No one expected that the broadcast of the “Sing If You Want to Sing” pilot episode wouldn’t create any breakout topics of its own, but would instead send a wave of traffic to their competitor.
Initially, the trending topic #Shen Yuchuan’s Sincere Confession to Cupid# wasn’t ranked very high, but it couldn’t withstand the number of netizens eating the melon.
Many people went to search who Cupid was, then accidentally clicked on those newly released videos from the official “NS” account.
Like cause and effect, in the end, the topic ranking got higher and higher. Those videos that used “Lust” as their BGM also directly went onto the trending search homepage recommendation. Any netizen passing by would click on the keyword and could see them, second only to the post of another “sincere confession” that Shen Yuchuan subsequently published on the forum.
Regardless of whether this wave of traffic was very useful to “NS,” at the very least, the series of events was strong enough to specifically annoy those who cared about this matter.
And as one of the parties involved in the trending topic, the moment Shen Yuchuan went to the forum after being reminded by his manager, his face went completely dark.
Sin-cere Con-fes-sion?
Who bought this trending topic? Did the forum make it up themselves? How can they be so good at annoying people!
And, as if on cue, his dear manager dealt another blow by urging him to write a “confession” even more sincere and intense than what he had said on the show.
Great, now the whole internet knew that he, Shen Yuchuan, was the number one little fanboy of an unknown singer!
— [Beep beep beep, how is it, did Cupid reply to you?]
— [Have a good attitude when you inbox people. Making friends with Cupid has no downsides. Leave alone his musical talent, he has good fate. He is destined for popularity. You should rub against it more, it might be useful later.]
Good fats… that was true. The path that others took several years or even over ten years to walk, Cupid walked in just a few months.
Without signing with a company and without overwhelming marketing, he posted songs from a new account, but still each one was more popular than the last.
Which newcomer starts off by appearing on the light music daily chart? He only released one song before he started working on an album, and in the end, he actually succeeded in stirring things up with it.
Although Cupid’s current fame couldn’t compare to those singers active in the public eye, the results of his first album were really impressive.
Under the premise of no backing from a company, no marketing, and relying purely on the work itself, with fans accumulated from Leap and the two pre-release singles as the main driving force in the first week, positive reviews poured in, it shot up the bestseller charts, and sales surpassed 200,000 copies.
In the second week, the album’s word-of-mouth gained traction, attracting more casual listeners. The title track was frequently used as BGM on video platforms, and sales surpassed 500,000 copies.
Continuing to today, over half a month later, Cupid’s first album sales were nearly 700,000 copies. 25 yuan was a very conscientious price for an album in the current music market.
After platform cuts and taxes, this “newcomer” who had only been releasing songs for just over a month had actually earned more money in such a short time than Shen Yuchuan had accumulated in all these years since his debut!
If even this kind of person isn’t called lucky, then no one in the industry dares to claim they are destined to be popular.
‘Damn it, freelancers not signed to a company really live a great life!’
After silently calculating this account in his mind, Shen Yuchuan’s entire heart felt itchy. It wasn’t jealousy, nor anger, just a very complex and strange emotion.
He had noticed Cupid back when he released his first song, “Leap.” Now that Cupid had achieved such results, didn’t that precisely prove his own good taste?
He didn’t know if this kind of thinking counted as self-comfort, but anyway, Shen Yuchuan accepted it quite naturally. Thinking about it this way, even sending a private message didn’t feel so forced anymore.
However, even after waiting until the next day, he still didn’t see a reply from Cupid, not even a follow back…
The artist surnamed Shen, who had been stamped as “Cupid’s number one fanboy,” broke down again.
*
The next day was the broadcast day of “Next Stage” Episode 7. With all the topics stirred up by various trending searches the previous day, countless viewers’ appetites had been raised sky-high.
The forum also kept refreshing related hot posts. The closer it got to the update time, the more curious everyone became….what exactly was the “trainees’ first outdoor recording” in Episode 7, and what did it have to do with the short videos released yesterday?
Would they go dance those dances in public? But in the past period, no one had heard of the “NS” trainees gathering to go out dancing. Were passersby really that tight-lipped?
>Topic: [Since it’s about to air, I won’t pretend anymore, everyone. I confess!]
>Content: [Two weeks ago, I squatted outside the “NS” recording base and saw them leave in batches. They didn’t take the shuttle bus that everyone knows about, but instead various sedans, vans, nanny vans, etc. In short, it was very low-key.
I wasn’t the only fan waiting outside at the time. I didn’t follow them, but there were other sisters with cars at the scene who did. I don’t know if they lost them.
But after all, it was a large group recording for a super popular variety show. The commotion wouldn’t be small. I don’t believe no passersby recognized them. There might even be fans who encountered them by chance. Everyone, don’t hide it anymore. Please, just give a hint, dears [pitiful] [pray]]
1L: [Uh, people squat at the back gate of the base too? I remember that is a factory?]
2L: [Following cars is no different from sasaeng behavior. This outing clearly looked like confidential recording (though I doubt such a big group could keep it confidential)]
3L (OP): [Mm, so I didn’t follow. But there should be some encounters. I wanted to know if any sisters had the chance…They’re quite low-key, but their clothes and appearance are anything but!! They definitely stand out walking on the street.]
4L: [I remember these people’s casual clothes are all quite normal. You could tell from the first episode when they left the hotel. Most of them wear male college student NPC outfits. They purely rely on their faces to pull it off. Very uncospicuous.]
5L: [+1, all forgettable outfits
When I think back now, the only ones I remember are Quentin’s purple floral shirt and the BKL group’s matching outfits of plaid shirts tied around their waists.]
6L (OP): [Don’t go off-topic, hey… Maybe you can’t tell in the show, but in reality, they look really trendy. Or maybe the completion of fashion lies in the face? Or maybe tall, well-proportioned guys look handsome even in a burlap sack?
Anyway, the real-life sightings have already been appreciated by everyone. As everyone knows, the “NS” camera has been cursed by rivals. Our trainees are 800 times more handsome offline than online…
What I mean is, there are dozens of such eye-catching handsome guys, and the production team couldn’t possibly record out of the province. Yanhai is only this big. There should be at least one lucky person who encountered them by chance ahhh]
7L: [Not to pour cold water on you, but this show has only been airing for how long? Even if it’s popular, it’s just online heat. How many active fans could it have in real life? China is so big. Diluted, Yanhai doesn’t have that many fans, right?]
8L: [I think so too. It’s also very normal for passersby not to recognize them. And sometimes, the more trendy you dress, the less people dare to stare at you on the street [scratching head]]
9L: [Don’t overthink it, OP. Your favorite idol might be praised to the skies online, but in reality, they might just be an unknown handsome guy. The kind you glance at and then move on.
Things like surrounding them and taking photos, even Quentin might not have them, let alone others.]
…
21L: [Ahem, well, actually, fans who had chance encounters do exist, like me [well-behaved] [raising hand]]
22L: [? No photos= making up a story]
23L: [Really? Spill the details [ear]]
24L: [From the preview update until now, no one on the entire internet said they had a chance encounter. How come someone suddenly pops up now? No way, no one actually believes this, right?]
…
103L: [Wow, just one sentence from 21st floor stacked this post to over 100 floors. Where’s 21st floor, I’m begging??]
104L: [I’m here, I’m here. I’m 21st floor. The photos involve spoilers, so it’s inconvenient to post them. I’ll post them after the seventh episode airs at noon. But I did indeed encounter them by chance, and twice in a row!
Once at the hotel, once at their filming site!
I didn’t take photos during the hotel chance encounter because I didn’t react in time. But afterwards, I took a lot at the filming site. Photos, short videos, long videos… My phone album is bursting. The atmosphere on site was super exciting!]
105L: [So, they really went to a crowded, lively place to dance [shocked]]
106L: [How did they do it… srds, it’s not scientific. There would always be passersby filming and posting videos online, right? And at the scene, didn’t a single person recognize them?]
107L: [Emm, I can’t say much, but apart from the few of us who had the hotel chance encounter, probably no one else who recognized them, I think?
It has nothing to do with whether there were other fans on site or how popular they are offline. Even if the place was full of fans only, they might not necessarily recognize them because no one would think in that direction… In short, you’ll understand once it airs!]
108L: [Ahhh, the more you say that, the more curious I am, help!!!]
109L: [In the preview, they were all practicing dancing. It’s definitely related to dancing]
110L: [What does “no one would think in that direction” mean… Did they go to some unspeakable place?]
111L: [Yellow heart][Yellow heart][Yellow heart]
…
554L: [Stumbled into a hot post. What unnutritious stuff are you all flooding! I thought there were some candid shots. I kept scrolling all the way to the bottom [frustrated]]
555L: [That sister from 21st floor dropped a few unreliable pieces of information and then disappeared, leaving us starving and waiting to be fed.[tears]]
556L: [“One sentence that makes the women of a post go crazy for me”]
…
1236L: [Ahhh, what the 21st floor said actually turned out to be true!!!!]
1237L: [Masks, wigs, and such thick Hanfu. Damn it, who could recognize them, ahhh!!]
1238L: [I’m convinced, I saw this two weeks ago…
Foxes! Those three foxes! The ones that twisted super seductively, the red fox, black fox, and white fox! They were very popular on the forum before!! The kind with million-like videos!!]
1239L: [@ButterflyComeHere (Met Quentin Edition), remember the red fox I forwarded to you… I was right, weren’t I? I said that red fox was definitely a handsome guy!]
1240L: [It’s just that no one could imagine he would be as handsome as Quentin. [wither]]
1241L: [I want to curse. Damn production team. I was at the scene and still didn’t recognize them. I missed out on a million…]
1242L: [The black fox is Yan Qiao. The white fox is actually Cheng Shao?!
The black fox is okay. At least Yan Qiao has always been this style. What’s up with the white fox!
Xiao Cheng, tell me the truth. Were you led astray by those two foxes? Logically, you should be an ethereal, aloof fox immortal, right? [confused]]
1243L: [Upstairs stop doubting, these three were all twisting very happily, clearly voluntary (x)]
1244L: [Suddenly remembered, Ji Sheng had liked and commented on the red fox video before…does this count as a dream crossover?]
1245L: [Very coincidentally, Ji Sheng and Quentin later recorded “Cat and Mouse” together. Fate, ah]
…
2458L: [Amazing, amazing. Congratulations to “NS” for adding another new three-person CP after 3A and 303. At the same time, congratulations to another newcomer for successfully eating Quentin’s soft rice [scatter flowers][scatter flowers]]
2459L: [CPs that haven’t been number one on the trending topics don’t deserve to sit at the table. This is the strong competitiveness of the Quentin family CPs [wiping tears]]
2460L: [Hehe, I guessed it as soon as I saw those two foxes. These three will definitely be formed into a CP.
Sharing a bed, wearing the same style of Hanfu, all wearing fox ears and tails dancing together, and the key is their interactions are also super close, these three people one after another have no sense of distance… Are people who don’t ship them on some kind of drug abstinence?]
2461L: [Other groups also slept together, also wore the same style of Hanfu, but… their group doesn’t have Quentin [waving hand][bye bye]
Even Quentin’s toxic solo fans won’t doubt his CP physique. This is automatically refreshing new CPs every week. Solo fans are at a loss too.]
2462L: [Hehe, so the ones who actually win in the end are us Yan-Que fans, right [smug]]
2463L: [The sexual tension between these two is too strong. Seeing them lying in the same bed, I’ve already thought up names for their children [blush]]
2464L: [The key is they actually let Quentin sleep in the middle… hehehe hohoho woof woof woof]
2465L: [Stop overthinking! Yellow card warning!]
I’ll stop here for today…forum discussions are quite difficult to translate!
Ahhhhhh! Thank you!! I’m always checking to see if this novel has been updated. It’s my current fav. I really appreciate your efforts, Translator.