A YouTuber who professionally reviews K-pop despite working as a professional producer.
“We’ll be saying goodbye here. This has been Double G’s Noah.”
“And Double G’s Rio.”
Team Double G had recently surpassed 300,000 subscribers and was earning a fairly substantial income.
It was thanks to the various idol fandoms taking turns tuning in evenly.
“Should we just record the next one in advance while we’re at it?”
“What next one? Is there anything to review right now?”
Compared to working on songs, it was an extremely easy way to make money—just empty your head, listen to a track, and talk about what you felt.
“I heard those Reve kids dropped something new.”
“Eh, they don’t bring in much revenue. I’d rather spend that time working on music…”
But since the video editing process could be quite a hassle, they didn’t work on just any song.
Either a popular group, or a truly good song they wanted to introduce to their subscribers.
Only those two cases.
“But hyung, did you hear? Debonair’s making a comeback next week.”
And when it came to Debonair, a review was practically mandatory.
“Oh, right. They said they were coming back sometime in February, didn’t they?”
Every song they’d released so far had been good.
And they were one of the most popular groups.
“Lee Dohee must’ve worked on at least one song again this time, right?”
“Who knows? The song they did on the year-end stage last time is probably a B-side.”
Especially whenever they reviewed a song said to have been composed by Lee Dohee, it was practically a cheat code for views.
“But how do you know it’s next week? Did you hear something?”
“No, apparently the fans are going crazy on the entertainment forums right now.”
“Oh, really? Why?”
“They said the preorder notice for Debonair’s second mini album suddenly went up last night. And they’re even starting shipments next week.”
Even as he listened to his junior, Producer Noah had no choice but to immediately voice his doubts.
“Hey, wait. They’re starting shipments next week, but the preorder notice only went up yesterday? They haven’t even released the concept photos.”
“Yeah. Well, concept photos aside, the first-week sales are obviously going to be low, but I guess they don’t really care about that either.”
“No, what are you talking about? What kind of entertainment company does that? That’s just reckless management. Is that even a company?”
“No, I’m telling you, it’s really true.”
And a moment later, looking at Debonair’s notice on the screen, Noah felt bewildered.
“It’s true? No, wait, then isn’t this a single album or something? Sometimes groups do surprise music video drops for digital singles.”
“Would they do preorders for that? Look. It says it’s a mini album.”
…It really did. And a four-version album, at that.
But what was even funnier was that, despite selling the album, it stated they would not be revealing the inclusions or the concept photos.
On top of that, the notice even informed them that those would be revealed gradually over the course of one week.
“Wow, these guys are really… What is this? The fandom must be in an uproar.”
“Well, it is noisy. But their results have been good so far, so the mood is that people are holding back on cursing them out.”
And from his perspective as a producer, this could be seen as half a threat.
Even if albums were purchased within the tracking period, if the delivery was recorded after the first-week sales period, they would be omitted from the first-week tally.
So if you were a fan and wanted to raise Debonair’s first-week record, it felt like they were telling you not to weigh the product’s value and just place a preorder within the remaining week first.
“But hyung, if you think about it, unknown singers or ballad singers do it like this sometimes.”
“Hey, that’s not a fair comparison. These kids are guaranteed to hit a million first-week sales easily, you know? After the awards show, the Lee Dohee syndrome spread, and now it’s impossible to even predict how much they’ll sell in the first week.”
“That’s… true.”
This guy was taking it lightly, but this wasn’t something that could be brushed off with a simple “that’s true.”
“Hey, think about it. They must care about first-week demand too, so they would’ve placed an enormous advance order with the factory. But if they run preorders like this and fail to sell them? That’s all inventory and debt.”
“Well… I guess they’re confident in the songs. Or if they hold fansigns, there’ll be plenty of people who’ll buy them.”
No matter how he looked at it, this guy seemed to think company management was far too easy.
Even if Top East wasn’t a major agency, it was a blue-chip company predicted to easily surpass a market capitalization of 300 billion won if it went public.
“Their risk management…”
“Uh, wait, hyung. Something dropped.”
He had been about to educate this guy, who knew nothing but chords.
“What dropped n—”
And once again, looking at the screen, Noah was flustered.
“What is this, a music video?”
“…Hey, today’s Friday, right?”
“Yes. Oh, then a Friday 1 p.m. song release? Then they’re aiming for Billboard, right?”
“No, they said album sales start next week.”
“…What is this, seriously?”
Exactly.
He had no idea what their intention was.
[DEBONAIR Debonair ‘Same’ MV]
But in any case, the music video had dropped.
In the thumbnail, Lee Dohee sat at a piano with her back turned.
“Should I play it?”
Whatever anyone said, they were producers.
They were people who listened once the music came on.
“Yeah, first, let’s just listen.”
Without even a moment to spare, he clicked the music video.
Then…
Thunder rumbled over a black screen.
Flash!
What appeared immediately was just like the thumbnail: Lee Dohee’s back as she sat before a piano in an attic reflected by mirrors.
But the impression was a little different from the thumbnail.
He had thought Lee Dohee playing the piano was now a somewhat obvious setup.
But the screen shimmered dreamily, as if heat haze were rising, and fog blurred the view.
So he couldn’t tell for sure whose back it was.
At that moment.
She raised her hands and struck the keys.
[Lost in shadows
Whispers fading
In the depths, my fears entwine and grow]
(Lost in the dark
The whispers fade away
In the depths, my fears entwine and grow)
And though the person playing the piano was clearly Lee Dohee, the voice he heard belonged to Naeun.
Very clear and soft, and precisely because of that, quiet.
A tone well suited to expressing loneliness.
But the screen crosscut again, showing Naeun in the same location, seated at a desk instead of a piano, diligently writing some sort of letter.
As expected, in contrast, the owner of the voice was Lee Dohee.
[Eyes wide
Heart racing fast
because wrong was made, for me to be]
(My eyes go wide
My heart races fast
Because a wrong was made for me to exist)
Unlike at the awards show, she sang in a clear voice, yet with a certain roughness somewhere within her tone.
Probably intentional vocalization.
—Bang!
The door flew open violently, and with it came the howling of some beast and the sound of an organ.
In that brief instant, Producer Noah thought.
That organ sound wasn’t MIDI but an actual pipe organ, and Lee Dohee had definitely played it herself.
Of course, some might consider it trivial, but that simple choice was what made it sensuous.
Because when it came to organs, the gap between the sound of a MIDI organ and an actual pipe organ was unmistakably different.
‘…The composer has a good sense.’
And along with that, the two screens began to crosscut frequently.
Perhaps that was also the moment the door had slammed open.
The point when Lee Dohee took her hands off the piano.
A cold, chilly wind blew in, scattering Naeun’s sheets of letter paper in droves, and Naeun stood up from her seat as she looked into the mirror.
And within the place Naeun was looking at.
‘…You startled me.’
Uah appeared, pressed right up against the camera and smiling brightly.
Her figure completely distorted in a convex mirror.
[Oh, I am sane
Why do you flee from me in disdain?
Plz meet my eyes
My essence still remains]
(I’m perfectly fine
Why do you despise me and run from me?
Please look into my eyes
My essence is still the same)
The camera’s perspective changed, moving this time to Uah’s side profile as she still smiled before the convex mirror.
Uah sang and smiled outdoors, where the sunlight shone so beautifully.
[So take my hand
Don’t let our love be in vain
we’re not so far
im just be the same]
(So take my hand
Don’t let our love be in vain
We’re not that far apart
And I’m the same as ever)
But even though she had escaped being reflected in the convex mirror, her appearance only became more grotesque.
Uah’s hand was flailing in empty air, unable to grasp anything, and only her face was beautiful.
Then Uah’s hand seemed to finally strike the mirror.
For a very brief instant.
All the chords were cut away, and in the silence, only Uah’s voice could be heard.
—!
As the instrumental sound returned, the impact was felt decisively.
A textbook musical contrast, truly, shifting from silence into every sound. But precisely because of that, it was extremely high-level.
‘Could Lee Dohee have composed this?’
For some reason, he began to feel that way from that moment on.
And that contrasting sound was shown in the music video as well.
This time, Uah and Seoyun crosscut in an instant.
Seoyun was the complete opposite, as though she were Uah’s mirror image.
[Oh, I am sane
Why do you flee from me in disdain?
Plz meet my eyes
My essence still remains]
(I’m perfectly fine
Why do you despise me and run from me?
Please look into my eyes
My essence is still the same)
The lyrics were the same, but unlike Uah, who had been basking in bright sunlight.
In a bedroom, inside a room, in a space without even the slightest distortion in the screen, only the lights flickered countless times.
And instead of making meaningless hand gestures, Seoyun was expressionlessly dancing alone to choreography that seemed to be the chorus part of the refrain.
From beginning to end, at that.
And it was clear that the point of the choreography was a certain degree of eeriness.
If one commonly thought of spooky choreography in America, this was the dance that inevitably came up, reminiscent of a ghost.
The dance where the arms were bent and extended, then swayed left and right.
[So take my hand
Don’t let me lose refrain
we’re not so far.
But you made this insane]
(Please take my hand
Don’t make me lose my restraint
We’re not that far apart
But you made this situation insane)
However, the dance became more lively and idol-like as it went on…
No. Looking at it now, it seemed that was because the lyrics had changed.
Even if the beginning of the chorus was the same.
The words that followed had subtly changed, becoming much colder and chillier.
Though those pleading voices remained the same.
And the camera connected shots of the four members dancing the same choreography in various conceptual locations without giving the viewer a moment to breathe: the piano attic, the attic with letter papers flying, the sunny outdoors, the bedroom with flickering lights.
But then another flash!
Thunder burst out.
And as the second verse began.
It showed Chiyo, wearing a flower crown, springing up from her place on a bright day.
Her face was white and neatly composed.
But she was dressed in a gown covered in dirt and dust.
[I like to hold you still
Untill the nightmare goes
Caught in this maze, unsure how long I’ll go]
(I like holding you still
Until this nightmare passes
Caught in this maze, I don’t know how long I’ll remain intact)
The place Chiyo had awakened was somewhere in a maze, a cemetery filled with crosses.
And someone took both of Chiyo’s hands as she barely managed to stand and stagger.
Seoyun and Uah.
Both of them were smiling brightly.
The beings she met in the maze.
[But it laugh inside
our worlds collide, Let me out
it’s the time for me]
(But it laughs inside
Our worlds collide. Let me out
It’s my time)
That smile was so pure it captivated Chiyo.
[so just say]
But she soon realized those two hands were not offered with goodwill.
Because from Chiyo’s point of view, the two of them were pressing her with terrifyingly expressionless faces as soon as the sky turned dark.
[Why don’t you wanna say?
You just wanna make me shade
Why don’t you wanna say?]
(Why won’t you say it?
You want to make me into shade
Why won’t you say anything?)
And at this point, Noah, the producer, found himself captivated by the video even as he listened to the song.
Because every time a textbook musical contrast appeared, the scene changed without fail, perfectly revealing the producer’s intention—that he had envisioned the music video to some extent while writing the song.
‘...The producer was involved with the music video too.’
The lyrics, the melody, the progression, the accompaniment, the music video—everything was composed to depict a single theme perfectly.
Of course, he had not yet grasped exactly what that theme was, but in cases like this, there was no explanation other than the producer’s involvement.
‘...Anyway.’
As the second chorus began, with the two of them now watching over Chiyo as if to keep her from escaping.
The person who appeared on screen again was Naeun.
Naeun rescued Chiyo, and from that moment on, the screen began to shift into a faster tempo again.
[Just say
(ooh-ooh)]
Chiyo, held by Naeun’s hand, fled back into the maze.
[I'm same
just say]
The two ran off again to catch Chiyo.
And after escaping countless dead ends like that.
When they pushed through the grass and moved deep into the maze.
A place where no sunlight reached at all.
[what say?]
(What did you say?)
The space they all faced was unbearably eerie.
Now Noah, the producer, was certain.
‘This... This time too, Lee Dohee is definitely the main composer. No doubt about it.’
At that moment, the melody and accompaniment changed completely, and that funky bass groove had the same sophisticated feel shown in Sweet Demon.
But there was no time to think about that now.
He could analyze it later.
[I'm same]
(I’m the same too)
Debonair’s signature trademark: beautifully cropped and tailored suits, worn by all five of them in their own colorful styles.
At last, they all entered the same frame for the first time, with Lee Dohee standing in the center.
And now Lee Dohee, too, wore a somehow grotesque smile as she placed a hand on her chest and breathed out, overwhelmed.
That alone was the members’ captivating group choreography.
But it did not end there; the sound of that breath was incorporated directly into the accompaniment as well.
In other words, breath sampling.
That itself was probably part of the audio track.
He was sure of it. Along with the breath noise, a percussion rhythm in a basic 4/4 beat—the closest beat to a heartbeat—came out with a disco-like feel.
Bouncing their bodies to that beat did not require any particular difficulty, but it was extremely satisfying.
Choreography anyone could follow.
That thought suddenly crossed his mind.
Perhaps this album encompassed everything Lee Dohee had learned from the debut album and the previous album.
If one had to classify it by genre, it was disco funk.
[insane-]
(Madman)
And very, very sophisticated at that.
Before he knew it, the bridge—which had not been a dance break, yet had been one—had passed.
Now, in addition to bouncing their bodies, the members began rhythmically tilting their heads to the side.
[Mm, mm, mm, mm]
And with every tilt, time and space flowed irregularly.
Night, morning, day, the maze, the attic, the bedroom, all shifting through jump cuts.
At last, a sunset bathed in reddish light.
The place was an utterly peaceful hill, a rise in the land.
[Now, the day bleeds into night
In the hollow of your gaze, it makes so clear]
(Now, the day bleeds red as it turns to night
In the emptiness of your gaze, it became so clear)
The members sat side by side, gazing at the sunset in profile.
[The blush on your cheek, just sunset's light
that's eating me up inside, you were just a lie]
(The blush on your cheeks was merely the light of the setting sun
That is eating away at me inside, that you were nothing but a lie)
And the camera followed a piece of white dress that was becoming ash somewhere, carried on the wind.
Dohee picked up the piece that had fallen to the ground.
On the hill, Dohee was alone again, her hair fluttering beautifully.
【Debonair, Friday the 13th】
“...Hyung, there are going to be a lot of points to review in this.”
“Yeah, first, let’s search whether the registered composer is Lee Dohee. The lyricist too.”