When I Opened My Eyes I Was a Superstar

# 147

Today, not tomorrow (1)

***

“I Kay You Kay!”

“let’s go!”

“K-K!”

The six KK members put their hands together and shouted slogans in loud voices.

It was 1 minute before the performance started.

Starting with Kyocera Dome in Osaka, Sapporo Dome, Nagoya Dome, and Fukuoka Yahoo Japan Dome.

After performing in four places, the KK members finally entered Tokyo Dome.

From the moment they stood at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka, the KK members were already captivated by the large stage, the audience filling up the stage, the colorful lights, and the sound of music that would make their hearts flutter.

They were all people who came to see KK.

Even on a big stage in Korea, it was bound to be overwhelming, but on a big stage in a foreign country, it was a different kind of emotion.

Although we don’t speak the language properly and live in different cultures, we listen to K.K.’s music and become crazy about K.K. They shout out the names of the Korean members and pronounce ‘I love you’ in broken Korean.

It was such an amazing feeling when I saw overseas fans. However, with more than 40,000 fans gathered together, it was inevitable that it would be overwhelming.

Tokyo Dome will be the finale of this Japan tour.

Tokyo Dome’s symbolism alone was enormous.

This meant that the phrase ‘conquering Japan’, as stated in the article’s headline, was not an exaggeration.

Even in Japan, there are ten singers who can sell out Tokyo Dome. One of those ten fingers became singer K.K. from Korea.

Moreover, the reason why KK’s entry into the Tokyo Dome was meaningful was because KK did not erase their nationality as ‘Korean’.

Most singers who entered the Japanese market tended to release songs with a strong Japanese flavor on separate Japanese albums.

However, KK only changed the language to Japanese, arranged the song as it was sung in Korea, and included it in the Japanese regular album.

Additionally, whenever a sensitive question was asked on a variety show or in an interview, I answered directly rather than avoiding it. Even when comparing Korea and Japan, I never answered that I liked Japan unconditionally.

In fact, because of this, it was criticized by anti-Koreans who were anti-Korean and the Korean Wave, but KK’s position was clear.

As a Korean singer, I did not want to stop or bend the path I had taken to gain Japanese fans.

However, at the same time, he showed that he was always grateful for the warm love from Japanese fans, embracing them. Actually, it was sincere.

KK’s hard work, corresponding skills, KK’s unique music, and sincere heart.

All of this worked in the end and KK was able to go up to the Tokyo Dome stage.

“楽しいですか？”

Hyungseo Ahn picked up a towel prepared on the floor, wiped away his sweat, and asked the audience in poor Japanese if they were happy. When the fans answered yes in unison, Ahn Hyeong-seo smiled brightly, feeling overwhelmed.

Fans cheered even more as Ahn Hyeong-seo’s cute, smiling squirrel-like face appeared on the screen broadcasting on stage.

The performance of ‘Windy Day’ had just ended. As the blue lights moved, the members disappeared from the stage one by one, leaving Ahn Hyeong-seo alone in the spotlight.

The next stage was that of the hip-hop unit OK.

Then, an interlude was played along with Ahn Hyeong-seo’s comment to enjoy it better.

Hyungseo Ahn began singing the chorus of OK’s first album, ‘Don’t Go Back’.

‘Don’t Go Back’ was a song where Ahn Hyeong-seo’s high notes stood out. Ahn Hyeong-seo’s voice entered the middle and latter part of the performance and divided the audience’s enthusiasm.

Hyungseo Ahn worked very hard since the preparation period for the concert to perform a perfect live performance during this dome tour.

During each private practice session, I received one-on-one lessons with a vocal teacher and worked on bad habits while singing that I had not yet been able to overcome.

In order to take care of my neck, I tried to save it as much as possible during the tour.

The members were secretly surprised to see that Ahn Hyeong-seo, who likes to talk and talkatively, did not speak even ten words a day to save her voice when she came to Japan.

These were actions that showed the will to properly demonstrate one’s skills on this tour. In the last entertainment show, Ahn Hyeong-seo was quite worried after realizing that she had no proper role in KK because it was Japan and she couldn’t make people laugh.

No matter what anyone says, Ahn Hyeong-seo’s strength was singing. Ahn Hyeong-seo promised that singers should show themselves through singing, keeping in mind Do-wook’s habit of saying, “As long as the music is good, it’s okay.”

Thanks to consistent practice and thorough management, Ahn Hyeong-seo’s neck was in excellent condition even during the tour that continued day after day.

Ahn Hyeong-seo’s voice singing the killing part of ‘Don’t Go Back’ seemed to pierce the dome.

Afterwards, Kim Won and Jung Yoon-gi, who had changed their clothes, came out and sang a rap song.

Kim Won sensibly changed the rap lyrics, ‘Please come here, I’m here’ to something like ‘Please come to Tokyo, there’s me in Tokyo’.

The lyrics for each part were typographically displayed on the screen for Japanese fans who may not be familiar with the song because the official Japanese music has not yet been released.

Watching the sensuous typography video, you could feel that every detail was paid attention to for the performance.

The audience who came here already knew OK’s ‘Don’t Go Back’, which was popular in Korea, and sang the repeated parts together while looking at the screen.

“Everyone, hands above your heads!”

The audience began to applaud to the beat as Jeong Yoon-ki raised his hands above his head and encouraged applause.

Jung Yoon-gi rapped quickly, feeling the sound of the bass pounding through the dome and the sound of applause.

Even though the rap was in Japanese, Jung Yoon-gi’s diction was very accurate. The catchy lyrics were as good as those of any other Japanese rapper.

It was a hip-hop stage with a more free atmosphere, slightly different from KK’s music.

The audience felt as if they were becoming free as they watched the three people moving around the wide stage. Every time I clapped, my body felt lighter.

Hyungseo Ahn adjusted his hand microphone and spit out the last note.

After OK’s stage ended in the scorching heat, it was Dowook’s solo stage. The three people, Ahn Hyeong-seo, Kim Won, and Jeong Yoon-gi, disappeared behind the stage and Do-wook, wearing a colorful cubic-studded suit, ran onto the stage.

When Dowook came out, the cheers grew louder again.

It was the same in Korea, but in fact, in Japan as well, if you were to rank the popularity of the KK members, Dowook was in first place.

Do-wook was a tall handsome man who is not often found in Japan. There was a time when Japanese fans posted more SNS posts praising Dowook’s appearance than Korean fans.

Moreover, the polite feeling of pursuing a ‘right life’ truly captured the hearts of Japanese fans. The humility I feel when speaking Japanese also plays a big role.

There was no reason not to like it because there was nothing missing when it came to singing and dancing.

As it became known that he was good at acting through entertainment, Dowook’s popularity, which was originally high, was rapidly soaring even in Japan.

Although he was not very popular in Japan, there were a small number of Korean drama fans who had seen ‘Get Ready 1999’ and movie fans who knew Do-wook through ‘Blue Sky’.

“Kyaaaaaa—!”

“Wookiee!”

“Wookie! Wookiee!”

When Do-wook appeared, the voices of fans chanting ‘Wookie’ rang through the dome. Dowook drew an even louder response by pretending to put his ears on his hands.

“Wookie!!!”

“Uki-chan!!!”

Japan was famous for its quiet audience response compared to Korea or other countries. Nevertheless, the voices of Japanese fans calling out for Do-wook did not lag behind those of other countries.

“Then let’s go!”

Dowook’s solo song ‘Darling’ started with Dowook’s comment. Do-wook walked across the stage, showing off his brilliant footwork to the interlude.

The last song was ‘Blue Sky’.

It was definitely the most popular song in Japan, so when the prelude to ‘Blue Sky’ started playing, the decibel of cheers changed.

The dazzlingly bright key ring lightstick waved.

The members did their best to perform ‘Blue Sky’. Since it was the last song, my whole body was already wet with sweat and I was so exhausted that I wanted to lie down on stage right away, but I gathered all the energy I had left in my feet.

I was out of breath, but I was also very moved.

The members’ eyes were already moist as they passionately sang ‘Blue Sky’ in front of 50,000 spectators.

***

[KK embroiders Tokyo with six stars!]

[Registration up to Tokyo Dome completed! KK filled the Tokyo Dome]

[(Exclusive) Now it’s America! KK goes to the US to work with LIL]

[KK is getting on a plane to the US! Meeting with world-class pop star LIL]

[Love call to LIL KK… Kang Do-wook grows once again as a composer]

While the members were returning to Korea after the Tokyo Dome performance, articles about KK were reported one after another in Korea.

KK’s Tokyo Dome performance meant that Korean singers were popular even in Japan, which has the world’s second largest music market, and was even briefly reported on KVS 9 o’clock news.

It was rare for an idol to appear on the 9 o’clock news. When the news of KK’s entry into the Tokyo Dome was reported on TV news, real-time search terms were soon dominated by KK.

Even people who had no interest in the music industry or idols started looking into it out of curiosity because they heard that it promoted national prestige.

In such a situation, as the news of the collaboration with LIL was again exclusively reported, KK’s real-time search word ranking, which had been declining, rose to first place again.

The community reaction to the news that the collaboration with LIL was confirmed was on the verge of explosion.

It wasn’t just a community where stories about idols were mainly posted. Even in the community of people who like foreign pop stars, they were dumbfounded by the meeting of their favorite pop star and a Korean idol.

Overseas

– Why on earth is LIL collaborating with an idol from an unknown country like Korea? Does KK’s agency have a lot of money?

-You’re Korean too? Haha. You’re heard of in Korea too;

– Listen to KK’s song first. It’s way ahead of the debut song.

– Nowadays, it’s not something to ignore because it’s an idol song. Please think again.

-LIL must have listened to it and said he would accept the song because it was good hahaha How much money do you have so you think it

would be worth the money? haha – I heard you contacted me because I liked Last Dance. Listen to Last Dance. It’s surprising that among Korean idols, there was someone capable of producing songs of this quality. -If

it’s LIL. It’s really awesome ㅠ I’m jealous of KK when I see

LIL – I suddenly see him sucking on idols when I hear he’s working with LIL

– If it’s a pop song, it’s more problematic to cover it up and criticize it -_-;

-It seems like a dream that there is music in our country that follows trends faster than most pop music. In the old days, I couldn’t have imagined it.

Opinions were divided in the community, which tends to be tonitarian due to envy of pop culture, but it was a moment when even those people had no choice but to acknowledge KK.

At the moment when the Internet was hot with their story, the KK members were packing their bags again as soon as they returned to Korea.

In order to record with LIL, I decided to visit LIL’s studio in person.

Production director Kwon Heung-jo’s idea was to go to the United States and experience the bigger world by seeing the working environment there.

The first word of the reply from LIL began with ‘Sorry’. Because of this, Do-wook thought he was being rejected. However, he said he was sorry for making you wait so long.

After much consideration, LIL decided to try something new as Do-wook intended. LIL’s honest answer was that the song itself that Dowook sent was so good that he didn’t want to miss it.

‘LIL’s choice must be correct… the outcome must be successful…’

Do-wook zipped the suitcase with a half-worried, half-anticipated heart.

The sound of the suitcase being zipped was clear.