Chapter 147

# 148

Today, not tomorrow (2)

***

In front of the ‘New Scope Records’ headquarters building in New York, USA.

The members, who arrived at their New York accommodation late yesterday afternoon and slept to adjust to the time difference, got dressed early in the morning and gathered in front of the headquarters.

This trip to the United States was accompanied by album production team leader Shim Jun, fan-marketing team leader Lee Dae-hyung, Oh Baek-ho, and Koo Cheol-min.

Joanie, the planning and operation team manager, was also there.

News Corp Records was one of the labels under ‘Music Universe’ that dominated the world’s No. 1 American music market.

Music Universe was one of the companies that literally dominated the music market, including broadcasting stations, radio channels, Internet music channels, and record labels.

Among the dozens of labels owned by Universe, News Corp Records has been the label that has been performing the best recently.

News Corp Records’ vision was to present the most pop music that was ahead of the trend.

With that vision, and with successive successes such as Lady Nana and Lena Del Rey and Jerrell Williams, News Corp Records began to gather singers with distinctive and outstanding vocals. We worked hard not only to recruit existing singers, but also to discover and debut new singers, and among them, LIL was the standout achievement.

LIL was immediately put forward as the face of News Corp Records following last year’s mega-hit success.

News Corp Records’ operating policy and planning ability, based on the solid capital of its parent company, were worthy of imitation.

It was Sunjin’s management method that not only a large agency but also Hit Entertainment, which dreams of entering the global market, wanted to learn somehow.

Manager Joanie Joanie of the planning and operation team participated as the person in charge of handling the main contract following the successful completion of LIL’s collaboration album. An external consulting attorney was also present.

Since the contract had already been reviewed, it did not matter whether Team Manager Shim Jun or Team Manager Lee Dae-hyung signed the contract, but Manager Joanie thought it was a good opportunity to learn how News Corp Records operates, so she boarded the plane herself.

It was clear that there would be a lot to be gained by entertaining the person in charge and talking naturally while negotiating the contract.

News Corp Records also offered KK a tour of their headquarters as a way to promote and consider those who would be working together.

Manager Annie Annie and Team Leader Daehyung Lee entered the department’s conference room to sign a contract, while KK and Team Leader Baekho Oh looked around the inside of the News Corp Records building.

Inside the building, like a museum, there was an exhibition hall containing albums released by past News Corp Records.

Even though it was one of Uniserve’s labels, it was possible to know the history of American pop culture just by collecting albums released by News Corp Records.

Everyone opened their mouths and looked at the jackets on display.

“There’s also a Geminem album.”

Jeong Yoon-gi muttered as if he was curious.

It was clear that the music genre called hip-hop was a genre that was difficult for white people to join as it originated from black people. It was a special genre for white people, who were usually in a position of discrimination. In such an American atmosphere, Geminem created a crack in the mainstream hip-hop market that had been solidified with his amazing skills.

Even those who initially refused to acknowledge how a white person could revive the spirit of hip-hop eventually had no choice but to acknowledge Geminem.

Geminem was, of course, a rapper who had a great influence on hip-hop artists Jung Yoon-ki and Kim Won.

While Jung Yoon-gi and Kim Won were arguing in front of Geminem’s album about whether this album was better or whether this album was a masterpiece, Ahn Hyeong-seo was standing in front of Lady Nana’s album.

“It would be great to have just one singer, but to have all these singers...”

Do-wook also thought about how amazing it was several times as he looked around the entire exhibition hall.

‘It would be nice if I could make an album that could be placed next to these albums someday.’

While I was thinking about that, the person in charge guiding me explained that I would soon be able to meet LIL. As Kim Won interpreted the person in charge’s words, the members took their eyes off the album.

Rather than the album full of famous songs in front of me, my mind was filled with thoughts about LIL, whom I would soon meet.

“I only added one instrument to the back, and it felt like the song came to life completely. It felt like I found a hidden inch. I would like to say that I really liked that...”

Since he couldn’t say long stories quickly in English, Do-wook spoke to Kim Won, and Kim Won interpreted Do-wook’s words in fluent English, as expected.

It goes without saying that Won Kim would be a better interpreter than most professional interpreters.

First of all, Kim Won himself knew KK’s music well as well as musical terminology, and he had worked with Do-wook for a long time, so he was able to express the thoughts of composer Do-wook well.

In addition, Kim Won had a unique linguistic sense. He spoke in a friendly manner to LIL, using appropriate slang, and used advanced English to address employees and other people he met for the first time who needed to be more formal.

Dan Wilson, who heard Kim Won’s interpretation, shrugged his shoulders and replied that that’s what he does.

Afterwards, Dowook exchanged greetings with the light brown-haired woman and the woman’s lover who were next to Dan Wilson. They were a couple of lyricists who would add lyrics to songs written by Dowook.

The lyricist couple also sang ‘Beautiful’ to Dowook, saying the song’s melody was very beautiful.

Dowook’s song became a song with the motif of lovers in the universe through a couple of lyricists.

It was about people living on distant planets and sharing love through messages. The lyrics about the numerous messages they sent becoming stars in the universe were very impressive.

After exchanging greetings, team leader Sim Jun and members LIL Dan Wilson and the lyricist couple headed to the recording studio.

In the recording studio, veteran engineers with at least ten years of experience were preparing for recording. Dowook’s eyes widened as he looked at the recording studio equipment.

‘This is what different classes of capital mean...’

Dowook looked at a mixing machine with high specifications and thought that he would like to try using it just once. I swallowed my saliva automatically. It was a mixing machine that I had only seen in MyTube videos.

Even the recording studio microphone was top-notch.

Even though I described working with LIL as ‘an honor,’ things that I had not previously understood were coming to me.

‘I can record my songs here!’

Dowook’s eyes lit up.

Since LIL and producer Dan Wilson were not in a position to take time off from their schedules, recording was scheduled to be completed today.

LIL entered the recording studio confidently.

The first batter to record was LIL. LIL was planning to record his own part first and then record the group part later. In fact, there was no reason for LIL to stay in the other members’ recordings.

LIL cleared his throat and sent a sign saying it was okay to start recording soon.

The other members watched the recording studio situation from the waiting sofa at the back of the recording studio.

Dan Wilson gave up his seat next to composer Dowook. The song played and the eyes of LIL and Dowook, both wearing headphones, met through the glass window of the recording studio.

LIL naturally closed her eyes and began to sing softly, as if whispering love.

The songs that rolled off the tongue in my mouth were definitely different from the songs LIL usually sang. However, the members in the back also had surprisingly good voices.

“Where is the love? I’m sailing through the light—”

Even though I only sang one line, I felt like my ears were pricked up.

However, Dowook’s expression was not bright.

“Hmm... I wish you would stop singing.”

Dowook thought quickly and conveyed his thoughts. No matter how great a singer and excellent vocalist LIL was, Dowook was the composer.

In response to Do-wook’s words, producer Dan Wilson gave a signal to stop singing.

The song stopped and LIL looked at Dowook with eyes as if asking what was the problem. LIL’s eyes as she looked at Do-wook, who had stopped singing, were completely different from the eyes that welcomed Do-wook a moment ago.

Dan Wilson was also looking at Dowook as if asking him to speak.