“First time?” Said a ruddy cheeked man with a salt and pepper beard, who was packing up next to me. He wore a sleevelesssafari-style jacket with dozens of pockets, stuffed with camera attachments.
“That obvious?” I smiled wryly, putting away my meagre possessions. My backpack did not go with the black, satin cocktail dress I’d worn, but it at least matched my new-ish Converses.
“You were at the press call this morning. I was in your photo group.”
“Oh,” I said, flinching, remembering how amateur I would have looked pointing my phone at the group.
“Come on,” he said, shouldering a backpack. “We all head to the hotel bar to watch the show. Beats standing out here, on the off-chance one of them-” he nodded his head in the general direction of the Theatre- “comes back out. Jack.” He held out a hand that engulfed mine as I shook it.
“Kaiya.”
“Come on Kaiya, let me buy you a drink.”
It was apparently tradition for the assembled press – or at least the more seasoned ones – to congregate in our hotel, presumably because it’s where all the out-of-town-press were being put up. I appreciated the convenience of the arrangement as we walked into the hotel bar not long later.
True to his word, Jack bought me a beer, and we sat at the bar along with a pack of other reporters. They’d all recited their names and the names of the publications they were there for, and that was it. It turned out Jack was a bit of a veteran around town. He seemed to know a lot of the press who covered the show, and I was grateful to be absorbed into their orbit. It made me feel less like the ‘greenhorn’ others had called me.
The awards were being shown on a big screen behind the bar, and with professional interest, we all watched as various groups and soloists picked up their awards.
The Social Group award that GVibes were nominated for was a bit later in the night, and would be announced after they performed a condensed medley of songs that had charted in the US.
By the time the members hit the stage, I was two beers deep and conversing with the other reporters about the general tomfoolery of the music industry.
I was silent for the performance, though. Mesmerised by the way they melded three different songs, and their choreography so seamlessly.
I nodded in approval as the assembled crowds in the theatre roared their appreciation.
“Can’t do wrong, those fellas,” Jack said next to me, tilting his glass up to the screen.
“They are incredibly talented,” I agreed. “Won’t help them win any of the mainstream awards though,” I said bitterly.
Jack chuffed a laugh through his beard. “They’re not nominated.”
“Not this year,” I conceded, “they haven’t put out any new records. But next year, or the year after that.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because the Western music industry would rather create a whole ‘K-Pop’ category instead of making room for them in the Artist or Album categories. Where’s the ‘British’ category?” I was working up a head of steam now as I flagged down the bartender, waving my empty pint glass to indicate my request.
“You think they get deliberately snubbed?”
I shrugged, staring down at the fresh beer in front of me.
“I think ‘snubbed’ is a big word. I think the Western music industry in general likes to categorise music into boxes, rather than let them compete against a group of their peers.”
Jack and a couple of the other reporters at the bar chuckled.
“You remember being that passionate, Jack?” asked a middle-aged man in a leather jacket.
“Naw,” Jack grumbled, shaking his head. “Maybe last century.”
We all laughed at that, and I stowed my righteous anger, choosing instead to enjoy the evening.
It was no surprise when GVibes later picked up the award for Social Artist. As Minjae had said earlier, the award was the only one that was completely dependent on fan engagement, and I knew that the fandom had been mobilised the moment the nomination had been announced.
They’d shared links to the category voting page and flooded social media with reminders to do it as often as they could. They’d done everything they could to spread the word in order to welcome the group back into the spotlight. And they’d succeeded.
I watched the members take to the stage to accept the award, and I could tell how much it meant to each of them, precisely because of what it had taken to get there.
