mijobooks Chapter 1361 Listen to it
Chapter 1361 Listen to it
Chapter 1361 Listen to it
Chi Jingyuan heard Wu Shixun's doubts and mutterings, but he rolled his eyes slightly, too lazy to explain to him.
There are different ways of filming and different ways of acting. He felt that Wu Sehun's way of thinking could only be improved by exchanging acting experience with senior actress Yoona.
...Uh, no, that's not right either. Yoona is still very serious and hardworking when she's filming. She prepares very well and works very hard. Although her performance may not be outstanding, that's a matter of talent. She has the right attitude.
Someone like Oh Sehun... is only fit to exchange experiences with Yoona from ten years ago.
After clearing up the misunderstanding and chatting for a while, the dance teachers arrived. The members stopped joking and all started seriously practicing the dance with the teachers.
It's already late November, and there are several large award ceremonies coming up soon. EXO has received invitations to all of them and will be the closing act, with long stage performances.
These stages are not ordinary performances like those for music shows; they are all elaborately designed, with storylines and even special dance breaks, requiring special practice.
EXO and Twice, currently the most popular top groups, have their busiest time of the year at the end of the year.
"They're showing a lot of determination! With the lighting and flow designed by the company, the stage effect will definitely be fantastic."
After the dance practice ended, manager Ahn Seung-won, who had been watching from the sidelines for a while, came out and handed a bottle of water to Ji Kyung-won and the others with a smile, showing his satisfaction with the EXO members' attitude during practice.
With EXO's successful entry into the US market, the status and income of the group and its members have also risen. Their work attitude is sometimes fast and sometimes slow, and as their manager, he sometimes has a hard time deciding what to do... Compared to his previous manager, Ahn Seung-won's personality is a little softer.
"...Next, I'll talk about the main itinerary for the rest of the trip."
Seeing that everyone's attention was on him, An Chengyuan clapped his hands: "As for the album, the recording of our new album is almost complete. We will start filming the music video on the 5th of next month, and if all goes well, it can be released around Christmas this year."
Then came a series of arrangements: individual invitations for several members, a stage performance by CBX, and several advertising events.
He then mentioned the upcoming MAMA: "The MAMA Tokyo show is on the 29th of this month. Jingyuan Company has already made arrangements for you. Your flight is on the morning of the 28th, and the hotel is booked near the venue."
"understood."
Chi Jingyuan nodded in agreement, then asked curiously, "Is it just me? Are you sure the whole group isn't going?"
“Yes, the group is definitely not attending.” Ahn Seung-won shrugged. “Because we didn’t have a comeback in Peninsula this year, we’re guaranteed not to win the Song of the Year award, not even a nomination.”
Upon hearing this, Chi Jingyuan nodded slightly.
This year's MAMA was groundbreaking, with three consecutive events held in three different countries. To enhance the hype and appeal of each event, the different awards, as well as the three most eye-catching grand prizes, were presented separately in different sessions.
One of the grand prizes, 'Singer of the Year,' was presented at the Tokyo event, while the other two grand prizes were presented at the Hong Kong Island event... Although there was a Vietnam event, the grand prizes were not distributed there. The most prestigious award was 'Best Male Group.'
While MAMA is a great stage for performance, a group like EXO can only attend if they have been nominated for a major award. Since they weren't nominated, the group definitely wouldn't go.
However, EXO did not make a comeback this year, but Ji Kyung-won released his solo album, and the title track "I Loved You" was undoubtedly selected as the song of the year.
So this time at MAMA Tokyo, Ji Kyung-won attended as a solo artist, which is the first time in all his years since his debut.
In addition to being named 'Song of the Year', he was also nominated for 'Artist of the Year' and 'Album of the Year'. EXO, a major group, was far inferior to him, as they were only nominated for 'Artist of the Year'.
"If Jingyuan goes, the grand prize should be a sure thing, right?"
Park Chanyeol then interjected, "Judging from the results of 'I Loved You'... it shouldn't have any rivals, right?"
"I looked at the nominated songs this year, and there are several singers..."
Hearing this, Ahn Seung-won glanced down and said with a smile, "But judging from the performers here, it's no surprise that the grand prize will be a competition between you, Kyung-won, and Twice."
"Huh? Twice?"
Upon hearing this, Chi Jingyuan blinked in surprise, a strange feeling welling up inside him.
Have they actually reached the point where they can compete with me?
Just yesterday, Chou Tzu-yu was having so much fun playing in the water that she almost fell over.
With a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth, Ji Kyung-won took the song from me and asked, "Twice released so many albums this year, which song of theirs was selected? 'Likey'?"
It's "Signal".
"Signal?" Chi Jingyuan was even more surprised upon hearing this, and reflexively questioned, "What makes this song so special?"
This is a song that he couldn't stand after listening to the intro, and after finally finishing it, he felt it was just an ordinary song.
Why should it compete with his "I Loved"?
"I think it's alright, the song is quite cute."
But just after he finished speaking, he paused for a second before Byun Baekhyun suddenly spoke up.
He didn't just talk the talk, he started singing right away: "Singal! Singal! Jili~jili~jili~"
While singing, he also made the antenna gesture from the dance "Siganl" with both hands, shaking them on his head to cover Twice's movements.
With Baekhyun taking the lead, the other members started chanting along: "Ingal, let's sing! Singal, let's sing!~"
"This song is pretty good!"
"Inside are Tzuyu and Nayeon qingjia kiyo~"
"I feel like Twice has a very good chance of winning."
Ji Kyung-won stared in disbelief as the EXO members in front of him skillfully imitated Twice's idiotic dance to "Singal," and even seemed to want to give Twice an award.
He didn't get any support from his own group? Everyone in his group was supporting Twice?
Chi Jingyuan suddenly felt tired and mentally exhausted.
"I think Kyungwon has a much better chance of winning with 'Siganl,' 'I Loved You' is too popular." However, Do Kyungsoo is still quite rational and speaks out his honest opinion.
Unfortunately, it was selectively ignored.
Although EXO members all support Twice, Ji Kyung-won feels he can't possibly lose. Although "Singal" is popular, its performance is far inferior to "I Loved You"... These people are probably just putting on an act because they're jealous of him winning the award.
However... despite EXO winning countless awards over the years, it's still rare for a girl group to win an award. Twice finally got nominated for Song of the Year. If they were to lose it, wouldn't Nayeon and the others be crying?
Chi Jingyuan suddenly felt a sense of anticipation.
"We won't be going to the Vietnam show on the 30th. Jingyuan will come directly to Hong Kong Island to meet us after finishing her activities in Tokyo, and we'll attend the Hong Kong MAMA on the 1st."
"After that, I'll fly straight to Seoul. The 2nd is MMA... I don't have any extra free time this year," Ahn Seung-won continued.
These award ceremonies are all scheduled back-to-back, leaving no spare time for anyone.
"Then comes the year-end music festival. I've already told you about the invitations from SBS and MBC, and today the company received an invitation to perform at the KBS Music Festival."
No sooner had Ahn Seung-won finished speaking than Kim Jun-myeon interjected in surprise, "KBS still has a music festival this year? Wasn't it said that it was most likely to be canceled?"
"..." Several members echoed, and Chi Jingyuan also looked over curiously.
The Korean Peninsula entertainment industry has not been calm this year, especially the television stations in the second half of the year, with the two public broadcasters, MBC and KBS, appearing extremely depressed.
The massive strike launched by the two television stations has drawn nationwide attention.
In early September, the two TV stations went on strike for various reasons, which led to the suspension of all variety shows on both stations. Popular shows such as "Infinite Challenge", "The Return of Superman" and "2 Days & 1 Night" were all affected and none were spared.
MBC, on the other hand, may have more experience with strikes. Two months later, in recent times, the strike has gradually subsided, and they have announced the resumption of work.
But things haven't gone so smoothly for KBS. Recently, the strike has continued to expand, bringing many jobs to a near standstill. A few days ago, they announced that this year's Entertainment Awards would be canceled.
EXO originally thought that KBS's Gayo Daechukje would also be canceled, but they didn't expect that it could still be held under these circumstances?
"Indeed, the company didn't expect it either." An Chengyuan shrugged.
"I heard that KBS is having a tough time organizing this year. They're going to keep everything simple and there won't be many guest performers. They'll only invite the most popular groups this year, and each group will have a lot of performance time. We even have time for four songs."
"Oh, right." He said, looking at Ji Kyung-won, "KBS also extended an invitation to the company to be the MC for this year's Song Festival, Kyung-won and Chanyeol."
"I?"
Chi Jingyuan was somewhat surprised upon hearing this, pointed to himself, and exchanged a glance with Park Chanyeol.
"Yes, they're very eager, so the company is prepared to agree... You guys have no problems, right?"
"Uh~"
Park Chanyeol said no problem, and asked expectantly who the female MC was, but was glared at by Ahn Seungwon. Ji Kyungwon, however, seemed a little hesitant.
The Song Festival is at the end of December, and there will definitely be several rehearsals beforehand. At that time, he will probably be in the filming period of "The Spy," and he will be 12% busy, so he doesn't really want to go.
"Rehearsals won't take too much time; just look at the script and practice the flow."
As if sensing Ji Jingyuan's thoughts, An Chengyuan smiled and explained, "Besides, this year's music festival is divided into two parts. You and Chanyeol only need to be the MCs for the first part, and the second part will have a different group, so overall the MC work is relatively easy."
"Okay~"
Hearing his manager's words, Chi Jingyuan thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.
After taking over the work, he blinked and suddenly felt like asking the same question as Park Chanyeol.
Who is the female partner?
But after thinking about it, I decided against it... He wasn't as straightforward as that guy.
After saying a few more words and explaining the work, Ahn Seung-won gave the members a pep talk, offering encouragement before leaving. EXO then practiced for a while longer, finally finishing their work for the day.
"Ding~"
It wasn't lunchtime yet, and Ji Jingyuan was just thinking of going back to the music room when his phone rang. He took it out and saw that it was a text message from Kim Tae-yeon, asking if he was at the company.
I replied to her briefly, saying that I had just finished practicing. A few seconds later, Kim Tae-yeon sent another text message: "Perfect timing, I'll come up right away and bring you a cup of milk tea."
Upon seeing this woman's reply, Ji Jingyuan smiled. Speaking of which, everyone has been busy with their own work lately, and the last time they met was at a gathering when EXO had just returned from their US trip.
"Oh right, Jingyuan."
Just as Ji Kyung-won was about to leave, Do Kyung-soo called out to him, "The premiere of 'Along with the Gods' is on the 12th of next month. We'll send out invitations then, so remember to come."
This guy had mentioned attending the movie premiere to him before, and Ji Kyung-won nodded and gave an OK sign.
"Alas!"
…………
"...You don't look very well."
Not long after they met, Kim Tae-yeon, while drinking her iced Americano, asked Ji Kyung-won a question.
This woman was wearing a short black down jacket today. Because the building's heating was on quite a bit, the zipper wasn't closed, revealing a beige turtleneck underneath.
She was still wearing makeup, so she obviously had something to do at the company.
Ji Kyung-won has always thought that Kim Tae-yeon has a great sense of style and knows how to dress to avoid her actual short stature.
"Is it that obvious?" Chi Jingyuan didn't expect that Kim Tae-yeon would notice the problem as soon as they met, and he peeked out to look in the mirror next to him.
"He looks very haggard." Kim Tae-yeon nodded, biting her straw as she carefully observed Ji Kyung-won: "It's like he hasn't had a good night's sleep in a long time."
"Hmm... I've had too many commitments lately."
Chi Jingyuan sighed, not mentioning that he had been struggling to prepare for the role recently, but simply gave a casual explanation.
Unexpectedly, this casual remark resonated with Kim Tae-yeon.
"Sigh, XO is still popular... well, you're still popular."
It seemed like Kim Tae-yeon started to reminisce: "It's almost the end of the year again, and there's definitely a lot of work... Back in Girls' Generation, we were also very busy... no less than you..."
Especially in 09 and 10, I'm telling you, we barely had any time to sleep. Every day, we were half-asleep, and the moment we opened our eyes, it was time to work. We relied entirely on coffee to stay awake. We would catch up on sleep in the van. Back then, we even divided ourselves into a snoring team and a non-snoring team, and we rode in separate vans to avoid disturbing each other..."
Chi Jingyuan looked helplessly at Kim Tae-yeon, who suddenly began to sigh and recall the past. He remembered that before Girls' Generation disbanded a few years ago, she didn't often mention the old group, but now that they had disbanded, he found that she started to ramble on about some old, trivial things every few sentences, mentioning her past glories.
It's quite interesting, though. Maybe it's because I'm getting old and it's time to reminisce about the past.
"Nana, which team are you on?" Ji Kyung-won asked at the opportune moment after Kim Tae-yeon finished her enthusiastic explanation.
"Having too many activities at the end of the year has really affected my condition. Let's go out and relax when you have a day off, Jingyuan."
The girl just kept shaking her head and talking to herself, as if she hadn't heard anything.
"..."
Chi Jingyuan suppressed a laugh, but didn't press the matter. He took a couple of sips of the juice Kim Tae-yeon had just bought for him through the straw and casually asked, "Noona, what are you doing at the company today?"
"I'm going to have a meeting with the production team later to discuss some things about the new album."
Kim Tae-yeon was also biting her straw, and the two of them did the same thing without prior arrangement: "I just happened to run into Teacher Choi who said you were at the company, so I came to take a look."
"A new album?" Ji Jingyuan quickly grasped the point: "Nuna, are you releasing a new album?"
"Yes, but it's not a regular album, it's a special winter album, which we plan to release around Christmas."
Kim Tae-yeon nodded and explained the situation: "Preparations started some time ago, and the recording is almost finished."
As she spoke, she looked up at me and asked, "Do you want to listen to this?"
"Okay."
Without a second thought, Ji Kyung-won was quite interested in Kim Tae-yeon's new song.
While taking out her phone and opening the music player to find a song, Kim Tae-yeon casually said, "I think I heard from my manager a while ago that you, Kyung-won, have a subway song project planned for this year?"