Chapter 95
The news of James Blake's participation in the awards ceremony.
It was certainly surprising, but not something extraordinary.
James Blake was a famous pop star and dance singer. Of course, the term "dance singer" alone couldn't fully capture everything about an artist like James Blake.
Anyway, everyone agreed that James Blake was a pop star who had enjoyed worldwide popularity.
Yes, "had enjoyed" — to be precise, it was past glory. His popularity now wasn't what it used to be.
"James Blake..."
"I've heard the name. Isn't he a really famous singer?"
The members showed somewhat lukewarm reactions to the name James Blake.
Honestly, neither I nor the members were from the generation when James Blake was at his peak.
James Blake's prime was about 10 years ago.
At that time, except for Park Han-hwi, the members including me were all in elementary school.
"They always invite one or two famous pop stars to awards ceremonies anyway. It's not strange that James Blake is coming, but it is a bit unexpected. From what I know, he's been more active as a producer lately rather than as a singer."
As Yujin Kim said, James Blake seemed to be more active as a producer than as a singer these days.
Though he hadn't completely stopped his singing activities.
"Anyway, the most important thing is that James Blake is coming to Korea to participate in the Music Net Awards."
"Then what you're thinking is..."
"Yeah, how about we perform a stage with James Blake's song at the awards ceremony?"
"Definitely... if it's an awards ceremony that James Blake himself is participating in, it wouldn't be too strange for us to sing his song. Well, we can package the reasoning however we want later."
Preparing a cover stage wasn't a big problem.
Every year, several teams prepared cover stages at the awards ceremonies. It was common for junior idols to cover senior idol singers' hit songs.
But we didn't want to do something that ordinary either.
"Covering his song in front of a world-famous pop singer..."
"The buzz would be huge."
"Of course, we'd have to do it really well."
The members' reactions to my idea weren't bad.
There were risks, but there probably wasn't a stage that could concentrate people's attention this much.
Unless James Blake himself were to take the stage.
'That probably won't happen.'
No matter how much I searched through the articles, there was no mention of James Blake performing on stage himself.
He'd probably just play the role of a presenter for one of those awards with "Global" attached to its name.
That's what most of the pop stars who had been invited so far did.
"Then the song is obviously..."
"It has to be Dangerous."
Dangerous was undoubtedly James Blake's biggest hit song, a track that literally caused James Blake syndrome by holding the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for a whopping 9 weeks.
When I mentioned the song title, everyone nodded but also showed slightly tense expressions.
"If we're going to do it, we really have to do it right."
"If we do it half-heartedly... won't we not get invited to awards ceremonies anymore?"
"We'll still get invited to awards ceremonies, but we might not be able to do overseas activities for a while."
"Come on, no way..."
We said it playfully, but if we covered James Blake's Dangerous and showed a disastrous stage, the aftermath could truly be enormous.
Like the ruined stage videos of Japanese idol groups that frequently circulate on the internet, WEIRS's stage could become the target of public ridicule.
Of course, if we just performed well on stage, there would be nothing to worry about.
"Everyone, think about how we did during our audition."
"Ugh."
"Staying up all night was routine back then."
"We had to prepare a stage for one song every two weeks."
"I thought I was going to die..."
I'm not sure if this is fortunate or not, but we were a group that debuted through an audition program.
There probably wasn't a group as good as WEIRS at preparing quality stages within a tight timeframe.
"The remaining time isn't that leisurely, but if you think about the audition days, it's more than enough time."
I said that and looked at each member straight in the eyes.
"Don't think of it as just another awards ceremony stage. Let's try everything we can."
Honestly, this was my own greed.
No matter how much I was the leader, the members didn't have to follow everything I said.
It wouldn't have been a big problem if we prepared a safe stage as the members had initially said.
I just wanted to show more than that.
If they didn't necessarily want to take on a challenge like me, my words could feel uncomfortable right now.
As I was thinking that and looking at the members.
"I'm in!"
Among the hesitating members, Kang A-jin cast the first vote of approval.
And.
"I'm for it too...!"
"Since we're doing it anyway, let's aim for the Grand Award."
After Kang A-jin, Baek Si-hyun spoke, and Shim Seong-ha next to him said playfully.
"Someone needs to discipline those rookie groups anyway."
Woo Jung-woo nodded with a serious expression and tone that didn't sound like a joke.
Finally, Yujin Kim and Park Han-hwi.
"Then we need to arrange the music."
"How about we mix our title song and make it a remix version? It's a performance-oriented song anyway..."
I could see the two of them already starting on the arrangement work.
"Alright, while Yujin and Han-hwi hyung are working on the arrangement, let's think of ideas for the choreography and stage composition."
"Yes sir!"
"Got it!"
The emergency meeting ended just like that.
The WEIRS practice room immediately switched to a wartime footing.
***
Just because we had unified our opinions didn't mean everything was settled.
As soon as the discussion with the members ended, I conveyed our intentions to the agency based on the stage we had roughly planned.
"Hmm, the planning itself shouldn't be a big problem. They'll definitely help as much as they can on their end too."
I nodded while listening to the manager hyung.
Honestly, planning one more special stage wouldn't be that burdensome a request for our agency people.
If it were another awards ceremony, we wouldn't have been able to get permission this easily, but our agency and Music Net were sister companies within the CL Group, weren't they?
It wasn't like we were asking them to let us win some award; it was just a matter of slightly changing the stage proceedings.
Even if the agency CEO didn't intervene, it was something sister companies could sufficiently accommodate for each other.
"But Lin-A."
"Yes?"
"Actually, there is one problem."
"What problem?"
What problem is he suddenly talking about?
Did the CEO oppose it?
"It's not a problem with our company or Music Net's side... it's from James Blake's side."
"Huh? Why from them?"
"The thing is, James Blake might refuse."
Wait, what does this mean?
If this happens, our plan falls apart from the very beginning.
I urgently spoke to the manager.
"What do you mean? Why would they refuse a cover stage?"
"No, I also just heard it secondhand, so I don't know exactly."
"Well, what did you hear?"
"It seems when they invited James Blake this time, the awards ceremony side tried to persuade him to do a collaboration stage with K-pop artists."
"And he refused, I assume?"
"The collaboration stage was rejected outright. So then they said they could at least prepare a cover stage on their end."
"He refused that too? No, then why did you say it was okay earlier?"
"So that's the thing... it's not a refusal, but it's a bit ambiguous. He said that if someone's going to sing his song, he'd want a singer of a certain level to do it. That's what James Blake supposedly said."
A singer of a certain level?
Honestly, it wasn't completely incomprehensible.
From the perspective of a world-famous pop star, it wouldn't feel great if some nobodies came out and covered his song in front of him.
But what if he considers us below his standard?
"Hmm..."
"I told them I'd pass the message along, but... they're being quite demanding on their end."
"What happens if we get refused?"
"Then there's no need for us to swallow our pride over one cover song, right? Well, I'm not sure if further persuasion would work anyway."
I organized my thoughts while listening to the manager.
I never expected to hear this kind of inside story when I simply wanted to prepare a cover stage.
Anyway, if they refuse, we can just find another method.
No, actually, we didn't necessarily have to insist on a cover song. We could create a cool stage with our own song too.
"Hyung, I understand for now. Then when can we hear their answer?"
"I don't know that exactly either. I'll tell them to give us an answer as quickly as possible."
"Yes, thanks hyung."
The problem was that we couldn't get an answer right away.
James Blake wasn't some Korean singer; it didn't seem like he'd give us an answer the very next day just because we asked today.
'It's ambiguous.'
If it were a flat refusal, I could just prepare a different stage right away. But being told to wait until we get permission was a bit uncertain.
Anyway, I needed to tell the members.
'It'd be better to talk about it when we're all together tomorrow.'
It was already late today, and the members had already scattered, so it would be hard to talk to them.
Just as I was thinking that and about to head home, unexpected news forced me to return to the company.
That news was that an answer had come from James Blake less than a full day after we inquired about covering his song.
***
"What should we do about this."
"Hmm..."
"So they told us to record an a cappella cover video and send it?"
"Yeah, by today. To be precise, by today in US time."
The reason we were gathered in the practice room in the middle of the night was precisely because of James Blake's demand.
The absurd news that we had to record an a cappella cover video and send it to them. Of course, the song had to be performed live.
What was even more outrageous was that the time given to us was less than a day.
"Come on, at least give us time to memorize the lyrics..."
"They say by US time today, but it's already night here... I guess we have to record it by dawn and send it."
The time given to us was about 12 hours.
On the condition that we don't sleep, that is.
"Honestly, this is a bit ridiculous... it's not like a cover is some extraordinary request. Isn't this just them saying no in a roundabout way?"
When Woo Jung-woo said that, the other members nodded.
Honestly, when I first heard this demand, I couldn't say I didn't have the same thought either.
"Well, no matter what, I don't think James Blake is that petty of a person... Yujin, what do you think?"
"Honestly, who knows about the whims of pop stars. It's just..."
"Just?"
"Giving a time limit and demanding an a cappella live... looking at it another way, it could mean he actually wants to see our real skills."
From the beginning, Yujin Kim didn't seem all that surprised by James Blake's demand.
Among us sitting together in the middle of the night because of an absurd demand, she looked the most composed, at least.
"If James Blake made this demand because he wants to see our real skills. Do you think we should accept it?"
Honestly, I was the one who suggested the cover in the first place, but I hadn't anticipated things would get this complicated.
Personally, I wanted to tell the members to at least try it. But I wanted to hear the other members' thoughts first.
"I think we should do it."
"Huh?"
At Yujin Kim's unexpectedly firm words, the other members including me tilted our heads and looked at her.
Then Yujin Kim, receiving all our gazes, continued speaking.
"Because this is an opportunity."
As Yujin Kim spoke as if no other reason were necessary, I recalled the words Yujin Kim had said before.
'Don't tell me...?'
"Next year... we have to promote in America."