Reborn Action Star: Starting in Hollywood

"What are you looking at? Come on over and have a good breakfast so you'll have the energy to work. Today's task is very challenging," Lin Yuan said with a smile and a wave.

Lee Soo-man had already expertly made his way to the steamed bun pick-up area, and Jessica was now standing at the front of the line.

"Good morning, Mr. Lin!" She bowed to Lin Yuan in greeting, and the girls behind her followed suit.

"Don't stand on ceremony, just help yourselves to whatever you want to eat," Lin Yuan said with a smile, pointing to Lee Soo-man in the distance.

Seeing that the club president was so relaxed, the girls laughed and scattered.

Jessica grew up in the United States and now lives in South Korea. She has never had a Chinese breakfast before, so she instinctively grabbed a sandwich.

But when she sat down at Lin Yuan's table, where there was only one empty seat, with her sandwich and milk, she was immediately drawn to the delicious food on the table.

It looks so delicious!
She stared at the golden fried dough sticks on the table, then looked at the sandwich in her hand, and suddenly felt that the food in her hand was tasteless.

"These fried dough sticks are best paired with sweet soy milk, but if you're on a sugar diet, these savory tofu puddings are also a good choice." Lin Yuan pushed the celadon bowl to the center of the table.
"In northern China, people eat savory tofu pudding, while in the south, they eat sweet tofu pudding..."

Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by a chorus of exclamations—at the next table, Xu Xian was carefully poking open the thin skin of a lava bun with a silver spoon, and the golden salted egg yolk filling slowly oozed out.

Lee Soo-man, sitting opposite Seohyun, coughed lightly and picked up a large soup dumpling.

The thin leather suddenly ripped, and soup splattered onto his custom-made suit.

"This..." He hurriedly tried to wipe it, but saw Lin Yuan, who was already prepared, hand him a straw.

"Such a big soup dumpling, it's best to use a straw to poke it in first, drink the soup, and then eat it," Lin Yuan said with a smile.

"How embarrassing! I look like a country bumpkin who's never seen the world." Lee Soo-man's words expressed the feelings of the girls present.

Apart from Taeyeon and Yoona, most of the people present were experiencing such a wide variety of Chinese breakfasts for the first time, and they were inevitably amazed and captivated.

At this moment, GAKKI walked lightly to Lin Yuan's side, bent down and whispered in his ear, "Taylor Swift is already ready in the recording studio."

"I understand. Please tell her to wait a little while. Everyone needs to eat well so they have the energy to work." Lin Yuan didn't urge the girls, but gave them plenty of time to immerse themselves in the delicious food.

As breakfast drew to a close, Cui Xiuying stubbornly stuffed the last piece of radish cake into her mouth, asking indistinctly, "Can we have this again for lunch?"

"Lunch? We'll have white rice for lunch!" Lin Yuan announced cruelly, looking at the nine little faces that instantly fell flat. "However... I've asked the chef to prepare a delicious seafood feast as a side dish."

Upon hearing this, the girls immediately cheered.

Only Yoona caught the hidden information: "Lim Won oppa, the food the chef made was delivered to the recording studio? Is it not far from here?"

Lin Yuan said with a smile, "Taylor Swift's house in Douglaston has been converted into a recording studio, which is just a 2-minute walk from here."

"Are we going to Taylor Swift's house to record?" Kim Tae-yeon asked curiously.

"Yes, she's already waiting for us," Lin Yuan nodded.

Breakfast was over, and Lin Yuan led the members of Girls' Generation out of the mansion.

The gentle sunlight of late spring and early summer falls softly on the cobblestone streets of Douglaston, and the air is filled with the faint fragrance of flowers and the scent of the sea breeze.

"This way," Lin Yuan pointed to a path shaded by trees ahead.

The girls followed him in twos and threes, their high heels making a crisp sound on the stone pavement.

Xu Xian couldn't help but stop and look at the hydrangeas blooming by the roadside, their blue-purple petals swaying gently in the breeze.

"This place is so beautiful!" Hwang Mi-young took a deep breath. "It's much quieter and more beautiful than Seoul."

"Yeah, I wish we could settle down here someday." Lim Yoona stuck out her tongue, but didn't dare to think about it too much, knowing how high the housing prices were here.

But Lin Yuan smiled and said, "Maybe after this song is recorded, you'll have the money to buy property and settle down here?"

One sentence evoked the girls' memories of yesterday's bet, and everyone was immediately filled with enthusiasm, wanting to do their best in the recording work today.

Lin Yuan led the girls around a white fence covered with vines, and an elegant three-story villa came into view.

In front of the villa was a neatly trimmed lawn, with several tall oak trees casting dappled shadows.

The tall figure standing under the porch made everyone subconsciously slow down.

Taylor Swift was leaning against a doorpost, her long golden hair gleaming softly in the sunlight.

She was wearing a simple white shirt and jeans, yet she possessed an inexplicable charm that made it impossible to look away.

"Wow!" Im Yoona exclaimed softly.

Even among Girls' Generation, known for their long legs, Yoona, Sooyoung, and Seohyun are all around 1.7 meters tall, which is quite tall in the East.

But at this moment, standing in front of Taylor Swift, who is 1.8 meters tall, they felt what it meant to "look up to her".

Taylor Swift smiled and straightened up, her slender figure appearing even more upright in the shadows of the porch.

"Welcome!" Her voice carried a uniquely gentle tone, her gaze sweeping over each girl before finally settling on Lin Yuan.

Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled patterns of light on her.

At that moment, everyone understood what "celebrity aura" meant—it wasn't just the oppressive feeling brought by height, but an innate and undeniable presence.

Taylor Swift strode over, and the girls all thought her target was Lin Yuan, but she stopped in front of Kim Tae-yeon and hugged her tightly.

She didn't just hug her; she picked Taeyeon up and spun her around several times with tinkling laughter.

Taylor Swift is 20 centimeters taller than Kim Tae-yeon, a full head taller, making the scene look like a boyfriend hugging his little girlfriend.

"It's so nice to see you again!"

After spinning around a few times, Taylor Swift smiled and put Taeyeon down, then gave her a quick kiss on her fair cheek.

Not only were Lee Soo-man and the members of Girls' Generation stunned, but Lim Won was also quite surprised:

When did you two become this close?

Seemingly sensing Lin Yuan's doubts, Taylor Swift said with a smile, "Taeyeon is my savior! We exchanged contact information a long time ago."

In addition, she and I are both singers, so we have a lot in common.

She's a fantastic singer, and we often exchange singing tips over the phone.

Lin Yuan was truly surprised, as the two had never crossed paths in their previous lives because they were on completely different levels.

Although Kim Tae-yeon is very talented and has many classic songs, she is, after all, a Korean singer, and Taylor Swift, who sings in English, is in a completely different industry.

Taylor Swift grabbed Taeyeon's hand and said, "Come on, come with me. The recording is all set up."

When Girls' Generation stepped through the recording studio doors, they weren't greeted by the familiar K-pop production atmosphere, but rather by a battlefield of industrial rock.

Taylor Swift walked to the mixing console, her fingers flying across the Pro Tools interface, and looked up at them with a smile:

"Welcome to the wasteland, girls."

(Welcome to the wasteland, girls!)
In the center of the recording studio stood a modified grand piano, its body wrapped with exposed copper wires connecting to several effects pedals. In the corner, several electric guitars leaned against their stands, their necks labeled "For High Gain Distortion".

The most eye-catching part was the drum set—not a traditional drum kit, but several modified metal oil drums with special leather stretched over the drumheads, and several steel pipes placed next to them, clearly for striking.

Kim Tae-yeon took a deep breath; she could smell the faint scent of pine resin and the heat from electronic devices in the air.

“This is not a configuration we are familiar with at all…” Kim Tae-yeon muttered softly, her fingers gently tracing the pop filter of the Neumann U87 microphone: “But it makes my heart race for some reason.”

Taylor Swift didn't give them much time to adjust; she immediately handed them the sheet music and lyrics.

The original song, "Reunion in the Wasteland," has been rewritten with new lyrics.

“Taeyeon, your opening line needs to shift from a clear, bright tone to a husky one,” Taylor Swift said, pointing to a section marked on the sheet music. “Imagine you have a grain of sand in your throat, but keep your core stable. You can try singing a few lines first to get a feel for it, and then we’ll officially begin.”

Kim Tae-yeon put on her headphones, and the accompaniment started playing.

It's no longer the upbeat electronic beat of the original song, but rather a heavy guitar riff and mechanical drumbeats.

I'll never let you down.

She used a strong belting technique in her very first sentence, and the graininess produced by the vibration of her vocal cords still maintained amazing dynamics under the processing of the LA-2A compressor.

The chorus needs to be slid from A4 to D5:

"Through the fire we'll be reborn"

She used head voice transitions perfectly, and the metallic quality produced by the glottal closure earned her a thumbs up from the other producers in the control room.

Seeing how quickly Taeyeon picked it up, Taylor Swift was completely relieved and began to train the other four main vocalists: Jessica, Tiffany, Seohyun, and Sunny.

Girls' Generation has nine members, five of whom are main vocalists. This configuration is practically a luxury compared to other Korean girl groups.

It is precisely because of Girls' Generation's super-luxurious lineup that they have become a K-pop legend, the ceiling above the ceiling of girl groups.

Jessica's work focused more on details, and Taylor Swift naturally wouldn't be careless either.

“Jessica, your consonants need to be as sharp as blades,” Taylor Swift reminded her. “Especially dental consonants like 's' and 't', don’t soften them, pronounce them firmly.”

Jessica pursed her lips and tried again. This time, her pronunciation was as precise as the meshing of mechanical gears, with a cold, metallic quality.

The section that Hwang Mi-young was in charge of required the raw feel of American rock.

She brought her lips close to the microphone and used vocal fry to create a deep, trembling sound, like the roar of an engine idling.

In the high notes, she suddenly switched to her full voice and enunciated words with great force, like a heavy punch hitting a steel plate.

Seohyun and Sunny's task was to add a tragic touch to the song.

Seohyun uses the resonance of classical singing to handle long notes, but adds a slight vibrato, making her voice like a metal flag swaying in the wind.

Sunny used a soft reverb in the transition section before suddenly exploding, creating a dramatic shift from suppression to release.

The remaining four members are all from Girls' Generation's dance group, but they didn't have the opportunity to perform dance in this song.

Therefore, Taylor Swift formed a backing vocal group with the remaining Yoona, Yuri, Sooyoung, Hyoyeon, and Yuri.

Their task is not simply to provide background vocals, but to add layers and a sense of space to the song.

Girls' Generation's dance team also possesses extremely solid basic skills in singing.

The reason they say their singing skills are slightly weaker is only in comparison to the main vocalists. If they weren't in Girls' Generation, but in a girl group from a smaller company, their singing ability would be more than enough to be a main vocalist.

“Sooyoung and Yuri, you two are in charge of the low-frequency humming and the intro chanting, imagine yourself as the vibrations of the engine,” Taylor Swift explained.

The two stood in front of the microphone, using their chest resonance to produce a steady low-frequency sound, like a mechanical hum coming from underground.

Yoona and Hyoyeon were responsible for the metallic texture in the mid and high frequencies.

"Use nasal resonance, but not sweetly; it should be like a wire brush scraping metal."

Under Taylor Swift's guidance, their voices developed sharp overtones in the 800Hz-3kHz range, adding an industrial feel to the songs.

Yoona's task is the most special - her falsetto needs to wander in the high frequency range above 12kHz, flickering like the sparks from a welding torch.

This sound won't stand out on its own in the mix, but it can add a dangerous "electric" feel to the overall sound.

When the vocal group sings, the harmonies are layered together with different reverb settings.

Some sounds were like echoes coming from a steel mill, while others were like the sound of wind in a desert, ultimately forming a sound field that was both chaotic and orderly.

The initial sound check went very smoothly, and Lin Yuan was no longer worried. He quietly stepped aside and sat down, watching the instruments join in and begin to work together with the girls.

The musicians' area is also a radical departure from tradition.

Instead of using a regular drum kit, the drummer struck a modified oil drum with a special leather strapped to the drumhead. When struck, it produced a dull "thump" sound, like the impact of heavy machinery.

To enhance the impact, the sound engineer installed a contact microphone inside the oil drum to capture the raw metallic vibrations.

The guitarist tuned a high-gain distortion tone, but unlike typical metal rock, Taylor Swift asked him to add more of a "glitch" feel—occasionally letting the notes go out of tune, or deliberately creating fret buzzing noises to simulate broken machinery in a wasteland world.

The bassist used a bowed string playing technique, making the bass not just the foundation of rhythm, but a low-frequency oscillation similar to an earthquake.

The recording engineer used an old-fashioned tube compressor, making each note sound as heavy as a hydraulic hammer.

Most surprisingly, Taylor Swift herself also made an appearance!
She personally oversaw the modification of the piano.

She installed triggers on the hammers, which would simultaneously activate an analog synthesizer with each strike, mixing the piano sound with the noise of short circuits.

When Kim Tae-yeon sang "tears," Taylor Swift suddenly added a distorted brass sample, the sound like it came from a distant battlefield, creating a perfect harmony.

Before they knew it, they had been recording for 18 hours straight. Everyone was exhausted, but the atmosphere in the control room was getting more and more excited.

Taylor Swift imported all the vocal and instrument tracks into the mixer and began the final adjustments.

She made the vocals suddenly "explode" in the chorus, like the roar of an engine breaking through a sandstorm;
In the bridge section, all low frequencies were deliberately removed, leaving only Kim Tae-yeon's screams and Im Yoon-ah's high-frequency falsetto to create a suffocating sense of tension.

In the finale, all the sounds suddenly converge, forming a wall of sound, like a chariot breaking through the last line of defense.

When the final version was played, all the members of Girls' Generation fell silent.

This is no longer the "Into the New World" they are familiar with, but it miraculously retains the soul of the original song—that sense of hope that remains even in the face of despair.

"This is the wasteland anthem we created together," Mold said with a smile.

The girls all stood behind Taylor Swift, looked at Lin Yuan together, and said in unison, "Are you satisfied? You didn't drag me down, did you?"

Lin Yuan was extremely satisfied. He smiled and nodded, saying, "I'm very satisfied! If the movie becomes a box office hit one day, your names will be on the medals of honor!"

The recording of the song has finally come to an end, and the result has even exceeded Lin Yuan's expectations.

Everything is ready, so all that's left is to wait for the release of Mad Max: Fury Road and The Last Journey. (End of Chapter)