The Secluded

"Yeong" Park Yeongcheol, New Age soloist, for Rivalz

[rvyeong]

rvchaeli​:

“i totally agree! especially since now that ankaa is doing okay, and because hoa is really popular, we get to fly business class, so those seats aren’t even that bad to sleep in,” chaeyoung insisted brightly. “it feels less stressful than music shows, too. i always feel like i’m going to do something stupid and derail the whole broadcast for everyone.”

“It’s probably less bumpy than a passenger van on the way to a music show as well,” Yeongcheol said. “The thing with tours is they’re usually planned so meticulously that mess-ups are kind of hard to come by. At least, that’s how it’s been in my experience.”

[rvjina]

“if i say something weird, please don’t hesitate to correct me,” jina said with a wry smile, adjusting her phone that was open to voice memos and brushing invisible dust of her notebook. “i’m used to interviewing wrestlers, not idols. but i’m excited to be able to sit down with you today~”

[rvyeong]

“Ah, if I say anything weird, please be patient with me, I haven’t done an interview in a while,” Yeongcheol replied, then nodding as kind of an automatic motion so he didn’t come off too stiff. “It's good to meet you., thanks for reaching out."

[rvyeong]

rvxpansy​:

“you’re sweet. and i’ll remember that– next time i’m so sore i can barely move after a promotion cycle, i’ll make you carry me around,” she answered with a laugh. “i think that it’s worth talking to them about. because that’s the sort of thing you can always reverse if you regret the decision, right? and plenty of older soloists have reduced schedules… dk, ilya… just to name a couple. i can’t see why they wouldn’t let you.”

“Sure, just ring me up and I’ll be your chauffeur for the day, I’m usually around,” Yeong said with a laugh. “I don’t think they wouldn’t let me or anything, I just feel bad about going back and forth on it for so long. I guess they’re more patient with me since I’m an older soloist.”

[rvyeong]

rvmija​:

“yeah… i haven’t had too much of a hard time in videos, because they can take a billion takes and just choose the best one,” she answered, though his question gave her pause. “i…. nothing? the lyrics i have to remember? how bored i am? not a ton, honestly…”

He nodded while listening to Mija. "When you're singing a ballad, the core of the song is the emotion - you can sound good and look good doing it, but if that's all there is, if you don’t really feel the song, then it comes off as a bit... disingenuous," Yeong said. “Connecting with a song is hard, but it’s a good first step.”

[rvmija]

“oppa, i need help,” mija said with a little whine, skipping into her mentor’s office. “terra is doing a ton of ballad stuff, and our trainers all say i look too mad or too cool when i’m trying to sing them. you’re kind of a ballad guy! sometimes! i need you to coach meeeee….” @rvyeong​

[rvyeong]

“I’m guessing you mean that you’re doing them live,” Yeong said with a nod, hearing his junior’s concern. He paused a bit. “I’ve got you, though. What’s usually going through your head when you’re singing a ballad?”

[rvsookie]

“i think i’m ready to start working on solo work,” sookie admitted, scrubbing her face in her hands. she’d had a solo debut in rejectz’s early days, but nothing for about three years since. “i’ve put so much of my focus into my group, and i think i’ve gotten us to a really good place. is it selfish of me to want to start working on something for myself now?”

[rvyeong]

“I don’t know, it seems perfectly reasonable to me that you might want to work on something for yourself. Can’t really throw your whole self into something that’s not totally yours.”

[rvyeong]

rvahki​:

“it makes the exceptions to the rule even more impressive, though,” she commented. “kiyoung and eli’s rise to fame, and jieun’s too to an extent, feel even more exciting because of that framing.”

“I’m amazed to see how much Kiyoung has improved since Idol Project, honestly. He’s not the strongest, still, but it’s miles away from where he used to be. I’m curious to see what he ends up doing when Creed slows down,” Yeong replied.

[rvyeong]

rvriki​:

“oh… so like me,” she replied, eyes brightening up a little as she chewed on her thumbnail. diadem was going to have other performers, but she was going to be the main vocalist, and most of her group was going to be a band. “do you get to have the same band every time?”

"Not all the time, but I've worked with a lot of the same people over the years. Most of the time people switch out depending who’s available at a certain time. I think I’ve had the same exact band only a couple times.”

[rvyeong]

rvxpansy​:

“i can relate to that a lot– juliette schedules aren’t nearly as manageable as they were when i was twenty-two,” she retorted with a little laugh, shaking her head. “you’re a fixture at new age now though, are you not? have you talked to them about a reduced schedule? or other perks? i know that when we promote now as a group, rare as that is, we only do inkigayo and m!countdown, and we pick and choose which variety we want to do, if any.”

“I wouldn’t have thought was the case, you look great on stage still,” Yeong replied, then pausing in thought. “I talked with them about ceasing promotions for a while years ago, but not anything about reduced schedules. I think it’s time, though."

[rvyeong]

rvsumitra​:

“see, now you’re just trying to poke holes in my encouragement on purpose!” she objected with a giggle. “no sweat– i’ve only been away from the stage for a few months, and lyncis’ debut had me spooked. i get it.”

"It’s... a force of habit, sorry," Yeong admitted sheepishly. “I think some people just don’t understand. Even if it’s just a short amount of time, you can’t always just... get in the right mindset all the time. It’s gotten better in recent years, though -- I don’t think people would have been as empathetic to this kind of thing ”ten years ago.”

[rvyeong]

rvchaeli​:

“well, it could be a lot worse i guess,” she giggled. “honestly, i can’t wait for the vietnamese unit to debut… my vietnamese is still shaky, but we don’t have to do the korean music circuit promotions… sure jet lag and travelling is hard, but i’d take that over three hours of sleep a night…”

"You know... I think I like the tours a little more than music show promotions. You know people are there to hear you,” Yeong mused. “And sleeping on a plane is better than hardly any, too.”

[rvyeong]

rvlia​:

“god, could you imagine?” lia aksed with a laugh. “like even beyond your throwback example….. could you imagine if burnout just fully pulled a harmony and i had to figure out how to be an idol? like we’re doing…fucking gee 2.0 or something, and there at the back of the formation is mahalia, probably forced to have had normal hair, arms wrapped up like a mummy to hide tats…..”

“That sounds like a nightmare scenario If I ever heard one,” Yeong replied with a laugh. “At least you’re in the back of the formation in this scenario, though? People usually miss it so you can mess up more there before they call you out.”

[rvyeong]

rvmelody​:

“i mean, it helps that like…half of those songs weren’t promoted i guess,” she pointed out. “promotions are the stuff that knock you out. but yein just released songs in batches and made music videos for her b-sides. i think that’s smart. reign fans get to see a ton of her so they flock to new age and to her new stuff. and she only has to do like half the promoting work for it.”

“You’ve got a point... filming can take a lot out of you too, but it’s probably more-so when filming abroad than anything when you’ve got the time difference and jet lag to deal with,” Yeong replied. “It is smart, and it seems to work best for her.”

[rvyeong]

rvjinkyung​:

“please– you barely look like you’ve skipped a beat,” jinkyung assured him. “it’s all the same song and dance. i performed onstage for the first time in nearly sixteen years last year as a story arc for my show, and honestly, it’s barely changed from when i was an idol. you’re much more in practice than i am. i have complete faith in you.”

“I guess things didn’t really change so much in four years except the groups performing, but I was worried about the cameras. I’m not really in front of them as much as I used to be,” Yeong admitted. ”Thank you, though. It’s reassuring to hear that, coming from you.”

[rvyeong]

rvahki​:

“unless they’re a complete asshole, the country will forget about them. i don’t mean that in a mean way, either. it’s a mercy.”

“Most likely. I’m pretty sure that the public expects a certain level of incompetence from them... so they’d really have to go the extra mile to leave any impression.”

[rvyeong]

rvlia​:

“i mean, liberty didn’t even mean to make burnout the way it is now. maybe they’ll make us accidentally stumble our way into that at some point. i’m not ruling anything out.”

“Some of you need to get really good at singing and playing, then. Just in case,” he joked.

[rvyeong]

rveunhye​:

“Don’t worry, now you’ve got your little sister promoting with you, you know!”  She says softly, knudging the elder on the arm gently  as she sipped her drink. Eunhye knew all too well, the stress of coming onto music shows.  Though her slip ups mostly had to do with worrying about the cameras trying to sneak in weirdly suggestive angles, wardrobe malfunctions and injuring herself on stage, she couldn’t help but sympathize with how nerve racking returning to the stage after so long could be. “But really, you’ll do fine out there! It’s Okay.”

He hadn’t thought about that before -- the last time he promoted on music shows, Venus had only just came onto the scene, so they hadn’t actually shared a stage before. “Thanks, Eunhye... I’ll try not to embarrass you, yeah?” Yeong teased, nudging her back.