it had only been a few minutes since they got started. as if they didn’t already have work, kami pushed her friend into helping out with this track as well. she also needed to give minjung a chance to look over the lyrics. now that it had been penned, she could move on. and she had few ideas of what she wanted to hear in the track. once minjung had a chance to look over the lyrics, kami turned slightly to minjung.
“so what are you thinking? i know it’ll be hip-hop focused as the base...but i think i want a soft intro for those opening lyrics.” she wanted something that would lure people in. “and a nice drop, the plan is for this to bee a summer banger.” it had to be something she could really have fun on stage with.
one half of the process down and another started, but kami was determined to get it finished. the production side of things had finished up and now they needed to hammer out the lyrics. something she was that wouldn’t be a problem, the entire album was shaping up and working with ash had always been easy for her. “alright, lyric concept..” kami uttered and flipped to a clean page in her notebook.
“i’ve been thinking over the topics i’m covering in my songs...for this one, i was thinking something along the lines of taking a relationship easy.” day by day and step by step. “almost like ‘some’ no official labels, no getting jealous, just enjoying each other’s company from time to time, nothing serious.” so far, she hadn’t really had anything like that on the album.
the track was what one would expect from this type of track.
it was what kami was looking for in a way. she had songs saved that she wanted to lose later but that's where her noona came in. giving something for kami to bounce off of without having to start from scratch. she already knew what she wanted the lyrics to say and the song had enough of the vibe. the track leaned a more mellow than she would've liked and kami wanted to make a point to change that.
it happened in various sections of the song. the opening was fine, she only extended it for a bit. before the first verse would come in, she added a few beats, making it sound just a bit heavier on the ears. in her mind, this would be the part of the concert were things really kicked up, a hype opening for the rest of the track. something that would come and go, let the flow pull the crowd in for a bit before hitting them what she thought might be the sound for her chorus.
it was the perfect interlude from her rapping to her shouting.
the verses were fine, she didn't find herself spending too much time on changing them. only small additions were made, she wanted the entire thing to sound a little more sinister than it did. more sinister samples and sounds played out in the background, fading in and out from the main base that been established. it was a hype track but she wanted it to be scary in a way as well. if she was going with such a bare instrumental, something that wasn't too dense, then a little humph needed to be added.
what had been given to her didn't have much in to offer in terms of bridge, which wasn't a big deal. she already had a stepping stone. since this part would match the opening of her lyrics, she chose to make the slight opening of over her song. she extended it for a bit but the final production wasn't that much larger. a few timed snaps were added, just to flush it out. in the end, this felt like the most sinister part of her song, even without the little samples that had been put in.
and that lead into the ending of the song, she let the instrumental play as if the song was about to end, bringing back the hype part of her song for just a moment before it really died down. things didn't end there, she had to hear it a few times before she chose this as the final product. playing around with things and tweaking until she had to force herself to stop.
now she was another step closer to her full album.
it was simple really, that’s all kami could ask for.
there was more looking, connecting with other artist when she stumbled across the instrumental for what would be make love. she had played around with what she had been given but now, the lyrics with minjung were finished and she could happily move onto fixing up the song how she wanted. she let it play on a loop for a bit, making small notes of what she wanted to change.
and the changes came quick, not of them were huge though. just a bit in the opening, she wanted the small sound of static, as if it was coming through a radio a little unclear. and then she added another static sound, just as if the right channel had been finally found. and for a bit she didn't touch the rest, the vibe was easy and a little somber.
it was everything she wanted.
there was a small change in the chorus, she brought the beat in after the word 'baby just' instead of having it hit in the chorus right away. there was a sort of build-up there kami wanted to play around with. she worked on that section for a bit, perfecting it until she was happy with the music. leaving the chorus only to come back and add the subtle sound of claps in the background. tweaks and adjustments that helped make a great instrumental even better.
a bit of the second verse had been changed as well. before, the sound was pretty simple without anything in the background. it smoothed freely but now, she wanted to a slight sense of urgency to the sound. letting beats linger or pass by quickly. the instrumental had been beefed up just a bit, the small sounds in the background had been made a little more clear. she wanted to make the beat of someone's heart, to have them go perfectly in time. there was a balance there and kami managed to find. the second chorus had the same changes made as she worked on the song bit by bit.
it was easier to go section to section, honestly, she didn't want it to sound completely different.
the bridge had been stripped back, she took away sounds and instruments until it felt a little hazy, so her voice could cut through clearly. while small snaps were added a few beats apart. for a moment, she drove the intensity up a second, the music getting just as passionate as the clears before she cut it all out. that was all she wanted to do. now, kami went back to clean up the parts that sounded a little rough, the parts were the changes didn't come out the best, working with it until it was something she was proud to release to the public.
she had thought make love would be the end of the album.
the final few tracks had their own story but the more she worked the album, the more the reshuffling happened and the more she wanted to change. a lot of had tracks had been bought by her, songs she thought she had a future with and there was one instrumental that stuck out to her.
it was in the same vein of make love, stripped back and simple but still, it called to kami and she wanted to use this to end the album. it was also a nice little loop back to the the opening track in it's own way. she didn't want a bombastic feeling to end the album, just as it opened on a sort of relaxed feel. she made no plans to touch the music for this album but she would make the lyrics herself.
the lyrics would be softer in a way she hadn't shown since the witching hour album. though, she did try to remove herself from it, it was more for the people who would be listening. kami went to work on the chorus first, she wanted to speak to the future of someone. who they hopped to become even if it was hard. she wanted to capture the essence of being there, the person they wanted to be was always there.
it might take a bit to get there but it was always apart of them. she took a bit to work on the chorus and flush it out before transferring everything she wanted to new a document.
then she circled back to the first verse, choosing to be a little blunt with the opening. she wanted to get straight to the point. it worked in the song and it worked with her, keeping in theme, she didn't wait to get to the point. she got to then expanded on it. look in the mirror and see the person you want to do be, don't compare yourself to others. that'd only send you on a downwards spiral, it was painful.
no, just look in the mirror and realize the person you wanted to be was there, here the entire time.
the next part did speak to her a little more as she moved onto the second verse. kami didn't mean to do it but the words came out. some could call her greedy, there were times she had to stand back and think about what she wanted. how much she would do for what she wanted. it was a dangerous line to walk and a dangerous game to play.
it was okay to want to perfection.
but it was dangerous to chase it without loosing yourself. it was a word of advice, to herself and whoever happened to listen to the track. she went back again to edit what she had typed out and cleaned it up a bit. then it was the copy and paste game again while she moved to finish it all.
the verses and chorus were set up pretty well and now all she had to work on was the bridge. kami chose to go with a few repeating lines, just to drive the point home. just a few lines about being happy with oneself, being happy with what would come. looking for real happiness, she wanted to put in a slight reassurance foe what she was talking about in the song. once it was finished, she went to start and went through the lyrics again, there was still things that could be cleaned up and perfected, just a bit more.
finally, she was finished and went to save the file, now, unless she had more she wanted to work on her album was considered complete.
it was floated that she could fit in another semi-intense song on the album.
she had received half the song, in both lyrics and production. and the feel was just about right. there had been sometime between the floating of the idea, her getting parts of the song and then finally taking the steps to sit down and work on it. that was the plan today at least, on her screen she had the lyrics up and what was made of the song playing on a loop in the background.
the concept of the opening lines was something she wanted to keep. there had been a glance over the lyrics and she would add or change as she went but it was interesting. the first few lines in what would be the rap, what she would make the rap at least made her chuckle. kami made a note but it caused her to go back to a few lines and change the hook a bit.
the feel of it flowed just a bit better.
then she removed a section, having an idea of what the flow would be and what she wanted to type. the lyrics came easily, sassy in a way. was she talking to the media? was she talking to someone she knew personally? there were a few ways to take it and that's what kami loved about it.
it was cocky in a way.
but she felt like she had the right to be and the entire thing agreed with her. just a few lyrics here and there were changed to make it more her. still, a few of the original lines stayed and kami enjoyed the fact that she managed to work well with the original.
she didn't touch what she re-worked of the hook, moving onto the second verse of the song quickly enough.
most of the second verse was re-worked, not that it wasn't good but she wanted to brag and talk shit a little more. this was one of the few times her inner thoughts were okay to get out, she wanted to take the chance and it'd be a nice opening into crazy diamond. she could do it again. this was even more off a call out, a bit of a personal one but she was sure that a few people would be able to connect to it.
she chose to use the opening up to end the song, nothing had changed from start to finish. once all of the changes had been noted, kami complied everything into one and hit save. now, she'd move to work on the production and it'd be another track down.
based on the lyrics and the sound, kami had a pretty good idea of what she wanted to do.
since this was going to be a track she would promote on stage at the very least. that's how the planning process started. she wanted to play up the playful feeling as well. that's how she found herself staring in the mirror of one of the practice rooms. as always, she already set everything up to record her movements as she tried to work the dance out.
the first thing, she had worked out had been the chorus. overall, kami knew that her backup dancers would be doing the same moves as her for most of the dance. compared to her title track, she knew this was going to be more of unit piece. nunu nana did show her dancing skills but she left a lot of room for freedom. this was going to be a little tighter.
"kitty run, chorus version 1." with that, kami started the song just a bit before the chorus hit. instead of trying a few different moves, she let her body do entire set. free styling it most. the moves had were high energy and had a lot of dynamitic movements. once she was finished, kami started from the top again, doing another version of the chorus.
the next set of recordings were the transitions from one part of the song to the other. placing where she needed to center herself as well. a small break was taken off after that. kami wanted to at least get some versions of the first verse and pre-chorus before she called it a night.
all of the moves were big, no small one. sure, she had finer details but she wanted the entire dance to be as visible as it could be. it was a lot more hip-hopped based than some of her previous tracks but that was fitting for her.
the next day saw her arriving at the company as early as she could. the night before, she spent the time looking over her video and now she had a solid set for her chorus, first verse and pre-chorus. today dance she started with the second verse, it would allow her to move some and play with the stage set up a little. this time, she had basic idea already, so there was no need for different versions. even the pre-chorus had changed a bit, the moves were a little more sexy and allowed her space to do as she wanted on stage.
then there was a bit of the dance break after the chorus and before the bridge, for this, she did record a few different takes. they weren't much different from each other to the naked eye but she knew what she was doing. while her bridge included a little some simple floor work, the moves were a little more drawn out than before. the final chorus did get a change though, looking over her recordings it had managed to give her a few ideas of how she wanted to do and in the studio, there was the chance to final perfect it, along with her post chorus.
a break finally came and she took the chance to look over what had been recorded for the day, marking down the moves she wanted.
hours later, kami was finally came to complete the entire dance for herself before she worried about the moves of her backup dancers and that didn't add much. there were a few times where they'd be doing something different but for the most part, the entire dance was a unit piece.
and now that she had finished that, all that was left was to pick her back-up dancers.
thinking it over, she wasn't sure where the song would fit in the album but kami wanted it away.
she was powering through at the moment, track by track. she had a solid idea and some of them were completed. she did know though, what the song would be about and the idea of having a feature played in her mind. for now though, she turned her attention back to her keyboard. it was entirely straightforward song, a bad boy and woman who wanted him. \
she just had to write.
it started her off with knowing just who he was. everyone knew who he was and maybe that was apart of the draw. even if the draw was a very dangerous draw. and she might not want to say it out loud, but she wanted that passion and danger. it was at the mid-way that she thought about liking him to 007, the best bad boy. and it was alright if he was bad, she wanted a little bad in her life. it was always more about the temptation, someone you shouldn't want or shouldn't have.
the last line of the chorus was her favorite.
just how she thought about saying it in the song.
then she moved onto the next part. give her any pet name, it really didn't matter. the lyrics painted a scene in her second verse, she wanted it to be alive and she wanted it to be fun. more so, the lyrics were sexy and subtle, a tamer version of kami. a side that she didn't express that often because she was a little more intense than that.
but she did want this verse to be a little more obvious with her intent in this section. classy enough to not be crude but there wouldn't be any mistaking what she was talking about. using an agent just made it even better.
but someone would be able to relate. and that was the key in this album, she wanted all of the songs to be relatable enough for someone. it didn't have to be every track but at least everyone could find one track they liked.
the final part was a little rough, this time writing from mr. bonds point of view but she she made sure to make a note of it. just as teasing as she had been in her own lines. only, this section was left a small-note, a backup. the plan was to have a feature and she wanted to give the chance to whoever it was to write their own part after looking over her lyrics. but if that didn't happen, she'd have something in her back pocket.
