Boy group: In order to survive, I have to open business

Che Zaixun slept for the whole afternoon, and Xia Xinglang and Hong Zhanglin stayed in the single bed. Hong Zhanglin was really worried, while Xia Xinglang was there for the mission to deepen their relationship.

During the time when Brother Xun fell asleep, Xia Xinglang learned that Cha Jae-hun was actually the youngest member of the previous group. Perhaps it was not polite to call them by the previous group. The group was called Kream. Since the company Paradox was acquired by TUBE, the Kream group also changed its name. It was originally a 7-member group, but two people were missing. The 5-member group will continue to be active, and the new group name is Kream-est.

There is an extra suffix "est", which is the comparative superlative form of an adjective in English grammar. Is it used after the group name to describe the perfect form? But the group is missing the lead singer and the lead dancer, and it is missing limbs, so it is not a perfect form at all.

"Jaehyun is actually the youngest..." Xia Xinglang was shocked by this information, because Che Jaehyun is 21 this year, 22 in age, which doesn't look like the youngest's age at all.

"We have been in the industry for four years," Hong Zhanglin said. "I signed a contract with my former company when I was 4 years old and debuted not long after. I was in training at the same age as you, 20 years old."

4 years. The 4th year is often a critical period for a group. Based on an average of two albums per year, the group has already released eight albums by the fourth year, which is a period of transformation for the group. Even popular groups may not survive the 4th year, but Zhang Lin's group has managed to survive until now.

Hong Zhanglin: “Is it exaggerated?”

Xia Xinglang nodded honestly.

"We really weren't well-known," Hong Zhanglin recounted the group's early days. "In the first year, we basically did road shows at universities or on the streets. We felt really embarrassed, but we wanted people to come and listen to our performances."

"I was very shy during training and always made mistakes when performing in front of people. At the beginning, I couldn't even dance to a song. I didn't expect that I would become the dance leader now," Hong Zhanglin fell into memories. "In fact, the group didn't have 7 people at the beginning, but 4. Later, we gradually added more people, from 4 to 5, and then to 7."

"The increase in the number of members will be unfriendly to the original fans," said Xia Xinglang.

"Well, there were fans who boycotted," Hong Jang-rim said, "but the number of people increased, and more fans followed us, and our popularity increased, which had both good and bad sides. Jaehoon and I were always there, and even if there were more people, he was still the maknae, and I was still the captain."

Xia Xinglang had only paid attention to Hong Zhanglin's personal fan community before, and didn't know there was such a story behind it. From Zhanglin's account, their life was really not easy. When they were not popular, they had to do street performances, and when their fame rose a little, new members would parachute in and attract fans away. At the busiest time, they had more than 700 schedules a year, taking on all kinds of commercial performances, and averaging two shows a day.

For them, autograph sessions are the easiest thing to do, as they are the rare opportunity to meet fans face to face. And the company dormitories are very poor.

Xia Xinglang learned from Zaixun that their original situation was not good, but he didn't expect it to be so bad. There was a construction site next to the dormitory. When it was worst, they had to sleep in the company's dance room. Even when members were injured, they were required to insist on going on stage. Even when Zaixun's grandfather passed away, the company refused to let him go.

"Zai Xun came from a bad family and was raised by his grandparents," Zhang Lin's voice became choked up, "but he had to go on a music show the next day. He cried the whole night. I kept comforting him not to cry, but I couldn't help crying either. He couldn't even see his family for the last time. He could only call, not video chat. We went on stage the next day with swollen eyes, and our agent scolded us."

Xia Xinglang had a similar experience. He was prevented by the company from seeing his relatives for the last time, and he didn't even know his mother was sick. At this moment, he finally couldn't help crying.

Hong Zhanglin hugged him, both of their faces were covered with tears, and it took a long time for them to calm down.

Now the darkest days are over, but if they hadn't debuted through a talent show, like what happened in their previous life, when Hong Zhanglin and Cha Jaehoon raised the popularity of the original group through the talent show and their company was not acquired by TUBE, would they have returned to the days before, when they were so tense that they couldn't breathe?

Xia Xinglang found the roadshow videos of the former Kream group. The fan-shot roadshow videos were taken a long time ago. The earliest fan-shot video was four years ago. The hairstyle that was popular at that time looks rather rustic now. Che Zaixun was thinner at that time. His bangs almost covered his eyes. He couldn't move his hands and feet freely when dancing, probably because the people around him were very close.

The roadshow was almost always surrounded by people, a thick crowd, many of whom were holding up their mobile phones to record videos. You have to have a strong heart to do a roadshow, because the crowd is very close, the camera is also close, and they don’t even have a simple stage. The sad thing is that this is how most groups started, on the street side or in universities, and later they gradually began to distribute flyers and perform in live houses or clubs and bars.

Xia Xinglang also had such a period, when no one cared about him and no one came to see him. During this period, he doubted his dream and whether he really wanted to be an idol. Being an idol is not that simple. Some people can be easily seen, but most people cannot be seen. Occasionally, when he heard the audience's cheers during a road show, someone praised him for dancing well, and he felt that everything was worth it.

Where does it come from whether it is worth it or not?

Looking through their early videos, there was a very embarrassing road show. Because they did not apply for street use permit in advance, they were kicked out in the middle of the dance and the camera kept shaking.

Kream also had a stage in the rain, that was when they were still five members, singing in the heavy rain. Their performance style tended towards traditional pop songs. There were two lead singers in the team, and a team with more lead singers would not have bad songs.

The single for the stage performance in the rain is "Ice Cream Boy", which is about a boy who goes on a date with an ice cream, but ends up melting and he still can't get his date. It's a slightly sad and helpless story.

The MV is also very economical, as it was basically shot on a rooftop or in a studio. The members dance on a rooftop at dusk, with the dusk light behind them like an arch.

In fact, the fifth member can be seen at the roadshow, and he should be considered an early member. The stage in the rain was performed one year after their debut. They became somewhat famous, and their album sales exceeded ten thousand. The company then started to arrange many commercial performances for them.

The rain formed lines. From the video, we can see that it was raining heavily. The audience were all wearing raincoats, and their bangs wet the members' bangs and stuck to their foreheads. One member almost fell off the stage. The stage was more than three meters high, and if he fell down, he would definitely have broken bones, but Che Zaixun pulled the person back.

Che Zaixun was the lead dancer. At this time, he was not so thin anymore, and his hair was combed up, making him much more handsome than his earlier appearance. He wore a white shirt, which was so wet that you could see the vest underneath. He tried hard to keep his eyes open while performing at the front of the team.

This dance involves a lot of ground movements, so falling is inevitable, but the members persevered well.

Most of the comments below the video are from fans of Cha Jae Hoon and Hong Jang Lim, because they are the most eye-catching two people in the team, the lead singer and the lead dancer. Most people are praising Hong Jang Lim for his good voice. Cha Jae Hoon, who was the lead dancer in the rain, also received attention because of his great face and figure.

Che Zaixun is tall and has a good figure. His face is very handsome among idols. He has a pure and upright appearance. He dances seriously and looks very cute in group shows. He has funny expressions and looks honest when he smiles. He is easy to bully and has taken the initiative to do a lot of things in the group. He is also the one who basically cleans the dormitory.

Everyone liked to bully him, play jokes on him, and often scare him with toy cockroaches.

When Xun Ge was the youngest member, he was actually bullied by the group.

After reading a lot of relevant materials, Xia Xinglang felt that Kream was also a good group. The members had a good relationship with each other, whether in the period of five members or seven members.