N-Train Showcase in 홍대

Attended a showcase tonight (Wednesday) for an up-and-coming boy band, N-Train, thanks to an invitation from the lovely TB. Will probably update with pictures and videos later, but wanted to at least post a little bit down while the memories are still fresh.

They appeared to be groomed as an R&B idol group, with vocal training in singing a capella together. They started off with a rendition of Boyz II Men’s “End of the Road,” which was surprisingly not too bad! It’s a hard song to pull off, and many Koreans still have audible troubles with English pronunciation, but both melody and pronunciation were passable.

Like all ideal boy bands, there are five members. I’m not sure what their ages are, but they already have a soompi fan thread which contains their profiles. They also already had a lively fan base; the venue, which admittedly was on the small side, was fairly full and kept the atmosphere lively with enthusiastic screams. The crowd seemed to be a mix of young fan girls and people who knew the members personally – at one point, a friend of a member shouted out a funny remark, was invited up to the stage, gladly rushed up and thereupon gave his boy band friend a hug before daring to show them how fan service should really be done. They mentioned something about him being a workout fanatic or 몸짱 so he might have been their gym trainer…

N-Train sang two other songs, and guests from their company also made an appearance in support of the rookie group. Sadly, much-anticipated Hallyu heartthrob Kim Hyunjoong (김현중) ended up not coming. Their company is Media Line, which is headed by Kim Changhwan (김창환), a notable producer in the industry.

Seems like their official single isn’t out yet, so no music video, but there is a live sample of their song “울면서 울어/One Last Cry” (Why give your song the same English title as such a famous Brian Mcknight song? And one that isn’t even an accurate translation?) on their youtube channel: