Chapter 108 The Third Round of Competition (1)

While the audience and fans were happily watching the show, the idols were also busy preparing for the new round of competition.

After the last round of competition, many people found that this kind of essay-style song and stage performance was not as easy as they imagined.

Everything is brand new. The songs, dances and stage design must be closely linked to the theme, and the members must perfectly digest the theme while preparing the above content, otherwise they will feel out of place when they officially go on stage.

In the previous round, Freez was drawn into a genre that the group wasn't particularly strong in, but despite their efforts, they weren't able to fully grasp it, which overshadowed their original brilliance and caused their ranking to plummet. Although they avoided elimination due to the Kansai men's last place finish, they were still on the brink of elimination.

Although lyrical songs do not have an advantage in stage competitions, if the vocal strength of the group reaches a certain level, they are not without a chance of winning.

After all, in some music variety shows, many singers sing lyrical songs. If the singing is good, the audience will still buy in. Freez's problem is that his singing is not good enough and not moving enough.

This group's strengths lie in their creative and stage presence. If they can't bring out their two greatest strengths, they'll seem rather mediocre.

This time they drew the theme of "Tropical Rainforest", which did not clearly point to a certain type of music, but it was clear that they did not have to perform a lyrical song this time.

In addition to Freez, members of other groups also ushered in new turning points or challenges.

The theme that Originore drew for LEVELUP was fantasy. For the LEVELUP members who are good at vocals, this theme is definitely much easier than the rock theme in the previous round.

The dark theme that LEVELUP drew for FOREVER is definitely a big challenge for FOREVER, who has always been following the youth campus style.

But for Originore, who have never had a fixed group style since the competition, each competition theme is both a challenge and an exciting attempt.

For example, for this time's theme of mythology and strange stories, the members decided to draw inspiration from "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio" and perform it in the form of a stage musical.

The difficulty of this stage design lies in how to integrate these mythological stories with the performance. After all, many of the stories in "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio" are short stories, with only a few characters appearing in each story. Since Originore has ten characters in total, adapting only one story would not be rich enough.

So after some discussion, the members decided to combine several stories and re-adapt them into a new script for performance.

In addition, the members also chose the roles they would play in this stage musical based on their own preferences.

Fox demon, scholar, Taoist priest, ghost, Black and White Impermanence, King Yama, City God, Rakshasa, Dragon King.

Although the script and character settings of the musical stage play have been finalized, the members immediately faced new challenges.

After all, stage musicals are completely different from ordinary idol singing and dancing performances. They also involve interpretation, so there are certain requirements for the members' acting skills.

In addition, the stage setting of a musical is more complicated than that of a normal singing and dancing performance. Fortunately, the members were the last to perform this time, so they had more time to prepare for the stage.

"Now, in addition to the stage set design, we also need to consider two things: stage costumes and the 'off-site assistance' opportunities given by the production team."

Sheng Yanyu looked at everyone and asked, "What do you think? Should we use the opportunity of off-field assistance? If so, which teacher would be most suitable to help?"

Originore debuted relatively recently and didn't know many people in the industry. Most of them were guests and mentors they'd met during their time on "Youth Project." While it's certainly not inappropriate to invite them to perform, their schedules must be considered. If they're unavailable, the program's reward would be forfeited.

Mo Bei thought for a moment and said, "I remember the production staff said at the time - 'You can invite anyone to join your round of competition.'"

Sheng Yanyu nodded. "That's right. Is there anything wrong with that?"

Mo Bei paused and said, "Since it's 'anyone', can we hire a dancer this time?"

Hearing this, everyone was stunned.

Because of the term "off-stage assistance," they instinctively fell into the misconception that the guest performers had to be artists in the industry. But in fact, the production team said from the beginning that anyone could be invited.

This also means that artists are no longer a necessary option. Ordinary people such as backup dancers are all included in the scope of off-site assistance.

Thinking of this, the members suddenly understood.

Sheng Yanyu pondered, "If that's the case, we can not only invite dancers, but also some stage actors or opera actors to help us perform."

"In this way, we have solved most of the clothing problem."

With their minds opened up, everyone no longer worried about which senior to invite to perform as a supporting role, but instead began to re-create songs based on the script.

At the same time, they also exchanged the opportunity for "off-site assistance" from the program team and invited professional actors from the Yujiang Yue Opera Troupe to help.

They plan to incorporate traditional opera elements into this performance.

With the help of these professionals, the members also deleted and refined the slightly lengthy parts of the script to make the content more concise.

After such a long period of collaboration, the members' coordination has become increasingly tacit. Everyone has a clear division of labor and each performs their duties, and slowly the stage preparations are starting to go on track.

Time passed quickly, and soon it was the day of rehearsal.

Because the stage was more complex this time, Originore's rehearsal took longer than usual. As they were the last group to rehearse, the members rehearsed from 7pm to 2am.

A large part of this time is spent keeping in mind the stage positioning.

After all, it's a stage musical, so in addition to singing and dancing, they also have to perform with the stage's mechanical scenery. Plus, they have to change clothes in the middle of the performance, which is a real test of speed and coordination between members.

Fortunately, although it took a long time, everything went smoothly.

After rehearsing the stage for the last time, the members and the on-site staff bowed and expressed their gratitude before dragging their tired bodies out of the performance venue.

Although they got off work very late the day before, when the competition officially started the next day, there was no sign of fatigue on the members' faces.

To match the theme of "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio," everyone's makeup was designed to be as ghostly and traditional as possible. The costumes were also adapted from similar stage play costumes.

This style, which was so different from the previous ones, immediately made the audience and fans in the live broadcast room go crazy.

I saw that the ten people in the dressing room were all dressed as ancient people, some were Taoists, some were scholars, and some looked like demons, ghosts and gods.

Jiang Monan seemed to be playing a character who wasn't human, with long silver-blue hair, a jade crown, and a luxurious honey-colored robe. His delicate eyebrows and eyes were smudged with tiny sequins, and his eyeshadow was so pale, almost transparent, that against his flawless, fair skin, he looked even less like a human and more like a meticulously crafted puppet.

Just when the uninformed audience was wondering what role he was playing, the makeup artist took out a pair of dragon horns and glued them on his forehead with makeup glue.

Suddenly, the audience understood.

[Oh my god! It’s the Dragon King!]

[Even though some people might call me ky, I still want to say that Jiang Mo Nan looks like Ao Bing!]

[!!! You are not alone!]

[It's best not to confuse srds two-dimensional and three-dimensional.]

[That’s right, Jiang Mo Nan is much more handsome.]

[The person above, please stop dragging your feet, okay? We didn't mess with Ao Bing.]

[Stop starting a fight and focus on your own business.]

Just when there were signs of a quarrel in the comments of the live broadcast room, some rational fans and passers-by stepped in and made those people stop talking about this topic.

On the side, Zheng Xingye, holding a mourning stick, looked around in the mirror and said, "Bai Wuchang's clothes are too plain. I should have chosen the Dragon King's clothes earlier."

Choi Jun-hee, dressed in the Black Impermanence costume, rolled his eyes. "Who was the one who first clamored to play the Black Impermanence?"

Fortunately, there were no bull-headed and horse-faced characters in the script this time, otherwise he would definitely have to wear a bull and horse head mask on each of them.

Xu Tingchuan was quite satisfied with his role as Rakshasa. After all, his outfit looked very cool. He wore a black, slim-fitting suit, a skull-shaped metal pendant, and a pointed crown on his head. His makeup was also as close to Rakshasa's sinister aura as possible.

Xu Tingchuan's temperament is naturally cold, and his cold and sharp eyebrows, coupled with the makeup carefully designed by the makeup artist, make him even more suitable for the role of Rakshasa.

As soon as Tao Xiaotie, who played the role of King Yama, appeared in the camera, he caused screams from the mother fans in the live broadcast room.

Tao Xiaotie was seen wearing a dark dragon robe, a crown on his head, and holding a judge's pen. He looked very majestic, but because his face was so cute and adorable, it created a huge contrast in his image.

[My little one is so cute!]

[Wow, the baby pretending to be fierce is so cute!]

[The most contrasting King Yama in history.]

If Tao Xiaotie's role as King Yama is a contrast, then Bai Li's role as the fox demon can be said to be like a fish in water, being able to be herself again.

He wore a white, cross-collared robe, had long silver hair, two furry white fox ears, and a folding fan, looking elegant and dashing. The makeup artist had drawn a line of eyeliner on the ends of his already upturned eyes, and a light red smudge around his eyes, making this face, which was already suitable for both men and women, even more charming.

For a moment, fans in the live broadcast room shouted "It's so suitable!"

[Bai Li is a male vixen, he seduced my heart in the blink of an eye (hehehe)]

[As expected of Bai Li’s wife! Who could resist this?!]

Seeing the members’ unusual makeup styles, the audience’s expectations for the next stage were instantly raised to the maximum.

After a brief interview with Originore, the director turned the camera to the dressing rooms of the remaining four groups of idols.

The audience was stunned when they saw FOREVER, who always presented a youthful and sunny image, changed his previous refreshing boyish look into a dark punk-style outfit.

[Oh my god, are these still my good sons?]

[Sorry, Xiaoyu, today mom is going to be a girlfriend fan.]

[Another day when motherly love deteriorates…]

When the camera turned to SEXYcode's dressing room, the audience was shocked by the members' gold outfits with Arabic characteristics.

[Oh my goodness, what are these uncles planning to do? Aladdin's lamp?]

[Emmm...it feels more like I went to Bollywood for further training.]

[The theme of this competition is exotic, so there's nothing wrong with this outfit.]

[Suddenly, I have a bad feeling. I remember Freez's theme this time was the rainforest. Are they going to perform Tarzan for us?]

[Hahahahaha, God damn Tarzan.]

[How is that possible? We at Fritz don't go for the comedic route.]

The camera quickly shifted to the dressing room of Freez next door. To the disappointment of some netizens, they didn't use the Tarzan theme.

The five members were seen wearing hunting suits and a safari-style outfit. At first glance, they looked a bit like the protagonists in "Indiana Jones".

Although there is no tropical rainforest element on it, it is particularly in line with the theme of tropical rainforest.

LEVELUP also changed their unruly rock music style this time and returned to their best style. Because the theme is fantasy, their clothing colors this time are all soft and light colors.

Everyone has a different color, light blue, light purple, soft white...

The suits and uniforms are sewn with gauze flowers of the same color, and star-like diamonds are dotted on the collars, shoulders, cuffs or trouser legs, as if they are gradient layers of color.

Although we still don’t know what kind of stage they will present, such dreamy costumes have also given the audience a sense of anticipation.

After some backstage interviews, the competition began soon.

Zeng Yu, dressed in a purple sequined suit, walked onto the stage. Without much delay, after reading the customary opening remarks, he introduced the first contestant to perform today.

"Let's welcome Freez!"

There was a deafening scream from the audience.

Freez has quite a few fans in China, and after learning that he was participating in "Idol Battle," his fans also joined the rush to buy tickets. Most of the fans at the scene were watching the show live for the first time, so they were particularly excited.

Freez fans on the barrage were filled with envy and jealousy. They also wanted to go see Freez in person, but their luck was so bad that they couldn't get a single ticket after three performances.

Even if you manage to snag a spot, you might not be able to go, as many of the fans are students. Not to mention whether you can afford the tickets and travel expenses, going to a concert out of town alone is not easy, especially with parents.

Thinking about it this way, there’s nothing wrong with watching the performance through the live broadcast room.

The main stage in the distance, which was originally pitch black, slowly lit up, and then a tropical rainforest came into view.

This is the set that Freez commissioned a stage designer to design and build specifically for this performance.

On the stage, light and shadow effects projected scenes of various rainforest creatures' habitats. The members wore safari costumes and acted out the roles of adventurers exploring the rainforest, as if they were performing a stage play.

Suddenly, the members who were cautiously approaching the lemur stopped moving.

The lemur on the tree leaped and disappeared from everyone's sight. Before the audience could figure out what had happened, the joyful and clear sound of a flute accompanied by drum beats rang out on the stage.

The members changed their previous immersive performance and started dancing.

The lively vocals echoed in my ears, like an animal carnival in the rainforest, and the stage suddenly became lively.

Fans were originally worried about how the members would express the theme of the rainforest, but after seeing the performance in front of them, their previous worries instantly disappeared.

The rhythmic and pleasant melody is light and catchy. The lead singer Hong Seung-hee only sang the chorus twice and the audience was humming along.

The African-inspired drum beats and melodies instantly transport the audience into the mysterious yet vibrant Madagascar rainforest. Combined with the realistic stage effects, the performance creates an immersive experience.

At this moment, the audience all had the same thought in their minds:

Holy crap! This stage is incredible!