It was always the same.
No matter how much I resolved not to read comments for the sake of my mental health, I always ended up grabbing my phone during breaks like this.
—I never thought they’d release this kind of song, but it’s seriously so good... The title and lyrics are all so good
—simply beautiful
—lyrics by Dohee! this is art😭😭😭
.
.
.
—Thank you! God bless you!
—I didn't expect that Ash Wednesday in Kpop, Happy Ash Wednesday!
—The lyrics quietly singing of hope are so good...
Music video comments sorted by popularity.
This time, there was definitely an unusually high proportion of English comments.
Was this a positive sign?
'The newest comments are all good too.'
To be sure, there were plenty of people saying nice things.
But it was still only day one of gauging the response.
Ugh—
Just then, my phone rang.
"What now."
[Sera: @I Dohee]
It was a mention notification from the Seven group chat.
[Sera: I love this song so much, I’ve been listening to it nonstop! (bunny hugging emoticon)]
[Kim Seoyoon: Honestly, my voice was amazing, right?]
[Sera: (vague nodding emoticon)]
[Kim Seoyoon: I didn't expect anything from you, though]
No, but seriously, Kim Seoyoon was checking messages even while going to the bathroom.
After giving a whole speech about doing a digital detox.
[Harang: But this I Dohee kid needs a good smack]
[Kim Seoyoon: That’s so true]
[Sera: No way, don't]
[Harang: No, seriously, she said our comebacks wouldn't overlap, but the more I think about how she had the nerve to promote herself on my comeback promo broadcast, the more annoyed I get (bunny stomping emoticon)]
[Kim Seoyoon: How about I go hit her right now?]
Why was this chatroom so bustling today of all days.
Did these people have no schedules lately—
[Yeeun: For real, I Dohee, drop dead]
...?
[Yeeun: (Deleted message)]
[Yeeun: Why are you being mean to Dohee]
"T-this brat... So that's why there were so many deleted messages in the chat..."
So there really was a split personality here.
Seriously, Park Yeeun, I think I have to give you credit for your persistence if nothing else. Of course, since today is the comeback livestream day, I'll let it slide.
"Hoo... Seriously, I'm only letting it go once because I'm busy today."
First, to Harang...
[Me: What, did you think you were going to do follow-up promotions with a coupling song?]
[Me: You called me first, so I'm innocent. k]
[Me: Just listen to our song]
[Me: Perfectly enough, the theme of our song that came out yesterday is forgiveness lol]
Wrapping it up with a moral—no, a Dohee-style apology.
[Harang: Dragon stop? Yong-seo! LOLOLOL]
.
.
[Me: LOLOLOLOLOL]
[Me: Ah, I laughed for a good while]
Right then, Kim Seoyoon, who had gone to the restroom, entered the waiting room.
"What are you laughing at?"
There were now five minutes left until today's music video release, and about thirty minutes until the live broadcast.
For no reason, I checked my face once.
Hmm.
"But unni, doesn't my face look really good today?"
"It's the worst you've looked all year."
Okay, another visual peak today.
* * *
Debonair's released tracks were playing on repeat from the speakers of Double J, a producer team and review YouTubers active in Korea and the US.
—I promise, nevertheless...
"What do you think?"
Listening to a track multiple times before reviewing was standard, but they had listened far longer and fallen far deeper into it.
Every time the slightly-over-three-minute music ended, they found themselves humming along, adding harmonies, and smiling.
"It has to be true that I Dohee conceived and worked on this from beginning to end."
Not that they had found out because the music video director had mentioned not long ago that I Dohee personally wrote the scenario.
[Do It Anyway]
Lyrics by: I Dohee
Composed by: Debonair
Arranged by: I Dohee
Nor was it because all the credits listed only I Dohee.
"The fact that all the directionality is woven together so tightly around a single theme is difficult to achieve unless the same person's hand touches it from start to finish."
They could just tell intuitively by listening to the song.
The subtle intentionality behind the lyrics' tonal patterns matching the scale's characteristics, the music video's flow, and so on.
And traces of the creator's deliberation over which emotions to draw out.
What goals must have been set in the initial draft to realize that.
How the song's character was concretized in the lyric writing, which was close to the final stage, and so on.
"Seriously... I think the composition is so beautiful."
"Yeah, the feeling that each of the days truly conveys was really, really accurately expressed."
It was a beauty utterly faithful to its roots.
"What time is it?"
"Exactly three minutes left."
In three minutes, it would be exactly 19:00 on the 19th.
It was a time when it was all but certain that the last title track would drop on the album's release day.
"So what day is today?"
"Looking at the community, everyone was saying it's Usu, one of the twenty-four solar terms."
Noah asked back with his expression.
What's Usu?
"It means snow falls turning into rain, and ice melts becoming water; the weather warms, spring energies stir, and vegetation sprouts."
I see.
"Also, there's a saying that the Daedong River's waters break on this day, so maybe it's something like that?"
Noah nodded while mentally picturing over and over how he would express the solar term 'Usu.'
"Hyung, it's seven."
19:00 soon arrived.
And the two, who had been refreshing.
Burst into laughter.
"Ha, I told you I never get community predictions right even once."
The title alone had strayed from all expectations.
[DEBONAIR 'Just an Ordinary Day' MV]
"It's not even any special day, yet everyone was going on about Usu and whatnot."
Meanwhile, the two intuitively caught on to what I Dohee's intention was.
"She aimed for this, right?"
"One hundred percent aimed for it. This song is probably the album's last track."
It was probably I Dohee's own cute little strategy.
At the end of a special moment, even ordinariness feels special.
"The timing fits perfectly, too. The Lunar New Year holiday that started last Friday has passed, and the ordinary Thursday has finally arrived. And on that day, the last title track 'Just an Ordinary Day' comes out."
"Seeing it that way, it really is more tightly woven, really."
And it was probably a strategy that had already succeeded.
Hadn't it completely missed all the community predictions?
"Now let's play the music video."
Then, how on earth had she expressed the important song?
To think his heart was pounding at a song by a mere nineteen-year-old.
Noah approached with excitement and personally clicked the music video.
[What~ are you filming me right now?]
What greeted him was Wooa, seemingly being filmed by someone with a camcorder.
Her makeup was so light that it could only be thought of as capturing everyday life, and the background was also an ordinary living room sofa.
[Wooa, you look so pretty right now!]
The playful voice that responded was Chiyo's.
[Ah, really~]
Wooa, seemingly embarrassed, raised her hand to cover the camera, and at the same time, a bright acoustic guitar sound rang out as the music began.
A strumming technique hitting all the strings.
'She must have played it herself.'
The accompanying acoustic 'squeak—' sound was the so-called squeak sound that comes when sliding the strings.
"Great start."
And the intro voice this time was Wooa's.
[As another day comes to an end
A gloomy heart in one corner of my mind
Maybe tomorrow really
Might not come]
It was her first time taking the intro, but it wasn't particularly puzzling.
It was simply a rediscovery that her voice suited this kind of playing very well.
Meanwhile, the video passed by with truly everyday, album-work-behind-the-scenes-like images.
Wooa holding the camcorder filming Dohee scribbling something in that famous composition notebook, and the members sitting around laughing at something.
[I'm such a fool
Tomorrow will come in the end
But I'm afraid it won't come if I don't fall asleep]
Then the background shifted to a recording studio and the voice changed.
This time, on screen, it was Naeun holding a guitar and wearing a headset.
Her recording with a rather serious expression, and
The contrast of laughter and chatter with the person next to her when she came outside.
And when someone's finger, zoomed in tight, tapped the desk like a drum.
[But it's okay i like you]
Drums entered cheerfully into the accompaniment that had been only guitar, and another guitar was added, pleasing the ears with an arpeggio.
[The white sunlight
Secretly fills the beginning]
Members sitting around the practice room as if on a picnic, playing instruments, singing, and having fun.
[Look forward to it; today
Might be a good day]
Then, as if someone’s pride was hurt somewhere.
Seoyoon snatched Naeun's guitar and chased Chiyo.
[But you seem very tired]
Noah smiled involuntarily.
However, he couldn't tell if that smile was because of the music video, or because of the instruments naturally added at the end of the chorus that seemed to express a truly refreshing morning.
This was less like a synth organ.
And more like a flute sound lowered in pitch!
And the percussion maracas that brought out the indie sensibility.
[Today's mornings
Are new but not novel
If I start every day with great music
Will I like you?]
The second verse became even more cheerful as the drums joined in.
This time the voice was Dohee's.
No matter how much he looked at it, he couldn't understand. That there were still people sneering that I Dohee's tone color wasn't good.
'How does that make sense after hearing the year-end stage and this? She's really charming.'
She played the piano in front of curtains where sunlight seeped in, smiling so joyfully as if she knew that she herself was great music.
[I'm such a fool
You who arrived are surely a new day
But I don't know why you feel like yesterday's guy]
Of course, the members didn't seem to care, watching from afar in the kitchen—ah, they were eating among themselves.
[But it's okay i like you]
The laughter that naturally seeped from the sight of girls that age immediately led into the second verse's chorus.
And this time, the scenes looked like music video filming behind-the-scenes.
[The white moonlight
Secretly fills the rest]
Dohee with her hair in pigtails, and Chiyo holding those two strands like ox horns as she "drove."
[Look forward to tomorrow
Might be a good day]
In the scene where papers flew about in a gust, a note stuck right onto Naeun's face, and the director holding back laughter at that.
[Today is beautiful in its own way]
In the maze scene, Wooa crashed into the grass wall along with Seoyoon, who fell while running. The two laughed for a long while, covered all over in grass.
And finally, the instruments that had been added one by one to decorate the accompaniment largely disappeared, leaving only the initial guitar sound.
[Damn, when I go to the bedroom
Strange, I don't want to lie down again]
"Haha, the lyrics are really fun."
The members' location was the same as the beginning.
The dorm living room where they sat around singing joyfully.
[Oh, I'm laughing again
Tomorrow's you
Is it Friday?]
Following yesterday, the song that was the very embodiment of indie sensibility ended just like that.
But the music video didn't end.
[Yeah~]
Because they were clapping and laughing among themselves.
The camcorder screen turned off as those laughter sounds gradually faded out.
It was truly a development that defied expectations.
Following two perfectly idol-like songs.
To think there were two songs of perfect indie sensibility.
It gave much to think about.
Which song would receive the most attention.
As far as he knew, there was also Jae's Wednesday playlist on YouTube; perhaps yesterday's song might make it on there.
"But... among the renowned composers right now, is there anyone who could teach I Dohee?"
"Huh? Well? There are some, aren't there?"
"Is that so."
He thought a bit differently. Of course, there were people with greater achievements.
The reason geniuses who remain in history are called geniuses.
Wasn't it less because they were extraordinary when young.
And more because they never stopped developing?
"Somehow... I really want to try writing a column for this album."
"That... me too."
It truly was a feeling that came naturally.