xuanmiin: Ga In's point of view.

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End May through Early August 2019.

Jinyoung oppa really follows through his promise to settle it with Nega and LOEN. I’m honestly in some degree of disbelief that they agreed, since this is effectively an inter-label album. The degree of cooperation is much deeper this time, since Kwonnie and I do much more than sing a singular song. Apparently they had even managed to iron out the financial aspects of the whole thing, in the event that we actually make money. Not only that, literally everyone leaves us to our own devices, no one asking for how the album is progressing, no one asking to listening to our guide vocals, no one asking for the theme. So it’s just two of us, rifling through years worth of songs that never saw the light of day. We really take our time with it and do whatever we wish. After all, this is probably one of the exceedingly few times—perhaps only time—that I’ll be able to work with Kwonnie this extensively on music, doing whatever we wish. And full funding, courtesy of Jinyoung oppa who really seems quite eager to throw money down the drain.

Eventually, we decide on a mix of duets and solos. Some of which are Kwonnie’s works and others, which are mine. The feeling of overwriting the guide vocal, with my own interpretation, is much more satisfying than I’d like to admit. Not that the guide vocals were half bad, it’s just that it doesn’t suit them. Perhaps I’m being self-important, but the feeling was like one of reclaiming a spot that was rightfully mine to begin with. Kwonnie wasn’t lying when he said that he wrote duets with me in mind, since most of it is within what I’m comfortable. That likely necessitates that many other female singers are uncomfortable. At this point, I’d admit that what Kwonnie’s comfortable is uncomfortable for most male singers. Which also means that most duets we string together are unlikely to see the light of day for the simple reason that there’s no suitable duet partner—at least, not one that we would like to duet with.

For a long time, we deliberate if we should include works that are decidedly less happy, with the angst and the heartbreak overflowing before 2014. We finally decide to do so, since it does represent a significant portion of what shaped both of us to become whom we are today. Not to mention, Kwonnie sounds hauntingly beautiful, and I adore it. For some strange reason, I actually have a duet that represents us, and it suits Kwon—even though I don’t remember intentionally writing it such that it suits him. Again, we decide to throw it into the mix, of course after pep-talking and convincing ourselves that this was firmly in the past and it would not happen to us ever again. Not now, not ever. Of course, we can’t leave out the ones about interminable waiting while Kwonnie was in the military.

We manage to fill up the album with songs that we deem worthy of being released, but wind up unable to convincingly select a title track. While they represent us, they don’t seem to represent us in entirety. Yes, ironically, when you have too many songs associated with you, a song that you think truly is yours has to be something exceptionally special. So it’s back to the drawing board, and we work very closely to finally put out a song that is very special to both of us. It’s stuffed full with harmonies, since both of us think we sound unusually