranks of the Billboard charts.
But trends always came full circle.
The hip-hop genre had begun entering an overall slump in the 2020s.
‘Last year, hip-hop couldn’t even take number one on Billboard.’
The trend that had newly emerged in its place was, without question, the retro boom.
It was an overall trend in the cultural industries that had begun blowing in during the 2010s.
By the 2020s, it had become the strongest trend of all.
‘Korea can’t escape global trends either.’
Naturally, that tendency could also be observed in the K-pop songs occupying the upper reaches of the Korean charts.
Of course, there were no outright retro disco songs in the upper ranks.
Still house, synth-pop, and hip-hop.
But there was one blind spot.
When those genres were subdivided into different branches, people chose the branches that retained the strongest influence from disco.
Without using disco overtly.
While still giving the song a sophisticated feel.
‘There’s a tendency to look down on disco as “cheesy,” regardless of generation... So idols, who live and die by their image...’
But idols did not blindly avoid disco songs.
On the contrary, girl groups that borrowed from disco had continued to appear steadily.
‘In both the 2000s and the 2010s, the songs representing each decade always included a megahit disco song by a girl group.’
One of the girl groups’ steady sellers.
The cute and pretty retro concept.
‘Debonair must have a retro concept too, then? Hmm... They gave off such a confident feeling in the trailer... That’s a little disappointing.’
Even so, Lee Youngsu habitually began writing.
[Debonair takes the existing retro style and makes it their own...]
And those thoughts were completely shattered at six o’clock.
As he watched the music video to write his review.
Usually, whether a rookie girl group adopted a girl-crush or girlish concept, there was a foundation of freshness, youth, and brightness beneath it all.
That was why he had been certain it was retro.
‘But this is less retro than...’
A bass sound painted with the distinctive colors of mature Latin pop.
Fresh, clear voices unique to a rookie girl group, offsetting Latin pop’s stickiness.
Cropped suits styled with sophisticated femininity.
A melody that seized disco’s signature mass appeal without going overboard.
It was, how should he put it?
A refined retro superstar.
Reinterpreted in the style of the twenties.
Without any trace of a rookie vibe.
‘But...’
He had to see the performance.
For a retro superstar, the performance onstage was what completed the whole picture.
* * *
Dohee’s fansite master was thinking along similar lines.
Of course, her thought process was not nearly as complicated.
‘What is this? The song’s good. Disco can sound this sophisticated...? Fuck... But what is this? Dohee in a cropped suit...? Is Dohee becoming an unnie...? This is insane... That cool-beauty unnie...’
The fansite master quickly opened her social media account.
Dorahee @Dol_Ahyee
Forget living to a hundred. I think I’m going to the Lord’s side right this instant.
Dorahee @Dol_Ahyee
Oh Lord, please forgive me. I committed a crime today. I shouted “unnie” at Dohee, who is ten years younger than me. But it’s all Dohee’s fault. She seduced me first. This insane cool-beauty unnie...
Meanwhile, the friend beside her was denying it.
“No... She’s still a kid...”
That was true.
“But isn’t she an unnie today...?”
That was true too.
As the two of them alternated between affirmation and denial, confused, a new post appeared on her feed.
Seoyunhae @Jonna_Seoyoon
But it’s a double title track. Where’s “Born Ideals”?
What is TopEast doing? Hurry up and release it already??
“Ah!”
Only then did she remember.
That it was a double title track.
* * *
At seven o’clock, when the showcase began.
The second title track, “Born Ideals,” still had not been uploaded.
─They don’t usually release double title tracks at the same time.
└Fuck, that’s only for top-tier groups. These girls are rookies debuting today.
└Yeah, it’s Dohee and Seoyoon~ No matter how much you beg, TopEast is never going to release it~ kek
At last, the livestream screen, which had been frozen on Debonair’s logo, began moving dynamically along with Debonair’s catchphrase.
As chats in all kinds of languages rapidly flooded the screen, as if in excitement,
Dohee’s self-composed piano piece began to play.
The members’ concept photos alternated according to the piano’s dynamics.
Calm, neat, chic, indifferent.
Each of their cold-toned, distinctive charms seized the viewers’ attention, but in truth, everyone’s interest was focused entirely on the first performance that was about to begin.
The showcase venue came into view on the screen just as the piano’s climax brought the movement to an end.
Lights came on in the venue, which had been plunged into darkness, illuminating a single person.
A cropped blazer, a strappy camisole, dress pants.
Dressed entirely in a deep navy blue.
Dohee, exactly as she had appeared in the music video moments before.
─Wow, she’s really unrealistically pretty...
That lasted only a moment before the viewpoint changed to one looking down from above.
Majestic sounds, the noise of falling rain, and intermittent rolls of thunder could be heard.
Small ripples, as if created by the rain, spread across the floor.
Moreover, the largest concentric ripples were gently forming around Dohee.
─What the hell, why does this stage look so expensive? Isn’t this just a showcase?
─I’ve never seen a stage like this ㄷㄷ;; This is seriously a concert.
The entire stage had been fitted with floor-mounted LED display panels.
It was not simply a showcase, but a show-concert.
This time, Dohee kicked her foot.
A large ripple rose across the floor in that direction.
As if the water had been kicked up.
Then the camera returned to a frontal view, and the background music grew even more intense.
At that moment, several people noticed.
─Huh? Isn’t this like The Phantom of the Opera?
─It is. I didn’t realize because the progression was a little different, but now that I’m paying attention, it is.
─Wow lol, this was a spoiler too.
The background music was an arrangement of The Phantom of the Opera, reinterpreted with the synth sounds used in disco.
Thanks to that, its distinctive majesty flowed out in a sophisticated form.
Rumble—crack!
At the same time, an enormous peal of thunder burst out.
Dohee suddenly spun around.
Lightning within the clouds appeared on the screen behind her.
Blinding white lights burst forth, expressing the lightning that had just torn through the sky.
The lights cast shadows.
Four beautiful silhouettes appeared against the clouds on the screen behind them.
But only for a moment.
The lights that had flashed like lightning faded away just as quickly.
The scene grew calm again.
Yet the lingering afterglow still illuminated the rear of the stage.
With the blinding flash and enormous shadows gone, their forms could now be seen.
Four people standing in poses like models.
Black, dark gray, deep crimson, purple.
A bralette or a tank top.
A cropped blazer or a standard one.
The details differed slightly.
But the theme was the same for all of them.
Long, straight hair and sophisticated suits.
Four white lines appeared on the floor.
The four members calmly walked forward along those lines.
And just as in the opening of the music video,
the camera captured Dohee fully from the front,
while the members disappeared behind her.
As Dohee stared expressionlessly into the camera and her lips began to move,
[I can see you calling devil more]
The performance began at once.