Become A Music Monster Overnight! [EN]: Chapter 107

I carefully opened my mouth, watching his reaction.

“So… is it a no-go?”

“Yes. I don’t want to.”

“Well, can’t be helped, I guess.”

Although Na-eun would be perfect, it’s not like there aren’t other talented people to take her place, so I decided to give up cleanly.

“The genre is bossa nova, the working title is ‘I Like the Way You Are,’ and it’s roughly this kind of song.”

-Click-

With those words, I played ‘I Like the Way You Are,’ which I had worked on with MIDI [Musical Instrument Digital Interface, a protocol enabling electronic instruments to communicate].

“Eheheheum.”

Since there were no lyrics yet, it was a song with humming and spontaneously made-up lyrics recorded sparsely.

But even with just this much, it wasn’t hard to convey the atmosphere and what the song was trying to say.

‘I Like the Way You Are’ was a song that captured the freshness and innocence unique to bossa nova.

It depicted the feelings of a long-time male and female friend before they became lovers, and although it was easy to listen to, the song was more difficult than expected.

Not just the rhythm, but also because the emotions had to be expressed as richly as possible.

Otherwise, ‘I Like the Way You Are’ would easily become a bland song that was neither here nor there.

But if it were Na-eun, she would be able to pull off this song better than anyone.

She was born with a deep sensitivity in this area, and as she became aware of popularity, her expressiveness also blossomed properly.

“How is it? Can you do it?”

“…….”

“Na-eun? Hey…….”

After listening to the song, Na-eun, who couldn’t answer my playful question, was staring at me with a blank look for some reason.

Seeing her malfunction after a long time, I chuckled and approached her, shaking her shoulder.

“Hey. Snap out of it.”

“Ah!”

Only then did she seem to come to her senses, exclaiming and blushing as she lowered her head.

Knowing that it’s hard to make eye contact with her when she goes into that mode, I felt frustrated, but I let it go for now.

More than anything, the shy her after a long time was really cute.

‘Too bad. I should have made her sing a cute song after all.’

I decided that I should try to have Na-eun sing a lively and cute song, even if it wasn’t as much as Bunny Bunny, before her musical world completely solidified.

“‘I Like the Way You Are,’ you’re going to produce it, right?”

“Of course. If I want to express the parts I have in mind, I have to sacrifice myself again.”

“……Hehe.”

Na-eun, who showed a silly smile after a long time at my words that I would produce it, was so cute that I lightly stroked her head.

However, I was very surprised by her reaction afterward.

“!!!”

Na-eun’s face, which had been calming down, turned red all the way to her ears. She didn’t know what to do and then ran out as if fleeing without saying a word.

“Why all of a sudden…….”

I didn’t understand, but I felt like I had done something wrong, so I couldn’t help but be wary when we met at the next studio.

“I like the way you are~”

With the last lyrics, which were refreshing but full of innocent emotions, she finished the song, and I couldn’t help but be amazed again.

‘At least today, she’s top-notch in this style.’

That was the case even when considering the world, not just domestic standards.

I don’t know what happened in the few days I hadn’t seen her, but I was really able to finish recording in less than an hour.

When I silently started listening to the results, which were better than expected, Na-eun came back.

Knowing that the recording went well, she had a slightly flushed look, and I gave her a thumbs up.

“It’s the best. I knew you were good, but…….”

“Hehehehe.”

I couldn’t help but smile back at her, who was making her signature silly smile, and nodded my head greatly.

After that, I chatted with her and had a meal at the newly created company cafeteria, and then had coffee on the rooftop terrace.

I had an iced Americano full of ice, and she had a sweet caramel macchiato that looked like it would melt your tongue just by looking at it.

“Come to think of it, can you speak English?”

“Um… I’m not very good at it. I can speak a little Japanese, though.”

“Really? Then, for now, you’ll have to memorize the ments [Japanese-English slang for ‘comments’ or ‘things to say’] in a hurry.”

“Huh? Why?”

She was usually grinning, but she looked puzzled, so I couldn’t help but smile broadly and say,

“Why else? It’s obvious that this recording will be a hit. It’ll be hard to get to number one, but you’ll still get meaningful results.”

“……Huh?”

She couldn’t understand that I was saying that she would not only enter the Billboard Hot 100, but also climb to a fairly high ranking.

“Well, that’s what I mean. More than anything, I’m going to participate in ‘I Like the Way You Are’ with the guitar.”

Putting in my guitar was purely for promotion.

No matter how good the song is, it’s useless if people don’t listen to it, so I have to bundle it in this way.

Anyway, it was clear that Lee Na-eun would become popular on Billboard through this song, so she would definitely appear on many interviews and shows.

Translation is good, but it’s more sincere and friendly for a foreigner to make comments in their own language, right?

The reason I told her to study the expected comments was for this reason.

My prediction was correct.

The ‘I Like the Way You Are’ music video was just a form that was filmed on stage, but it received a bigger reaction than I thought.

It seems that the video of me playing the guitar after a long time, although it was a bossa nova performance, became a hot topic among fans.

And those who gathered because of that topic became her prisoners from the moment Na-eun made her voice.

If you only look at the technical parts unique to bossa nova, it wasn’t great, but the song sung with her unique rich emotions melted into her voice was so irresistible that you couldn’t help but listen.

“Even I, who produced it, am surprised. It’s only natural~”

Anyway, thanks to this, ‘I Like the Way You Are’ reached the Billboard Hot 100 faster than expected in its second week.

However, it was surprising that it reached 87th place even though bossa nova was a minor genre.

“Wow~ YC Entertainment really has an endless supply of talent.”

Taylor, the head of the US branch, seemed very surprised by Lee Na-eun’s performance. He seemed even more surprised because he wasn’t sure because it wasn’t a genre he enjoyed listening to.

I smiled at Taylor’s reaction and said,

“Now, only New Daisy is left.”

Now, if only New Daisy puts their name on Billboard, YC Entertainment will have made all of its singers Billboard singers.

“Hahaha! I heard that New Daisy has caused a huge sensation in Japan. I know they are currently active in Korea, but how is it?”

“Fortunately, the reaction is not bad.”

I said that the reaction was not bad, but in fact, this was too polite.

New Daisy’s popularity in Korea was as great as in Japan, where the syndrome was still continuing.

Lee Na-eun’s ‘I Like the Way You Are,’ which is gaining popularity on Billboard, was not able to exert its power properly in Korea.

Fortunately, Taylor knew that what I said was a unique expression in the East, so he seemed to be looking forward to it already.

In fact, New Daisy’s title song ‘NEW DAZE’ is already receiving a hot response among K-pop fans in the United States.

“Now, we just need to do a little better.”

I said to my uncles, thinking of the singers who were showing satisfactory results ahead of Coachella [an annual music and arts festival held in California], and my uncles greeted me with really friendly curses.

“……So this is what it means to say that people are disgusted!”

“You son of a bitch! What more do you want us to do here!”

“You’re a heartless guy. You don’t know how to respect your elders!”

“I went to the hospital yesterday too. I got a vitamin drip.”

“How about thinking about it again? Even so, isn’t it a bit much to release a new song at Coachella?”

“……Ahahaha.”

I awkwardly smiled at my uncles’ increasingly intense reactions recently.

But it couldn’t be helped.

The interest in appearing at Coachella is already at its peak.

Releasing Black Tiger’s new song at Coachella through this opportunity is a great benefit in terms of promotion.

Thanks to this, my uncles have been undergoing hell training for over two months.

Since it’s a mini-album, there were five songs to prepare, and it was still far from being mastered.

Of course, this was also because my standards had risen.

Based on the last full-length album, I would have thought that they had mastered it a month ago.

However, now that I knew that my uncles had reached the realm of masters, I couldn’t help but be greedy.

If they push themselves a little more, they can get one step closer to the ideal that I want.

‘It’s a good thing for my uncles too. Thanks to this, they were able to properly establish their position as masters.’

Of course, I didn’t do the stupid thing of saying this out loud.

I was sure that the moment I said this, Uncle Kwak Do-hoon’s burly arm might break my waist.

But anyway, my uncles managed to follow up to the goal I wanted, even while grumbling.

The reason why my uncles follow along like this, whether they curse or get vitamin drips, is because they are greedy too.

‘stars in the night sky’

If translated directly, it’s stars in the night sky.

It was the title song of this album, and the reason why I gave it this title was actually because I was inspired by the poem ‘Counting Stars’ by poet Yoon Dong-ju.

In fact, some of the lines from the poem Counting Stars were translated into English and used as lyrics.

-Memories of one star

love of one star

The bitterness of a single star

A longing for a single star

A poem of one star mother of one star, mother-

A very famous phrase that even those who don’t know much about poetry can’t help but know.

Memories in one star

Love in one star

Loneliness in one star

A longing in one star

A poem in one star

A mother in one star, mother.

Even if you don’t know the background of this poem. The moment you hear this short phrase, you can’t help but know the desperate emotions contained within it.

That was the same for my uncles, and even when they were grumbling, they did their best and played with a reverent heart when they played stars in the night sky.

‘Of course, it’s still not quite satisfactory…….’

However, unlike my inner thoughts, I raised my thumb as if they had done well and urged them to practice again.

In the midst of such busy days, the Coachella performance was finally just around the corner.