For reasons no one is thrilled by, this was a year that will go down in history. But in spite of everything, people carried on with their lives, and did their best to make it through. The stories on each of the performances by the six teams across three days from December 28 to 30 is also a documentation of how people live their lives.

May 15, 2020. KBS Yu Huiyeol’s Sketchbook: “A Song for You,” “Sadness Guide,” “A Thousand Years, “I’m in Trouble”

After releasing their album The Nocturne, NU’EST went on Yu Huiyeol’s Sketchbook to talk about the nine years since their debut in 2012. Prompted by host Yus questions, we learn that NU’EST has had good experiences but also regrets, and events so dramatic it’s hard to believe they really happened. But on Sketchbook, they don’t perform an extension of those stories, but rather a fresh start. Before telling their story nine years in the making, they sing “A Song for You,” which was released to mark the seventh anniversary of their debut. They finish their story with the lead single from The Nocturne, “I’m in Trouble.” If “A Song for You” is a thank-you letter to the fans responsible for the group’s dramatic success (“These lyrics I wrote for you / I want you to be the start of them / Fill in the title of this song for me”), then “I’m in Trouble” is the turning point that marks this new beginning. Rather than the universe in the 2016 album Q is, which explored the narrative surrounding “the queen’s knight,” the “I’m in Trouble” music video shows off visuals of the different concepts adopted by each member, with enticing lyrics like, “let’s venture into our emotions,” and, “I hope your friends ask about me.” In “I’m in Trouble,” NU’EST move on from the long story of misery and happiness, of scattered darkness and light, and each member reveals his charm in a new way instead. An intersection where they wrap up their previous story and present their new magnetism.

Unlike in the music video, where they appear unrealistic, almost like flat characters, they appear as real people—real idols—on Yu Huiyeol’s Sketchbook. On the show, where guests are given time to sing multiple songs, NU’EST have the opportunity to demonstrate their vocal chops in “A Song for You,” and, on a program that places emphasis on the distinctive sound of live performances, you can clearly hear them breathing hard while they sing and dance to “I’m in Trouble.” Even though the performance on Sketchbook ends similarly to as on other music shows with a close-up, the members can be seen catching their breath. Somehow and without explanation, in this moment, each member of NU’EST comes across as both a singer and a person. Had it not been for COVID-19, their time on Sketchbook likely would have been remembered as a symbolic chance for the team to display their additional potential among the cheers of the very fans they had asked to come up with the title of their song. When NU’EST, and indeed other singers, come back, their singing, their breathing, their sweat—hopefully, all of that together can be conveyed to the world.