"How about we post a group photo?"
The hot pot sizzled and steamed, and Lu Wei held up her phone to make sure everyone was in the frame.
In addition to the individual Weibo accounts of the members, "Wings" also has a group Weibo account. However, the group's Weibo account mainly posts highlights of the members' activities, with little trace of their private activities.
Lu Wei sent the photo to Ye Ying, and soon after, the photo of the hot pot dinner was uploaded to Weibo.
In the photo, the members are huddled together with bright smiles on their faces, dressed the same as they were at the bookstore today.
"Freshly baked wing balls!!"
"Grandpa, the group you're a fan of is making public appearances!!"
"It's so good! Ahhhhh!"
"Please post more photos in the future, don't be lazy!!"
After finishing the hot pot, Ji Yan was surprised to find that Xie Mingxuan had prepared gifts for each of them. Fang Yu received a Lego Star Wars set, Lu Wei received a necklace, and Ji Yan received a guitar.
"Didn't you want to learn songwriting? Take your time." Xie Mingxuan patted his shoulder. "It's never too late."
"Old Xie!" Lu Wei and Fang Yu hugged him with a "whoop!"
Xie Mingxuan may seem aloof, but only those who have truly spent time with him know that he has a kind and gentle personality; he just doesn't talk much.
"Thank you," Ji Yan said in a muffled voice.
"You're welcome." Xie Mingxuan waved his hand. "I'm older than all of you, after all."
"Only a few months older!"
"I will study hard."
"Teacher Ji, you don't need to be so serious. We already knew you would study hard." Fang Yu hooked his arm around Ji Yan's neck. "Cheer up in the future, and don't think about messy people and things."
"Then treat me to dinner?"
"I can consider anything under 50 yuan, I'm poor right now."
Ji Yan used the proceeds from the album "Mist" to pay back the Ji family, while Lu Wei and Fang Yu each bought a house, and the rest went to their families. None of them valued material desires or had a habit of extravagant spending. While some idols in the industry do adopt a rich and noble persona, "Wings" has never been that kind of persona.
They love being an idol, but they're unsure how long the job will last. Until then, they have to balance their dreams with making a living.
...
Just before New Year's Day, "The Voice of China" held its final episode.
In this episode, four singers will compete for the title of "King of Singers." In addition to performing the songs required by the program, they can also perform a song that they personally like.
Since its premiere, "The Voice of China" has finally shaken off its low ratings and is now consistently ranked in the top five among variety shows airing in the same time slot on Saturdays. Naturally, this finale has also attracted a lot of attention from viewers.
Ji Yan drew "Keepon" this time, a dance song—the type he's least good at. The original singer of this song is a sexy female singer. When he chose this song, Fang Yu and Lu Wei both laughed like crazy.
"Go, hot girl!"
"Dress sexy, and we'll go see it."
Ji Yan: "..."
This episode is the grand finale, and the "Singer" program team has arranged a support team for each participating singer. Before Ji Yan even notified them, Fang Yu and the others had already expressed their strong desire to go.
But who would have thought it was this song?
Ji Yan felt deeply that his Waterloo in participating in "The Voice of China" had arrived.
On Weibo, fans are also spreading the news.
"Hahahaha, Ji Yan sang 'Keepon,' I'm dying of laughter! The original singer even had breathing sounds, right? Does he even have those? 23333"
"Well done, production team! Didn't 'Yi' say in a previous interview that Ji Yan is bad at dance music?"
"What's with this feeling of being both hard to imagine and incredibly excited?"
"+1+1+1, The Voice of China is really good at this, I will definitely watch it on Saturday, hahahahaha."
Not only were Fang Yu and his friends ecstatic, but the fans were also thrilled. Ever since Ji Yan regained his reputation with his cover of "The Traveler," he has been known for his skill in performing ballads. "Keepon" is completely different from Ji Yan's own style.
The song "Keepon" was released 15 years ago. Compared with other songs performed on the show "The Voice of China", it is definitely not an old song. It was sung by female singer Shi Ya and was a classic pop song at the time.
Back then, the competition in the music scene was far more intense than it is now. Singers with a single style often didn't last long. Shi Ya originally followed the route of a pure and innocent female singer, and her achievements were always good. However, starting from her third album, she tried to transform herself. "Keepon" is a representative work of her transformation period.
The song "Keepon" is pure and healthy sexiness, but its style is still considered quite bold by today's standards. There are relatively few cover versions of this song, not because of the song itself, but because other singers find it difficult to blend the qualities of sexiness, health, and liveliness together like Shi Ya does.
Ji Yan silently began to worry.
He listened to the song "Keepon" several times and watched the music video, so he was certain of one thing—with his abilities, it would be difficult for him to sing this song well.
Ji Yan wasn't complaining about how difficult the song was. "The Voice of China" was the variety show he chose, and "Keepon" was the song he wanted to cover. Ji Yan just wanted to do his best to sing the song well, which was also a way of respecting the original singer.
However… Although “Keepon” is a fast-paced dance song, it is actually not easy to sing. Ji Yan discovered this after singing it once. It requires frequent switching between true and falsetto voices, fast rapping speed, and also expressing the sexiness of the song itself. Ji Yan might not be able to do even one of these things.
He could only sigh that the singers who were able to break through in the music scene of that era were all quite remarkable.
When "Yi" goes to KTV, he occasionally picks a few sweet songs for girls. He finds it boring to just shout them out all the time. But after actually singing them, he realizes that those catchy pop songs are much harder to sing than he imagined. There must be a reason why a song becomes popular.
"Sexy, so sexy." Ji Yan scratched his hair, pacing back and forth, muttering to himself.
"Teacher Ji has gone mad," Fang Yu whispered to Lu Wei. "Hurry up and come on Saturday."
Ji Yan did not intend to imitate the original singer Shi Ya. Her style was unique, and deliberately imitating her would only be a poor imitation. He felt that the key was to sing the song in his own style, but not to completely recreate it. He did not have that ability yet.
Ji Yan sat back down by the window.
While he was thinking, the others in "Wing" did not disturb him, letting Ji Yan ponder in silence.
After thinking for a while, Ji Yan went to the recording studio, sang a few lines, listened to them, and after pondering for a while, he roughly figured out the theme of the song he was singing—cool.
Although the original version of "Keepon" is sexy, it's a healthy kind of sexy, and the main character in the music video is even quite handsome. Apart from that angle, Ji Yan can't find a good way to interpret this song for the time being.
This is, after all, the first time he has covered a female singer's work since participating in the "Singer" program.
...
On Saturday night, the final of "The Voice of China" officially premiered. In addition to Ji Yan, the singers who entered the final were Wei Ge, Tan Qiushi, and Wu Ke. Ji Yan's reputation in the music scene is far inferior to these three, and his overall strength is also weaker. However, in terms of the number of fans, the youngest Ji Yan actually has the most.
"Welcome to the stage of 'The Voice of China'. Tonight, the King of Singers will be born here."
Unlike previous seasons, this season's contestants first went on stage to introduce themselves before the competition began.
The stage at the finals was more glamorous than any previous episode. When Ji Yan made his introduction, the camera automatically focused on Fang Yu and his two friends in the support area.
Fang Yu seemed afraid that Ji Yan couldn't see him clearly, so he waved, called his name, and winked at him. He even made a huge heart shape with his hands for Ji Yan.
Ji Yan: "..."
Ignore it.
"Big Fan Head Fangyu 23333".
"I swear, Ji Yan definitely saw it, he just pretended not to."
Ji Yan: Who is this person? I don't know him.
"Having sensed the restlessness in Da Yu's heart, he must be eager to hear Ji Yan sing 'Keepon', hehehehehe."
"I also……"
Hehehehe.
Hehehehe.
Ji Yan felt that it would be better to end the competition after the final round and not to make a fuss. Today, he and Fang Yu and the others went out together, and those people each stuffed a camera into their bags. It was simply... outrageous.
He cautiously glanced towards the support area, and his eyes met Fang Yu's. Fang Yu then sent him another huge heart.
Ji Yan: "..."
Help.
The fans who witnessed this scene were also in stitches.
"Cupid's arrow struck two naive young men lol~"
"Fang Yu, stop making heart shapes with your hands, Ji Yan is about to cry."
Fortunately, the self-introduction segment ended quickly, and the production team didn't do anything extra. Ji Yan breathed a sigh of relief, and now he just needed to wait quietly for the competition to begin.
The four contestants performed eight songs. In addition to "Keepon", Ji Yan also chose a "blue" song called "Silent Moment". This is a song that he is relatively good at, because he has spent almost all his energy on "Keepon" this week and has not had extra time to squeeze in a second song.
The first to appear was Wu Ke, who sang "Spiral," an extremely sad song written by singer Liu Yang after the death of his lover.
Wu Ke was the strongest singer among those who participated in the finals, and he sang the sadness in the song "Spiral" perfectly.
A round of applause erupted from the audience, and Ji Yan, who was waiting in the lounge, also clapped softly, because the other person sang so well.
In Ji Yan's eyes, Wu Ke is the only choice for the King of Singers. He can handle any style of song and his skills are already at a high level. He has always been known for his singing ability throughout his career, but perhaps because he is too perfect in every aspect and lacks distinctive features, Wu Ke has never become very popular. Instead, he has become a regular on singing variety shows.
Next up was Tan Qiushi, who performed a rock song called "Homeless." Ji Yan suspected that Tan Qiushi had also drawn a song he wasn't good at. Tan Qiushi's performance of the song was mediocre, even worse than his performance in previous episodes.
After Tan Qiushi came on stage, a member of the production crew came over to remind Ji Yan: "Teacher Ji, it's time to get ready."
Ji Yan took a deep breath.
It's here!
"Here he comes! Ji Yan is about to enter the arena!"
In the live stream room, fans flooded the chat with comments.
The dim stage suddenly lit up, and the dynamic accompaniment of "Keepon" started playing. In the center of the stage, Ji Yan, dressed in a black jacket, moved, and his waist was faintly visible.
When the camera panned over him, Ji Yan's eyes were upturned at the corners, and his slightly heavy makeup gave him a unique kind of handsomeness.
This is a style that Ji Yan has never tried before.
"So spicy!!!"
The audience erupted in cheers.
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