#youve got to be joking

rkwendy‌:

Wendy blinks as she listens to Sunmi unni swear. Wendy hadn’t been initially happy with the lines she got, but she re-reads the line distribution to see what Sunmi unni got and squints her eyes. She wasn’t seeing that incorrectly, was she? And Sunmi unni was designated as a lead vocal… Shouldn’t that mean she had more lines? Her confusion is probably evident in her face as she frowns as the sheet of paper in her hands again. 

“I don’t know what they’re thinking,” Wendy says with a soft sigh. And she isn’t sure whether she understands what she’s supposed to feel. She’s not angry like Sunmi unni obviously is, but she’s certainly disappointed at how repetitive her lines are. Sure, she’s singing the chorus, but she’s not sure she’s happy with what’s happening. Sometimes, she wonders whether she’s being punished for something? Was it for not being pretty enough? Was it because she had teased CEO Hyun Bin about taking over after him? 

“I guess I’ll stop complaining about how repetitive my lines are then,” she says with a chuckle. Wendy shakes her head, unsure how to pacify Sunmi unni. She’s never been good at dealing with people’s feelings, let alone pacifying them. Wendy’s usually the angry, cranky one, but it looks like she’s going to have to be calm this time. She had a lot of plans for their group, but it’s just sad that CEO Hyun Bin isn’t likely going to let any of them have any creative input on their career. She really wants to trust the old man, but he’s making it very difficult. 

“I guess I need to take over much sooner,” Wendy says with a soft sigh. She wants to think that CEO Hyun Bin knows best, but seeing how unhappy and demotivated people get is beginning to affect her own optimism. Debut is supposed to be exciting and nerve-wracking, but why are people unhappy? “I always knew I wasn’t going to be pushed by the company, but you? But knowing you, unni? You’ll find a way to make this debut your bitch.” 

“i would love repetitive lines that were longer,” sunmi says. chorus was expected to be repetitive: it was the chorus. listeners heard that the most throughout the song. it was the part they remembered. if wendy wasn’t happy with getting what main vocalists usually get (chorus) then sunmi would trade in a second.

pepe was not a vocally challenging song and it definitely wasn’t a song that had a hard dance. maybe because they were supposed to look cute and sunmi was, well, the literal oldest of and*roma? but that logic wouldn’t make sense; solji is only 8 days younger than she is and has a good majority of the song. besides, even if the dance is a little on the cuter spectrum, the lyrics and vocal range don’t really reflect it.

the longer sunmi tries to make sense of it, the more frustrated she becomes. “you’re the main vocalist. the only main vocalist. i’m surprised solji isn’t a main vocalist too with the way the gave her a good amount of lines both songs.” she pinches the bridge of her nose, trying to calm herself down. at least in deja vu she gets chorus – but that’s because the dancing there is a lot more complicated. hyun bin may constantly get on her case about her vocals (for whatever reason) but she is unfalteringly stable while dancing and singing. that was one thing he cannot get her for: she never sounded breathless while dancing anymore.

sunmi shrugged. it didn’t matter, did it? “i’m the leader, i shouldn’t be so selfish.” but a part of her feels justified. it’s been nearly six years. if they don’t debut before the end of the year - which was nova’s promise - then she would quite literally hit her six year anniversary as a trainee. that isn’t something worth bragging about. “i just really felt like this should be a moment of relief for me. i spent my entire young adulthood training restlessly and for what? four lines in our title track song? that seems like a giant fuck you from our company.”

rkwendy‌:

Honestly, Wendy’s not sure she’s happy with the line distributions. Sure, she’s happy to be singing what will likely be the catchiest parts of the song. However, there isn’t really anything else for her to sing. She had expected that with their pre-debut single. After all, with a sound similar to Deja Vu, the rappers were expected to shine. Although as the main vocal, she was expecting to get at least a few more lines than what she really did. She’s glad she got the adlibs, but she actually wanted a little more? Was that wrong? Was she being too greedy for more? 

She tries keeping her facial expression neutral. She doesn’t want her lines taken from her and be given to someone who’d be more grateful. Wendy is going to milk these lines for whatever they’re worth. She supposes, with a song like this one, sacrifices had to be made.  

The idea of the main vocalist eventually not getting any lines at all scares her. She has seen it happen to some groups. Although they sing so well and are the main vocals, their lines are given to the more popular members. They might as well have become backup singers at this rate. Wendy wonders whether that will be her fate if she doesn’t work on her stage presence. 

She masks her disappointment with a small smile. After all, this is still part of the learning process. She sighs as she stares at the paper. The song is good to listen to, but it’s not particularly vocally demanding. The biggest challenge is staying on pitch while dancing, but that’s not much of a problem for her. “This definitely wasn’t what I was expecting,” Wendy says once everyone else has left the room. 

wendy’s words are a vast understatement. in her now sardonic mood, sunmi can’t hold back the scoff and the way she abandons the paper with the line distributions with a huff and an eye roll. if this was hyun bin’s retaliation for how she so openly said she’d leave the company during sn project then fine. but sunmi had long since grown tired of this bullshit dance they did. had this been a few years ago, she would have burst into his office and demanded more lines.

now the leader just sits on the couch with her jaw clenched, refusing to look at the paper with the highlighted coloured lines to show which is hers. “i have four lines in our title track. four. and two of them are the same repeated line.” so if you ignored the repeats, she actually had only 3 lines.

“both kaeun and chaeyoung ended up with more lines than i did and they’re rappers.” not that they weren’t allowed other lines (they were) but it seemed ridiculous that the group’s rappers were given more lines than one of the lead vocalists. sunmi exhales, feeling herself getting stressed out of the prospect of her regretting debut with this stupid company before it even happened.

it was just lines. would people really notice? (probably not. more popular members were going to get lines anyways and sunmi was tired andforgotten thanks to nova’s management.) but what was the point of suffering for 5 and a half years if towards the end of it, she’s given nothing as if she’s a newbie in the group and can’t hold a note? hell, even the one who wasn’t even given the position (initially) of vocalist got more lines than she did. make it make sense.

“fuck this,” she hisses, shaking her head and gritting her teeth. maybe she should have made like hyuna and dropped the opportunity of debut but instead left the company altogether. nova isn’t worth her time. the intrusive thought keeps circling her head and soon it becomes hard for sunmi to just forget about some stupid lines. “this is going to be a long debut cycle. i can already feel it.”