The best-friends self-produced content that had been going up over the past two weeks.
I was checking the comments.
─Ah, not a single thing to skip, every bit of it is hilarious
─Chiyo is just the type that belongs in the agency’s highest-risk tier 1. The type to do whatever she wants first and think later lolololol
└Chiyo isn’t even trying to be funny. She just says whatever she wants, and when everyone laughs or gets dumbfounded she’s just standing there like ㅇㅅㅇ all by herself lolololol fr actual madness
─I seriously wondered if Dohee ate something weird today lolololol She was fully in Rahi mode lolololol
─Fr, making fun of each other is the foundation of Doseoz chemistry... And in the middle of all that, when she made the pathetic Ms. Lame joke and Dohee got a little stunned, the way she shrugged all by herself was so cute, even though she’d been getting teased all day lolololol
─No, I’m amazed by Naeun, seriously, I’m amazed by Naeun. Like, how is she still so lively even though it looks like those kids are draining her energy? How did she adapt to this? Is this why she’s the leader?
─Ah, how many nicknames did they make just in this self-content? lolololol I think Wooa’s nicknames increased by over ten
─Why is Wooa such a bundle of love today lolololol She usually felt kind of easygoing and cool, but today she had so much aegyo, maybe because she’s gotten used to the camera, or maybe her real personality is coming out lolololol So cute
There were natural moments mixed in, but since it was self-produced content made with a somewhat artificial concept, I’d been a little worried.
But it had been edited pretty well.
“The reactions are good.”
Of course, I knew.
If self-produced content that showed the members having fun and looking good together became a topic of conversation, that alone would help a lot in easing the atmosphere.
But in the end, it was only a temporary measure.
“Now I should make songs...”
Fundamentally, idols started as singers who had to release songs and promote them, so the results and reactions to the next album would determine every direction.
The atmosphere within the group.
The atmosphere within the fandom.
Even the perception of the general public outside.
Everything.
That was why the work I and the unnies would be doing from now on was a song camp.
There was no need to go somewhere special.
The dorm was enough.
It began on a September autumn night.
* * *
“First of all, the unnies probably heard this after getting confirmation from the director too, but it’s almost decided that we’ll be producing the next album ourselves.”
“Mm-hmm!”
“Alright.”
“Got it~”
Gathered around Naeun unnie, who was slicing fruit with crisp cuts, the unnies munched on the fruit and stared straight at me.
“It’s not like composing is anything special... We’ll just all gather like this whenever we have free time, talk together, and play around. If possible, we should all eat together at the same time too.”
I handed each of the unnies a sheet of paper as I spoke.
“Yeah, the method is simple too. If you think of a melody that seems to fit the concept written there, just hum it. If I think it’s good, I’ll take it and arrange it.”
The papers briefly listed the concept I had already decided for our album, the number of tracks, and the rough timeline.
“For now, we’re going with the genres written there.”
Of course, just because I had planned out the concept,
that didn’t mean I intended to simply notify the unnies.
“You’re curious about why it’s this concept, why it’s this timeline, and why I’m envisioning it this way, right?”
I had said I would do things my way.
But that meant I wouldn’t hide my intentions anymore.
It didn’t mean that, just because I was outstanding,
I would ignore everyone else.
“Before I tell you the reason, I’m going to explain my composing method.”
I intended to start by unraveling it logically.
“I’ll give you a quiz.”
Yes, for the opening...
“Hey, you’re not going to give us another one of those weird multiple-choice quizzes, are you?”
“...It’s short answer.”
For the opening, yes.
This would be good.
“Based on facts and evidence, when do you think the idol culture we think of now was created?”
In truth, there could be many answers.
From first-generation idols, when K-pop truly began to take shape.
Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, called the Heavenly Demon.
The Beatles, who became a worldwide sensation.
Or even Liszt, the pianist counted as the first idol.
All of them could be another correct answer.
“Let me phrase it a little differently. What kind of person becomes a star?”
But the answer I wanted had a more historical reason.
“Get this right and you get ten points.”
“Me! Me, meee!”
Except for Naeun unnie, the other three instantly raised their hands high.
The points were meaningless.
But their childlike behavior was cute.
“Someone unique and cool!”
“Someone who draws the eye, I guess. Literally, someone with star quality.”
Of course, those were correct.
“Someone like Dohee~”
This was...
“First of all, Wooa unnie gets 100 points.”
“My mistake was taking Lee Dohee seriously.”
“Mad Dog Dohee.”
“Chiyo unnie, the cursing is a bit...”
“Yeah, Chiyo, let’s not curse?”
“...I am sorry.”
Anyway.
That’s what I think.
A star isn’t someone who becomes one because they’re outstanding.
They simply appear because the times desire them.
“To put it another way... the person who luckily happened to match the conditions of the times just became a star, that’s all.”
“Is that so?”
“Mm...”
Of course, I hadn’t expected them to agree from the start.
What I’d just said had dismissed the years the unnies had spent constantly working hard and practicing to become idols as mere luck.
But my thoughts hadn’t changed.
And I planned to give one case as an example.
“But earlier, I asked when idol culture was created. I think this is the answer.”
“After teenage culture properly emerged in popular culture.”
“The word idol itself means an object of worship, after all.”
“Then another question comes up here. Then when did teenage culture emerge?”
“This is simple too. It would be when teenagers became consumers. Culture is originally created by the people who spend money.”
Through this simple question and answer, one could say that the idols we speak of today were created at that time.
“In other words, during World War II.”
“Huh?”
I had no intention of suddenly studying history with the unnies.
But to understand a clear target audience, one had to understand the purpose based on history.
“World War II was a war where the current hegemonic power, America, unlike in World War I, participated directly.”
Because knowing or not knowing that determined the direction.
“Out of nowhere?”
“But this is important. It was the cause of the labor shortage in America’s military industry.”
“Mm-hmm, so?”
“So to secure workers, the American government put out a policy. They paid teenage students wages equal to those of adults.”
“Ah~ So teenagers ended up with a lot of money?”
“Naeun unnie, correct! So if they have a lot of money now, what do they do? They spend it. And when they spend money, what happens? Teenage culture is born. And what makes up a large portion of culture? Music.”
“Oh... Now that I’m listening, this is interesting.”
“I guess I like history?”
“But Dohee, where did you study all that?”
“It’s all there if you read books diligently. Anyway, if it were you, unnie, would you listen to the music your parents listened to?”
“I listen to songs from the seventies and eighties too, though? There are a lot of masterpieces.”
“Ah, Dohee-chan, I want to do trot. Trot is fun.”
Sigh.
Should I really write that Kimchi a trot song later?
“Right, there are lots of old masterpieces, and trot is exciting and good, but what I’m saying is that then and now are different.”
After letting out a sigh, I went and sat at the piano in my room.
And I briefly played “Summertime.”
“Huh? I know this. I’ve heard this a lot.”
“Me too.”
“Right, most people have probably heard it. He’s famous. This is a piece by George Gershwin, America’s representative pianist and composer, who encompassed popular music like jazz and classical music in the 1920s and 1930s.”
Popular pop centered around thirty-two measures.
“But songs in this kind of format, for which Gershwin is often mentioned as a representative, are called Tin Pan Alley.”
“Huh? I think I’ve heard of that too.”
If they were the unnies, they had probably heard it at least once in school.
They had all attended arts high schools and majored in practical music.
“There’s a saying like this too. Without Tin Pan Alley and jazz, there is no American popular music. Well, you can look up the details of what Tin Pan Alley exactly is later.”
Anyway.
“The reason I brought this up is that the songs are definitely good. But what I’m saying is that most mainstream songs at the time had this kind of feeling. But think about it. Would a generally hot-blooded teenager mainly listen to this kind of song?”
“True... Most would listen to exciting songs, noisy songs.”
“Exactly. So what properly rose to prominence around this time was the so-called rhythm and blues, or R&B, line of music. To put it simply, blues, as the word blues suggests, is gloomy, a bit calm and quiet, music based on acoustic instruments, right? But R&B is rhythm. Matching the atmosphere of noisy, loud cities, the instruments also moved toward electric ones, and it became more lively, faster, and louder.”
“Oho...”
Seeing the unnies nodding,
to be honest, it was kind of fun.
Maybe I would have made a good teacher?
I feel like I would’ve done well if I had produced idols too.
“But I said that what rose to prominence was R&B, right? There’s a genre that mixed R&B with a bit of a country feel, and that is...?”
“Rock ’n’ roll, baby?”
“Oh~ Kim Seoyun.”
“...What? Kim Seoyun?”
For a moment, I must have really thought I was a teacher.
Informal speech slipped out, haha.
“No, this isn’t the first time with her. Last time, after she declared she’d do things her way, her speech has kept getting shorter every now and then, you know?”
“Seoyun unnie~ It was a slip of the tongue~”
“Wow, wow, look at that expression! No, Naeun unnie, can’t you seriously scold her properly just once? No, the hierarchy of this group right now is, huh?!”
“You yell at me too...”
Yeah, come on, it was just one slip of the tongue, tsk.
I can speak informally a little if we’re around seven years in, right?
“No, that’s because of Lee Dohee!”
“It’s okay... I decided long ago to accept you all as you are.”
“No, what...”
Yeah, yeah.
Naeun unnie said it was okay too.
Moving on.
“Anyway, so Seoyun unnie, what was ultimately the reason rock ’n’ roll suddenly rose to prominence in the 1950s?”
“......”
“Unniee, what could it beee~?”
“Puhu... Teenagers had a lot of money, and they took an interest in rock ’n’ roll.”
“As expected, Kim Seoyun unnie is totally smart~ The best.”
“Hey, stop it?”
“Uh, yeah. So, unnie, at that time, there was another new current in American culture?”
“What. What is it now?”
So prickly.
“Not only did existing radio develop, but TV began to be properly distributed to ordinary households. In other words, music stages could now be broadcast.”
“Dohee-chan, please tell me quickly. I am extremely intrigued...”
More than that, Chiyo unnie’s desire to learn was worthy of praise.
“Good, good. But the issue at that time was teenage culture?”
“Why this time?”
“To begin with, the genre called blues was Black music. So R&B, which developed from it, and of course rock ’n’ roll too, were ultimately all music where Black people were the mainstream.”
“Ah?”
“But America at the time had faaar worse racial discrimination than it does now, right? But they needed to broadcast stages, and all the singers were Black.”
“Hooh...”
“So the broadcasting stations got anxious. Considering the population structure at the time, the largest age group was teenagers, and the age group consuming the most culture was also teenagers. That meant teenagers were an audience they absolutely had to capture, but when they tried to broadcast stages, everyone was Black? Wow, we need to find a white person who does rock ’n’ roll.”
“Oh?”
“And that’s when the world’s first rock star appeared. Even if you don’t know this person’s songs, there’s no one who doesn’t know his name.”