#rkfeb20eval

[rksungho]

let it all out.

@taeminrk

if he has to see minhyuk right now, sungho thinks he might scream. no, he’ll hit the useless piece of shit right in the face. that would be much more satisfying. who’s gonna hire a lazy actor with a fucked up nose? no one, that’s who.

thankfully, sungho’s violent fantasies stay just that, fantasy. he leaves the room before he can say something he’ll regret or get too frustrated to keep it all inside. he hasn’t been this bad in ages, but it just... astounds him. how can someone be so incredibly useless? he can’t even write his own goddamn rap! what sort of rapper, especially one who won a rap contest to get into the company, only recites other peoples’ lyrics? sungho can’t understand why kt didn’t cut him at the end of last month, why the coaches gave him one more chance. he can’t dance, can’t sing, can’t even rap unless someone tells him how to too apparently

he takes a seat heavily, a huff escaping his lips and his eyes closed as he runs through some breathing exercises that are supposed to help when he’s seeing red. maybe he’s just too heated this time, because he’s still pretty damn angry when he hears the door click open and shut and another body enter the room. somehow, sungho doesn’t have to open his eyes to know that it’s taemin. of course it is, here to wrangle him back from doing something stupid, talk him down from the ledge before he goes over the deep end.

sungho glances at the other man before burying his head in his hands, pressing fingertips against his scalp as if trying to massage out the anger, the tension, everything.

“why’d we have to get stuck with him,” he groans, fully expecting to be chastised for venting about one of the many guys he’s supposed to be getting along with. sungho might just take the l on this one. “we’re gonna spend every dance practice making sure he doesn’t bring the whole fucking group down. and you’re writing his rap for him?? why is he even here?” 

he throws his hands down, head bobbing as he closes his eyes again. he wants to do well, he wants them all to do well, and that’s the problem. apparently, it’s just too damn hard for someone to keep up with the rest of the team.

[rkxhyunjin]

♥ KT ENTERTAINMENT’S FEBRUARY EVALUATIONS: KT BOYS’ EXPERIMENTAL GROUP TEAM FLUFFY’S MASH-UP PERFORMANCE PREPARATION

( remixed, choreographed, and performed by @aronrk, @rkgray, rkxhyunjin, @rkjimin​, and @rkjohnny​ ) 

It’s not his fault, and Hyunjin knows this.

It’s not his fault, and Hyunjin knows this yet it’s hard to pry himself from the sensation of feeling guilty over something he can’t control. Over something that in many ways was a compliment towards the youngest dancer. But he knows that for the others he was used to compare with, it wasn’t a compliment for them. Or maybe it’s a bit of an insult to both parties. To the other trainees on the team that by ‘all means’ should be better than the youngest, than the one with the shortest training period. To Hyunjin who, he likes to think, hasn’t come this far because the others around him were lacking (as the man seems to imply), but because he’s put in his very own brand of unrelenting effort to be able to stand among some of the best performers he knows.

February looms before them, and Hyunjin rolls his sleeves up once again, ready to prove himself to all who may doubt him; tenacity and grit pushing him forward into the challenge once more. And as the nights he spends with the other team members increase one by one he’s ever more determined to prove that they all had what it took to reach their dreams together.

Hyunjin has always been consistent, always been predictable. When he sets his mind on achieving something his drive is unmatched, limits set to the side to see his own dreams come true (because no one is going to grant them for him). It’s what leaves his in the practice rooms far past their designated practice times, pulling together what he knows of the other members on his team and putting together their choreography.

While Hyunjin doesn’t have much experience in producing, he does have experience with choreography from the MGAs. If he could sculpt full routines from scratch when his choreography skill was barely more than a novice’s, then with enough resolve surely he could do it once again. About a quarter way into the choreography, it dawns on Hyunjin how much he really has learned at KT, how much he remembers nuances that accompany choreography that were previously absent from his knowledge during the MGAs but gained during this past year and a half.

(It makes him a little proud to know he’s improved, but he ducks his head and continues pushing forward).

Although Hyunjin has done his best at catering the choreography to the strengths and weaknesses of the other members, there are of course some points of the mashup’s choreography that can’t be changed, and he does his best to help those who need it learn the dance. Even more so, some points of the choreography are difficult, are challenging, on purpose. Afterall, the evaluation wasn’t simply meant to check that their progress met a static standard, the evaluation needed to show change as well. Hyunjin had confidence in his team members, they wanted to be here just as much as he did and because of that, Hyunjin knew they would rise to the challenge and push their limits to perform to the best of their abilities.

[rkwxnb]

—- call me baby

starter for @rkxminhee

She does not remember the last time she worked with Minhee. Given that they were not in the same company and has not had many chances to which makes this so mean so much more because it’s their first time. For the life of her, Naeun is genuinely having so much fun and is pretty excited with what they come up with. 

With Minhee arranges the song and their outfits. She was left to do the choreography, it’s been a while since she got to work an independent choreography. “So how do you was it?” After showing Minhee the routine she created for them, hopefully, the older girl would like it but she was more than happy to change things up for Minhee’s approval. 

[rkxjongsuk]

Back Back Again - KNK/Infinite MyName Mashup 

                     w. Haruto (Line Distribution) 

Jongsuk had a lot of confidence in haruto’s skills. Untapped potential and jongsuk legitimately had so much faith in him. Even if he had said that he was going to be bad and terrible, jongsuk was sure that haruto would be great and even better, he was a triple threat. he almost felt threatened but he was happy that he was working with haruto and the whole month of preparations, he had spent it encouraging haruto and hyping him up because he knew that the other was good. he was after all taken in by katie lee of kt and jongsuk knew that the woman held high standards. 

they spent their practice days, dancing and singing and jongsuk was glad to give haruto some tips that he had picked up while training in trc for a really long time, but overall, jongsuk was just happy to perform with a friend, a fun mashup and a fun song. 

On the day of their performance, jongsuk grinned at haruto when the other had apologized many times again if he screws up. he just shook his hand and winked at his friend. “don’t worry about it. have fun and do what you do in practice, you’ll be great!” he exclaimed, with a wide grin. jongsuk was absolutely sure that his friend would do great. when they started, jongsuk knew exactly that his gamble had paid off. 

Haruto was great tackling the rap parts and the vocals and everything and jongsuk had to applaud the boy for pulling through. It was great to see all that hard work of the month come to fruition. jongsuk then toook on his parts of the vocals and hit the high notes quite well in back and back again. those high notes were well worth the months of work he had put into them. 

overall, he thought they had done pretty well by the end of it and he grinned at haruto. “should we go get lunch after all this?” he asked, laughing a bit. 

[rkmason]

                           LET’S HAVE NO REGRETS WHEN TODAY HAS GONE BY  ˟                                         SO THAT TIME CAN’T TEAR US APART,                                   (       SO THAT THIS MOMENT CAN BE ETERNAL    )

when it comes to ultimately deciding on what to do for the month, minho’s relieved he has chanyeol to rely on. relieved he has someone to rely on at all. there’s something about being able to decide their own groups that makes him feel uneasy this time around and he realizes, too, that this is his first evaluation back with a song performance that isn’t arranged or chosen beforehand.

it’s more pressure than it should be and it’s all in his head. he quickly psychs himself out and doesn’t tell a soul, even when chanyeol asks him what skill he’s considering showing this month. part of him doesn’t know what to focus on anymore. this isn’t a dance-focused eval and he doesn’t have as much confidence in his voice for idol rapping, which reminds him more and more of convex, of jokes about bling bling ball and texting euijin about the lines that somehow connected them.

when chanyeol tells him of the idea, he’s glad the lack of inspiration he has lately isonly affecting him, happy that chanyeol is going to sing more. truth be told, he thinks that chanyeol should’ve debuted by now. he can only imagine how much popularity his friend would give a new group in trc. then again, it is trc. immediate popularity is almost a necessity when it comes to debuting their groups. they don’t seem to allow anything less.

but speaking of singing and performances and the future, he doesn’t know if he has much space to be a main rapper again when there’s chanyeol and he wants that for his friend, believes chanyeol has more passion for rap than he ever has and he doesn’t know what he really specializes in anymore when he’s put more focus into singing over the past year. instead of taking his own advice to chanyeol, he thinks again about how he once debated a career as a backup dancer. it wasn’t impossible, wasn’t inconceivable, a viable option if anything but he knew better. he wants it all. singing, rapping, dancing. it’s only in that moment he does take what he told chanyeol for his own sake, that he doesn’t have to be limited, that he could do anything, and when he sings for their mentors, voice filling the auditorium with chanyeol’s, with the music, and the strums of his guitar, one part he has in particular stands out most and stays with him:

let’s have no regrets when today has gone by

[rkpcy]

 ┌                                                                                                                          ┐

                                                      february 2020 evaluations                                                      forever young by blackpink                                         chanyeol: jennie/jisoo @rkmason: rose/lisa                                                           arranged by: chanyeol

 └                                                                                                                          ┘

one would think that with an evaluation that seemed so catered to his specific skill set, he would know exactly what he wanted to do, but while that was partially true, it also meant that he had so many things he wanted to do, and not a single clue how to narrow down all the ideas going through his head. rap covers of pop songs, rock covers of rap songs, ballad covers of trap songs, the sky was the limit and he was flying so high in the clouds that he didn’t know how to find a way down anymore.

thank god for minho.

as prone as the two were to chaos and messing around, they also worked well together whenever they got down to it, with minho offering a guiding light through the growing mess that was his own psyche. it had taken some time---a lot of time, actually---and with the deadline looming ever nearer, he was able to knock some sense into him to choose a genre, a group, anything at least, a scolding that had resulted in a flurry of song suggestions, one that they were able to narrow down by the end of the day.

with the hardest hurdle done with, what came next became a little easier. it was still a bit of a struggle to choose which direction to go with the song, but in the end, he decided to keep the basic feel and identity of the song in tact, instead creating an arrangement that wouldn’t give it a completely new sound that it would become unrecognizable, but change it up just enough to give it a different style, an unplugged version, if you will.

he’d spent the entirety of that day’s free training session and most of the night arranging and composing a new background tracking to the song, as well as a slowed down melody to go along with it, and by the time morning came along, he was ready to present it to minho. all that was left now was to divvy up the parts and polish everything up, which, with minho and all of his talents and patience, was the easiest part of the entire process.

and it all led up to this moment, now, as he stands in front of the coaches, mic in his hand ready to perform his heart out. the song isn’t an original, not something he’s made from scratch, but it almost feels like it, and it’s been a long time since he’s bared that part of himself to the coaches, the last time he’d done so being years ago, doing the audition that had gotten him a contract to sign on as a trc trainee. it brings back vivid memories, and makes the three long years he’s spent at the company seem like mere months.

he doesn’t know where he gets the confidence to sing when he could have so easily stuck to rapping, showing off, by far, his most impressive skill, but it feels a little stale, a little lacking if he were to do that, so he tries his hand at singing. the song isn’t incredibly difficult note wise, but there’s a lot that needs to be conveyed within the easy beat and rhythm, something he isn’t exactly trained well enough to do yet. in short, it’s a bit of a struggle, but, as usual, he’s trying his best, showing a different side of him, fresh.

it’s a stark contrast from when he does actually get to rap, the sole section in the song where he gets to show himself at his best, calm and confident, like he was made for the stage. he’s just happy, exceedingly happy, that he doesn’t have to dance for this evaluation, and by the time he’s back to singing, he’s able to hang onto that high to drag it out through the rest of the song despite not having another chance to rap again.

the song ends far too quickly, the performance done before he can get his fill, and he supposes that’s the magic of it. he’ll never feel satisfied, will never feel full, and he can’t wait until he can take his rightful place on stage. until then, he’ll keep trying his best to improve so he can stand in front of a rapt audience with pride.

[jkookrk]

『 Tell me Trouble Maker 』 ⇢ KT Evals Feb 2k20 | +3 S ; +2 DB ; +1 High Notes ⇢ The Jeon cousins back at it again at Seocho @rkheejin

“ Troublemakers doing a mash up of Trouble Maker? Yes. ”

On D-day Jeongguk continues to walk through the company in his get up in what may be considered the most un-lady-like way ever. Despite being perfectly dressed up for the occasion from wig to dress to heels, he’s not really trying to walk in a way that doesn’t show the slight O shape of his legs and with the way his leg hairs actually scratch and tickle him when he tries to walk with his thighs actually more together he honestly begins to get more and more impressed by girls. He also understands why they would shave regularly. 

At least he gets a few laughs out of his friends and a few weird glances his way from people that don’t know him. All in all he feels proud and when he meets up with Heejin in front of the room he raises a cocky brow at her. “Ready, gremlin,” he asks her to which she adjusts her suit, looking like a fine gentleman indeed.

When she purposely lets him walk in first he can’t help but laugh, unintentionally catching the attention of the judging coaches already. he quickly shuts up and adjusts his wig, putting the long brown strands back over his shoulder. 

Despite practicing in those he’ll never get used to this outfit. Tugging down the dress for good measure he purses his lips together, the lipstick feeling foreign as well when he ever only wore lip balm or lip gloss at most. They had cut together the mash up themselves, switching dance moves around and exchanging choreo meant for Trouble Maker to Now and the other way around.

And even if Jeongguk and Heejin decided to all of it cross dressed and with roles reversed, they still took the performance itself damn seriously. Not a single giggle or misplaced grin as they sung and rapped their lines, Jeongguk’s knees begging him to get out of the heels when he had to bend down for every move the Heejin had to be closer.

Why was she so god damn short anyway?!

Regardless he pulled through like a true professional performer, his urge to impress with his ridiculous get up more apparent than his need to yeet these heels across the room. Having worked on both his rapping and the few high notes the song had, he figured it was a good way to expand on his skills beyond showing how well he could dance. Especially his singing had improved since the triple thread challenge and with him choosing to show cast his dancing since the mgas onward, he could finally show off his improvement a little.

Out of breath but content they fell into their ending pose, the cocky grin finally back on his lips as the room remained stunned into silence. If they managed to sit through even THAT with no reaction whatsoever, Jeongguk was convinced they were actual robots and not humans.

[rkxrm]

Victon - Bad Girl (Line Division)

         Trainwreck Group (w/ Taemin, Sungho, Jongdae)  

Being called out like that at the beginning of the month was not a good feeling. He knew that he had been the worst. He knew that. Minhyuk knew that he was a failure and mediocre. Hearing a coach say that though....especially someone like Yoon Joonki who was supposed to be grooming them for debut was painful. But the biggest insult to him was that Yoon Joonki told him that if they wanted they could name Jongdae a rapper and everyone would eat it up. Minhyuk had sent a glance towards Jongdae, but kept calm at the time. Oh hell no. He wasn’t about to be insulted like this. He was a rapper through and through. He may not write his own raps, but he was still a rapper and rapping other people’s lyrics didn’t make him any less a rapper. But he would also take this whole month and work on his dancing as well. 

So then they were divided into groups. Minhyuk internally groaned. Stuck with two people who hated him and would love to see him fail. He wasn’t about to go down without a fight. The frustration and embaressment from being ripped to shreds in public though took it’s toll on minhyuk and he didn’t wanna be around people for a few days. For the first few days of February (probably like two days after being shredded like that), he avoided his group to just gather his thoughts and rethink on where he’s supposed to be at. It had been a tough tough decision and even though he was still frustrated with everything, he decided to take the criticism. This evaluation around, he was going to prove that he wasn’t about to go down without a fight at all. His rapping skills were solid. His English skills were solid. He was an lte/speed rapper with a side of freestyle.

However, it had come to light that Minhyuk was probably the most useless person in the group. He didn’t write his own raps, he didn’t compose...sure when he had offered up that he could freestyle something since he was, you know, good at that. But of course, that wasn’t enough and taemin had offered to write minhyuk’s rap for him. Minhyuk wanted to decline,  maybe say that he could freestyle, but a voice in his head said no, accept the help. He did so and of course that had led to some frustrations from Sungho, but honestly minhyuk no longer cared what everyone else thought of him. He wanted to be over all those petty rivalries. He didn’t think that the fact that he didn’t write his own raps was a downside, since most likely when they debuted their songs would be chosen and written by the company staff. He was still an speed/lte rapper more so than actual writing raps. After all, he had made it into the company after rapping Tiger JK’s song Reset and then at the camp before that contest, he had done Eminem’s Lose Yourself and Sucker for Pain from Suicide Squad. Even during prior evaluations, he had rapped other people’s songs like Auditory Hallucination that he had done with Minhee. There was quite a few songs that he done so he didn’t think that him not writing his own raps was a big downside. 

The practices this month were a bit calmer and going into the practices, minhyuk didn’t dread them as much. The choreography was simple enough for the chorus dance and it was a girl group song (which minhyuk could definitely hold his own in girl group choreo because he just liked how adaptable for tall people it was) originally which meant that he could perfect the simple moves with ease with some practice. The little wiggle and pointing was easy enough and even the original girl group choreo was easy enough for him since he was a pro at girl group dances and Bad Boy or more like Bad Girl was something well within his skills. 

The rest of the month went by quietly. Minhyuk still dealt with the low-key hatred from his group but he made the effort  to be better at the skills he had. It was a bit tough seeing the occasional looks of frustration and annoyance, but that was fine. He had dealt with way worse from his own family. Minhyuk however did try and learn his dances and his rap. By the end of the month, he was pretty ready to show that he was talented and worthy of staying in the group. He didm’t want this to be over so fast. He knew that he had the charisma to pull off the rap that taemin (so kindly) had written for him. Mental note: thank taemin for the help. Well deserved and well heeded. When they were called in, minhyuk felt the nerves for a few moments but he was ready to get this going. 

Once Jongdae had kicked them off, Minhyuk took the center with a smirk, almost transforming from the everyday chaebol to the rapper that he really was. “Yeah, it’s the remix babyniga gunggeumhae honeyWho dat who dat who dat girl,” he began rapping, his english skills evident and his ease with the wordplay. He kept rapping, hitting the notes with some swag and style. “sumaneun saram sok gunggeumhae geumhae Brand new level Bae how u do that do that do that What’s your name.” At the how u do that and the what’s your name part, he sent a wink towards the coaches and casually slipped in a bit of that seductive charisma (as his mom called it). He kept rapping with ease slipping from Korean to english and back. After all this was what he was known for. what he had been signed for. Besides the song was a fun song, right up his alley, so it was easy to swing into the easy rap style. He then hit the english with even more ease, bringing in a bit of that lte/speed rapping style that he was known for. “Like Russian Roulette Yeah roulettes Keep turnin’ turnin’ In this game I’m the best rookie rookie,” Minhyuk winked at the best rookie rookie. He knew that his standout talent was his rapping and his charisma.  He finished off his part with a cute wink and a smirk. “Peekaboo, my boo eopseo nagateun bad boy.” He thought that he had done pretty well. 

The rest of the song he did the appropriate dance moves during the chorus, with a some pointing and a bit of a body wave (easy enough, but he had been taking lessons and actually committing to this). Everything else had gone accordingly or so he thought and he thought they had done well.