Chapter 63, Episode 63: As expected, they tore it up again.
Chapter Sixty-Three
"Is there anyone who hasn't seen Wink's performance of 'Tomorrow's Star' yet? There's a surprise starting at 1 minute and 26 seconds, so don't miss it!"
"Hahahaha, I declare this the most spectacular moment of all the New Year's Eve concerts this year!!"
"Hurry up and check it out. The version with the Star Glory video live stream is no longer available. Save it if you need to, or you might miss it."
"This is a story that shocked my whole family. My dad was playing Tetris in the study when he suddenly asked me what I was putting there."
"Hahahaha, I can barely make any other sound except burst out laughing. I'm laughing so hard I'm going crazy."
Wink had already garnered attention from various platforms due to the news of their reunion, and they were consistently trending on social media. However, tonight, Wink occupied a full 7 out of the top 10 trending topics, making it even more exciting than the debut night of "Star Road to Tomorrow".
Wink's singing ability was thoroughly reviewed—although it's no secret that the members lack singing skills, it has never been so clearly recognized as it was tonight.
“When Wink first formed, some people said that with Lin Yuan, the group would barely be considered balanced in singing and dancing. But the production team preferred to eliminate Lin Yuan and insist on including Xie Yu. Isn’t this backlash coming?”
"The funniest thing is that Wink/fans said they wanted to shock the Chinese entertainment industry. I don't know if the Chinese entertainment industry trembled or not, but I definitely did."
After Wink's performance, the popularity and play counts on various platforms decreased, but the search volume for the song "Tomorrow's Star" surged in real time.
On Weibo, a major Chinese social media platform, "Tomorrow's Star" is currently ranked third on the trending topics list.
On a certain short video platform, the homepage push is full of clips of Wink singing "Tomorrow's Star".
Marketing accounts and joke writers are working overtime, desperately trying to create something.
"For us at Wink, this is routine. To be honest, Ji Xiaming and Zhang Xiaoyue's singing skills are pretty good. I don't know if they didn't rehearse properly this time or if they were led astray by the others, but their singing was a bit off."
...
In fact, before midnight, Wink's fans from different groups had already started fighting.
Since the group's formation, the infighting between fans has never stopped, and it has now become a common sight in the entertainment industry.
Xie Yu was undoubtedly the first to suffer misfortune.
The main reason is that Xie Yu, as a former staunch backer, offended several top fans overnight. As for how many top fans there are, no one knows, but we can tentatively say seven.
In the early days of Wink's formation, Xie Yu's data was ridiculed by many. However, Xie Yu later turned the tables with her acting skills. Once she gained power, she looked down on her former teammates. Not only did she dance in front of her teammates' fans several times, but Xie Yu's attitude towards her teammates was also very subtle.
But recently, Xie Yu seems to be fading into obscurity.
Adding to the fact that "Tomorrow's Star" was ridiculed so harshly, and Xie Yu is widely recognized as having the worst singing skills, he became the target of much criticism.
"It was a stolen ranking anyway, what else can it do besides drag Wink down?"
"Without him, 'Tomorrow's Star' wouldn't have turned out like this."
"Everywhere Xie Yu is, he's a disgrace. His dramas and movies have flopped, his singing has ruined 'Tomorrow's Star,' and he can't dance either. Having someone like him as a teammate is truly the worst luck imaginable."
Xie Yu's fans, of course, are not to be trifled with.
Is Xie Yu the reason why "Tomorrow's Star" is so bad?
Even though Zhang Xiaoyue danced off-beat, people still praised him for being cute.
Cute my foot!
Most importantly—
"We accept that Xie Yu can't sing, but no matter how awful Xiao Yu's singing is, all she can do is make the sound of a boiling kettle. Whose mooing is that? We don't accept it!"
"You say Xiaoyu sings badly? How much better are you? Don't be the pot calling the kettle black. If Xiaoyu hadn't become a sensation later, Wink would have flopped long ago!"
The fans of the member who was accused of "cattle bellowing" were directly attacked and naturally did not hold back, immediately engaging in conflict with Xie Yu's fans.
Ye Liuchuan, who was originally in competition with Xie Yu, was also targeted by Xie Yu's fans, who engaged in a fierce online battle. As a result, Xie Yu and Ye Liuchuan's names appeared first on the trending searches, after the word "Wink".
Ji Xiaming and Zhang Xiaoyue's fans are also arguing – as the only two vocalists in Wink, their independent development has not been as successful as the other members. Xie Yu and Ye Liuchuan have a fixed fanbase by watching dramas, while Ji Xiaming and Zhang Xiaoyue have a much lower frequency of appearances.
Fans of both artists are hoping that the vocalists will shine at this gala, washing away the previous scandals and securing more job opportunities.
But now, a good opportunity has been ruined by a few teammates who dragged the team down. How can the fans be willing to accept this?
Moreover, when Ji Xiaming and Zhang Xiaoyue were down on their luck, the fans of the other members didn't stop mocking them.
"If you can't sing, then don't sing. Can't you dance? Would it kill you to give Ji Xiaming a couple more lines?"
"My brother is really unlucky to be in the same regiment as you guys."
Vocal fans have complaints, and so do main dancer fans.
"Our family sweated so much on stage, but who cared? Would someone who cared even make such a simple mistake?"
"It's terrible. My brother is just dragging the plane down in this group."
Fans were eager to tear each other apart and blame all the mistakes of the concert on the rivals.
Lin Yuan: "..."
He initially just wanted to have a nice meal with Tian Yi, but things got so heated that halfway through the meal, he couldn't help but start scrolling through his phone. As he was scrolling, Tian Yi sat down next to him, and the two of them started scrolling together.
"It was too fierce, too intense!" the two couldn't help but exclaim at the same time. "There's strength in numbers!"
Lin Yuan even felt that, given the level of infighting among the fans, Wink wouldn't flop anytime soon.
He suddenly realized that he was quite lucky, because at that time he was mainly facing Xie Yu's fans, and not the entire Wink group.
To some extent, Xie Yu's fans were relatively lenient with him; it was only when they were attacking his teammates that their fighting power was fully unleashed.
One word: Fierce!
"Is there any point in tearing this apart?" Tian Yi frowned. "Who cares about the process? The result is what matters most."
The Starry Night Video gala has been completely ruined.
Just by looking at the trending topics right now, everyone knows that when you mention Xingyao Video, the first thing that comes to mind is Wink's crashed stage.
"You've gotten used to shifting blame, haven't you?" Lin Yuan said. "Anyway, it's always the teammates' fault, and our own team bears no responsibility."
"Star Glory Video would never think that way."
...
With such a major incident on stage, Wink is certainly not the only one to be blamed; Xingyao Video also bears responsibility.
Wink's fans are making a huge fuss, but in reality, #StarShiningVideoLipSinging# also carries considerable weight on the trending topics list.
It's obvious to everyone that it was lip-synced.
No one would believe that Xingyao Video knew nothing about this.
Audiences have become accustomed to platforms lip-syncing, but the key issue is that Wink's performance was so poor and laughable that it was no different from treating the audience like idiots.
With the audience already lowering their expectations so much, Wink's performance was still so perfunctory—while other singers insisted on singing live, which only made Wink seem even more ridiculous.
Netizens are discussing the issue extensively, and Xingyao Video has indeed responded to the overwhelming protests.
"...We strongly condemn Wink's behavior and will hold its management company accountable."
"??? Xingyao Video really doesn't take any responsibility at all."
"Hilarious! I suspect there are Wink haters inside Xingyao Video. Otherwise, why did the incident happen right when Wink was on stage? Why did it have to happen now?"
"They're just shifting all the blame to Wink, while Xingyao Video is a completely innocent platform."
In fact, the senior management of Xingyao Video was furious.
While Wink shouldn't be entirely blamed for this, and lip-syncing was a result of mutual agreement, if the playback had shown the situation better—at least they weren't lip-syncing and were genuinely singing—Wink would have sung a little better.
This was also an idea that Xingyao Video came up with to avoid getting involved in a lip-syncing scandal.
As long as Wink sings well, even if it doesn't reach CD quality, just 80% of CD quality is fine, the platform can find a way to smooth things over.
"Listen to this! What kind of rubbish is this? How are we supposed to explain this?"
It's not just unpleasant to listen to; it's absolutely awful.
It was because Wink sang so badly that Xingyao Video made a huge fool of itself.
The platform has its problems, but Wink's response is even worse... a mess.
Xingyao Video spent a lot of money to hire celebrities this time, just to make sure the gala's effect surpassed that of other platforms.
And what was the result? They spent money, several times more than other platforms, and ended up being ridiculed by everyone.
In the eyes of its peers, what is the difference between Xingyao Video and Da Sha/Cha?
When higher-ups see the top ten trending topics, they feel like their own company is a complete idiot.
Now that this has happened, Wink should logically take the blame.
And what happened? All this group of people does is tear things apart.
He sang terribly himself, but blamed his teammates for singing badly too.
Wink already occupied a lot of spots on the trending topics list, and they still felt that things hadn't gotten big enough. The platform could originally try to suppress the trending topics, but after this group of people started tearing things apart, the matter escalated so much that it was impossible to suppress it anymore.
The higher-ups were so angry that they blacklisted all Wink employees.
Ye Liuchuan does have a drama waiting to be broadcast on Xingyao Video. It's a self-produced drama by Xingyao Video, and the platform has paid for it, so they won't really let the drama not be broadcast. However, the higher-ups have decided that once the drama is broadcast, the marketing focus will be on the female lead, and Ye Liuchuan will be avoided as much as possible, as if Ye Liuchuan doesn't exist.
Regardless of what others say, Wink bears full responsibility for this incident, according to Xingyao Video.
Even though everyone knows that the platform cannot escape responsibility for lip-syncing, Xingyao Video still insists that the lip-syncing was led by Wink and that Xingyao Video bears no responsibility for it.
"If I had known... I would have been better off asking Lin Yuan."
On tonight's trending topics list, Lin Yuan is one of the few celebrities who struggled to stand out amidst the chorus of Wink.
Both "Hot" and "Hibernation" received excellent reviews, with Lin Yuan's performance receiving widespread acclaim, a stark contrast to Wink's.
While audience attention shifted and popularity declined across various platforms, Leting Video experienced the smallest drop – many viewers opened Leting Video because of Lin Yuan's performance.
"It wouldn't have mattered if we hadn't invited Lin Yuan," the higher-up sighed. "We shouldn't have invited those guys just to create the effect of Wink and Lin Yuan clashing."
Leting Video uses Lin Yuan as its selling point, and Xingyao Video is considering making Wink its own selling point as well.
The desired effect on public opinion has been achieved; there are still traces of Wink/fans mocking Lin Yuan on Weibo.
But in reality... Leting Video gained popularity, while Xingyao Video only received ridicule.
It's estimated that Wink's performance will be brought up again next year.
"I really didn't expect this. Isn't Wink supposed to be a debut group? Shouldn't the debut group be stronger? Are those people on 'Star Journey to Tomorrow' out of their minds? How could they choose such embarrassing people?"
"There must have been over 100 contestants back then, right? Did the production team select the worst ones? The others can still eat even if they don't debut, but these few would starve to death if they didn't debut."
-----------------------
Author's note: [doge][doge] It's here, I got my period today, and I suddenly started feeling dizzy this afternoon, so the update is late.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com