sphere evaluation: english edition! ♥
▻ thinking out loud — ed sheeran
TUESDAY 170131 | he’d initially considered mandarin for the evaluation. wjsn’s comeback drops with perfect timing, but after only a day or two of struggle with the language, jinwook puts the ambition to rest. even yixing had hinted, with that charming way of putting everything into the nicest words possible, that he was a lost cause.
it doesn’t make sense, anyway, to sing in an entirely foreign tongue with which jinwook has zero prior experience. the evaluation is meant to bring out the best in him! it’s not a test to see if he can pick up a new language in one month.
he started learning english in grade school. everyone did, really, but jinwook never lost touch with it. he’d been fascinated by its ubiquity. growing up in a guesthouse, working in a tourist town, and now dating an american girl — basic proficiency (plus relentlessly pestering native speakers) bred conversational skills he’s proud to call his own.
it doesn’t take long to pick up the lyrics of a song he already knows and loves. for his december evaluation, he’d also sung in english, with another slow, stripped-down song.
are two consecutive evaluations enough to earn a reputation as a one-trick pony? honestly, jinwook is just grateful for another assignment that sits nicely within his comfort zone. he dreads the day when he’ll have to prepare a dance performance instead.
his voice has sounded tired lately, struggling to adjust to the demands of trainee life just like the rest of his body. jinwook remembers to drink a lot of water the morning of his evaluation, so it’s not obvious as long as the instrumental plays behind him. the track starts right after jinwook introduces himself with a few comfortable, simple english phrases.
it’s his first performance in sphere with a premade backing track. jinwook had practiced a live guitar arrangement — the song begs you to play along — but ultimately decided against the extra distraction. standing in front of sphere’s coaches, all he has is his voice and his second language.
surprisingly, the biggest challenge is figuring out what to do with his hands. jinwook grips his mic with both at first, almost demure in posture. he errs on the side of over-enunciation through the entire first verse, just shy of dragging the syllables offbeat.
will your eyes still smile from your cheeks?
he opens up afterward, pressing one hand to his chest. it’s not theatrical, but the lyrics are sweet and sincere. jinwook can’t resist a smile as the song crescendos with a short vocal run.
so honey, now...
“take me into your loving arms,” he sings, swaying slightly along with the music. this part is fun to sing, and jinwook relaxes into the more familiar lyrics. it was the easiest section to learn, given how much jinwook had already absorbed in the two years since the song’s release.
kiss me under the light of a thousand stars.
the second verse was much more difficult. besides containing some of the hardest words to wrap his tongue around, jinri insists there’s an audible british accent on the record, which further abstracts it all.
jinwook really truly can’t tell the difference, and he glosses over the tricky lines with some indistinct mix of his, jinri’s, and ed sheeran’s accents.
maybe it’s all part of a plan...
as the music builds again, jinwook sings his way back into familiar lyrical territory. he even lets some of his emotion from earlier spill into the potent song — only for his voice to crack on the second line of the chorus.
he recovers with a smile immediately, reflexively, and picks up the end of the line with only the tiniest waver of embarrassed laughter. “—of a thousand stars...”
jinwook composes himself as two hands find the base of the microphone again. the last few lines flow smoothly, sliding into a little falsetto flourish at the end.
i’m thinking out loud;
maybe we found love right where we are.
jinwook bows as the song fades into its interlude, satisfied at least with succeeding in the evaluation’s task, though the execution wasn’t flawless. weak. he resists the urge to bring a hand to his throat.
rest, he thinks. jinwook would only need a day or two of rest to be back at a hundred percent.
isn’t it true for everyone, though? herbal tea will have to do.
NOVA ENTERTAINMENT JANUARY EVAL: #RKJAN17EVAL
PLEASE FADE, FADE TO BLACK
Buffering 00:00 / 02:45
It wouldn’t be right for him to say he doesn’t feel as confident in English as he does in Korean. Growing up in a household where both were emphasized and used on the daily made it easy for him to learn. His older siblings had a harder time because their parents hoped they wouldn’t struggle with both languages so English became the chosen vernacular for the first few years but his mom grew stubborn yet wiser. There’s not a lot of Asians in the part of the city they lived in but that made her prouder to own it and if anyone did end up bullying them, a concern she had in a weaker moment, they were her first children, the first son and the only daughter, she’d go to the moon and back to defend them if she had to. So Rome and Chris had it easier in the long run. It didn’t take long for their Korean to catch up to the two oldest siblings. What he realizes now is that his accent still comes out when he sings sometimes. If he’s not careful, he’ll sound like John Williamson singing True Blue. Last time he spoke to his baby brother, he was teased about sounding like Ratcat when he debuts, if he debuts. The closer Rome gets to his contract renewal, the more his confidence that he will wanes.
He didn’t believe it. His accent is just fine. Doesn’t he sound normal when he sings or raps? But the norm is a lack of an accent or an American accent and that’s not what he’s had since he could speak his first English word. His mother is the first one he tells about his dilemma. Starting over on a new language doesn’t seem like the best choice when he’s got a month to work with. It’s enough but it won’t be his best and that’s what bothers him at the core. He’s been saying it since the second season of the MGAs and he can’t stop now. 내가 제일 잘 나가.
It might’ve been the second season and it might feel like a lifetime ago but there’s still no room for second best. He can’t take the end of his contract laying down. No going back but he’s thinking of the past when he chooses this song. Two summers ago and the way he reverted back to who he was even years before that, all because he was heartbroken.
You left me paralyzed, no cure, no rehab for me
Funny that you got the nerve to keep asking me
How i’ve been
You’re the victor in this pageantry
But the only trophy you deserve, catastrophe
He said he was moving forward but he wasn’t, not then. Clubbing, drinking, smoking. A complete return of the asshole he was before. Reckless behavior for a guy who’s only halfway through a contract with his dream contract. TICK TOCK. Another year has passed, that fact is shoved aside as he raps now, channeling that guy, using that pain the way he should’ve.
I’d rather we be dead to each other
No eulogies said for each other
No “rest in peace”s
The memories got my chest in pieces
Dimmed lights, he’d asked for it to be that way and a snapback on his head, the same one he’s been wearing for years. More than who he is, his hat hasn’t changed. It’s seen him through a lot. Through the move to Seoul to the night he went back to the beach on his own without her to scream at the ocean, one different than the one he’s used to back home, than the one he missed, to the place that fostered the accent he tries to focus on shedding now.
He couldn’t rest in peace that night. Thinking about it now, he can’t either. His heart’s discontent as if it’s happening again, as if he won’t be able to go home tonight and see her. A home that’s not his except for the fact that it’s the place where she is. That’s how he finds home and for the sake of the performance he’s running away.
I’m praying that your eyes are the first to go
The way they looked when you smiled
The way they opened and closed
And your nose, every single breath against my neck
And then your lips, every empty promise made and said
Please fade, fade to black
Please fade, fade to black
But the nightmares come back
His bitterness came out then and it comes back to life in this moment, in this song, in his voice, in how emotion almost brings his accent back with a vengeance the way he spits out the wordkiss. He hadn’t even gotten that far. It wasn’t until he saw her face again in Seoul that he understood the power of a kiss, or lack of. She still had him messed up without one.
Because your eyes, nose, lips
Every look and every breath
Every kiss still got me dying
Uh, still got me crying
Because your eyes, nose, lips
Every look and every breath
Every kiss still got me dying
Uh, still got me crying
You wish me well
Uou wish me well
I wish you hell
The song fades out but he’s still standing there in technicolor. It’s out of his system. There’s no more fading to black. No more going back. Not like this. Not again.
● SPHERE JANUARY EVALUATION: ENGLISH EDITION !
— ISN’T SHE LOVELY, STEVIE WONDER
it’s not something he ever really expected himself doing— learning the harmonica in less than four weeks to perform a sacred foreign classic in front of a panel of expert english speakers. even believing one day he’d get signed, and knowing that if he did, he would stop at nothing to push the boat out and impress, he hadn’t expected it to go this far.
even for him, a man who could pick up almost any instrument and learn a basic melody with significant practice, this was something else. he wasn’t a miracle worker. he couldn’t match stevie wonder’s incredible talent in four weeks— no way.
but— he could give it a damn good go.
he places one to his lips for the first time on january 5th. after throwing around song ideas uselessly for almost a week, he can’t afford to waste any more time. he thinks about piecing together an instrumental himself, to play as he sings, abandoning his guitar for a major evaluation the first time since he was signed. a simple feat, usually, but between learning the harmonica and late night skype calls to jeonghan from the studio, repeating the same syllables back and forth until they sound the same, he just doesn’t have time. it’s not a problem; after all, he’ll have plenty more chances to show off his skills in the future.
honestly, the longer it goes on, the more grateful he becomes for such a tricky evaluation. it’s far too easy to mess up on the day, and he’s petrified of a poor slip of the tongue throwing his confidence wildly off course, let alone the harmonica solo, but he can’t help but love the task as he spends more time than he has in months, maybe even the entirety of the past year, in jeonghan’s company. it makes no difference to him that his bright smile is slightly blurred from poor signal, because it’s been far too long since he’s seen it this frequently — as frequently as he used to; before everything became such a mess.
despite jeonghan’s help, seungcheol still doesn’t feel even remotely close to confident in his pronunciation by the time the deadline rolls around. (his mother, however, is more than a hundred percent confident she hates the harmonica.)
as he stands before the panel of judges, he trembles. it’s hard to believe the past four weeks have flown by so quickly, and it’s even harder to believe that he might soon pull this off. by some miracle, maybe he can get through the next four minutes cleanly— or at least without making too much of a fool of himself. he’d risked it in his audition; he’d certainly risked his image in last month’s christmas concert, but there was less room for fun and quirky here, and that left him with nothing but worry. it felt too serious, and it didn’t feel like a test of his music skills. he was a musician, not a linguist. but he’d do his best.
that’s all he can do, after all, and that’s all he will accept being asked for. he cannot be perfect, for he is human, and that’s something he had accepted many, many years ago. all he could hope was that sphere understood that, too. (though his hopes aren’t particularly high, given the effect he saw trc have on jihoon, but seungcheol wouldn’t be himself if he didn’t have at least a little optimism.)
isn't she lovely?
isn't she wonderful?
isn't she precious?
less than one minute old.
I never thought through love we'd be,
making one as lovely as she,
but isn't she lovely, made from love.
he jumps at the volume of the instrumental once he’s hit play, lowering it quickly and returning to his spot in the centre of the floor. his harmonica is tucked safely in his back pocket, a surprise — he hopes — for the coaches in his audience he has yet to meet, or yet to tell of his plans. the introduction isn’t quite long enough for him to find a little composure before he has to open his mouth to sing, and it leaves his very first word slightly wavering, as he stumbles over the second syllable. his fingers drum against his thigh, and it’s to the beat, but it’s far too obvious that it’s a nervous habit. luckily, as time goes on, as lines start to flow more, he finds a little more comfort.
he imagines he’s back at home, tucked in the studio, jeonghan in his bedroom however far away it is that seungcheol doesn’t like to think about, swaying to the beat as he sings. he imagines he’s not staring back into the eyes of judges (because that’s what they are, really, right? here to judge his pronunciation, the level of effort they feel he’s given the performance and practices. judge, judge, judge. he decides he doesn’t really like that word too much.)
his gently closed eyes flutter back open naturally as the verse comes to an end, a deep breath filling the small space between it and the verse that follows.
isn't she pretty?
truly the angel's best.
boy, I'm so happy.
we have been heaven blessed.
I can't believe what god has done.
through us, he's given life to one.
but isn't she lovely, made from love.
it’s the moment of truth as the second verse draws to a close. he has a good three seconds to tug the instrument from his right back pocket, bring it to his lips, and pull this off, and it all feels like a blur. one moment, he’s feeling the cold metal touch his rough lips, sweaty hands trying desperately to hold on tight enough. the next, he’s back to singing, the final verse bubbling up his throat.
his pronunciation isn’t horrid so far. it’s far from perfect, but he hadn’t expected much else. hours were spent practicing, and he hadn’t been entirely incompetent before the evaluation was announced either, but he had realised rather belatedly that far too much worry had gone into his damn harmonica than the sounds he was actually being evaluated for, but there wasn’t enough time to do much more about it. he wouldn’t wow, he knew this, but he wouldn’t disappoint either, and he thinks that’s good enough if he can make up for the former with two smooth instrumental solos.
be careful what you wish for? don’t get too complacent? don’t let nerves get to you? he’s not sure which advice he wishes he’d have taken, as he transitions through the last vocal verse and horrifically into the following harmonica solo.
isn't she lovely?
life and love are the same.
life is aisha,
the meaning of her name.
londie, it could have not been done,
without you who conceived the one,
that's so very lovely made from love.
it starts with the wrong note, a grating noise against the ears in the room, and a startled squeak from the player. it continues with a red flush to his cheeks, and it almost ends there and then, embarrassment ready to stun him, but he hasn’t spent hours, weeks, too many sleepless nights, playing this damn instrument for nothing, so he pulls it back against his lips a few seconds later, the sound he intends for breaking through the screaming he can only hear in his head.
it’s not perfect; none of his evaluation is, he isn’t— he’s already been through this— but it’s good enough. it’s proof that there’s fault to trying to show off too much, that we all make mistakes, though he doesn’t think any of sphere doubts that in him, anyway.
taking on the task of recreating such a legendary piece with less than four weeks of practice is almost impossible, anyway, he reminds himself, as he heaves out heavy breaths in the silence that follows the end of his performance. a soft ‘I’ve only been playing for a month’ floats around in his mind, threatens to spill off his tongue, but he doesn’t see the point. he shouldn’t make excuses. owning up to your mistakes and learning from them is far more admirable than anything else, and he won’t be a coward here, despite his track record.
he bows, and leaves when instructed, and later that night, he and jeonghan call once more.
“how did it go?”
“it went.” he laughs, “I messed up my solo a bit, but I’m only human. thanks for helping me out with my pronunciation; I think that part went pretty well! all thanks to you, of course. I’ll be sure to credit you in all my future albums.”
jeonghan chuckles, “good. you do that.”
“I will. I’ll do it.” he grins, fingers running through his hair, heart at ease.
if sohee wanted to brag, she could admit that her fluency in the three languages she's knew was pretty high. that didn't mean she was perfect in any manner, no, but it was enough that she could carry conversations far beyond basic vocabulary. but if she had to pick the lesser of the three languages she knew it would be french, hands down.
not because she wasn't fluent, per say, but because she hadn't used it regularly in so long that it won't come to her as easily anymore. she's more prone to speaking and thinking in english and korean than french. the upside was that it made this evaluation that much easier for her.
le festin was a random choice (possibly due to the fact that she rewatched ratatouille the other day) but it was a beautiful song. she wasn’t going for something to impress anyone with her vocal skills. she had hoped to achieve that already. this evaluation was all about language proficiency.
sohee found that after transitioning back to french wasn’t too hard -- after listening to french music and forcing herself to practise french more, it came to her easily. she even went as far as to reset her phone in french.
for the first time in a while, sohee wasn’t nervous to perform. this was something semi familiar to her and it was just singing in another language. she felt bad for her companions who obviously were stressing about this far more than she was. she was lucky to grow up learning three languages.
she was thinking of using her guitar for the performance. she didn’t really get much use of it now that she was in trc. but thinking of the original song, she felt like it would mess with the flow. so she just went with the instrumental background.
right before her performance, she bowed. “bonjour! je m’appelle ahn sohee et je vais chanter une chason en français!” maybe introducing herself in french would be pushing it but she might as well show off that she comprehended the language as well showing she could sing in it as well. “c’est appelé ‘le festin’.”
she started with the soft vocalisation in the beginning of the song. she’s not sure why she always started with that but she always did in practise as well. singing in french was almost like returning to something nostalgic. she forgot how much she loved french and how much she missed going to paris and speaking with locals in french. it almost made her want to consider french songs for evaluations more.
sohee ended the song with a smile. she bowed again before leaving. “merci beacoup et bonne nuit!”
—* i should have told you everyone goes through this
i didn’t know that time can’t be turned back
JANUARY - - - EVALUATION # 7
LANGUAGE PERFORMANCE TEST
it’s still a little hard for sooyoung to navigate the samsung building, as evidenced by the five wrong coaches she finds before finding her own. (sooyoung calls coach chun hers, but in reality, the trainee has almost made it a point to avoid coach chun since august, though very poorly.) she’s one person, one teacher, that sooyoung respects most, and one that isn’t afraid to tell her where to shove her own opinions about her singing. so when the evaluation announcement comes that they’re supposed to be singing- and she finds herself absolutely dumbfounded, coach chun is the person she goes to. (maybe it helps that sooyoung is working on a korean song too, because then she can get perhaps the harshest criticisms from a native speaker and someone that’s seen her improvements.)
outside of being a dancer (and a living, breathing meme), there’s not really any defining qualities that sooyoung has going for her, not in her mind at least. rapping has crossed her mind- it crosses her mind even twenty three days into the strict rehearsal and refining of her singing skills, but perhaps that’s best to explore later. despite having rapped for the mgas, sooyoung is on the opposite end of the spectrum for anything remotely like rapping, and she doesn’t dare try for an evaluation, not yet.
it doesn’t help that she’s picky, either, that everything from american 90s music to the hip hop scene in seoul intrigues her more than the pop hits that she sometimes thinks she should actually be studying. she doesn’t have a voice for singing by herself, she already knows, (this is confirmed when coach chun stops their session only ten minutes in and brusquely informs sooyoung that right now she sucks, and a question as to where the girl that performed a song like fantasy went- sooyoung still doesn’t know), but she wants to try, if anything not to endanger her position within kt when she’s almost made it an entire year without causing any trouble whatsoever- something that she does consider a personal record. (she’s actually scared shitless of potential trainee debt, and sometimes she thinks that that’s why she hasn’t done anything outrageous.)
and so, for a month straight, on coach chun’s orders, her focus on dance is restricted and switched to singing (she sees a lot more of tiffany and taeyeon, at least, and that she can’t complain about). sooyoung finds herself fidgeting a lot, or nervously staring at the wall ahead while praying that she won’t be an example to anyone- but learning nonetheless. without an outlet for her energy though, she’s restless, always ready to move and do something with all of the excess energy she has. (this is why they enrolled her in dance classes when she was a kid.) her trainer tells her to channel the energy into her singing, but sooyoung still doesn’t understand exactly how that works. how is she supposed to practice vowel pronunciation and energy balance? as the days on her calendar pass by, it really seems to be only more and more hopeless for her.
speaking korean is easy enough (most times, sometimes the longer words, or the slang phrases, still caught her), but when adding the embellishments that a singer normally puts, sooyoung fell flat. it’s only when she’s listening to a late night radio station that she learns (maybe) her favorite genre, and she at least has a song that she wants to try and emulate. and though the work is hard, way too hard if you asked sooyoung on the wrong day, she feels herself improving, and notices that coach chun’s harsher comments seem to occur less and less often (definitely not absent though), and sooyoung feels a little more confident in her singing ability.
when the day comes for evaluation though, she reverts back to missing an occasional enunciation, her nerves overcoming the confidence that she had gained. she steps out of the room once for what feels like five minutes, trying to catch her breath and remind her that this evaluation wasn’t a make or break (even though it seemed to be for some trainees), and that as long as she did as well as she had during all of her practices, she would be okay. focus on the song, she thinks, and reminds herself that she’s performed by herself before- for other trainees. this is just a step on that same road, and thankfully the only embarrassing she could do to herself would be in front of trainers and coaches that she was sure had seen much worse before. there was no shame (not yet, at least). and now she could trust herself to handle one little song by herself, in a language that she still wasn’t completely confident in yet. she almost grins at her own accomplishments, bashfully smiling instead because she’s finally received the nod of approval from coach chun, though she’s sure there’s extended feedback that she’ll hear from her later. for now, she’s happy.
name: hwang ❝ tiffany ❞ miyoung
➥ kt’s aurora, brighter than the sky
song: 北极星的眼泪 ( tears from polaris )
he’s the one person she expects to recognize the song and she’s right. a glint of recognition settles in his eyes and she hides a smile. hyunjae thought she wouldn’t do it.
like a broken piece of string that has disappeared in a sea of people
my eyes have finally lost sight of your face
just wait a while desperately waiting for a shooting star to appear
if wishes really do come true
can love really be forever?
tomorrow's change may come too late
but the memories of our shared history grows dimmer by the day
fingers curl around the mic. a slight twitch of her pinky and she’s shaky within the second line of the chorus. another glance and again she knows he knows.
tears from polaris, thoughts that are unspoken
for we live two separate worlds apart
there’s rarely a song she sings anymore without thoughts of her mother. it’s drawing in on her third year with kt. an anniversary she doesn’t know whether to anticipate or dread but above that, it’s been yet another year without her mother. another year of trying to sing loud enough so she can still hear her, even if they live two separate worlds apart.
tears of polaris, your eyes are red from crying
drenched promises are submerged in my heart
i raise my head and find that the love has gone
memories fade out. the more she finds her voice within kt walls, within seocho walls too now, she more she forgets her mother’s. can love be gone like that? can the first voice tiffany fell in love with disappear from her forever? eyes close, darkness comes and she knows it’s too late. letting her emotions reign has always been her weakest point— her achilles heel when it comes to singing. a slight crack, because so much love has come and gone.
so much love has been tossed aside by her out of fear.
tears from polaris, thoughts that are unspoken
for we live two separate worlds apart
tears of polaris, your eyes are red from crying
drenched promises are submerged in my heart
i raise my head and find that the love has gone
she’d realized it more and more. her life is no longer in california at all. her world is separated now. once again, when her sister needed her, she wasn’t there and she begins to worry that it’ll soon be too late. soon, tiffany will be too stubborn, too selfish to fulfill another wish the way she didn’t for her mother. if only she sang that day. now, there cannot be a day she doesn’t.
with the right person yet cannot find the right time
in the instant when our hands separate, the love that we share is torn in two
the whole universe is shedding tears —
so is she. tears from polaris are the closest she can get to that separate world to the person her and cassie both need now.
but she’s not there. her pronunciation is, her singing is but — save for that small crack, a pity, a shame, overlooked because— she’s not.
[ #rkjan17eval ] nam woohyun performing ( pillow talk by zayn malik ).
he’s beginning to get used to evaluations by this point. it’s just preparation for what’s to come eventually (hopefully). going on stage in front of his coaches is easy, but he’s still nervous. but even if his fingers shake just slightly, his smile is still bright and true—eyes glimmering as they stare down, imagining an audience, people staring in awe. woohyun imagines that this isn’t just an evaluation, but this is something more substantial. he sucks in a breath, reaching up to grip the microphone in two hands. the sweat on his palms makes the stand a little wet, a little slippery, but he tightens his grip around it while he swallows thickly.
when the music starst, woohyun’s ready—and the song is something familiar, something he’s heard before, liked the beat of. the lyrics are something else, but the sound and beat of the song is nice, and woohyun enjoys it enough to attempt it. his english isn’t…horrid. it certainly isn’t good—but it’s not the worst. he’s sung enough songs in english to get somewhat of an idea on what to do, what specific words sound like. it’s not his first rodeo in a sense, but he’s no expert on it.
he swallows, flashes a smile as he opens his mouth, eyes falling half-lidded in a performance—he falls into the beat of the song.
“oh, climb on board. we’ll go slow, and high tempo.” he taps his fingers on the stand, breathing into the mic with a soft, lofty voice, fitting for the original. “light and dark, hold me hard and mellow.” his throat bobs, eyes falling shut for a brief moment as he catches his breath, tongue swiping over his lips. he keeps up with the beat, keeps the practiced lyrics in his head the best that he can. “i’m seeing the pain, seeing the pleasure, nobody but you, nobody but me. nobody but us, bodies together. i love to hold you close, tonight and always.” it’s an intimate song, one that once the lyrics were translated explained, had woohyun blushing for a long time. he’s enjoyed the song immensely just hearing it, and now it’s almost strange to sing it with such intent, such emotion. it feels strange, especially after knowing what the song entails. “i love to wake up next to you, i love to hold you close—tonight and always, i love to wake up next to you.”
he raises his voice as the chorus dictates, trailing his hard earned work and passion into his voice. he keeps his gaze strong, keeping up with the feel of the song, the intensity. “so we’ll piss off the neighbours, in the place that feels the tears, the place to lose your fears. yeah, reckless behavior—a place that is so pure, so dirty and raw.” he tries his hardest not to blush, but he’s sure the tips of his ears are tinging pink. “in the bed all day, bed all day, bed all day, loving in fighting on,” he casually slides in a replacement word for the curse, tongue swiping over his lips as he tilts his head, hair falling into his gaze (he needs to cut it soon). “it’s out paradise, and it’s our war zone. it’s our paradise and our war zone.”
he feels comfortable. he feels confident. “pillow talk, my enemy, my ally. prisoners—then we’re free, it’s a thriller.”
he falls back into the lyrics, gets comfortable at what he remembers—and the song goes by smoother than he expects. sure, there’s a couple of slurred word from his accented english, but woohyun takes them in stride, lips quirking up when they happen with no bother at all.
and when he’s finished, his smile doesn’t fade, and as he bows with a thank you into the microphone, woohyun feels even more confident than before.
As soon as she heard the theme of this monthly evaluation, Eunae knew which artists she wished to cover. The only thing left was to decide on a song in particular. Jay Chou’s discography was very... diverse, for a lack of a better term. Ranging from slower, more meaningful songs to more upbeat and funny ones. She clearly had a taste for the latter type, but even then the options were vast.
She spent the following days listening to his songs exclusively, hoping one would catch her attention above the others. And one really did. It was the perfect amount of humor without it sounding or looking too weird, plus the lyrics were so relatable. It mainly spoke of a desire to make others happy and how people shouldn’t take themselves so seriously. It was the perfect way to showcase both her language skills and her bold nature. Coming up with such a concept was risky as she could easily not pull it off, in which case it would just look ridiculous.
She wore an outfit she deemed appropriate for her performance. It wouldn't be as impactful if she just went for training clothes; she thought it would be nicer to set the tone before she even began. They looked slightly curious when she came in... or did they? It was hard to tell sometimes. When they were in evaluation mode, their poker faces were almost impossible to read.
Nervousness was slowly growing in her stomach, but unlike the previous evaluation, it was the good kind rather than the paralyzing one. She felt excited to perform and show what traces those few years of living in Taipei and being adopted by a family of Taiwanese origins had left.
The song started with a talk segment and instead of cutting it out, Eunae decided to leave it there and simply mouth what was said in a comical manner.
Jupao: Hello?
Jay: Hello, is that Jupao?
Jupao: Yeah
Jay: Yeah, have you seen Charlie Chaplin?
Jupao: Charlie Chaplin?
Jay: Yeah have you seen him?
Jupao: Are you talking about his movies?
Jay: I'm talking about him in person
Jupao: Hahahahaha it's not very funny haha
Then followed a musical intro, which made things slightly awkward but she tried to make up for the silence with a happy smile and a few dance moves to the rhythm. She hoped it wouldn't look dumb, but there wasn't much else she could do in this situation. On a real life stage, she would have probably prepared props to interact with, but here the options were limited.
If you accidentally fall down, then just get straight back up and pretend nothing's wrong
Humour is this world's greatest gift
Don't just think about being that prince or princess
Don't be cold to others, acting cool
Let all the preparation end in a perfect performance
Let all the hardwork end in a beautiful ending
Ai yo wei ah, there's no entries for these in the dictionary
You'll unconsciously blurt them out if you nearly fall over
It wasn't exactly rap nor was it exactly singing either. The entire song was a weird mix of these two, which made it much more comfortable for Eunae. Rapping in Mandarin would be extremely difficult because of the pronunciation, while singing, well... it wasn't the best skill for the trainee to showcase, especially during a solo performance.
She was relieved when it ended, though she enjoyed herself more than she thought. She knew she could have practiced her Mandarin more. She relied too much on her background and forgot that she lost a big chunk of it over the years, but overall she didn't sound quite as bad as she could have.
