Zico recently spilled the beans on the YouTube channel ‘Neighborhood Star K,’ revealing the painstaking efforts he took to get BLACKPINK’s Jennie on board for his new track.
During the chat, host Jonathan brought up Jennie’s feature in Zico’s latest bop and asked, “Were you guys already pals? Do you handle the casting yourself?”
Zico replied, “We knew each other. I usually handle the casting. I didn’t have a featuring artist in mind when I started working on the music. But as I was creating the songs, Jennie popped into my head and I decided to collaborate with her.”
He added, “I prepared a bunch of custom options. I whipped up about six songs, narrowed it down to two, and then asked her which one she thought was a better fit.”
Jonathan asked, “So, you prepared everything because you weren’t sure what she would like?”
Zico explained, “Exactly. If you limit the options, the artist might not find them interesting.”
He went on to describe his approach to collaboration, emphasizing the importance of making the artists feel comfortable and not pressured.
Zico also shared a candid moment during the presentation of the songs to Jennie, saying, “When playing the music, you hope for a nod, but I couldn’t help but make gestures to get a bounce at certain parts.”
He further mentioned, “Since I had never worked with Jennie before, I needed to understand her style. Jennie continuously interprets the music on her own. Rather than me presenting options, we’d record and she would say, ‘I like this.’”
This collaboration has led to the success of ‘SPOT!’, which dominated daily music charts across major platforms like Melon, Bugs, Genie, Naver VIBE, and FLO as of April 30, achieving an ‘all-kill’ on the daily charts.
Notably, ‘SPOT!’ has maintained its top position on Bugs every day since its release. The track marks Zico’s first release in his 10th anniversary year as a solo artist, capturing an unfiltered moment between two friends at a late-night party.
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