crackhead energy

“i already made my debut,” jieun answered, rolling her eyes and still reaching half-heartedly for her notes. “why stop at twenty minutes? why not just spent a week on it. that way it’ll be a great freestyle, right?”

he smiled, reaching out to meet the hand of hers that were going for the notebook, lacing their fingers together instead. “unity doesn’t count. you didn’t produce any of that,” he insisted. “exactly-- that’s how i can be sure i show you up.”

she rolled her eyes. “well, thanks. that’s nice of you to say. i mean, when i end up singing ginny style songs, i’ll be happy to say i told you so, but the sentiment is nice.”

“joori is in a group. ginny is in unity. xifeng has a voice like yours, and look at her-- i think you’re underestimating what you can do,” joonie insisted.

“no, but you never know! maybe he thinks i have a shit voice? he cares about music so much!” jae whined

“if he cared about people having shit voices, he wouldn’t have put up with that fake one river had for so long,” joonie insisted, shaking his head. “you’re thinking too hard.”

“hey– i have lyrics to edit. i need to show yuji tomorrow…” jieun whined, but she let him take it, and made no move to take it back. “okay, yeah, but it has to be a freestyle. that’s how i can really see what you’re made of.”

“ah, look at you! producer protégé. i can’t wait to see what you come out with when you finally make your big bad debut,” joonie answered, looking down at the lyrics with interest before putting the notebook aside. “can i have like twenty minutes to write a freestyle down?”

“i’m resigned to being a big r&b soloist at the most. and you know, i like that music. i’m not to mad at that concept. but it just sucks that i don’t have more options– and i know that those are all the options.”

“well, i mean.... you know that, but you don’t know that,” joonie insisted, trying to reason. “like...if anyone can push and break down those boundaries, it’s you. i have complete faith you could do whatever you want, especially with idol project fame to ride.”

“yeah…. unless he’s the one making me have no lines. he isn’t but….if he is…then that’s bad,” jae answered

“dude, listen to what you’re saying. do you really think nathan is out to get you?”

he sighed dramatically. “i just get so frustrated. like we’re supposed to have so much control allegedly, but i still get two lines a song max. it’s not fair.”

“i know. but the more we play along, the more power we get. one of these days, nathan’s gonna have full creative control and things will even out.”

“i’m still going nuts thinking about it. and i think i can really nail it, too,” yihwa said with a grin. “maybe that’s cocky of me but….i have a damn good voice. i think i can do this song justice.”

“it’s not cocky, yihwa, it’s just true. i really think you could be the next big thing. and i think this is a great opportunity for people to finally se it.” he felt for her-- she was like him in a lot of ways. both were incredible vocalists who didn’t fit conventional beauty standards. honestly, the only difference was that he was a dude, so people cared about that less.”

“oh yeah?” jieun said with a tiny smile, looking up from her notebook. “i mean, i’d need to hear some of your work…i’ve heard you on juno songs, but…..that could all be autotuned,” she played along, holding back laughter.

he hummed, nodding and pulling her notebook away so he could drop his head in her lap. “i can audition for you right now if you want? i haven’t prepared anything, but that’ll probably give you a better idea of my raw talent...”

“i mean, i haven’t heard most of what you guys have done,” minseok shrugged, but he didn’t have any shame in admitting that. he hadn’t heard a lot of juno’s songs besides what they had promoted, and that was just from not paying that much attention to groups that had nothing to do with him. “but it kinda seems like there are always some people that do better when labels just leave them alone. i figured i’d never even sign with one until yuji and hyo made l3thal, but higher doesn’t seem to actually tell either of them what to do with the other songs they write for them. i know i couldn’t do it if someone tried to actually tell me how to write a song, i dunno why spotlight doesn’t take the hint that you guys don’t need the help.”

“dancers should be in the center or whatever during the choruses but they shouldn’t have to also carry the actual song while that’s happening, i don’t get why some companies are so set on making people that aren’t rappers try to come off as rap gods or something,” noah knew joonie was right, he just didn’t know what else he should say, “like, you’re good dude, but i don’t know why spotlight wants to waste you as a vocalist. they know you’re good at singing so it’s just stupid for them to do.” he paused and glanced back over at joonie, laughing a little at his last comment, “runaway was good but it feels like a song for vocalists, dude, nathan and i spent way too long just making sure my part didn’t feel like it was interrupting the rest of the song.”