noveldepot In Chapter 7, my name is Jiang Yan.
In Chapter 7, my name is Jiang Yan.
"After listening to it, Tiffany said it sounded good, but she felt like something was missing." Ahn Jung-hwan leaned against the mixing console, looking at the person on the sofa. "Right?"
Tiffany gave a wry smile, looking down as she stirred the ice cubes in her glass, making a clattering sound. "Yeah, Kenzie unnie's writing is really good, technically flawless, but... I just can't quite put my finger on the feeling."
"When I sing, I always feel like I'm stepping into thin air, as if there's an invisible wall between me and the music, and no matter how hard I try, I can't break through it."
She looked up at Jiang Yan, a faint glimmer of hope in her eyes: "This song is called 'I Just Wanna Dance.' What I wanted to express wasn't the feeling of partying with a group of people on the dance floor, but rather the feeling of being alone in the city late at night, taking off your high heels, walking barefoot on the floor, listening to music, and dancing whenever you want, without caring about anyone's opinions—that kind of complete freedom and release. But every version of it now makes me feel like I'm hanging in mid-air, unable to land."
The recording studio fell silent.
Ahn Jung-hwan looked at Kang Yeon, his eyes clearly scrutinizing her: "Kenzie is one of the best pop producers on the peninsula. This version is her seventh draft based on the original European and American demo, and it's also the version that received the highest vote within the company. Where do you think the problem lies?"
He then gestured to Jiang Yan that they could begin.
Jiang Yan nodded, picked up the listening headphones on the table, put them on, and pressed play.
Tiffany's highly distinctive voice immediately flowed out, warm and full-bodied, with just the right amount of huskiness, like a glass of single malt whisky on the rocks late at night, mellow yet with a lingering aftertaste.
The production quality is indeed top-notch.
The sound is understated and clear, with a base of cool, 80s retro synthesizers. The iconic strings build up layer by layer, interspersed with lively piano arpeggios. The heavy 808 bass beats with precise rhythm, and even the reverb time and delay feedback of the vocals are adjusted to the millisecond. There is not a single flaw to be found.
But in Jiang Yan's view, everything had changed.
The cold waveform on the screen instantly transformed into countless flowing ribbons of color, slowly flowing through the darkness.
Tiffany's vocals are rich and warm amber gold, with shimmering silvery starlight.
That was her nine-year career, from the Black Sea to the top. All the laughter, tears, grievances, and pride that settled down created a story with a unique texture that no one can imitate.
The bass drum is a vibrant orange-red, the 808 bass is a deep, calm purple, the synthesizer is a cool, silvery-blue, the piano is a clear, watery white, and the strings are a soft, pale purple.
All the light bands were beautiful and exquisite.
But they were too full.
The amber gold floated alone on the top layer, like an isolated island surrounded by a flood.
The instrument tracks below are stacked, intertwined, and collided with each other, forming a dense, airtight net, with none of them willing to bend down to receive or support it.
Kenzie brought out the full potential of her signature elaborate arrangements: strings propelled the mood, piano added detail, synthesizers created atmosphere, and bass supported the low frequencies.
Each vocal part was diligently fulfilling its role, but they all forgot that the protagonist of this song should be the singer standing in the middle.
They are on the same timeline, but exerting force in completely different directions.
Three minutes and forty-seven seconds.
The song has ended.
Jiang Yan took off his headphones and gently placed them on the mixing console without making a sound.
Ahn Jung-hwan raised an eyebrow: "How is it?"
Jiang Yan turned around, not looking at Ahn Jung-hwan, nor at Ji-soo who looked disdainful beside him, and his gaze fell directly on Tiffany on the sofa.
"Tiffany, you're right. It's not your imagination. The arrangement is indeed disconnected from yours, and from the very first piano note of the first measure, it's been going its own way."
Ji-soo, who was in the corner, suddenly looked up, and the pen she was spinning fell to the ground with a "thud".
Tiffany sat up straight, the fatigue from days of staying up late dissipating in that moment, but she was still somewhat puzzled: "Out of sync? You mean the arrangement is out of sync with me?"
Jiang Yan smiled, picked up the monitoring headphones again, precisely dragged the progress bar back to the eighth bar before the chorus, pressed play, and then handed the headphones towards Tiffany.
"Senior, please listen to this part again, but this time, don't listen to your own voice, just listen to the accompaniment."
Tiffany paused for a moment, then immediately took the headphones, put them on, leaned forward slightly, and listened intently.
The recording studio fell silent again, with only the faint sounds of drums and strings coming from the headphones.
Ji-soo unconsciously held her breath, and Ahn Jung-hwan also leaned forward slightly.
Thirty seconds.
The chorus ends.
Tiffany took off her headphones, her brows furrowing even more, her face full of confusion: "The accompaniment is fine... Kenzie Oniga's strings are amazing, the emotion in the chorus rises immediately, and the piano is very lively."
"The problem lies in the fact that it's too extreme."
Jiang Yan walked to the mixing console and ran his finger across the densely packed engineering files of more than 110 tracks.
"To cater to the aesthetic preferences of Korean listeners, Kenzie transformed this demo into a lavish arrangement befitting SM Entertainment. She added four layers of strings, two layers of piano, and three layers of synthesizers, filling the originally empty dance floor to the brim."
"She made a perfect Kenzie-style pop song and then layered your vocals on top."
He turned his head, his gaze falling on Tiffany again, and said, word by word, "But this is your solo song, not Kenzie's producer showcase song."
"The current arrangement is ethereal; it's too glamorous, too lively, too prominent. It creates a bustling disco, but you're standing in the center of this disco, singing about a person's loneliness and freedom."
"You want to dance barefoot, but it lays out a red carpet for you and forces you to walk the runway in high heels. You're not even in the same world."
Tiffany's eyes widened suddenly.
She opened her mouth, as if to say something, but her throat felt blocked by something, and she couldn't utter a single word.
It turns out it wasn't her problem.
It's not that she's in a bad state, it's not that her voice is bad, it's not that she's not emotionally invested.
It's the arrangement.
This song, which everyone praises as a perfect arrangement, went in the wrong direction from the very beginning.
She always thought she was hitting a wall, but she never imagined that the wall itself was built to separate her.
"So...how exactly should we change it?"
Ahn Jung-hwan spoke slowly, the scrutinizing look in his eyes completely gone, replaced by an almost urgent seriousness.
He had worked in A&R for several years and met countless producers, but no one had ever been able to explain the problem that had been troubling them for more than a month so clearly in just a few words, like Jiang Yan.
"It's very simple." Jiang Yan precisely tapped three spots on the screen with his finger, "Let the arrangement go from being the main character to the floor that supports you."
"First, in the chorus, three of the four layers of strings are cut off, leaving only the long notes of the first violin, and the chorus begins again from the second half of the second verse."
"Remove both pianos completely, leaving only a few single notes at the end of the verse for transition, giving your voice the full range of 80-250Hz mid-low frequencies. Your vocal strength lies in this frequency range, which is now completely covered by the heavy strings and bass."
"Second, double the volume of the kick drum and reduce the bass volume by two decibels to solidify the foundation of the low frequencies. You mentioned feeling like you were stepping on empty air, which is because the low frequencies were too scattered, and the strings were all floating in the high frequencies with no connection in between."
"Third, and most importantly," Jiang Yan's finger landed on the interlude, "that specially added 30-second piano and string solo, delete it all, leave only the bass and drums, add an eight-second pause, and then bring in your vocals."
He paused, after all, he was evaluating one of the top producers in the industry, and said in a slightly softer tone: "Of course, Kenzie's arrangement is indeed very good. That solo is absolutely textbook-level on its own. But what Tiffany needs is not a good pop song, but a stage where she can shine."
"A good solo song should have an accompaniment that is like a spotlight on a stage, shining wherever the singer goes, rather than having twenty lights shining on the stage at the same time, so bright that the audience can't see the person standing in the middle."
"But...but!"
Jisoo, who was standing to the side, finally couldn't hold back anymore. Her face turned bright red, and she retorted loudly, "The strings and piano are the soul of Kenzie's version! You just cut them off like that, wouldn't that turn it back into that bare demo from the American version? The company thought the American version was too thin, so they had Kenzie revise it!"
Jiang Yan glanced at her, but instead of getting angry, he smiled.
"Jisoo-ssi, have you heard Kim Tae-yeon and Tiffany's version of 'Lost In Love'?"
Ji-soo paused for a moment, then nodded subconsciously.
That was a song that Kim Tae-yeon and Tiffany sang under the spotlight on the show "Yoo Hee-yeol's Sketchbook".
"So, do you think the warmth comes from the magnificent strings, or from her voice?"
Jiang Yan's voice was soft, yet it struck Zhi Xiu's heart like a heavy hammer.
"The senior's own voice is the best instrument. The husky quality in her mid-to-low range, the breathy treatment of the ending notes, the contrast between light and heavy words, and those subtle details that convey a sense of breathiness are textures that no string instrument or piano can imitate."
"Kenzie was worried that the American version would be too thin, so she added a bunch of instruments to fill the gaps, but she forgot that what can fill the gaps the most is never an instrument, but the human voice."
"Instead of using instruments to create an atmosphere for her, let's give the space back to her and let her use her voice to take us into that city late at night."
Ji-soo was completely stunned.
She opened her mouth, wanting to refute, but found herself unable to utter a single word.
She subconsciously turned to look at Tiffany, only to find that Tiffany had already stood up at some point.
She stood there, still clutching the empty coffee cup in her hand, her eyes red.
Nine years have passed.
No one has ever understood her voice like that.
No one has ever told her so firmly: Your voice itself is enough.
"You...your name is Jiang Yan, right?" Tiffany's voice trembled slightly.
"Yes, my name is Jiang Yan."