#eunah

sung never thought he’d reach a point in his life where fellow idols came to him asking him to write them a song. he must have looked like an awkward statue before eunah, a deer in the headlights, a scared owl.

and, that was part of it as well, eunah being the one to request a composition from him. they’d worked and hung around each other enough by that point that sung would call them friends. he’d hoped she felt the same about him, but he’d learned as a trainee that he couldn’t always expect someone else to agree with him on that. her asking him to write a song for her was certainly a good sign in that direction, though.

eventually, probably much too late, sung had gotten control over his brain function again to the point he could seriously consider the request. for about a second. maybe a second and a half. -of course sung would want to write a song for eunah, especially because she’d asked. he’d written for her, directly or indirectly, twice before. he was well enough acquainted with and fond of her vocal chords to want to take them out on a songwriting date.

sung reacted enthusiastically, once he’d wrapped his head around the concept enough. subconscious as it was, he knew eunah was a more reserved person than him, certainly not someone he’d want to get the wrong idea of his gratitude. it colored his reaction, but it also influenced his second move, as the gears starting turning, and he had to wonder what it is she might want. he’d asked, figuring they would sit down together and discuss her intentions of path as a soloist, her inspirations, her goals. but she surprised him first, with lyrics. in the end, he still had a chat with her about her expectations, though the lyrics he’d received had already begun the spinning process.

soft, but not soft like i usually do soft.

something different. eunah wanted to express herself in a different way, and sung was pretty sure he could help make that happen. the second he’d had free time, he pulled up the lyrics eunah had given him, and got to work.

what has struck him most, at first, was the feeling that this person, whether it was eunah, minjung, or someone fictional, was working hard to convince themselves that they didn’t care for whomever they sung about. in most songs, or really just most places in the world, sung saw romance, but here, it read like a friendship, one that had fallen apart. the singer wanted their friend to stop caring, to make it easier for the both of them, just as much as they wanted themselves to stop caring. bittersweet in nature, the dissonance between what the mind desires, and what it gives itself.

that concept brought him through to his first draft. creating a song that was too sonically dissonant might be out of the realm of what dimensions would be willing to give her to release, and might come too close to the high beats of mezzanine. something too simple like a typical ballad would be too close to her earlier releases, not to mention, didn’t seem like it would fit the lyrics well. it was this thought space of in between that left his fingers plucking out whatever piano keys they wanted, until he thought... it was possible to make a song that sounded simplistic, but still required an irregular amount of maximum effort to make.

sung plucked around until a light, plinking piano string came together. short as it was, he could always come back to it if he wanted to add more. he recorded the short piece, then recorded his snaps on top, a basic rhythm. then, a series of mouth sounds, different popping and hisses to play around with, before a few different series of claps. the last piece of the puzzle, one of his homemade percussion shakers, came only after he’d pieced together all of those elements into a few forms that sounded nice. he checked back in with eunah, to get her opinions, change things around, until they both felt satisfied with a concept to begin the song on.

that ended up being the main component of the song, a build up to get the listener used to the format, just before taking it apart again to rebuild in different forms.

and though he’d gotten decent to good feedback on the song after it’s completion, sung wasn’t entirely sure if he’d made the right call until he heard it through the speakers of the recording booth. sung couldn’t say he knew too much about eunah’s entire album, but from what he was learning right there about give more care less, it proved what a versatile singer eunah could be. her voice stretched from the belts of live stage, to the staccato rhythm of experimental jazz pop, to this, relaxed r’n’b vocals that bordered on speaking at times.

if anything, his biggest note was to relax even further. trained by musicals, her inclination seemed to be to care too much, pardon the pun. he suggested she let her jaw fall, and let the words come out without lifting her jaw again. it wasn’t a perfect scenario, too dramatic to produce anything that sounded ready for print, but it was really to train her mouth to glide from syllable to syllable, instead of the clear pronunciation of the stage.

at one point, sung even realized he hadn’t been speaking as much as his production partner --a rare feat considering how much he often had to offer to people they worked with together, and how much of a man of few words the other was. really, sung was just pleased with all the eunah managed to do. and not only with her vocals, but her career as a whole. he hoped dimensions appreciated what they had in front of them.