494 The Final Decision
The opposing teams waited for Minzy's comments. However, the talented producer seemed to be in a slump. Then, she sighed, breaking the silence. "Let's start with Ted's song," she started off. Ted and Mari sat in attention as Minzy flipped a page in her notebook. "Alright, the good thing about it is the seamless integration of the elements. Although, I still feel that it sounds a bit noisy, which is going out of trend nowadays," she started off. Ted pursed his lips since he felt like his song was just called outdated. "Aside from that, the lyrics are a bit too cliche. Work with the lyricists in the company to improve that." Mari jotted down Minzy's comments while Ted continued feeling bitter. Minzy was truly a nitpicker. She had everything to say about a song—always with a comment. "Nonetheless, it definitely sounds like a title track fit for the album. Somehow, it ties the whole album together. It could also be the chance for EVE to have a grand royalty concept after the bright concept they had in their debut." A smile appeared on Mari's and Ted's faces. Even then, they still got some positive comments from Mari. That, in itself, was already a great achievement. Minzy was someone who wouldn't give out compliments if others didn't deserve them. Ren knew of this fact from his producer friends. So, he pursed his lips when two compliments were given to the producer team. "Now, for EVE," she muttered, flipping through her notebook once more to look at the comments she made for EVE. Then, she sighed, making the members of EVE grow even more curious and nervous. However, Minzy continued to stay silent, staring at her notebook with a meaningful expression. She always had something to say. It was usually negative. She sprinkled positive comments from time to time, but only when those qualities stood out.
Minzy believed that most people praise others for the bare minimum when they were already expected to do a good job anyway. A producer making a song? 15:31
Of course! What else is being done by a producer? However, for the first time in her entire career, Minzy had nothing to say. Not a negative aspect written.
But not a positive aspect either.
Just blank. So, in the end, she couldn't fully decipher whether their song was extraordinary or plain bad. If she looked at it from an audience's perspective, then it was very good.
It was easy on the ears, and it was a song you'd find in your playlist as a casual listen. However, from a K-pop producer's perspective, it seemed a bit...simple—especially with groups from Azure who usually employed more complicated sounds. "Producer Minzy?" Jay cleared his throat, finally snapping her away from her daze. "Hmm," she hummed, looking up and placing her notebook down, trying to come up with what to comment about EVE's song. "These two songs are very different," she started off. "Like two songs from opposite spectrums."
"I must say, EVE's song was more pleasant to the ears," she admitted. Ted's eyes widened with the blatant compliment that Minzy had made for a team that didn't even have professional producers. "It's a song that feels familiar but something I haven't heard much in K-pop boy groups, especially title tracks, thus far," Minzy said. June smiled in satisfaction. If this was how the comments were going to progress, then EVE had a bigger chance of getting their song chosen over Ted's
June was already giddy with the thought of their very own song becoming their title track. "Honestly, I don't have much to say about it. It's a good song," she said.
Ted's blood pressure started rising, and he felt himself getting more frustrated by the minute. "However, " she said, making the members of EVE more attentive. "I feel like this doesn't sound like a title track," she said. A small smirk appeared on Ted's lips as he crossed his arms and turned to EVE, who all had frowns on their faces. Jay noticed this behavior, so he let go of his professionalism for a moment and stuck his tongue out at Ted. Ted's eyes widened, but Jay paid him no attention. Jay had been holding his frustrations since the day he presented the title track, and if it weren't for Mari or Minzy, then he would have drop-kicked him for disrespecting his boys. "Actually," Minzy sighed, recalling something from the back of her mind. She was too preoccupied with analyzing EVE's song that she forgot about her main objective. "I don't think this even has a place in the album," she said. June's eyebrows furrowed deeper. He turned to his teammates and found them wearing the same expressions. It seemed like Minzy was only giving positive comments. However, she suddenly mentioned that the song didn't have a place in the album. June felt that something was suspicious. "What do you mean?" June couldn't help but ask. "This song deviates from the overall energy of the album. Almost every song has a grandeur sound," Minzy started off. "Although your song is, frankly, a very good song, it doesn't fit the album's concept. Moreover, you guys are fighting for it to become your title track. It sounds far too simple for it to have a music video," she said. Ted smirked since his assumptions were right. 'As expected, I'm a genius,' he thought.
"We can make it work," June said, determined to change her mind. "There are songs out there that had employed the same concept for their pre-releases, post-releases, and singles. It's not impossible," June argued. "I think you're already countering your point," Ted joined in on the conversation. "Indeed, songs like these are only for the categories you have mentioned." "I'm not talking to you," June deadpanned, causing Ted to go silent. He turned to Mari after a few seconds, pointing to himself with a look of disbelief. "Did he just—" "Shh," Mari said, also having enough of the cocky producer. June gazed into Minzy's eyes and tried to find something...anything that would convince her that they needed to do the particular song. He had done it with Oasis, and he was hopeful he'd be able to do it again with this song. "We can set another trend again," June said, trying to convince her further. Minzy looked away from his piercing gaze before sighing deeply. "My decision is final," she said, her voice filled with conviction. "The title track will be the song that Ted and Mari produced."
