Chapter 392
"Horror?"
"Yes!"
When Heo Yu-bin mentioned horror as the element that adds a kick to the concept, the conference room was momentarily silent.
The A&R team leader tilted his head slightly and asked.
"If it's horror, is it like a ghost or a jump scare from a movie? I don't think that goes well with refreshing."
"It's definitely not that kind of horror. I thought of something that would give a soft and cool feeling, rather than something that would blatantly use ghosts and suddenly pop out of a strange place. It's like adding horror to situations that you can commonly encounter in everyday life."
"If it's everyday life…?"
At the planning manager's words, Heo Yu-bin revealed the idea plan he had prepared as if he had been waiting for it.
"If we were to add horror to the refreshing concept, I thought a lot about what kind of background would be the best. I thought that if it was set in 'university', I could kill two birds with one stone. Since college comes to mind when you think of youth, the connection is clear, and school ghost stories have been famous since long ago. So if we could combine the two and combine them with the title song of this album, wouldn't we be able to bring out a refreshing feeling that others haven't done...…."
"It's like a school ghost story. I think the image would fit well if we went that way. When I first heard the word horror, I thought of exorcism movies."
"I think that kind of exorcism concept would be too much for us."
"Right?"
Heo Yu-bin was so relaxed that he even joked with the A&R team leader.
Seeing this, I could feel how powerful his newly blossomed traits were.
If it was Heo Yu-bin who didn't have the characteristics of a flower, he would have been busy thinking about the story he had to tell and just swallowing dry saliva.
"Okay, I understand that you're adding a spoonful of fear to youth. Then I'm curious about the most important thing. What exactly did you plan on expressing this with, Yu-bin ssi?"
The most important question came to Heo Yu-bin.
After catching his breath for a moment, Heo Yu-bin smiled brightly and continued his explanation.
"As I said earlier, I think youth is beautiful, but also dangerous and unstable. So I thought it would be nice to draw the image of students moving toward youth in a school setting, and express the instability in their hearts through the subject of fear. I brought this as a medium to convey this concept."
Heo Yu-bin took out a digital camera from the bag he had brought into the conference room.
"A camera and a photo. There are many students who take photos of moments of their youth that they can never experience again in their lives. I was inspired by that and thought I would use photos as a medium for this title song. And I thought there was nothing better than a photo to contain the element of fear. For example, you can include stories like taking a photo and seeing an unknown shadow, or taking a photo of only 6 people but seeing 7 people."
"Dude, the last one is really creepy!"
"Wow, it's really scary just imagining it. I only took a picture of 6 people, but if there were 7 people in the picture...."
"That's really scary!"
When Kang Si-yoon and Chae Eun-gyu responded by rubbing their arms, Heo Yu-bin shrugged his shoulders as if he was pleased.
I nodded while slowly chewing on his words.
"I think it's the best idea that fits the keyword of coolness rather than creating an overtly scary atmosphere."
".... Yu-bin hyung came up with all this by himself?"
Ji Yoon-cheol said with a voice of genuine admiration.
It wasn't often that the youngest, who usually maintains a calm atmosphere, showed this much emotion.
It seems that the ideas Heo Yu-bin had come up with in the studio over the past three days were amazing.
The A&R team members also seemed to have already come up with ideas on how to utilize the ideas Heo Yu-bin suggested.
"If it's not too scary, can't it be used as a promotion?"
"Just looking at what Yubin ssi said, it seems like all the music video material is finished. It's creepy to think that 7 people came out of a photo taken by 6 people."
"I think it would be good to make the trailer a bit more movie-like. Could it be a little longer than before?"
"I think it would be okay to cut it to about 1 minute and make three or four."
It was a really tough journey to get to this conference room.
However, after overcoming that difficult time, everything was going smoothly.
With even more courage and confidence, Heo Yu-bin prepared to play the long-awaited demo songs.
Watching him set up the speakers, the A&R team leader was still unable to recover from the shock from earlier.
"You can prepare three demo songs with choruses and doublings in three days....... Teacher Young-jun, did you do that when you were young?"
"I want to say that I had a lot of stamina back then, so it was definitely possible... but I think it's extremely rare for me to write three songs in three days. I don't remember very well."
"I think that's true talent. How can you do that by yourself?"
Just being able to create something in a short period of time is a remarkable feat.
Even in a situation where he felt psychological pressure, Heo Yu-bin overcame his abnormal condition and created this result on his own.
If the quality of the demo songs here also passes the test, I think another history will be written.
"As I mentioned earlier, there are three genres in total: Europop, Miami bass, and new jack swing. As for the lyrics, as I mentioned during the concept explanation, they contain the message, 'Let's leave our youth as a record so that we can always remember it.' I'll start with a Europop song first."
Now is the time for everyone to focus.
Up until this point, Heo Yu-bin has done a miraculous job.
All that's left is for everyone, including the members, to choose the best song and successfully lead our album.
The first song in the Europop genre flowed through the speakers.
The bright beat of Europop with a nostalgic feel and the sophisticated atmosphere of K-pop met to create a very clean melody.
The first evaluation that came to my mind was that it was very addictive.
The easy-to-follow melody line and the bright yet exciting beat were enough to catch your ear.
The second song was a Miami bass genre with an electro sound that really stuck in your ear.
It also had a very hip feel, and it was amazing that this genre could create a refreshing and sparkling feeling.
"Isn't this song really good?"
"This one feels a bit more sophisticated than before."
"But the first one is much better for singing along."
Since both songs released so far had distinct characteristics, opinions seemed to be divided a bit.
The last song was played right away.
'Hmm?'
I raised my head as soon as I heard the intro.
The groovy beat, and the sticky accompaniment that followed.
The Who King stands out, which wasn't noticeable in the previous two songs.
The trap sound is really close to the hip-hop genre, and the melody line on top is very refreshing and cool, giving off a mysterious feeling.
When the chorus arrived after a minute, the mysterious groove burst out refreshingly, heightening the mood.
This is where I got the feeling.
The two songs I heard before were both of great quality, without a doubt.
However, you can't help but realize a great song the moment you hear it.
This is it.
The public will definitely like it.
"...This is it?"
As if he had read my mind, Yoo Min-ha stared blankly at the speaker and muttered to himself.
Yoo Min-ha also has a knack for writing lyrics, and he had worked with Heo Yu-bin in the past.
The fact that even he thought the last song was clearly better than the previous songs means that my taste was not wrong.
Then how did other people hear it?
"It was a time when we could see how much superhuman strength our Yubin ssi had."
The planning manager said with a hearty laugh.
"Honestly, when I heard that he said to rewrite the concept and song within three days, I wondered if that was possible. I was so embarrassed that he came up with such great songs that I was really impressed."
"No, it was my fault for acting on my own..."
"All three songs had their own unique characteristics and were good, but there was one that caught my ear the moment I heard it."
The planning manager and the A&R team leader's eyes met.
"Song number 3 was the best."
"Song number 3 was really good?"
They all unanimously gave the same song the highest rating.
As soon as the two people spoke, the members also shared their opinions.
"I thought number 1 was highly addictive, and number 2 had a great melody that caught my ear. But number 3 felt like it was a mix of the strengths of number 1 and number 2, so I just thought, "Ah! This is it!" It just came out naturally."
"I also liked the introduction as soon as I heard number 3. Yubin ssi, how did you make something like this?"
"Ah, ahahaha....... How did I do it?"
"When you see him like this, doesn't he really look like a genius, hyungs?"
"He only looks like a genius at times like this?"
Song Hyung-bin and Yoo Min-ha complimented Heo Yubin while stroking his hair from both sides.
Kang Si-yoon, who was also jealous, tried to express the emotions he felt with his whole body.
To my eyes, it seemed like he was personally experimenting with how to make a pat on the back the most enjoyable way.
"Heo Yu-bin, is he a genius? Heo Yu-bin, what are his limits? Heo Yu-bin, what is he!"
"Hyung, hyung! I understand, so stop there, please!"
"Ah, why! I still have 4 more prepared lines-."
"I feel like my hands and feet are going to twitch, so stop!"
Ji Yoon-cheol and I burst out laughing at this dazzling atmosphere that we haven't felt in a long time.
Yes, this is how we should be, noisy and full of strange jokes.
For some reason, we've been so tense these past few days that we've forgotten to joke around.
I smiled happily as I looked at Heo Yu-bin, who must have been suffering the most.
'You're amazing. Yu-bin.'
In the past, in order for the members' abnormal conditions to improve or their characteristics to blossom, they often needed help from outside as well as their own will.
However, Heo Yu-bin overcame his limitations while being locked up alone in that solitary confinement-like workroom.
Heo Yu-bin, who I thought had the weakest mentality, brought about this feat with just his upright mentality.
When did Heo Yu-bin, who used to look at me like he was scared while covering himself with a blanket during
The planning manager adjusted his glasses while organizing the files containing all the stories that came out today.
"Then it's unanimously confirmed. If it's okay with you, Yubin ssi, let's use the third song as the title track. In my personal opinion, the rest of the songs are all good, so they should be included as well. What do you think?"
"We should definitely include it."
"I agree with you too."
"Hey, Yubin. You're already putting your name on three songs?"
The composer who was close to Heo Yubin patted Heo Yubin on the shoulder and congratulated him.
When he heard that everything he had prepared had passed the test, his tension finally eased, and Heo Yubin sat down on his chair and smiled shyly.
Youth can be precarious at times.
However, just like the ground hardens after rain, it becomes even stronger after you overcome those precarious times.
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