YG’s Concert Director, “BLACKPINK’s ‘THE SHOW’ Will be the Best in Asia”

[스타뉴스=윤상근 기자] With only 2 days left until BLACKPINK’s ‘THE SHOW’, the people are revealing their excitement. BLACKPINK’s performances have been teased, while the global fans look forward to their presence as world stars.

The fact that it will be YG’s first-ever livestream concert also gathers the people’s attention since the agency has directed and produced hundreds and thousands of world-class tours. The people’s curiosities on what kind of performances BLACKPINK will present, with whom, what, and how have hit the peak.

The 4 members of YG and Jung Chiyoung, the concert general manager of YG Entertainment, are still wrapping up their final preparation process at the rehearsal scene. They mentioned 4 keywords that expresses the upcoming livestream concert, ‘THE SHOW’.

#Stage

The key of ‘THE SHOW’ is the stage itself. With the COVID19 situation, K-Pop has implemented various high-tech skills used for ‘online concerts’. As a result, the artists and fans’ thirst for performances have quenched at a certain level.

However, people point out that the artist does not stand out despite the flow of digital skills. The unnatural computer graphics and screen·sounds which do not differ from TV music broadcasts are lacking in the excitement and mood people feel from offline concerts. Ironically, it is due to the excessive use of digital skills, resulted due to the focus on online platforms.

“In the case of tours visiting numerous fans in many different cities, we use a lot of digital technology since it is inefficient to carry heavy sets and equipment. We condense numerous sources on screen and put in a lot of work for its transition and automation. In short, we reduced the load, but made the world complex as we unpacked”. (Jung Chiyoung, YG’s concert director)

YG changed thoughts here. It’s sort of a contrarian. It is a concert held through a digital platform, but the producers can focus on a single stage. There are no reasons to reduce equipment and condense the stage environment. There are still needs for digital technology, but they’ve used analog skills as broadly as they can.

“We were surprised by the delicate and varied stage sets, compared to our world tour. We have 3 huge main sets with different characters, that can transition into 10 different stages with different moods. It is not a digital clip. From a set reconstructing an actual cave to a set reconstructing a city of ruins, there are impressive installations that reenact even stairway fragments. It will be totally different from what we’ve presented through our teasers and our performance of ‘DDU-DU DDU-DU’”. (BLACKPINK)

#Human

BLACKPINK’s musical capabilities and stage presence have been proven. BLACKPINK’s music is not a matter of question, as they’ve conquered various global charts. The important factor is the artist and the people creating the concert. Artists are human, while people utilizing digital technology and equipment are also human.

Furthermore, a concert is a form of ‘synthetic arts’. Many elements of art such as music, literature, construction, painting, and dance are fused into the concert. The lights, sound, cameras, laser equipment, consoles, and special effects expressing the elements have developed over time. However, human resources are lacking in catching up with the development speed of technology.

That is, there is a lack of people who can ‘understand and utilize’ high-tech equipment 100%. However, the staff of YG are different. YG is the only place with staff members who have teamed up for the past 20 years in the K-Pop scene. Producers, choreographers, sound engineers, and coordinators have decorated the page of YG’s concert history. The concert being formed with their know-hows acquired through time is YG’s strength and YG’s unchanging source of energy in holding concerts.

“YG has started making concerts by paying staff members of legendary musicians such as Michael Jackson, Madonna, Queen, Justin Timberlake, and Beyonce from the early 2000s. There was one condition, that ‘You have to inform the staff of YG on everything they’re curious about’. It was a sort of technology transfer. The concert staff of YG are at least the ‘best in Asia’. YG is the first agency to have put ending credits on screen. It was intended to make the people have pride in their work and make them do their best, which they did”. (Jung Chiyoung, YG’s concert director)

#Origin

While the technological aspects are the staff members’ responsibility, the artist must focus solely on the stage, and BLACKPINK knows this better than anyone. They pay attention to the essence and the actual worth of concerts. They’ve prepared performances of the sub-title track from ROSÉ’s upcoming solo album and  performances of songs from the group’s official debut album, which have never been presented to the public.

“I wonder if covering a performance of an artist who can really shine with high technology would be a good way of expression. I want to create ‘THE SHOW’ into a ‘show’ that can make the artist shine. As people’s hearts move within the stage, the concert’s value rises. It should be a stage with the artist’s soul, not technology”. (Jung Chiyoung, YG’s concert director)

BLACKPINK shared ideas with the staff since last year on September, and has been practicing since then. The band that has collaborated with them through the world tour has also joined on November.

As a result, BLACKPINK will maintain their glamorous and abundant sounds that can make the fans’ hearts flutter, while also presenting a lively scene on par with an offline concert through their sophisticated visuals and performances.

“There are many performances we’ll be presenting for the first time. So we practiced hard in preparing and learning new moves. We won’t meet our fans from the same area, but we can be together through the same music at the same time. That’s what’s important. We want people to be happy through ‘THE SHOW’, and we want to remember and keep the happy times as memories. We’ve worked hard, and we plan to make all of our performances as highlights which nobody can mimic”. (BLACKPINK)

#Way

Since the concert will be presented through a digital platform, the team worried and studied on how the show can be effectively delivered. As a result, BLACKPINK and the concert staff of YG found a great method. It’s simple but clear. It focuses on the essence of concerts, but made a shift in viewpoint on camera location, angles, and stage area.

“The owner of the concert is the audience, rather than the artist. However, there is currently no audience in the concert scene. Why do we still try to look at the artists and their performances only through the eyes of the camera. Why are there undistinguishable digital clip sources lingering behind the artist. The audience has the right to watch the entire stage, which is a form of synthetic arts. We will capture the beautiful and harmonious stage as much as we can”.

2021. 1. 29.