Calling so late and with a choked tone, all Chi Jingyuan could think of was that this girl was eliminated from JYP's survival talent show "Sixteen", which determines whether she can debut. After all, she had just supported her some time ago. The first episode has already been recorded.
It's just that although Chi Jingyuan knew that Zhou Ziyu had told him about her "strength improvement" before, and the "teacher's praise" was due to vanity and wanted to show off her strength, she was far from as strong as she had boasted, but this time Being eliminated in the first round is a bit too fast.
"No, I haven't been eliminated."
Hearing Chi Jingyuan's guess, Zhou Ziyu's pride suddenly exploded as if she had been guessed and had her tail stepped on, and she immediately said something in an excited tone. However, after she said it with a pinched neck, her confidence suddenly dropped a lot, The voice also dropped visibly: "But just a little bit."
Then, before Chi Jingyuan asked, she sniffed and took the initiative to tell the story of today in a sticky voice. It probably meant that her stage performance was very poor during today's recording. Not only Park Jinying commented on it The performance was very average, and after they came down, they were criticized by the dance teacher in charge of their training.
She was originally from the poor student group, but this time not only did she not stand still, she even seemed to have stepped back a lot.
When the girl saw the faces of her teacher and Park Jin Young, she felt deeply that there was no hope of her debut. Although she didn't show it in front of others, she was actually sad and lost, and she felt very uncomfortable all night.
"What you mean is, if PD Park Jin Young hadn't said that since it was the first round, he would give him a chance and not select the eliminators, otherwise you would have been eliminated?" After listening, Chi Jingyuan pondered for two seconds and sorted it out. He looked at the information he just heard, and then asked tentatively.
"Um!"
After a deep response, Zhou Ziyu said that Chi Jingyuan seemed to hear a nodding sound on the phone, and he didn't know if it was an illusion.
Although the other party's voice sounded quite pitiful, Chi Jingyuan couldn't help laughing, and then sighed and asked: "It means, in fact, it was not announced who would be eliminated. Do you think your stage performance It’s very poor, so you think if you are eliminated, you will definitely be the one?”
"Um…"
"Ah!"
Chi Jingyuan sneered, and suddenly felt a little tired: "So in fact, it didn't happen at all. Maybe there are people who are worse than you on stage. It's just you who scared yourself and held yourself back all night. ?」
"..." After listening to his words, Zhou Ziyu seemed to be choked, and he heard some rapid breathing. After a few seconds, he replied in a dull voice: "Why do you say that?"
Chi Jingyuan ignored her and guessed in a positive tone: "Then you just secretly called your mother for comfort and cried for a long time?"
"Who stole it..." Zhou Ziyu first denied his wording, and then asked with some surprise: "How did you know?"
When the call was connected just now, she didn't speak. She was obviously not in a good mood and her tone was a little choked. However, after talking on the phone for a while and being rudely retorted by Chi Jingyuan, Zhou Ziyu seemed to be in a good mood at the moment. A little louder, and the nasal sound that was a little sticky just now also faded away.
"How do you know?"
Hearing this idiotic question, Chi Jingyuan shook his head helplessly. Seeing that the window in front of him had been opened to the maximum, he stretched out his left hand to blow the air. At the same time, he rested his body on the window edge and looked through the height of the third floor. Looking at the deserted street outside, he said angrily: "I saw it. I was watching you while you were on the phone."
"Hehe, that's a lie."
Zhou Ziyu laughed softly after hearing this.
"Okay, I'm not going to scare myself because of what happened. I was right when I said you were crazy."
Chi Jingyuan also laughed, shook his head and scolded her, then slowed down and said in a serious tone: "I have never seen how good you are at singing and dancing, and you may not be very smart, but in terms of appearance They are very good. Even if they are placed in our company, they are among the best. This is very important for idols.
is very important, even more important than strength. "
"………whee."
Hearing Chi Jingyuan's uncharacteristically solemn compliments, Zhou Ziyu held in his breath for a long time but still couldn't hold it in. He burst out laughing. The cheerful laughter seemed to clear away the gloom and loss in his heart just now, and revealed that When it was sent here via mobile phone, people raised their lips as well as you.
She laughed a little miserably for a while, and when she was overjoyed, she even emphasized: "I'm very smart."
"What stage did you perform on when you recorded today?" Chi Jingyuan completely ignored her emphasis and asked casually after thinking about it.
""Beauty Trap"."
""Beauty Trap"? Whose song is it? An OST?"
"...It belongs to Cai Yilin."
"Chinese song?"
Chi Jingyuan was stunned when he heard the answer. A few seconds later, a deep sense of helplessness came to his heart, and he didn't know what to say for a moment.
Forget it, I wrongly blamed you. If someone really wants to be eliminated in this first period, then I guess you are not wrong.
You are such a weirdo, if you don’t eliminate who will you eliminate?
"Huh... Anyway, it's over." Chi Jingyuan took a deep breath, suppressed the funny feeling in his heart, and then asked: "Then the second phase of the mission is out, and what is the assessment?"
"We're out. The task for the second phase is to shoot a pictorial. It should be to see who looks better in the pictorial." Zhou Ziyu seemed to feel from the phone that Chi Jingyuan's mentality was affected by her choice to perform "Beauty Trap", For a moment, his tone became a little cowardly.
“When it comes to pictorials, it’s not just about making them look good.”
Hearing what she said, Chi Jingyuan shook his head, thinking that this girl was on the verge of being eliminated from the show at any time. He patiently told her some precautions and techniques about shooting pictorials: "For personal pictorials, it's very important. How about the pose you are posing? In fact, you need to pay more attention to your posture. The posture should be correct, even if you bend down, it should not be loose. At the same time, your expression and eyes need to match the theme of your shooting, be colder and arrogant. , or be gentler..."
"...Show your characteristics to the greatest extent. Just be generous with your words and show off your advantages readily."
"For team pictorials, it is more important to match the theme and atmosphere. You cannot be too abrupt and stand out in the entire picture. This will actually be a demerit..."
Chi Jingyuan's experience in shooting pictorials can be said to be very rich. He has lost count of the number of times he has shot pictorials from his debut to now. He has actually mastered quite a few tips and key points.
And she seemed to be a little worried that Zhou Ziyu would be eliminated before the episode where he could be a guest, so she unknowingly got involved and talked a little too much.
It wasn't until he sniffed lightly that the aroma of barbecue came from the distant corridor that he remembered that the members were still eating. When he recalled what he had just said, he suddenly realized that he had actually said so much.
The soft breathing coming from the receiver next to his ear showed that Zhou Ziyu was still listening carefully, maybe he was still looking for something to record.
"Okay, that's all. Things like photo shoots don't depend on stage performance, but have a lot to do with appearance. I don't think you will be eliminated, at least not in this issue."
"Yeah, I understand...thank you."
Chi Jingyuan took one last look out the window and reached out to close the window. Seeing that Zhou Ziyu's mood had recovered and become much better, he finally said something. Just when he was about to say goodbye and hang up, he seemed to think of something, and suddenly added another sentence: "By the way, in a few days I might..."
But he stopped mid-sentence, and a curious question came to his ears:
"What can you do?"
"Forget it, you'll know when the time comes." Chi Jingyuan curled his lips and gave it up. Then he remembered that he had made this call for so long, and those hanging people would definitely not leave anything for him. He felt in his heart I am a little dissatisfied with this little weirdo:
"I didn't even finish my meal in order to answer your call. I will definitely go back now.
It’s all gone, damn, remember to treat me to dinner next time…”
The call was hung up by the other party, and Chi Jingyuan's unhappy thoughts before the call were still echoing in his ears. Zhou Ziyu stood quietly on the balcony looking at the black screen of the phone for a while, and suddenly burst into laughter. Just now The balcony, which had become quiet and cold because of the choking, seemed to have entered spring, and Shuer became warmer.
I was obviously very sad when I was here talking to my mother on the phone just now. I sobbed and acted coquettishly for a long time before I felt a little better.
Unexpectedly, after hanging up the phone, I suddenly became much more relaxed. The previous low and uncomfortable mood inexplicably disappeared in my heart, leaving only a small tail.
Zhou Ziyu turned around with a smile while holding her cell phone, looked up at the various clothes hanging all over the balcony, waved her hands and moved the two items in front of her, opened the glass door of the balcony and returned to the dormitory.
"Who have you been on the phone with for so long?" Li Caiyan, who was on the upper bunk next to him, asked curiously when he saw Zhou Ziyu coming in.
And Ming Jingnan, who had just moved in, also cast his gaze over, with some depth in his dark pupils.
"Talked a few more words to Mom."
Zhou Ziyu just explained softly without saying much. He sat on the bed, pulled himself up and lay down. He connected the earphones to his mobile phone and began to listen to the voice of Chi Jingyuan explaining to him the filming of the pictorial that he had just secretly recorded.
"...Show your characteristics to the greatest extent, and be more generous in your words..."
"Hehe..." The corners of her mouth turned up as she listened. After a while, her head was buried in the quilt, and there was a dull but cheerful laughter.
…………
The next day, Zhou Ziyu followed her colleagues from the "Bad Student Group" of "Sixteen" and sweated profusely in the practice room under the guidance of the teacher. After practicing hard for several hours and completing the behind-the-scenes shooting of the show, it was finally time to rest. , the nine female trainees immediately divided into several groups and sat on the wooden floor in the practice room.
Although no one was eliminated after the first session of recording, the two groups were also reshuffled. Except for Zhou Ziyu, Yu Dingyan, and Li Caiyan who remained in the "poor student group", there were a few people from Several people from the "JOR Outstanding Group" also dropped out, such as old faces like Lin Nayeon and Song Minying.
What’s interesting is that the three people in Neon Line switched positions. Minami Nai and Momo Hirai, who were originally in the “Excellent Group”, went to the “Bad Student Group”, while Saka Minatozaki, who was originally staying here, went up.
There were such big changes in just one session of recording, and it was such an important matter related to whether they could debut. It was hard for these young female trainees, most of whom were only 17 or 18 years old, to accept it, and they felt sad and lost. It's inevitable.
After the break, Zhou Ziyu went out alone to use the restroom. When she came back, she found that there were several dialers in the practice room, holding mobile phones and looking at something together, such as Lin Nalian and Yu Dingyan, a few good friends. , and the two neon people Najing Minami and Hirai Momo were watching. She got a little closer with curiosity and heard the discussion in their mouths:
"It's been more than ten minutes since it started, and I haven't even seen the opening yet."
"It's good to take a break and watch the live broadcast. I'm still complaining."
"I don't know if I talked about anything interesting before. I read online that this live broadcast will talk about some more private and secret tidbits."
"This kind of thing must be discussed later..."
Zhou Ziyu reacted after hearing a few sentences, and immediately found a seat nearby and sat down. He took out his mobile phone and connected it to his headphones. He quickly clicked the screen several times and opened Naver's live webpage.
She remembered that today there was a live broadcast event for the third anniversary of EXO's debut. It had been a while now, and she was tired and busy all afternoon and forgot about it.
Sitting down and waiting for loading, Zhou Ziyu raised her eyes and glanced to the side, and found that by coincidence, Ming Jingnan was two meters to her left. Her eyes met with each other in the air, and they smiled at each other. At the same time, they lowered their heads tacitly and looked at what had been loaded in. It had been a while.
live broadcast.
It’s not clear what was said before, but at this time, the members of EXO on the screen were all wearing black suits and sitting on high stools above the stage. Chi Jingyuan was speaking with a microphone and seemed to be answering the host’s questions.
Zhou Ziyu pursed her lips and looked attentively.
"Everyone knows that XO's comeback model this time is very innovative, using the format of releasing singles and albums monthly for four consecutive months. But since I joined SM, I have never seen the juniors or seniors use this method. As someone who has returned, I am really curious, who suggested it? Or was it specially arranged like this by the company?"
Kyuhyun, who served as SJ for today's live broadcast, was sitting on the stool on the left, holding a teleprompter board, looking curiously at the EXO members sitting in two rows in the center.
The other members looked at each other one after another, and finally looked at Chi Jingyuan.
"I should have suggested it." Chi Jingyuan held the microphone and nodded with a smile.
Today is April 8th. Three years ago today, EXO released its first mini album and title song "MAMA" on the stage of K and M teams respectively on SBS's "Inkigayo" and Xia Guo's "Music Chart Annual Ceremony" Officially debuted.
Time flies by like a flash, and three years have passed by. A group of fledgling teenagers have now become seniors and started holding anniversary activities.
Today's third anniversary event was held at SMCOEXAriu in Samseong-dong, Gangnam-gu. Hundreds of fans were selected through EXO-L fan club registration and lottery to participate. The event will also be broadcast live through NAVER's live terminal under the title "EXOCAST".
According to the previously announced process, the live broadcast is divided into three sections. They are to introduce EXO's comeback album and some behind-the-scenes, to promote the online drama "My Neighbor is EXO" which will be officially launched tomorrow, and to look back at the debut period three years ago. some impressive things, and at the same time revealed the secrets of some members that fans are interested in.
Kyuhyun took advantage of the situation and asked, "How did you come up with that?"
"Because when we held the production meeting...I was considered one of the producers this time...I learned that the company's original plan was to set our comeback as the original version and re-release two of them, with a total of four title songs. After I came down, I thought about it and thought that if the four songs were to have double titles, it would be better to release them one after another in four months, so that I could meet the fans twice more..."
"Ahh..."
Chi Jingyuan briefly explained, and the Allies below waved their light sticks and screamed in time. He smiled and continued: "Then I wrote a planning report and gave it to Teacher Li Xiuman. We discussed it in several meetings later. After this, I barely passed."
"Hey Yigu, are you already the producer of your own group at such a young age?" Kyuhyun stood up with a shocked expression and walked up to him. He put his hands on Ji Kyungyuan's shoulders and pretended to beg, "Can Yuanxi do it next time?" Give us SJ a chance to be a producer, you don’t know how envious the members are when they see how popular XO is now!”
"Hahaha..." The XO members next to him immediately clapped and cheered.
Ji Jingyuan laughed twice to express surrender. Kyuhyun sat back after making a joke. Seeing the audience's interest, he asked: "So Yuanxi, what impressed you about being a producer this time?" Is it something very deep?”
"It must be very cumbersome. Many aspects need to be discussed in meetings, including the concept of the group, the overall style, the time of return, styling, promotion, etc., or song selection..."
Chi Jingyuan thought about it for a while, showing a hint of fear: "The song selection process really gave me a headache. This time XO comes back, there are more than a hundred candidates for the title song alone. We want every song. Listen to it carefully many times, and then discuss and judge the marketability and popularity of the song, as well as related matters such as whether it fits the members' image and album style..."
"More than a hundred songs? It's still a candidate for the title song. Isn't it that exaggerated?"
After hearing this, Yu Dingyan looked at Lin Nalian in surprise, with a look of disbelief.
"I don't know..." Lin Nalian also felt a little unimaginable, curled her lips and whispered: "
I would be very happy if I could choose one of the five after we debut. "
At this time, Chi Jingyuan talked about some behind-the-scenes things in the album preparation in the live broadcast. Not only fans Aili were very interested, in fact, even they, the trainees who yearned to debut, also found it very interesting. While watching carefully, Quiet discussion.
"Then before the comeback with "E" last month, the trailer that aroused widespread discussion among fans and became a hot search topic was your idea, Yuan?"
Kyuhyun was talking about the suspenseful and cinematic trailer that was shot in ten regions around the world. So far, this generous trailer has been often mentioned and discussed by Ellie, and it has become "EXO crushes other ordinary boy groups. It's not an important argument on a level at all.
"This isn't it."
Chi Jingyuan shook his head and denied: "This is a project proposed by the company's record department. When I saw it at the time, I was very surprised and liked the project. However, the suggestion was almost rejected at the time."
"Why? Why should such a good plan pass?"
Following Kyuhyun's question, the fans below also looked over curiously.
"because……"
He gave up, and after a few seconds he sighed softly, spread his hands and looked helplessly at the camera: "Because the cost of shooting is really high, so high that even Teacher Li Xiuman will feel pain."
"Hahaha..." The members and fans laughed together. After laughing, they couldn't help but nod in approval.
The cost of this trailer is indeed very high, and the location of the scene and the texture of the shooting can be seen with the naked eye.
After Ji Kyung-won, Kyuhyun asked the other members a lot of interesting things during the filming. Everyone also talked about it one after another. All kinds of funny little things made Ariel laugh non-stop. The atmosphere was very good. .
After playing a few mini-games and performing a simple live stage performance, the first album introduction session came to an end and the promotion of "My Neighbor is EXO" began.
The protagonists of the promotion of the web drama became Park Chanyeol and the others. The leading actors chatted in front of the audience and tried their best to promote this SM masterpiece that is completely oriented to fans.
Chi Jingyuan watched with a smile, applauding and complimenting from time to time, completely taking on the audience's perspective and watching very happily.
After the introduction and promotion of the system, we entered the final process, which is also the part that fans are most interested in and moved by.
The footage of the stage during the live broadcast began to shrink to one side on the screen, and a video clip of EXO's Shade held at the Olympic Hall before their debut three years ago began to play.
Three years ago, the faces that looked a little green and ignorant reappeared in everyone's sight, wearing the flashy singing clothes from the "MAMA" era, with exaggerated hairstyle like a broomstick, looking slightly funny. , but it made countless fans enthusiastic, and a surge of emotions rolled in their chests.
These edited member clips also form a sharp contrast with the EXO members in suits and ties in the lower left corner of the screen. It is obvious that they are still the same people and have the same faces, but their circumstances and temperaments are very different.
In the past, EXO was besieged by groups and surrounded by all kinds of ridicule and insults when they debuted, but now EXO has really stood at the top of Kpop after being bullied. Many fans who witnessed this comparison couldn't help but feel a wave of emotion in their hearts. The epic feeling and sense of achievement of "the boy from the past finally became a king", and even some sense of the vicissitudes of life.
Maybe these teenagers on the screen at that time, as well as the fans who have followed since their debut, could not have imagined their situation today.
"Wow, it's really touching to see this."
After the video was played, the live broadcast returned to its original appearance. Kyuhyun felt some complicated emotions in the venue and took the initiative to break the calm: "Unknowingly, XO has grown to this point."
"By the way, EXO, a large-scale group, is a boy group project carefully prepared by the company. I have known many of the trainees in it before." Kyuhyun paused and continued: "
How long did the members practice in the company before joining XO to debut? "
"4 years."
"7 years."
"5 years."
Several people raised their hands and told the year of their practice, but for some reason they felt a little sad.
"Where's Baekhyun?" Seeing that Byun Baekhyun remained silent, Kyuhyun noticed him.
"Do you mean joining the XO debut group, or the time of official debut?" Baekhyun hesitated and asked.
"Consider it a formal debut."
"Then I should be, more than half a year, less than a year."
"Jinjia? You debuted more than half a year ago?" Kyuhyun's face was full of surprise as if it was the first time he heard the news. He couldn't help but look over: "Then Baekhyun should be the member with the shortest training time among XO, right? "
"Ani ani ani..."
"not him."
Unexpectedly, everyone waved their hands in opposition, with expressions on their faces like "You're wrong" and "You're too naive."
"Half a year isn't the shortest? Then who has the shortest practice time?" Kyuhyun's acting skills are really good. The shocked expressions of EXO members looking at them really make people surprised.
Half a year of practice is really too short. I didn’t expect it to be even shorter.
No one answered him, but the other eight members of EXO pointed at Chi Jingyuan sitting in the back row with their index fingers in a tacit understanding.
