Chapter 421 Reprimand
To Bae Joo-hyun, President Li’s words sounded like an expression of dissatisfaction.
“President Li, I don’t have any thoughts, I promise!” Bae Joo-hyun emphasized again.
Many people believed that with Jiang Shu’s backing, she could “do whatever she wanted,” but Bae Joo-hyun’s approach was to make more friends and avoid making enemies whenever possible.
Moreover, this was Li Duohui, the second-in-command at DM Entertainment, a trusted minister to Jiang Shu, and in the eyes of many, the best successor to the DM Entertainment President.
“I also promise you, I’m not angry,” Li Duohui said helplessly.
Bae Joo-hyun was slightly stunned upon hearing this. Since Li Duohui said so, did she really overthink it?
“Alright, relax,” Li Duohui walked up to Bae Joo-hyun, reached out, and patted Bae Joo-hyun’s shoulder. “Let’s stop talking about the Vice President position and discuss Girls’ Generation.”
“Yes,” Bae Joo-hyun nodded, and the two naturally sat down.
“Originally, I was going to tell Taeyeon about this, but since you’re here, I’ll tell you. The President’s intention is to increase Girls’ Generation’s comeback frequency, meaning the comeback for the mini-album is about to begin, and the songs have already been selected from the music library.”
Bae Joo-hyun thought of the sudden surge in the number of songs in the music library a while ago. At the time, she was curious why there were so many new songs in the library, and yet they weren’t allowed to choose them, only view them.
Now, she vaguely understood.
These were prepared for Girls’ Generation.
“Besides Girls’ Generation, the company’s other groups will also make comebacks sequentially. All of you will be busy.”
Every member of this Pinduoduo version of Girls’ Generation had to make a comeback this year, which meant they would have to run between two places.
Their own group and Girls’ Generation, running back and forth between the two groups.
Just thinking about it made them incredibly busy.
“Will our promotional periods conflict?” Bae Joo-hyun suddenly realized a problem. What if their comeback periods overlapped?
“We’ll promote in order,” Li Duohui said with a smile.
If they overlapped, then they would perform on stage in order.
Bae Joo-hyun: “…”
“Go back and tell the other Girls’ Generation members to prepare early; the recording for the mini-album will begin very soon.”
“Yes.”
…
In early May, as soon as Girls’ Generation’s debut promotional period ended, DM Entertainment gave no chance for their artists to catch their breath and immediately announced the upcoming comeback schedule.
LESSERAFIM, comeback with mini-album “ANTIFRAGILE” on May 30th.
Girls’ Generation, comeback with mini-album “Oh!” on July 9th.
IVE, comeback with mini-album “Kitsch” on July 12th.
Kim Tae-yeon, comeback with mini-album “fire” on August 3rd.
Lee Ji-eun, comeback with single “eight” on August 3rd.
The announcement of five comebacks in a row directly ignited the Korean Entertainment scene.
Especially the last two comeback announcements.
Kim Tae-yeon vs. Lee Ji-eun.
Regarding the dispute over South Korea’s top female solo artist, DM Entertainment came to help resolve the confusion.
Generally, the process before a company officially announces a comeback is: project confirmation — notify departments — manager notifies artist — song recording completed — official comeback announcement.
However, this time DM Entertainment was different. Except for LESSERAFIM and Girls’ Generation members who knew they were about to make a comeback, other groups and artists only found out their specific comeback dates after seeing the official announcement.
Especially IVE, Kim Tae-yeon, and Lee Ji-eun knew they were making a comeback, but not the exact date. But IVE didn’t even know they were making a comeback and only found out they would be returning two months later after seeing the news.
God knows the psychological impact on the IVE members when they saw this news.
DM Entertainment, IVE practice room.
The members were diligently watching the dance teacher demonstrate the moves.
The song “Kitsch” continued the style of “LOVE DIVE” and “After LIKE,” being the third song in a trilogy. With the foundation of the first two songs, everyone picked it up quite quickly.
But upon closer inspection, it would be noticed that there were only five people in the six-member IVE.
Zhang Yuanying was missing!
“One, two, three ~ four! Yes, Youzhen Ni, make your arm arc a little bigger. Liz, don’t be so stiff, relax a bit, yes, just like that.” The dance teacher sat on the floor, observing each person’s movements and giving targeted guidance.
Click.
The practice room door was quietly pushed open, and Zhang Yuanying’s tall figure appeared in the room. The practicing members didn’t notice her arrival.
Zhang Yuanying also didn’t rashly interrupt them and just stood by, watching their practice.
“Okay, much smoother than the last time, let’s do it again.”
“Teacher-nim,” Zhang Yuanying said quickly, seeing the situation.
Everyone looked over upon hearing the voice.
“Are Girls’ Generation finished?” The dance teacher asked immediately when she saw Zhang Yuanying.
Zhang Yuanying’s absence was due to Girls’ Generation’s rehearsal. Girls’ Generation’s members were difficult to gather, so the company required the members’ practice to prioritize Girls’ Generation.
This was also why Zhang Yuanying wasn’t practicing with the other members.
“Just finished,” Zhang Yuanying nodded and said.
“Good, come over quickly,” the dance teacher waved and said.
Similar scenes occurred in various practice rooms except for the LESSERAFIM practice room.
Time was tight, and everyone was rushing to prepare.
LESSERAFIM, who was making the first comeback, was relatively fine. One reason was that they already knew their comeback date, and another was that they had no members in Girls’ Generation.
“Chaewon, what are you doing? I’ve said this move a million times, and you still get it wrong?”
“And you, Kura, why do you always misguess such a simple beat?”
“Minju, your problem and Chaewon’s are completely opposite. One’s voice is so quiet it can’t be heard, and the other’s is so loud it’s noisy. Can’t you two balance it out?”
“Yunzhen, you’re using too much force. Are you fighting?”
“I’ve said it a million times, don’t bring ballet techniques into K-pop. Yunjin, do you not remember? If you don’t remember, then practice it a hundred more times!”
LESSERAFIM, with only a little over half a month until their comeback, had already completed their album recording. What they were doing now was the final intensive practice for their stage performances.
DM Entertainment’s requirements were quite strict, and among LESSERAFIM’s members, not a single one was exempt from inspection.
So, this group could be said to be the company’s key supervised object.
IVE’s positioning was based on visuals; vocals and dance were just acceptable, so the dance teacher primarily encouraged them during practice. Mistakes that could be corrected were corrected; if not, they were let go.
But LESSERAFIM was different. The company’s positioning for them was an athletic and trendy girl group, so both dance and vocals had to pass.
Therefore, compared to the IVE practice room, which was filled with praise, LESSERAFIM’s practice room was filled with reprimands.
The low pressure in the practice room was clearly palpable. The dance teacher and vocal teacher were “scolding” their respective members. Although there were no swear words, their words were even more heartbreaking to hear.
