I am a Pioneer

Halfway Point

November 17th 2012:

Our schedule is getting tighter for the recordings. Episode 1 of the survival show was released yesterday. It seems to be receiving a lot of attention and gaining traction rapidly. My SNS accounts follower count has risen from 600 to 1240 in about 24 hours which is insane. It has received a lot of positive feedback, as well as some negative, but it seems to be well-recieved overall.

At the same time, I was introduced to another new trainee by the girls. This time it was Tzuyu who had arrived on the 15th. I hung out with them yesterday on my day off and watched the premiere of the show with them in one of the tv rooms. They were complaining about the fact that the staff decided to change my hair colour and eyes, I just listened to the complaining and smiled as I thought about the big shock they would be getting in Episode 3 when Seol Young acts up. I also got a few messages from my schoolmates. I hadn't been to school in quite a while due to the show, so I was doing it all by correspondence. This also meant that I hadn't been able to talk to them in quite a while. The same went for my aunt and uncle who called me and complained that I hadn't told them about this or messaged them in the last couple of months. I had to apologise for about 20 minutes before they calmed down.

Anyway, today was the first recording day for Episode 6. We had gathered in the living room of the dorm an hour ago to receive our next challenge. It was a double performance round. One performance was in a group of 5, the other was a solo performance. For the 5-man group challenge, we were to compose and produce our own original song for the performance, while our solo was to be a cover of a soloist or duo's song, that being Korean or international. I was currently sitting down in a meeting room with the other members of my group. Sim Kyu-Bong, Nam Youngjae, DongBang Kyong, and Ra Chan-wook were the members of my team. The leader of our team was decided by vote. It ended up being Nam Younjae, who was the oldest among us at 19.

"Right, first let's establish our positions and jobs, then we'll talk about our song" Youngjae immediately took command of the situation.

"For the Main dancer and the group choreography I want DongBang to be main and Jin-Ho to be lead, you'll work together on Choreography. Rap; Kyu-Bong will be the Main and Chan-wook will be the lead. Finally, Vocals will have Jin-Ho as the main and I'll take lead. DongBang will be a sub rapper, while Chan-wook will be sub vocals." Youngjae very quickly listed our positions in the group and our jobs. he seemed to have a general idea of our abilities after spending enough time with us on the show.

"Next, for the song. Who here has experience composing and producing music?" Younjae asks us. All four members turn and look at me. I meekly raise my hand and grimace.

"Excellent, our new PD-nim is right there" Younjae states.

"Please take care of me" I add.

"We can all work on lyrics together, but for now I want Jin-Ho to work on the composition and the guide. I'll come in from time to time to check on you, same with the others. We will try to add court own ideas and help you with the process." Youngjae is organising us very well. He's clear and concise in his communication and understands each of our limits and capabilities.

"For the vocal lines, Jin-Ho can you write all of them? Each rapper will write their own lines."

"Sure, I'll do it. What do we want the concept of the song to be for a guideline?"

"Seeing as the show is about forming Vanguard, and the group is meant to be representing us paving a new way forward for Kpop, how about something to do with that?" Chan-wook suggests.

"Sounds good" I reply.

Suddenly, we receive a notification Via ADAM. "New addition to the judging process. You will be performing in front of an audience of trainees and other experts. Votes will be distributed by them for each performance one for a solo and one for a group. Expert votes are worth 10 points, while Trainee votes are worth 1. The team and individual with the most points will win, while the team and individual with the least points will lose and be placed in the next 'final stand'..."

Receiving the new rules, we each look around the room at one another. We all linger on Kyu-Bong for a few seconds longer. I'm pretty sure we are all thinking the same thing. "He better pull off one heck of a performance!"

One week later, I am sat in one of the JYP studios. I am working hard on the new song. Younjae and Kyu-Bong walk in while I'm interacting with the camera as I had decided to try and give the show's staff a little bit of content from my composing process.

"Jin-Ho, how's it coming along?" Youngjae inquires as I turn to face them.

"It's almost finished" I reply.

"Really?!?"

"Yep. Just need to write lyrics for it now"

What I said was true. I had just finished with the composition of the song and had played a snippet for the camera to tease the audience with. The song's title was 'Raise the Standard!'. It represented a call to arms. A challenge to our fans and supporters that now was the time to muster and prepare for our march into the new era of Kpop. I had decided not to use songs from my past memories and completely write a new song for this. I was very happy with it. The song was of the electronic/dance and Hip Hop genres. I played the song for Youngjae and Kyu-Bong, careful to turn off the camera first. The song starts with a Bugle playing the American call to arms before a Hip Hop drum beat joins in. A piano then begins to play for a few lines before fading out and the actual song begins to play. The song has a strong, militaristic/pirate style mixed with the Stray Kids rebellion style. It sounds exciting and powerful. Watching Youngjae and Kyu-Bong's reactions I know it is a good song. They can't help but nod their heads along and move to the beat. When the song reaches the chorus, both of their jaws drop. It comes out of nowhere. The music slows down and thins out creating space for a very vocal-heavy line before regaining some substance. It then changes beats slightly before returning to the original sound. There are a couple of other changes here and there for the rap portions and vocal highlights, but overall the song sounds amazing. The song finishes and I wait for Youngjae and Kyu-Bong to come back to their senses.

"Are you sure you made this?" Youngjae questions me as he shakes himself out of his stupor.

"All on my own, you can check the camera footage," I tell him.

"Amazing. It sounds just like the songs that proper groups release. I'm sure if this was released it would be a huge hit!" Kyu-Bong exclaims.

"That's good feedback to hear. Now, all we need are the vocal and rap lyrics. I'll start on the vocal lines. Good luck with the rap." I state. I now looking forward to the finished product.

Youngjae and Kyu-Bong provide me with a few ideas and pieces to improve before leaving. I note down their comments and switch over to my other work. The solo piece that I was altering slightly to make it a little easier for me to perform. I was going to present Bruno Mar's 'It Will Rain' but slightly edited to raise the high notes slightly. I also had to make it feasibly possible to perform choreography for it. It required a few more touch-ups, but I was pretty happy with how it was coming up. So I saved my progress and shut down the studio for the day and headed off for a rest before coming back the next day to write lyrics for 'Raise the Standard'.