All kinds of gossip news and marketing hype before the broadcast of “Sing If You Want to Sing-Young Blood Season” had accumulated enough attention for this long-established variety show.
By the time it officially aired tonight, over ten “long-prepared” trending topics went up together.
The hashtag #Latest Season of “Sing If You Want to Sing” Pilot Episode Aired# even “air-dropped” to number one on the trending list, directly squeezing out the original number one trending topic #”Next Stage” Trainees’ Sexy Dance “Lust”#.
No need to think, of course this was intentional.
As an S-level investment variety show, the production team of “Sing If You Want to Sing” had already set its sights on “NS” before the broadcast, confidently treating it as their number one rival, vowing to replicate the nationwide popularity brought by “NS” and become the next phenomenal variety show.
“Next Stage” is an online variety show, while “Sing If You Want to Sing” is a satellite TV variety show. Comparing like this, the latter definitely has the advantage.
As for other things like the guest lineup, sponsor investment, production team’s reputation, etc., objectively speaking, “Sing If You Want to Sing” could beat “NS” in every aspect.
But people in the circle all know, a variety show’s broadcast popularity can’t just look at these things. Whether the audience is willing to buy into it, no one can predict before the show actually airs.
Unlike the other first and second-line big names in the regular guest lineup, this was Shen Yuchuan’s first contact with S-level resources. Although he had tried everything to snatch it from Wen Xinyi, he didn’t feel guilty or uneasy at all.
Resources are meant to be fought over. Before you actually get them, anyone can reach out and grab them. The one who succeeds is the winner.
Shen Yuchuan didn’t know if other guests were eagerly awaiting the broadcast like him. Maybe those big-name seniors were all used to it. Apart from some polite small talk in their guest group chat, almost no one reminded everyone to watch the show, let alone discuss the show’s content.
The pilot episode was less than an hour long. The content was just the regular guests moving into a small villa in the suburbs, chatting, exchanging pleasantries, cooking, and dividing rooms. The only thing related to the main episode was discussing music groupings.
The audience for music variety shows prefers the stages. So aside from the guests’ fans, the beginning of this pilot episode would be quite boring.
When it was time to divide into teams, the guests entered a room with a large whiteboard one by one.
A series of keywords were attached to the whiteboard with magnets. They had to choose from these keywords and ultimately enter either the “Popular Team” or the “Niche Team.”
“Is your music the general trend, or is it something unique?”
— This sentence was printed on a banner, hanging squarely in the middle of the wall.
[Hohoho, so it’s this popular vs niche. Looks pretty interesting. After dragging on for over half an hour, the main course is finally here!]
[The guests invited this time are basically all popular singers, right? Niche singers have no fame. Why would Zhao He invite unknown guests?]
[Don’t underestimate people, okay? No matter how niche the music, there are always people who listen to it in China. As long as the song is well-written and the singer can sing, niche music can also become more popular than pop music]
[That’s right, that’s right. The “niche” here refers to the song style, not the number of people who have heard these songs. And who says popular singers can’t choose the niche team? Maybe a popular singer feels their own music has a unique style]
[By that logic, wouldn’t rappers all have to choose niche?]
[What about rock bands? They should choose niche too, right?]
[General trend or unique… Tsk tsk, the question is quite sharp. I wonder if some people who write catchy, pandering pop songs every day feel any guilt]
[Damn it, here we go again?? What idiot is persistently trying to equate pop songs with catchy, pandering songs?! Don’t be jealous that their songs are popular and they are popular too. So sour, so sour, so sour you to death]
Shen Yuchuan was alone in his bedroom, watching absentmindedly. He had the barrage on, but there weren’t many mentioning him by name. After all, his sense of existence wasn’t strong among this group of guests.
As he watched, he couldn’t help but switch screens out to pay attention to the forum trending searches and variety show rankings.
The broadcast popularity of “Next Stage” was firmly in first place. It was said to have maintained this for over two weeks, crushing all other variety shows airing at the same time, with no one able to rival it.
Back when he exchanged resources, Shen Yuchuan never imagined “NS” would become what it is today. He muttered with a strange feeling, “Wen Xinyi… really has good luck.”
At this point, regardless of whether “Sing If You Want to Sing”‘s popularity could surpass “NS,” Shen Yuchuan no longer had the same confidence he once did about whether his gains from the show would exceed Wen Xinyi’s exposure on “NS.”
What is this supposed to mean? Better to be the head of a dog than the tail of a phoenix? But who is the dog and who is the phoenix, no one knows yet…
Maybe he shouldn’t have exchanged resources with Wen Xinyi a few months ago. Maybe the company’s senior management was right. Isn’t “NS” more suitable for him than “Sing If You Want to Sing”?
After all, he was good-looking and had specifically learned dance for running a short video account. If he were on “NS,” he would definitely perform better than Wen Xinyi.
Shen Yuchuan rubbed his face, unable to hide his irritation as he dragged the progress bar, directly pulling to the segment where he was about to enter the small room and make his team choice.
[Aaaaaah finally it’s our Xiao Yu’s turn [starry eyes]]
[Brother Shen’s styling today is so handsome… every time the camera shows him, I can’t take my eyes off him, he’s so handsome!!!]
[What styling… by this time, his styling and makeup are already taken off. Oh no, he didn’t even get his hair done, it looks like he just washed it.]
[Don’t say anything, my Shen is naturally blessed with beauty that’s hard to abandon even if he wanted to.]
[Shen Yuchuan will probably choose popular.]
[What works does this person have? I’ve never heard of him before, does he have that many fans?]
[Xiao Yu is still a new singer, still working hard. Slowly, everyone will know him, just like now, everyone knows him now, right?]
[Brother Shen just lacks some exposure opportunities. He’ll become famous sooner or later]
Shen Yuchuan glanced at the barrage, feeling inexplicably a bit conflicted. His fans really did understand him quite well; the comments hit the nail on the head. Was it because he usually acted too arrogantly?
But he felt he had acted humble and low-key enough on “Sing If You Want to Sing.” There was no helping it; he didn’t have the capital to act proud in front of the big-name seniors.
At this moment, Shen Yuchuan in the show was already standing in front of the whiteboard. He looked up at the banner on the wall, reading aloud to himself. The production team outside the camera then asked…
“Teacher Yuchuan, what do you think of this sentence? Which side do you believe your music belongs to?”
Shen Yuchuan outside the screen raised an eyebrow slightly. He couldn’t even remember how he had answered back then.
“General trend, unique…”
The young man in a casual suit pondered for a few seconds, his gaze falling on the whiteboard, seemingly looking at some keyword. He said nonchalantly, “My music should be the general trend, I guess. But it’s not that I lead the trend; I just follow what’s popular in the market.”
[Wow, he’s quite daring to say that]
[… Okay, just based on this sentence, I’ll remember you.]
[He’s quite self-aware. I didn’t expect Shen to have this kind of personality. Judging by his face, I thought he was very unreasonable.]
The young man continued, “But that’s just the current me. The future is uncertain. I am working towards being unique. I want to make unique music.”
The production team asked, “Why not work towards the ‘general trend’? You said you follow market popularity. In the future, can’t you work towards leading the trend?”
“…”
The young man scratched his hair, looking weary, as if not thinking seriously, and casually said, “It’s hard to please everyone. Taking care of my own group of listeners is enough for me.”
“Besides,” he said, “no one says niche singers can’t lead trends either.”
As if suddenly thinking of something, he added, “Director Zhao, Cupid, whom you wanted to invite before, is a niche singer. His songs are all quite popular. You often see them on short videos lately. Many people are following the trend, so that counts as leading a trend, I suppose.”
As he spoke, he narrowed his eyes and murmured softly, “And I really like him too.”
“Bang!!”
Shen Yuchuan in his bedroom stared at the screen with wide eyes. His hand shook, and the phone directly fell from the bed onto the floor.
Damn it, you bastard!! What the hell are you talking about?! !
He glared at himself talking eloquently on the show, his mind in a daze, as if he didn’t recognize this person.
When was this segment recorded? Had he said these things? Why didn’t he have any impression of this? Judging by his hair and face, he had definitely been called over while taking a nap!
Heh, hehe, when you’re not fully awake, you say all sorts of things. This was clearly sleep-talking. You can’t take it seriously.
However, the barrage obviously took it seriously.
[Cupid? Who is this again?]
[The one above, it doesn’t matter if you haven’t heard of Cupid. Have you heard the inspirational anthem “Leap”? The super chicken soup that directly makes those preparing for exams cry and break down.]
[“Leap” is the most normal song this guy has. The songs on the album he released after were all dark style, with gods and ghosts. But unexpectedly, they became popular]
[I think I’ve heard this name… Is he on the light music daily chart?]
[Xiao Yu likes Cupid?? Wow, double-fan ecstasy. I just bought Cupid’s new album last week!!]
[“On the experience of me and my idol being fans of the same person”.]
[I probably haven’t heard this person’s songs, but isn’t this Cupid the one who was on the trending topics with Zhao He before? The one who was among the potential guests that Zhao He had teased us about…]
[Cupid is a typical case of “songs that are popular but the person’ isn’t. This guy is too low-key. He doesn’t post any other updates except releasing songs. But his efficiency in releasing songs is super high. More diligent than 99% of singers in the Chinese entertainment industry!]
[Wait, isn’t “Lust” his song?]
Watching the barrage go further and further off-topic, they didn’t return to the main topic even when the next guest came in to be grouped.
Shen Yuchuan lost interest in watching the show. After cursing himself through gritted teeth, he then angrily cursed the production team.
Why did they have to put irrelevant people in the main episode? What did Cupid have to do with the show? He just casually mentioned it. Couldn’t they cut it out?!
And the barrage. He only listened to Cupid’s songs occasionally. How did this secretive, mysterious guy become his idol?
He had more fans than Cupid, and he was more popular than Cupid. Could the “like” he said on the show be taken seriously? Couldn’t they tell it was just polite talk?
Shen Yuchuan took several deep breaths, barely suppressing the anger bubbling inside him.
Logically, he should treat this Cupid as a competitor because Xinda Media was still persistently contacting him. Once the two sides made contact, this guy would become another Wen Xinyi!
He might even be more difficult to deal with than Wen Xinyi!
But… they hadn’t made contact yet, right? Maybe one day Xinda Media would feel this guy was playing hard to get and just give up.
Shen Yuchuan comforted himself in his heart, while casually clicking into the forum and once again browsed through the hot posts pushed to his homepage.
Topic: [Taking stock of the Future King of Singer’s ten most embarrassing moments on “NS”!]
Topic: [Fan turning into passerby. I still don’t understand why WXY had a brain fart to join a boy band. The singing wasn’t good, and the dancing wasn’ t even as good as radio calisthenics. He’s been mocked since the broadcast started until now. I can’t take it anymore [crack]]
Topic: [Are there really people who became fans of Wen Xinyi because of “NS”? I feel he has no fan-attracting points on the show at all. So far, the only positive trending search is that 303 cp thing, right? All the others are negative trending searches…]
Topic: [WXY completely ruined his public umay by joining this show. Compared to Shen YC next door on “Sing If You Want to Sing,” it’s really playing a good hand badly]
…
Actually, these negative posts weren’t that popular, but unfortunately, Shen Yuchuan liked reading them, so the big data naturally pushed more.
Heh, just looking, he wasn’t liking them. This was called the spiritual victory method!
He happily read for almost an hour, when he suddenly received a message from his agent.
— [Xiao Yu, you’re trending. Simply post a response]
— [Don’t say too much. Express your liking for Cupid, and thoughts on your own music style. Keep your tone humble. Remember to show me the text before posting]
— [Oh, and remember to follow Cupid’s account. You said you liked him, so how come you haven’t even followed his account? At a time like this, don’t use your alt account to follow idols. Be open and honest. There’s nothing shameful about it]
— [If possible, send Cupid a private message. Ask him if he has signed with a company and what his views on Xinda are]
— [Thanks for the hard work～]
Shen Yuchuan: …?
