Chapter 436
"Nannan, when will you finish?" Xue Xi leaned against the door, looking at Shu Nan's back who was still concentrating on organizing the props, and couldn't help but remind him.
Although it gets dark later in the summer, it's almost 7 o'clock, and this girl is still lingering in the dressing room, looking like she can't wait to stay there for the night. If they weren't dining partners, she might have finished her meal and gone back to her room to lie down.
As for Qiao Haidong? That's unfortunate. As the busiest person in the studio besides the boss, Qiao Haidong has been ordered to work from his dorm. The studio has already filmed seven NINE STAR members in a row, so you can imagine the workload involved in post-production.
Although it's just a photoshoot, the NINE STAR graduation concert has attracted a lot of attention. Just look at the number of fans waiting outside the gate recently. For Qiao Haidong, the effort required to create a photoshoot is comparable to the time spent editing a magazine photoshoot.
"Hey, Sister Xi, please wait for me, I'll do one last test!" Shu Nan turned around and gave her a flattering smile, and the next moment her movements quickened.
Ever since her boss informed her yesterday that Ji Shao's makeup and styling would be her responsibility, Shu Nan had been completely focused on it. Luckily, she had recently been closely observing the styles of many makeup artists and had a firm grasp on the look Hua Yao was going for, allowing her to finalize the makeup and styling within two days.
This is Ji Shao!
Unexpectedly, while the other members brought their own makeup artists to the shoot, Ji Shao actually assigned Zhou Xiao's studio to take charge. This saved Shu Nan, who had been watching from the sidelines and was itching to get his hands dirty. After receiving the assignment from Zhou Xiao, Shu Nan internally encouraged himself, determined to live up to everyone's expectations.
As the shoot neared, she checked the equipment in the dressing room over and over again, hoping everything would go smoothly tomorrow and eliminating any uncertainties beforehand!
Although Xue Xi's words seemed to be urging Shunan, he remained quietly waiting by the door. Only after Shunan had finished checking all the props did the two of them trot back to the next building under the lingering afterglow of the setting sun.
Footsteps echoed loudly in the stairwell. Zhou Xiao's absence allowed the two of them to be so unrestrained and uninhibited. As for whether this would disturb Qiao Haidong, who had been cooped up in his room for days, he could rest assured. The room's soundproofing was excellent!
Shu Nan still remembered the tragic incident last month when Xue Xi accidentally kicked the coffee table with his toes. At that time, she and Qiao Haidong were both locked in the room and had no idea that Xue Xi was howling in pain in the living room.
"I heard that Ji Shao's representative pattern is neem flowers." Shu Nan stepped onto the last step, trotted to the floor-to-ceiling window in the living room, pointed to a neem tree in the distance that was full of lavender flowers, and said to Xue Xi behind him.
"It seems so," Xue Xi subconsciously raised his head and agreed. Suddenly, his mind flashed back to the exquisitely crafted, yet somewhat extravagant, custom-made suits worn by the NINE STAR members. Even behind this extravagance, there were hidden little surprises that would blow the fans' hearts away.
"I heard an assistant say last time that the agency will keep the suits for the auction and won't give them to the members, but that's too stingy. Can't they at least wait until after the concert to think about this?"
"Tsk, don't spread that rumor," Xue Xi warned. "Maybe it's a charity auction. Besides, these performance costumes can only be worn once. Besides, why would the members keep them? Carrying so many things would just become a burden, right?"
"Yeah," Shu Nan nodded, shifting his gaze from the chinaberry tree and looking forward to tomorrow. Doing makeup for a top star, wouldn't that unlock some awesome achievements in a matter of minutes?
…
On the day of the group's debut, NINE STAR fans didn't get to see the members reunite. But at 8 pm that evening, Blueberry Music quietly released something new.
There was no publicity, but there was overwhelming publicity, and Blueberry Music's endless "favor" for NINE STAR. In this atmosphere, even if it was only for one night, it would be full of traffic!
Zhou Xiao spent the night bombarded with messages. Every group she joined, even the fan group she'd casually joined, was flooded with messages.
Huayao's lack of publicity and its love of surprise appearances have forced all fans to accept it over the past two years. There's nothing you can do about it; the company is just messing around like that. Accepting it is better than getting angry and causing breast hyperplasia.
It was only at times like these that the team could truly feel the bond between Huayao and Blueberry. When Zhou Xiao opened Blueberry Music, the opening screen and homepage columns were all filled with NINE STAR's new album, "Don't Say Goodbye."
But when someone clicks on any of these four new songs, they will understand Huayao's deep trust in NINE STAR. Each song has tens of thousands of online viewers, and this number is gradually increasing as time goes by.
What is even more surprising is that all the songs in the album were written by the members together. This is unimaginable in other groups in the domestic entertainment industry. As a disbandment album, "Don't Say Goodbye" is the last gift from all members of NINE STAR to their fans.
After listening to the first four songs, Zhou Xiao understood. This song should have been specially prepared for the chorus, but there were only ten days left until the concert at the end of the month. It had to be said that Hua Yao was truly arrogant in this regard.
——【Entertainment Forum】——[August 19th evening]
[Topic] The first limited edition of the disbandment of a group in the domestic entertainment industry is here, and you can listen to it!
[Main post] Huayao is still in this bad state, it feels like they are relying on Blueberry Music to support them... they just dropped the song without any promotion [tears] Friends who are interested, come and listen to it, the only boy group in China with all good members is going to break up like this
[@Ramen House Tao Teacher V: Listen to NINE STAR’s disbandment album…]
1L
No, don’t let NINE STAR disband, let SHINE STAR disband [please] I see the junior group begging for this every day.
36L
Did two years go by so fast? I'm just a casual fan. Although NINE STAR doesn't release many songs, I've bought all their albums [crying]. Their level is really beyond the reach of other Chinese entertainment groups.
88L
I bought a copy right after listening to the album preview. You can tell at a glance whether a band is profitable or not. They hired a top international production team, so this album is definitely worth buying.
133L
I burst into tears after hearing this. Huayao has never managed NINE STAR properly. If it weren't for the high personal qualities of the members, it would have been a mess.
169L
Only Huayao can do such an outrageous thing as releasing a song on the day of disbanding [head-holding.jpg], but looking at the sales volume, emmm, everyone is really PUA-ed, giving too much face to the company
…
Huayao Building.
The building, which had been brightly lit for over half a month, was still bustling tonight. For a while now, the Huayao staff responsible for NINE STAR had been working alternating shifts. Their 24/7 continuous availability clearly demonstrated how seriously they were taking NINE STAR's disbandment.
"Boss Lin, your method really works!" Mao Sifeng looked at the album sales figures in one minute, five minutes, and ten minutes handed over by his subordinates, his eyes full of surprise.
In fact, when the group released their disbandment album, the company had little hope of recouping the cost of the album. However, apart from the expensive production team, the members wrote the lyrics and arranged the music themselves, which saved them a lot of money.
Of course, this isn't stinginess on the part of the company; it's simply because the members' level of performance has allowed them to shoulder the burden of a disbanded album with some capacity left over. The top-tier production team from abroad has also recognized their work, so why would the company give them more work to do?
The most important reason why they can't recoup their investment is that fans are too savvy these days! With six months left before NINE STAR disbanded, fans from various groups started calling for an end to in-group battles.
If the first year of battles could bring resources to the members, then the closer they get to disbanding, the more fans will worry about it. Mao Sifeng has no doubt that the original agency is definitely involved.
But there is no way around it. There are many endorsements that can make a lot of money in the short term, but when the endorsement period is less than a quarter, the brand side will naturally not be happy about it.
If the endorsement fee is too high, the brand will not be willing. If the endorsement fee is too low, Huayao will not be happy. This is also one of the reasons why Zhou Xiao felt that Ji Shao's business and permanent residence had been at a standstill in the past few months.
Lin Qianxia chose to release NINE STAR's new album on the night of their disbandment, capitalizing on the fact that people's emotions are more enriched at night. Especially since she still has a killer weapon in her hand!
Glancing at the wall clock, she saw only two minutes until the scheduled post. She reached for her phone, then quietly waited for the next blog post from the members.
At 8:19 p.m., the scheduled posts were sent accurately. Before that, many fans had already been waiting on the blog.
After setting a scheduled post, one more post will appear on the account's homepage. This is naturally immediately noticeable to fans who closely follow their idol's account. After all the special times failed to be spotted and after NINE STAR released their new album, everyone's attention was focused on the disbanding date.
“It’s out!”
In the small group with voice chat turned on, Dong Xiaoyu shouted excitedly, and while speaking, she quickly sent the screenshot to the group as soon as possible.
"Oh my god! It's finally posted!" Qi Sisi couldn't help but wail when she saw the picture. Who would understand? This kind of waiting is really too tiring, and now they have finally gotten what they wanted!
Zhu Jian, who was silent in the group, silently added screenshots of the blog posts of the other eight members of the group. Ten minutes ago, she was still crying in the group with Li Mo about the disbandment of the album.
Zhou Xiao looked at the screenshots the two had posted in the group chat. Besides silently giving them a thumbs-up for their speed, she also carefully read through each of their posts. Just from looking at Lin Nan in the last one, she knew that this was probably text Huayao had asked the members to edit themselves.
A few days ago, during a break in filming Lin Nan, Zhang Hongyu and Lin Nan were huddled in a corner, whispering something. It wasn't quite whispering, though, because the discussion was so loud that even Zhou Xiao, who was watching the film on the monitor, could hear some of it.
Coincidentally, Lin Nan's blog post contained a few words that Zhou Xiao remembered. This discovery made Zhou Xiao feel that Huayao was actually quite humane. Although many domestic artists' social media accounts were managed by companies, the interactions between fans below were genuine.
In such a crucial blog post about the disbandment, the members were able to express their own opinions, which is something that many agencies cannot do. Although there may be some polishing later, this is much better than cold ghostwriting.
Zhou Xiao carefully read through the blog posts, combining them with the images NINE STAR shared with her during the shoot, and could easily reconstruct their expressions as they wrote the content. Understanding each person's feelings about the breakup was also a crucial reference for later photo editing.
Zhou Xiao paused in his flipping motion and sighed. This was the screenshot Dong Xiaoyu had sent, and it was also the last one.
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