In front of the ‘New Scope Records’ headquarters building in New York, the United States.
The members, who had slept after they arrived at the accommodation in New York late yesterday afternoon and had barely gotten used to the time difference, got dressed early in the morning and gathered in front of the headquarters building.
For their trip to the US this time, they were accompanied by Album Production Team Leader Shim Joon, Fan-Marketing Team Leader Lee Dae Hyung, and Managers Oh Baek Ho and Gu Chul Min.
Additionally, Jo Anna, Department Head of the Planning and Operations Team, was with them too.
New Scope Records was one of the labels under ‘Music Universe’..
Music Universe was one of the companies that shook and dominated the American music market, the number one in the world, including broadcast stations, radio channels, online music channels, and record labels.
Among the dozens of labels owned by Universe, New Scope Records was currently their best performing label.
New Scope Records’ vision was to showcase the most pop-like pop music that was ahead of the trends.
With that vision in mind, it started gathering singers with unique and astounding vocals, and made people like Lady Nana, Lena Del Rey, Gerald Williams, etc., into successes one after another. In addition to recruiting existing singers, they worked hard to discover and debut new singers, of whom LIL was the most outstanding achievement.
LIL stood as the face of New Scope Records after his last year’s mega-hit success.
The operational policy and planning power of New Scope Records, which has the ample capital of its parent company as its foundation, was worth emulating.
It was an advanced operation method that HIT Entertainment, which dreamed of becoming a large agency as well as tackling the world market, wanted to learn from no matter what.
As the person in charge of moving forward with the contract, Department Head Jo Anna, the head of the Planning and Operations Team, was also included in the LIL collaboration album project. An external advisory lawyer was also present.
Since the contract had already been reviewed, Team Leader Shim Joon and Team Leader Lee Dae Hyung weren’t absolutely needed, but Department Head Jo Anna decided to get on the plane too because it was a good opportunity to learn how New Scope Records operated.
There was definitely a lot they could learn from interacting with the person in charge and having casual conversation as they proceeded with the contract.
As a way of doing PR, New Scope Records offered a tour of its headquarters to those they’d be working with, including KK.
Department Head Jo Anna and Team Leader Lee Dae Hyung went into the conference room to handle the contract while KK, Team Leader Shim Joon, and Manager Oh Baek Ho toured the New Scope Records building.
The inside of the building had an exhibit hall that collected albums released by New Scope Records over the years, almost like a museum.
They were one of the many labels under Universe and they had only collected the records they had released, but those were already significant enough to learn the history of American pop culture from.
Everyone looked at the displayed jackets, their mouths agape.
“Man, they even have the Jeminem album,”
Jung Yoon Ki muttered as if fascinated.
The music genre of hip hop came from Black culture, which definitely made it a hard genre for White people to be a part of it. It was an unusual genre for White people, who are usually the ones who discriminate. Even in that kind of environment, Jeminem made it into the tight-knit hip hop market with his incredible skills.
Even those who initially wouldn’t recognize him and questioned how a white person could make it in the hip hop genre eventually couldn’t help but acknowledge Jeminem.
As such, Jemimen was, of course, a big influence to Jung Yoon Ki and Kim Won who also did hip hop.
While Jung Yoon Ki and Kim Won argued in front of Jeminem’s album about which album was the best or which ones were a masterpiece, Ahn Hyung Seo stood in front of Lady Nana’s album.
“Having just one of these singers is impressive, but to think that they have all these singers…”
In general, Do Wook thought to himself, “this is incredible,” several times as he looked around the exhibit hall.
‘It’d be nice if one day I could make an album good enough to be placed next to these.’
While he was thinking about that, the person in charge who had been guiding them explained that they’d be able to meet LIL soon. When Kim Won translated what the person in charge said, the members looked away from the albums.
Rather than the albums in front of them that were full of masterpieces, their minds were now full of thoughts of LIL, whom they would meet soon.
The members, Team Leader Shim Joon, and Manager Oh Baek Ho left the headquarters building and headed to LIL’s private studio to meet him.
LIL’s private studio was 15 minutes by car from the headquarters building, and New Scope Records had arranged a limousine and driver for KK.
The limousine went past Central Park and headed to LIL’s studio. It was afternoon, but the limousine wasn’t able to go fast due to traffic jams in the center of New York.
Honestly, going slowly was better for the members. They calmed their nerves by looking at the forest of buildings through the window.
“So, this is…”
The limousine stopped in front of the company building.
Once they were standing inside the building, the security guard who had welcomed the KK members nodded his head. The New Scope employee who had been escorting them since the New Scope headquarters pressed the elevator button.
They could see the studio door as soon as they got off the elevator. Kim Won subconsciously muttered in English as he stared at the studio door.
When they opened the door and entered, LIL, who had been sitting on the sofa that was in front of the coffee table, stood up and welcomed the members.
“Hi, guys. Welcome to my studio. Come in, come in!”
The members accepted LIL’s greeting as they entered the studio, dazed.
“Seeing you guys in person like this, you look even younger.”
The KK members responded to LIL’s joke with awkward laughter.
“Oh, Won! I really wanted to meet you.”
As he shook Kim Won’s hand, LIL specially mentioned that he had really wanted to meet him. Kim Won, who had been less nervous since he was at least used to English, responded with a light hug.
When Kim Won thanked LIL for inviting them to the studio, LIL shook his head and exclaimed “no”.
“I’m the one who’s grateful that you guys came all this way. Do Wook, thank you for making a beautiful song. I’m really looking forward to this project.”
He had a little difficulty, but LIL pronounced Do Wook’s name pretty accurately as he casually greeted Do Wook who was next to Kim Won.
Do Wook accepted LIL’s greeting a little uncomfortably.
Laughing, LIL introduced the person next to him. It was producer Dan Wilson. Dan Wilson had a charismatic, shaggy beard.
Dan Wilson held out his hand to Do Wook. He was holding his hand out not to KK member Do Wook, but to composer Do Wook.
He was a talented person who had produced all of LIL’s albums since his debut. He was also the executive producer for this collaboration album.
“As LIL said, you wrote an incredibly beautiful song. It’ll get a good response if it’s included in this album. It’s a uniquely comfortable song, to listen to as well as to sing. That’s also why we picked your song.”
It was exactly as he said.
When LIL was agonizing over Do Wook’s song, which was not the style of song he had expected, it was Dan Wilson who had changed LIL’s mind.
When Dan Wilson had received Do Wook’s song, he quickly noticed that Do Wook had chosen to compose his song from the perspective of a producer rather than a singer.
At the same time, KK also found a way to stand out by choosing a challenging genre for LIL.
‘Clever in so many ways.’
With that thought in mind, Dan Wilson had convinced LIL. It definitely wasn’t a bad choice to use lighter vocals for just one song.
Do Wook replied in response to what Dan Wilson said.
“Ah. Thank you for seeing the composition choice positively…”
After it had been decided that the song would be used in LIL’s album, Do Wook had exchanged more emails with Dan Wilson than with LIL. Do Wook had adjusted the overall sound according to the arrangement direction Dan Wilson had suggested.
Being able to work with a rising virtuoso like Dan Wilson was one of the many opportunities that came from working with LIL.
Do Wook said to Kim Won in Korean,
“I simply added one instrument to the end, but it felt like the song completely came to life. It felt like I found the missing piece of the puzzle. I wanted to tell him that I really enjoyed that part…”
Do Wook couldn’t say long stories in English quickly so he told Kim Won. Kim Won of course translated what Do Wook said in fluent English.
It went without saying that Kim Won would be a better interpreter than using a professional interpreter.
First of all, Kim Won himself was well aware of not only musical terms but also KK’s music and he had worked with Do Wook for a long time, so he was able to convey composer Do Wook’s thoughts well.
Additionally, Kim Won had extraordinary linguistic intuition. He spoke familiarly to LIL by mixing appropriate slang, and he used advanced English to employees and other people who he had to be more formal with.
When Dan Wilson heard Kim Won’s translation, he shrugged and replied that it was his job.
Afterwards, Do Wook also exchanged greetings with the light brown-haired woman and her lover who were next to Dan Wilson. They were the lyricist couple who had added lyrics to the song Do Wook had written.
As expected, the lyricist couple also said to Do Wook that the song’s melody was pretty, repeatedly saying ‘Beautiful’.
Through the lyricist couple, Do Wook’s song became a motif of lovers in the universe.
It was about living on planets far away from each other and sharing their love through messages. The lyrics of their numerous shared messages becoming stars in space left a deep impression.
After exchanging greetings, Team Leader Shim Joon, the members, LIL, Dan Wilson, and the lyricist couple headed to the recording studio.
In the recording studio, veteran engineers with at least 10 years of experience were preparing for the recording. Looking at the recording studio equipment, Do Wook’s eyes widened.
‘This is what is meant by a difference in class…’
Looking at the high specification mixing machine, Do Wook thought to himself that he wanted to use it even just once. His mouth was watering. He had seen only the mixing machine in a MyTube video before.
The recording studio was top of the line, starting from the microphone.
He had described working with LIL as ‘an honor’, but he was touching things he hadn’t been able to before.
‘I get to record my song here!’
Do Wook’s eyes shone.
Neither LIL nor Producer Dan Wilson were in a position to accommodate a leisurely schedule, so they planned on finishing recording today.
LIL confidently entered the recording room.
First to record was LIL. After LIL had recorded his part first, they planned to record the group part. There honestly was no need for LIL to be here when the other members recorded their part.
LIL, who had warmed up his voice, gave the sign that he was good to start recording soon.
The other members observed from the sofa in the back of the recording studio.
Dan Wilson saved the seat next to him for composer Do Wook. LIL, who was wearing the headphone where music was playing through, and Do Wook made eye contact through the recording studio window.
LIL naturally closed his eyes and began singing softly as if whispering his love.
The song he was singing was definitely different than the songs he usually sang. However, his voice was good to the point that even the members, who were in the back, were surprised.
“Where is the love? I’m sailing through the light―”
He had only sung one line but it made your ears perk up.
However, Do Wook’s expression was not bright.
“Mmm…I’d like to stop the song.”
Do Wook thought quickly and conveyed his thoughts. No matter how great of a singer or outstanding vocalist LIL was, the composer was Do Wook.
When Do Wook said that, Producer Dan Wilson gave the signal to stop singing.
The song stopped and LIL looked at Do Wook as if asking, “what’s wrong?”. LIL’s gaze toward Do Wook, who had stopped the song, was completely different from his gaze when he was welcoming Do Wook earlier.
Dan Wilson, of course, was looking at Do Wook as if telling him to go ahead.
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Next chapter: The recording session is not going very smoothly