Thinker in the entertainment industry

"How about we talk somewhere quieter?"

Xu Suzhi subconsciously nodded in agreement, and when he realized it, his face couldn't help but feel a little hot.She has been in the entertainment industry for almost ten years, and she is immune to her handsome appearance and elegant temperament, but because she has such stereotypes as "rough", "swear words" and even "nose nails and lip rings" for underground hip-hop singers Zheng Zhiyong's handsome appearance and Su De's outrageous voice caused Xu Suzhi's normal judgment to fly away for a while.

Now that her thinking has returned to the right track, she calmly followed out of the performance venue on the basement floor. When she reached the ground, the atmosphere became much more peaceful. The three of them found a place near the bar and ordered a drink each. Start chatting with music in the background.At this time, Xu Suzhi's feeling became:

This guy's appearance is probably higher than all the male artists in Cube, is this really all right?

She directly asked this doubt in a joking way, and Zheng Zhiyong responded by smiling and nodding, "There is a problem. I have been regarded as a trainee by fans more than once. Later, I cut my hair like this and told They, trainees are not allowed to wear a crew cut, and as for the appearance of male artists..." His eyebrows tightened a bit, looking a little embarrassed, "There are already many managers who are more handsome than idols, and there are more language teachers. Is it not a big problem?"

Different from the calm, self-sufficient and faintly arrogant appearance on the stage, Zheng Zhiyong in the audience does not have a trace of arrogance, but is kind and humorous, and his voice is also warm and magnetic, and it can even be said to be soft. When Solji talked about this, Zheng Zhiyong replied:

"I have multiple sets of voice modes, which can be switched at will. Talk to people when you see people, and talk to hell."

Xu Suzhi; & Ahn Hyojin: ...

"Change the rap of "Tears" to be sung by girls?" Zheng Zhiyong gently tapped his fingers on the wooden table twice, "Can't find a suitable male voice feat?"

"It's not easy to invite, it's not a formal comeback, the company doesn't have the heart to do foreign-related work, so I want to ask, can we change the rap to something that Hyojin can sing, I see that lyrics, it's not too bad for a girl to sing .” Xu Suzhi said.

Zheng Zhiyong nodded, indicating that he understood.

The Korean music industry used to be dominated by a few big companies. Since the prosperity of the music industry in 2008, many new brokerage companies have emerged, such as cube, wollim, fnc, etc., and large and small agencies have sprung up like mushrooms after rain. , increasing the options for fans and listeners, and also making the competition more brutal.

Exid, the group that Ahn Hyo-jin and Heo Sol-ji belong to, debuted two years ago, at the beginning of 2012, under the banner of "the girl group launched by Sinsa-dong Tigers". The promotion of exid played a very limited role.Not long after their debut, exid experienced members leaving the team. Xu Solzhi and another member named Xu Huilin joined after this.

First they changed members, and then exid also changed companies—from one small company that wasn’t good enough to another small company that wasn’t good enough. After changing companies, the results of the activities were still worrisome. Some time ago, they had a fan meeting and didn’t show up A dozen or so people are as miserable as they are.Zheng Zhiyong has a bit of a reputation in the underground, but as a producer he hasn't had much success yet. It's normal to find Zheng Zhiyong's head when searching for the unappreciated solo songs of the lead singer of the [-]th-line group Exid.

"Yes", Zheng Zhiyong thought for a while, and said, "Make an appointment again, let me see the effect, the rap words are not a big problem, this is not a song about love..." He smiled, " We're also pretty random."

Both he and exid are unknown, this time they just want to come up with a single and it's not a formal comeback, so there will be discussions between composers and artists.

Also very interesting.

After they finished their business, they talked about cube.Ahn Hyo Jin has collaborated with Cube artists many times. Xu Solji was Cube’s vocal teacher before joining exid, and Zheng Jiyong is now Cube’s employee. The three of them are also destined.

"I'm not an artist of Cube yet." As he talked, he talked about the future, "I'm afraid I won't sign an artist contract in the future. Larger mainstream companies, only yg and starship have signed underground singers."

"Your conditions can be mainstream, like Lu Zhixun." Xu Suzhi said.Lu Zhixun is a solo singer under Cube, a football goalkeeper. He entered the showbiz because of the talent show "Birth of the Great" - but the exposure and popularity are lacklustre. The most eye-catching label on the top of his head is the strong goalkeeper in the football project of the Idol Games .

"I can't play football," Zheng Zhiyong joked, "Let's forget about the mainstream, I don't want to have fans, and the public may not accept my lyrics."

"Will it?" Xu Suzhi was puzzled. From what she heard tonight, some of Zheng Zhiyong's lyrics sounded a little underwhelming, but in such aggressive music as hip-hop, they were still quite elegant. of.

Hearing Xu Suzhi's words, Zheng Zhiyong just smiled plainly: "You said that because you haven't heard other songs I sang underground. I'll send you some audio when I go back. What do you think of me?" will change."

"No need," An Xiaozhen interjected at this time, ""Six Relatives and You Xiaoci" is right, I have it in my phone." She added, "Among your songs, the words in this song are the most exciting." .

"That's right." Zheng Zhiyong heard the words and nodded in agreement.

After An Xiaozhen and Xu Solzhi left, Zheng Zhiyong did not stay in the club for long.Apart from performing on stage and watching performances below, there is nothing in the club that can attract him.The companions who came together were still full of enthusiasm, but Zheng Zhiyong had already lost interest.

Sure enough, not exactly the same way, he thought.

Now that he was not in the mood, Zheng Zhiyong didn't force himself, he told his companions, and then left early again under their nonchalant eyes—everyone was used to Zheng Zhiyong's unsocial at times.

After walking out of the club, Zheng Zhiyong suddenly felt a lot quieter in his ears.Even though Gangnam District is still noisy at night, the pressure on the eardrums from these scattered sounds is still much weaker.Zheng Zhiyong stood in place, feeling the breath of the street at night, then pulled the corner of his mouth, pressed down the peaked cap on his head, and quietly blended into the crowd of young people coming and going.

As we all know, Gangnam District is the most prosperous area in Seoul.Not only is there a variety of famous enterprises and schools here, but there is also no shortage of entertainment and shopping places. At night, it becomes the world of young people at home and abroad, especially Cheongdam-dong, where Zheng Zhiyong is now, because there are a lot of brokers Corporations, the density of young girls is much, much higher than elsewhere.Zheng Zhiyong’s past time is a bit late, but there are still many people gathering together in twos and threes, chatting and trying their luck—in fact, if the artist they are chasing is not particularly reclusive or just not in Korea, they will wait until the star they like It's not particularly difficult either.

Zheng Zhiyong was already used to such scenes, he went to buy a few cups of coffee first, and then walked slowly into the back door of the cube with the bag in hand.There are not many staff members staying in the company at night, artists and trainees are generally closed in the practice room and do not move around very much, so the corridor seems very quiet.Zheng Zhiyong walked to the studio familiarly, but he didn't meet anyone along the way.

"Why do you smell of alcohol?" Long Junheng took the coffee from Zheng Zhiyong, leaned on the swivel chair and shrunk his nose, "Go to the club?"

"Well, there is rapbattle tonight." Zheng Zhiyong dragged a four-legged chair next to him, and then sat down with his legs slightly apart, his back straight, his left hand holding the coffee, and his free right hand on his knee superior.

"Dissed?"

"What's so strange about this?" Zheng Zhiyong asked rhetorically.

"That's right," Long Junhyung said while drinking coffee with a straw in his mouth. He used to have a big tongue when he spoke, but now his voice became more ambiguous. As for communication barriers, "I really don't understand why people in the underground say that rap loves to quarrel so much."

"Some people are like that, but I'm more hateful, so they scold me a lot," Zheng Zhiyong said, "Of course, compared to idols, hip-hop people have to be more irritable, and I'm no exception."

Long Junheng looked at Zheng Zhiyong's upright and handsome face after he took off his hat. Behind the long eyelashes were eyes like Wang Qiushui. He was clearly speaking in a flat tone, but the corners of his mouth that were naturally raised slightly gave a strange impression. With the illusion of a smile, he "cut": "Don't put on such an expression when you say this, it's enough to shoot a pictorial."

Zheng Zhiyong really laughed out now: "I don't need to ruin my image at this time."

"I can't say no to you", the idol singer Yong Junhyung, who had been beaten to pieces by the people in front of him in terms of appearance, finally gave up struggling with this issue, "here", he grabbed the earphones in front of him and handed them to Zheng Zhiyong.

"What is this?" Zheng Zhiyong asked.

"Just wrote the title."

Zheng Zhiyong put away his smile, put on his earphones, his expression was so calm that it could almost be said to be flat, but this had nothing to do with seriousness, it just faded away the lively and bright colors and returned to a blank.

Of course, Zheng Zhiyong is listening carefully, he just prefers to use such an empty face when he doesn't want to express his emotions.

"Is the chorus part a bit difficult to sing?" After listening to the song, Zheng Zhiyong put forward his opinion.

"How about the song?" Long Junheng's emphasis was different from his.

Zheng Zhiyong nodded: "Very good, in my opinion."

He said the first half of the sentence was fine, but as soon as he said "in my opinion", Long Junheng's expression was a little unbearable: "I don't know if I should believe your vision." Zheng Zhiyong's first as a producer , It is also the only work so far that has hit the street. Even if it is replaced by Yong Junheng himself, he cannot guarantee that he can write a song that will stop the decline in popularity of ledapple, which was already almost [-] lines at that time.

"I can't guarantee this," Zheng Zhiyong said, "I also can't figure out the taste of people nowadays."

Long Junheng didn't speak, and the straw that was still intact just now was about to be bitten to pieces by him.

He was actually very anxious, but he just didn't want to show it casually.

Founded in 2008, Cube is considered to be one of the better-developed small Korean brokerage companies. Its solo singers are not very strong, and the group has the boy group Beast, which is firmly in the top line, and 4minute, which is in the upper line of the second line, and debuted in 2012. There is no one yet. A btob that is clearly improving.Yong Junhyung is a member of Cube’s leading group Beast. He serves as a rapper in the group. In addition, he has been trying to write lyrics and music. goodlife" began to take full responsibility for the production of Beast's album.

beast made his debut in October 2009. Several songs released in 10 received good response, and his popularity continued to rise. "Both received explosive responses, and beast thus moved to the top, only one step away from the top—however, one step away is not the top after all.

The music industry in South Korea began to flourish in 2008. In the following three or four years, a large number of idol groups emerged, and it did not slow down until 2013. When there were too many monks and few porridge, the popularity status had already been determined to be a top-line group. Undoubtedly, it is an act of making enemies that does not give newbies a chance to survive.Therefore, what kind of height a group can reach depends largely on where they landed in the step from the second line to the first line, because after that, the frequency of the group's return in South Korea is generally limited to once a year At other times, if it is not for overseas development, if it is not for individual activities in South Korea, it is already very good if the speed of circle fans can be equal to the speed of fan loss when the predecessors are fierce.

Beast took a good step back then, directly reaching the top of the first line. However, after that, Hong Shengcheng, who first founded Cube and led them to conquer the world, was found to be terminally ill and gradually withdrew from the power center, and then came back in 12 and 13. The results of the activities are all unsatisfactory. It is actually not that easy for beast to maintain its popularity.A few months ago, beast, who had learned from the pain and decided to make a big effort, released "goodluck", which swept the first place in more than ten music shows, but this did not relieve him. under pressure.

Because in 2014, the development of idol singers, especially idol groups, showed a clear decline.