#rkstreetperformance

＊. EVENT STREET PERFORMANCE / THIS. POINTS +2 SINGING. 628 WORDS.

the streets are relatively quiet, especially considering that this is a weekend. perhaps it’s a bit too early for the pedestrians, but that provides ample rooms for preparation. the stage, as always, somehow haphazard—they are only putting the carpet to set an invisible barrier between themselves and the soon-to-be-hopefully-there audience. there’s nothing much to expect except for the pleasure derived from entertaining those passersby who might stop to watch them. his friends are the ones on duty, considering that he’s only there to substitute junsu, who cannot make it today due to some family business. his arrival is considerably late, but his tardiness somehow doesn’t make him have to wait for that long. today, his task is to deliver four to five songs only, but as always, he prepares six of the ones given from their list just in case something happens.

he meets some familiar faces, already standing nearby with their cameras and phones ready. some avid fans of the band’s, although jongin has half the thoughts that they might be a tad disappointed since junsu has quite a number of follower count. he’s not deterred, though, since he’s not there to perform permanently. after greeting the friend—yoonho—who invited him to the performance on top of junsu’s request to replace his shift, he gives the customary nod when he’s introduced to those accompanying yoonho as the guitarist as well as the one seated on the cajon. he’s watched their performances before, so their playing styles aren’t entirely new for him. adjusting the stool given behind the standing microphone stand, he looks around, wondering if they will gain more members amidst the audience. the morning is growing late, and even when they’re staying cool from the building’s shadows, the afternoon sun is inevitably growing warmer. good thing he’s only wearing a loose thin t-shirt on top of his ripped skinny jeans.

he makes himself comfortable on the stool, before annoyingly knocking on the microphone to test if it’s on. after ensuring it is, he lets yoonho to introduce the band, with him as the replacement for junsu as today’s vocalist. giving the gathering crowd a smile, he’s certain that there are some known faces amidst the sea, now. those who know him from both the social circles as well as exodus’ performances. as they start playing the instruments, he leans towards the microphone as he waits for his entrance. at the beginning of this set, they chose the more familiar—albeit old—song from arctic monkeys. it’s one of his favourites, one that he knows suits the colour of his voice rather well. the cajon creates the ambiance, followed by the first melodic guitar plucks, followed by the second. his entry is almost somber as he holds onto the microphone with both hands, the nuanced lyrics fitting to the way he carries the atmosphere. closing his eyes from time to time to immerse himself in the song’s meanings, there’s no specific difficult tugs to his intonation. this is a comfort zone for his vocal range, to say the least.

the farmers market had reached that time of evening where all was warm and cozy, the conversation among the shoppers as they filled their bellies with sweet treats beneath the fluorescent lights buzzing in the air. this was probably his favorite time of the evening as the intimacy seemed to increase in such a convivial atmosphere. it naturally put him in a good mood and when he was in a good mood it was always written all over his face. it made him want to connect with others and for him his favorite way to do that was through music.

his mother and father stood cooking at the stall to customers who sat round on the provided stools and his sisters cashed new customers out while also cleaned up any mess. being here with his whole family only served to contribute to the warmth he felt and he couldn’t help but feel a sense of relaxation overcome him. his fingers plucked absently at his guitar, his tall frame perched upon a stool near the front of their rented out space by the walkway and before he knew it, the song began to piece itself together on the guitar.

a few ears perked up at the familiar tune and a few phones came up as well. his family’s place was more than well known for impromptu songs and some customers often stuck around for requests or just to listen. there wasn’t a lot of space for them to dance but a guitar and some soul filled the area perfectly and brought smiles to not only their customers but the other shop owners around them. his mother had already started smiling.

      word count: 505. +2 singing points. rk street performance.                  chaewon park has uploaded a new video!

what was the best way to set up her camera? chaewon probably should have asked someone to come along with her to get the shots she’d need for her video later, but she didn’t like asking for help, not when she could figure out how to do it by herself with just a little more effort. 

The male feels his own hands shaking as he looks at the crowd while having his bass in his hands. He really shouldn’t be nervous, he’s been in an idol group for years, why’s he so nervous just because he’s doing something different? Maybe it’s that that is making him nervous? The fact that he’s doing something completely new, he has played bass for so many years, but if he remembers right, he’s never played for such a big crowd.

How is there even such a big crowd? Why has so many people chosen to watch them? What’s so exciting about PHOAN? Of course Xiao is happy about the big crowd, he wants his band to be successful, however this is their first time performing, nobody should know of them, right?

“Come on Xiao! I support you no matter what!” a voice in Chinese says, and Xiao awakes. These are… fans from FLOWER^CROWN? The idol group he was in? People chose to support him even if he isn’t in the band anymore? That means so much, so people really cared for him and not only his members?

Xiao sends a smile and a wink to the female and she screams loudly, Xiao together with his band laughs a little, and then they agree to begin playing.

fool by winner (ryujin sings mino’s parts)

even though she feels like her singing ability has reached a pretty decent level for her personal standard, ryujin is still a little bit insecure when it comes to singing in front of a big mass of people. so when one of her favorite teachers suggested that some of the seniors in her year do a street performance and that one of the people appointed to the vocal part of it was ryujin, she was inclined to refuse.

ryujin isn’t the sort of person to get scared, certainly not at something simple as this but uncertainty has its own creative ways to sneak up on an individual when they least expect it.

                     ✥ DARE VLOG PT V: STARRY NIGHT ✥

Choi Beomgyu and some guys from his class have a long-standing tradition. That tradition is random daring. Whoever is dared has to do it, no matter what. It was something that kept them all on their toes. The dare was recorded and added to their collection of dare videos. He was sure that one day said videos would come back to haunt him.

Now, however, he was having too much fun doing these random dares. Today just happened to be his day to be dared and he had been dared to sing in the middle of the street with no preparation or planning. The challenge was set, and Beomgyu accepted.

-- 🟊 busking!  [ butterflies - queen naija ] 

it’s been a long time since yohan has performed anything live. it’s been years, honestly -- and even when he did have an audience, it was when he was rapping. his singing hasn’t taken the spotlight since he was in high school, but that was mostly by choice. when singing, especially acoustically, it’s a lot harder to feign confidence when you’re not meandering around a stage with a hood pulled over your eyes, spitting some kind of self-aggrandizing bullshit too close to the microphone while cycling through 3 or 4 different hand gestures. 

yohan thinks of rapping now as finding ways to put forth the illusion of being bigger, like someone’s projecting a giant hologram of himself on a screen in front of him. he’s watched rappers manage to have presence and power without seeming to fake anything, though -- he’s always been in awe of the people who can be themselves onstage and still command attention. there were times when he enjoyed being in the audience of underground rap shows more than actually performing, for this reason. 

but he’s not in a dingy club. there’s no stage, no microphone. he’s not surrounded by the party-goers and soundcloud rappers like he used to be, either. here, tonight, it’s just him, a fold-able stool, a guitar. 

that’s not to say that he’s alone here, though. there are strangers everywhere, blurry faces strolling past, walking fast if they’re headed somewhere or slow if they’re some of the people wandering through hongdae just to see the other buskers. just down the street, there’s a circle of people cheering on a dance group. yohan can’t hear it super well, but he thinks he hears the notes of exo’s love shot rising up from within the crowd.

as he presses his lips together and sets down his stool, he tries to hype himself up. just get through one song and you’ll feel better, but even his internal monologue sounds hollow. he already thinks he can feel a few sets of eyes on him, curious looks as he scootches his bum back onto the seat and lifts his guitar. they’re expecting something from him. but what? an entertaining performance? a beautiful voice? something memorable, something unique? 

he wants to warn them. sorry in advance, y’all. 

he swallows again, thickly this time, and his fingers take up the positions of the song that yohan has been idly practising out of boredom for the past few months.

I don't wanna fall so fast But I'm open They always say that good things never last And I know 'cause I've been broken

it’s an easy english song -- probably a safe choice for now. though there’s a bit of a drop within the first minute of the song, it remains gentle. the lyrics are soft, with a fairly simple, straight-forward meaning to them -- basically, it’s not really anything like the music yohan usually listens to. he came across it by chance when he accidentally selected it on spotify instead of travis scott’s butterfly effect and laziness led him to listen to the whole song instead of changing it. he was surprised at how much it made him... feel. 

I'm tryin' to protect my heart But you're making it so hard And I guess it's safe to say You take my pain away

he sings it in a lower octave than the original’s singer, queen naija, did. there was some adjusting to do to make the key fit his range, but the natural husk to his voice suits the raspiness of the original. he continues the simple finger-strumming from the intro of the song, letting his eyes close and only opening them once in a while to stare at nothing in the distance. he tries to loosen his arms a little, to let the song take him away, and as he moves into the pre-chorus and prepares to play the full chord progression that he’s arranged for this part of the song, he finds that it’s working.

And I just wanna hold you all night long Whenever I'm around you, nothing's wrong I'm hoping that you'll always be around You got me on a high, I don't wanna come down

his voice weaves through the notes sweetly, incorporating just a tiny bit of the melisma and vibrato techniques that he’s tried to pick up over the years. he holds back just a little, stopping himself from trying to go too overboard out of fear of making himself sound unstable, or going offkey. his voice, previously a little breathly, grows louder for the chorus.

And I love it, I love it (these butterflies) Yeah I love it, I love it (I'm on a high) Yeah, I love it, I love it And I just wanna love on you (ooh)

obviously, he can’t overlap with his own voice live. he’s adjusted this part to suit his performance, skipping the second i love it, i love it line in favour of leaving a few strums of the chords there before coming back with i’m on a high and continuing on. instead of going back to the plucking, he switches to softly playing chords throughout the next verse, surprising himself with how emotional his voice manages to sound.

Ever since you crossed my path Everything is different You always know just how to make me laugh You got me all up in my feelings And as much as I love the feeling I hate it, it gets me frustrated Wanna say just how I feel But don't know how you would take it Why do you do what you do to me? Got me doing things that I don't do usually

whenever he sings this song, he can’t help but feel a little bit of an ache in his chest. it’s been a long-ass time since yohan has experienced butterflies, since he’s gotten to fall in love. he doesn’t want to look back on it, especially now that he can barely remember what it really felt like; it’s all been tainted by feelings of guilt and a sense of loss. it’s only when listening to songs like this, singing in such plain, yet effective words about new love and the unknown and the anxiety that comes with those things that he can almost feel it again, like the ghosts of butterflies  start to flit around his stomach again.

a minute later, he’s finishing the song with a final, gentle downward strum that rings out. he hears a smattering of applause and looks up with wide eyes, having genuinely forgotten about the possibility of people watching him toward the last bit of the song. 

he smiles with both his lips and his eyes, warmth in his stomach as he stands up and bows to the small crowd one, two, three times. 

“thank you,” he says in korean, feeling just a tiny bit proud of himself. this wouldn’t look like much of a risk to people on the outside, but he feels like he’s just vaulted over one of the biggest hurdles in front of him. 

kyulkyung quickly figured out how things worked at the academy, and thankfully so. 

as a dance instructor, not only was she responsible for preparing her students for their showcases but also their monthly trips down to hongdae. boyoung loved showing off her students and what better way to do so than to throw them into the wild that was hongdae. this wasn’t her first hongdae performance with hook & crook, but it definitely was the first time she had been asked to sing.

the singing department was short a singer for a performance so boyoung was quick to offer kyulkyung. you’re not half bad, and junyoung would owe you a favor. at this point, the woman couldn’t count how many favors the man owed her - this was not the first time he pulled her over to the singing side of the academy when he was short a voice or needed an extra hand. however, this was the first time he needed such a public favor.

but how could she say no?

the student who was her partner for the day seemed anxious and kyulkyung sadly couldn’t say she was feeling much different. she had training in singing yea, but not a lot. the woman could carry a tune and she had been told she had a pretty stable voice; this by no means helped her confidence, however. 

“hello everyone!’ kyulkyung took it upon herself to get the awkward part over with, introducing the pair to the tiny audience and passersby who met her eye. a smile easily lifted itself on to her lips, taking a few calming breaths as she held the mic a bit closer to her lips. “i’m kyulkyung and i’m a dance instructor at a dancing/singing academy not too far from here. i’m here to help out this talented singing student - we hope you like what we’ve pulled together.

the student accompanying her began strumming the strings of her guitar gently, kyulkyung’s voice melting into the chords and filling the air around them. the two rarely spoke prior to this, but they had gotten together to practice a few times. their voices went together surprisingly well, - the soft hum of kyulkyung’s voice a nice addition to the student’s more powerful one. the performance was rather short, but it left the woman with a warm feeling brewing in her chest.