Without a doubt this cover video project had been just as difficult as I had expected. There is so much planning, coordination and practice that goes into making the K-Pop videos we know and love. Although I am a big fan of Jay Park and heard “All I Wanna Do” countless time, I had never tried learning the choreography or the rapping for the Korean version of the song. My Korean speaking abilities are practically non-existent so, when I was asked to learn Locos rap in the song, in addition to the chorus choreography, I was panicking internally. I practiced rapping anytime I had a chance for a week straight to get the pronunciation right, since Loco has a unique flow to his rapping, recording myself repeatedly. What was quite frustrating was that no matter how much I practiced I could no get my rapping abilities anywhere near perfect. If I got the flow right, I messed up on pronunciation but, if I got the pronunciation right my voice lacked flow and enthusiasm. I could never get the balance right.
All in all, one thing I learned from recording this cover video is the brilliance of idols and rappers, even young aspiring artists who can perform in English, Japanese, Chinese and various other languages with nearly flawless pronunciation. My rap was only 30 seconds long, but these artists can sing full length songs, while performing complex choreography, truly displaying how much long enduring training goes into being an idol.
Side note: If Jay Park ever has concert here at least I’ll be able to rap Locos entire verse for him haha