what: base online cover
when: july 2021
song: inside out - zedd, griff
wc: 454 (w/o the lyrics)
when presented with the opportunity to perform a song cover of their choosing, maverick had spent a long time considering which song exactly they wanted to cover, and if they wanted to do it on their own or with another person. ultimately, they settled on doing a solo cover after making their own solo debut and wanting to get more comfortable with the idea of performing without the other members of knight there with them.
one night when they couldn’t fall asleep they had listed out all the songs in english and korean that they would potentially want to cover, ending up with a long list of options which they slowly went through before deciding on the song “inside out” that one of his friends from america had shown to them, saying they enjoyed it and thought that mav should give it a listen for themself as well. the moment they heard it they fell in love and decided that this was the song they wanted to sing.
the setting was simple, just them in a small performing area with a mic in hand, the long cord the only thing on the floor otherwise. maverick had wanted it to be fairly simple and managed to get bc to be on board with the vision they had for it.
quietly they swayed back and forth on their feet, waiting for the go ahead from the staff behind the camera, switching between singing the song to themself and doing small warm ups for their throat and voice until the women controlling the camera spoke up, “maverick-ah, are you ready?”
they replied enthusiastically, nodding and confirming that they were indeed ready for the first take of the day. hopefully it’d be the last as well, but who knew what would happen. when they had chosen the song honestly they had initially just picked it because they liked the song, but the reasoning had also expanded to include wanting to challenge themself and their capabilities. the style was slightly different than anything that knight or their solo music would ever give them a chance to fully tackle.
we stayed up all night
talking to each other, whispers under covers
you told me your life
wasn't always easy, i said i know the feeling
maverick started confident the song and the way they were sounding, moving around with where their body took them as they performed. as they continued on they relaxed more and more into the song, getting comfortable in the setting and their abilities and giving their absolute best performance.
as the song came to a close and the music stopped playing from the speakers, maverick turned to look at the few people who were behind the camera, “how was that?” slowly moving towards them in hopes that they would let them watch the footage back and deciding if they needed another shoot.
i'm gonna love you, love you inside out
i'm gonna love you, love you inside out
nothing you say is gonna scare me now
still gonna love you, love you inside out
summary: mirae does a dance cover of knight’s love shot for base’s youtube channel.
triggers: n/a.
notes: n/a.
mirae doesn’t want to make assumptions about why the offer is given to her, but she can’t help but notice how soon it comes on the heels of her first youtube video going viral and getting her a new rush of attention as a performer. she’s holding off on uploading another dance cover to her own channel right away so she doesn’t sabotage the lifespan of her first video, but the base production team doesn’t seem to share the same concern when word is passed on from one of silhouette’s managers that she’s been offered the chance to film a cover for the base youtube channel.
she doesn’t have anything against the idea at all. she’s watched one or two of the videos that have come out on the channel so far and it’s been a chance to see what other idols, usually her juniors by nature of how long she’s been in the industry, are capable of outside of their group. it wasn’t an opportunity she herself has been afforded much early in her career, and a more jaded idol might have rejected the offer extended to her by virtue of being beyond that kind of thing, but mirae instead agrees and tells the manager she’ll get back to him about what she wants to do once she’s had time to think about it.
not a lot of time is required when she gets an idea the next time she logs into youtube and is recommended a non-idol dancer’s cover of knight’s love shot. it’s a song that had become popular for its performance and mirae can’t say she keeps up with every boy group release put out, but love shot is too attention-grabbing for her not to already be incredibly familiar with.
the point dance comes to her from memory, so it’s only a matter of learning the rest of the choreography. it doesn’t take very long when formations can be mostly ignored and the dance is built more on sheer charisma and flexible hips than complicated movement.
the wardrobe for love shot is almost as iconic as the point dance, so she doesn’t even have to tell the stylist she’s paired with that she wants to wear dress pants and a blazer for her cover.
overall, mirae spends a lot less time agonizing over her cover for the base online youtube channel than she had when she’d been preparing to film the first cover of her own youtube channel, but she gives as much energy in front of the camera as she had when it’d been her own personal production. dancing is what she loves, after all, and she has high hopes her fans will like this cover, too.
closed starter “ a cover of decipher’s man in love ”
° @fmdtaejin
‘ when does one become a successful fan? ’ haneul wonders this as he enters the dedicated practice room where he was meeting up with a senior artist to do a cover -- it wasn’t just any old senior either it was the kim taejin of decipher. haneul would be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous because he was, in truth, extremely jittery. there were so many butterflies going on inside of his stomach that he was worried he might puke all over the floor.
when the offer to do the dance cover had been brought up to him he jumped at the opportunity to do a dance cover of a decipher song, it didn't matter which it was but when he also learned he would do it a member from decipher he was ecstatic. wasn't it a fan's dream to be able to dance with their favorite idol and here haneul was allowed to do just that? he considered himself lucky and thankful that he was the first person to arrive in the practice room-- he had made sure that it was empty before walking inside.
first, he should warm up and so he started doing light stretching exercises to make sure he didn't injure himself-- considering he had just made his debut it would be a catastrophe if he got injured. especially being vive's main dancer. the last time he saw a member of decipher in person was during hot topic(k) and it had been taejin. the leader and coincidentally the person he would be doing the cover with, ' what are the chances that taejin sunbae remembers me? amongst all those trainees that were at his workshop... very little, ' haneul nodded to himself, there was no way that taejin would remember him even if he had gotten the top rank.
' don't let your success get to your head, ' he whispered to himself, looking into the mirror while trying to psych himself up for the encounter, he had to be cool -- he didn't want to scare off the older male. how could he act cool when he had been a fan of decipher since he was in elementary school? ' i shouldn't bring up my age unless he asks, it could make him uncomfortable... don't want that. '
haneul glanced at the clock hanging on the wall, it was almost time for taejin to arrive -- ' breathe, remember to breathe. '
to say that sehoon had a lot of songs in mind that he wants to make a cover of would be an understatement. at some point, he thinks it's become second nature to him by now, an acquired interest from his line of work and the passion he has for music in general. this made choosing a song to use for a cover to be quite tricky. there were too many good options to choose from, but he and jiah have decided to go with ‘rewrite the stars’. it’s admittedly a very good song, and also one of the many reasons why he agreed to do it in a heartbeat. it's a wonderful piece and luckily just within his vocal range. to say he's excited to do this would also be another understatement.
practice proved to be a fun experience, too. he’s thankful that jiah agreed to do the cover with him. he feels lucky to be working with her on this project. looking around, he sees the staff doing some last-minute preparations before they go on for their first round of recording. as far as he knows, everything has been set up and ready for them to go, but it doesn’t hurt to do some final checking. which reminds him. “thanks for doing this cover with me, by the way,” sehoon looks at jiah with a smile. “do you mind if we practice one last time before we start recording?”
LOCATION: a small sound stage
TIME: mid-late june
WHAT: taejoo is asked to film a cover of natural for base online
NOTE: the arrangement is based off this one.
taejoo’s hands were sweating as he settled down on the stool. this wasn’t live but it was going to go up to a huge audience. taejoo was still getting used to performing in front of people. trainee evaluations weren’t the same thing at all. while they did involve a crowd it was mostly other trainees and company staff. he shifted on the stool trying to arrange himself as comfortably as possible.
his outfit was simple, a white button down shirt with a bit of frills around his wrists and neck with black slacks. his make-up was dark and smoky, to match the dark mood of the song and the music video. however, it wasn’t uncomfortable in any sense of the word but taejoo’s nerves meant he felt the shirt where it cinched around his wrists and was beginning to itch and the feeling of sweat starting to form under his makeup.
the set wasn’t too complicated either. just a large antique chair and a microphone. the lighting was dim to create a foreboding atmosphere. but taejoo was too aware of how he was arranged on the chair and the way that that he couldn’t see much at all. would he even show up well on camera?
this would eventually go up to thousands if not millions of people. other than quicksilver’s few performances at the fantasy concerts and private showcase he hadn’t really had the chance to do much as a public trainee yet. filming this cover somehow felt more official than any of his live performances.
and then of course there was the fact that the song was in english and taejoo’s english was touch and go at best. he was told his pronounciation was good though. he hoped that he was understandable at least. maybe he should have practiced the song a couple more times. maybe he should have stuck to a korean song. he should have paid a bit better attention in his english classes.
taejoo cut his own line of thinking off. it would be what it would be. he couldn’t do anything now but put on the best performance he was capable of.
the song pushed his range a little. flipping back and forth between belting and more restrained singing fairly often. it was a difficult song, however taejoo was confident in his own abilities to perform it. belting was one of his strengths and most of the big belts were comfortably in his chest voice rather than his head voice. whilst he could still belt into his upper range it wasn’t quite as reliable as his mid-range belts which is why he’d picked this song.
if all went well he’d show off his strengths and avoid displaying his weaknesses. this cover was as much to advertise his abilities as it was to create content for base.
taejoo took a deep breath steadying himself. the staff signaled that the cameras were rolling and the intro began playing. taejoo closed his eyes let the feeling of the song take over, forgetting for the moment about the cameras in the room with him. the beginning of the song was fairly restrained and so taejoo kept his voice soft and intimate only allowing himself to let loose once he reached the chorus. when he got there he focused on channeling all his anger around being a trainee for so long and his anxieties around his eventual debut into the song to better tell the story of the song.
summary: ash covers good 4 u by olivia rodrigo for base’s youtube channel.
triggers: n/a.
notes: the arrangement is sort of a mix of this and the original.
covers come to him more naturally than original songs as of late, so when the news is passed on by his manager that he’s supposed to film a cover for base’s youtube channel, it’s almost a relief in spite of being a directed schedule by bc and not something of his own volition.
there’s a near-endless list of songs filed away in a playlist titled “cover?”, but he doesn’t waste much time looking for his pick before settling on what he wants to sing. most of the songs on the list speak to an ash of a time when he felt more sad than angry, but he’s not sure he’d be able to sit still and sing out some sad, heartbroken ballad on the verge of tears when all he wants to do lately is scream. good 4 u might not be the be all and end all of originality, but it reminds ash of a simpler time when he was younger and had scream-sung along to songs about emotions he didn’t fully understand yet.
lucky for him, it doesn’t take much convincing for him to get the okay on the song. someone says something about wanting to recreate the energy of his viral cover from last fall, and he chooses to ignore it. ceasing to exist in the blink of an eye so he can be reborn in the body of someone he hates less sounds great still, but the self-loathing he’d poured into that performance isn’t something he intends on manufacturing on demand for the sake of content.
he’s so suitably annoyed with the facts of his life as of late that the day he goes in to film the cover, his makeup artist asks if he’s method acting. he pushes more than ever for some kind of say in the wardrobe, the makeup, the lighting, but it pays off in the end. the arrangement amps up the rock elements, and he sheds the jennifer’s body-esque high school cheer concept of the music video for something more full-out rockstar. he’s limited by the set arranged for all of the covers to be filmed on, but donning fake leather and with his shiny black and white gibson strapped over his shoulder as he stands behind the microphone stand, waiting for the crew to finish tweaking the red-tinged lighting, he’s left to wonder if he’s pushed so far into a persona that it’s somehow come full circle into feeling near-authentic.
performing the song is a release he’s forgotten is possible. instead of sitting trapped around his chest like a too-small cage, it bursts forth with all the force of a man who’s been keeping a lot in under his skin.
it’s liberation in its most addictive form and for the takes it requires before he gets an impressed thumbs up and a call to the end of the shoot from the video director, ash is reminded why he’d ever wanted to be standing where he is today in the first place.
SUMMARY: apparently, i had a lot of things planned for this one but i never wrote anything because... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. but here we have sooah covering jynx and taeyong’s how can I love the heartbreak, you’re the one I love because i think yeri did a good job on this one and sooah also deserves the praise because why not. but also, your eyes will fall off if you read since it’s terrible because your one and only had a migraine (again). you’ve been warned.
WC: 483
The song’s name comes to her as soon as she hears they are prompting the idols to record a cover to post it online for the Base Online thing. Highly ambitious she knows and in any other circumstance, Sooah would gladly back out and rethink her options because there are other songs that she could sing without embarrassing herself too much. That’s why she goes back home after the meeting and tries to find something that is better fitting, something she knows she can pull off easily. But she always goes back to that one song that she heard probably a million times since it was released.
Jynx sunbaenim and Taeyong sunbaenim are good vocalists, no one with good taste would discuss that, so there’s this slight pressure of covering a song that belongs to them, and Sooah isn’t entirely sure if she can take that load to herself. Sure, she has been doing this singing thing for years, but she was in no way at their level. She barely gets her share of lines in Fuse for a reason. She’s not experienced or unique. She just sings.
For some reason, even knowing that, she doesn’t feel discouraged. She doesn’t have the same level of technique as she would have liked, but that couldn’t stop her from testing the waters and seeing how it goes. And she can always practice. A lot. Until she’s satisfied with the result.
For the day of filming, Sooah is surprisingly calm and not nervous at all. It’s a good thing since, in her experience, being nervous on stage just makes the performance look bad and sloppy, definitely something they don’t want today. But it still is unexpected. How cool she feels and how the only moment she took for herself and stopped chatting with the staff was when she started warming up for the singing.
How can I love the heartbreak, you’re the one I love is not your average song in Sooah’s opinion, but that might as well be because in her team she’s just a vocalist who has very few lines. They have amazing harmonization, and Sooah is alone for this one. Some parts she wasn’t sure she would be able to reach the notes, but Sooah spent a good portion of the past two weeks wanting to do good, and she would be very disappointed if she didn’t manage to deliver what she was hoping to achieve.
So she puts all she had prepared in practice, and although Sooah knows it doesn’t come out as good as the original, just the fact that she could handle this? That she had managed to put into a song enough emotion and enough effort to sing it well and not pass out from nerves. That’s the biggest accomplishment she could have gotten. And once the lights dim out and the cameras stop shooting, she can only smile.
summary: a cover to the greatest — champagne supernova by oasis
warnings: none
wc: 415
the first two hours are spent simple, easy when her fingers become calloused by the repetition movements on the strings. a handful of chords, yet the strumming patterns become a saving grace when she pays no attention but free strums the beginnings.
it’s amateur timings on the stringed instrument, her heart no longer on the lines of the guitar but free-falling past the croons of liam gallagher’s voice.
she remembers when she hears the song for the first time at thirteen. some girl inside class, the volume on full blast through the speakers. and it’s her meager voice that peeps past the silence, and the taps against the shoulder from her finger that allude to the question — ‘what song is that?’
(it becomes a repeat inside her playlist for a year).
and when she’s stripped bare at twenty-six, a face void of any layers of foundation and eyeliner with her hair pulled back inside her bedroom. it feels like a hobby once more. in-ears traded in for the headphones that cup her ears, a playback of her own voice inside the microphone she fishes out of the corner of her room.
there’s no frills or decorations to a voice that rests high-toned and quiet against the strums. not when it’s the acoustics of the guitar that hum through the empty rooms, and her one-two sound checks where home feels like a stage she’s posed together.
and in comes her voice when she sings, no auto-tune nor fine-tuning to fix out the soft brittleness of her voice. instead, it’s raw and vulnerable with her coy glances to the camera when she begins the first verse — it’s a reminder once again that singing stemmed from the root of her core, a love lost and tainted from the industry.
each note becomes put together, and the manner in which her voice doesn’t hover nor fall. stays upon a steady hum roots her back to baseline, back to home. it’s the way the edges of her lips furl into a gentle smile, genuine and pure when love writes itself back into the music. no longer a request of gold star, it’s her heart that blooms pure when it’s her mediocrity inside the strums of a guitar and the echoes of an untouched voice singing to the mic.
oasis became an escape at thirteen, and she hugs each word closely. tighter than before when they become a sole escape once more.
someday you will find me
caught beneath the landslide
in a champagne supernova in the sky
she figures, the champagne supernova was just a mirage for the fast-paced life she’d been wedged into when life topples over and massacres her deep into a landslide.
