Su Li is a loyal music fan. To be specific, she is not a fan of any particular singer, but simply a music lover. Her daily routine is to open the "Liuge" platform, listen to see if any new songs have been released recently, and then write a short review for each new song.
In Su Li's circle of friends, there are many people who share the same hobbies as her. They gathered together because of their shared interests, and every time they hear a song they like, they can't wait to share it with each other.
On this day, the first thing Su Li saw on the homepage of the "Liuge" platform was a large promotional poster for Ji Ruan's new album "Do U Like". She was quite looking forward to Ji Ruan's songs, after all, he was very popular and the album's production team seemed to be quite glamorous.
When Su Li opened the song "She Knows," she closed her eyes and relaxed. However, as soon as she heard the first line of the new song, her brows furrowed involuntarily. The song was completely different from what she had imagined. The drumbeats in the accompaniment were too dense and too chaotic. It was as if... this song was supposed to be at the forefront of trends, but it malfunctioned halfway through and became a hodgepodge.
After listening for a minute and a half, Su Li ripped off her headphones. The song "She Knows" was really not to her taste. Although she appreciated the singers' courage to challenge new elements, she could still tell whether a song was good or bad.
The title track wasn't good, so Su Li's expectations for the album "Do U Like" immediately dropped by half.
She then clicked on the second song, "Sugar".
This song was even more unbearable to her than the last one. It had a sticky, mushy smell, like chewing gum stuck to the soles of her feet that she couldn't get rid of—greasy and pretentious, especially with the song title "Sugar"...
Is this really a song that should be included in an album by a popular singer?
Su Li couldn't help but type furiously in the group chat: "Can't they produce any good songs anymore? I just listened to Ji Ruan's new album, what is that garbage? Are my precious ears only fit to listen to this kind of trash?"
A member of the group, Lemon, chimed in: "I sincerely suggest not posting this on Weibo. Dazao (a nickname) started criticizing it on Weibo and got attacked by his fans."
Jujube: "It really sounds awful."
Freshly squeezed coconut: "It sounds absolutely awful."
Watermelon King: "To be honest, that song of his almost killed me. I was saved by 'Is It Black or White'. @Mao Lizi, have you heard 'Yi's' 'Is It Black or White'? Go listen to it now."
God of Excavators: "I recommend 'Is It Black or White' +1."
"Chestnut" is Su Li's group name in this group. She is the group owner and usually the most active member. Right now, she is complaining about Ji Ruan's new song in the group, and more than a dozen group members immediately follow suit.
This group of people usually like to share good songs and give comments. They have tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of followers on Weibo. However, their followers are far fewer than Ji Ruan's. When "Da Zao" commented on Weibo, Ji Ruan's fans controlled the comments and she received dozens of private messages cursing her.
Su Li looked around the homepage of the "Liuge" platform but didn't see the song "Is It Black or White". She found it by searching for keywords. Su Li trusted the judgment of her group members. If a song could be recommended by everyone, its quality must be pretty good.
As it turned out, the song was even more amazing than she had imagined.
Su Li was captivated even before the melody began—it started with a low, somber tune, tranquil yet far-reaching, as if she were on a winter night with mist rising over the grass.
Then came a low male voice.
With just one sentence, one is transported into the inky darkness of the night. The sound is perfectly in harmony with the accompaniment, making it a pleasure to listen to. Su Li's expression gradually softens, and her furrowed brows relax.
The song "Is It Black or White" is soothing from the very beginning.
The feeling was hard to explain, but good songs always have something that touches people's hearts. Su Li's lips curled up, but when she heard the second line, her eyes blinked slightly. The singer had changed.
She didn't know much about the group "Wings" until later. It turned out to be a four-member boy band. But in the song "Is It Black or White", the four voices didn't sound discordant at all. On the contrary, each person's voice blended perfectly into the song without being deliberate. It just felt like their voices were naturally meant to be together.
The four-person harmony adds depth to the song "Is It Black or White," making it anything but monotonous.
Su Li wasn't satisfied after listening to it once, so she listened to it a second and third time. The song not only had a beautiful melody, but also a sense of sincerity, clearly a song written with heart by the creator.
Su Li carefully read the song introduction and discovered that the lyrics, music, and vocals of the song were all done by the members of "Wings". Moreover, in the album "Mist", in addition to the four-person collaboration song "Is It Black or White", each member wrote at least one song.
Su Li immediately bought the album "Mist" without hesitation. After buying it, she discovered that there was actually a physical version of the album, so she ordered another one.
She felt that the album "Mist" would most likely not disappoint her.
After listening to "Is It Black or White" several times, Su Li logged into her Weibo account and wrote a long review of several hundred words. She couldn't help it; good songs always made her want to express herself. Not long after posting the Weibo, Su Li received several likes and comments.
Su Li made herself a cup of coffee, intending to continue listening to other songs from "Mist," but as soon as she turned around, her phone kept ringing. She was a little puzzled, so she opened her phone and saw that there were hundreds of comments in an instant!
She only has 20,000 to 30,000 followers, and usually only a few hundred comments and likes.
What's going on?
"Chestnut, Chestnut, Ning Wei liked your post!!"
"Checking in and watching!"
"So envious! What's it like to be noticed by Ning Wei?"
Su Li checked the messages and, sure enough, Ning Wei had liked the Weibo post she made a few minutes ago. It wasn't one of those fake accounts pretending to be Ning Wei; it really was Ning Wei herself.
Ning Wei is one of the least active celebrities on Weibo. The frequency of his posts makes people wonder if he doesn't even know how to use such a high-tech product. His last post was following Ji Yan's Weibo account, and this time, he liked "Yi's" new album.
With Ning Wei's influence and number of fans, the hashtag "Ning Wei liked" quickly became a trending topic on Weibo, and Su Li's account also gained tens of thousands of followers. Naturally, Yi's new album finally attracted widespread attention from netizens after its official release.
The number of views for "Is It Black or White" is constantly increasing.
At first, this song could only climb the charts through spontaneous recommendations from netizens, but now, with more and more netizens paying attention, "Is Black or White" has slowly surpassed "She Knows" on the charts.
Initially, it was only a slight surpassing, but as more and more fans heard and recommended the song "Is It Black or White," it began to significantly outperform "She Knows" on the charts.
One time, three times... By evening that day, on the "Liuge" platform's play count chart, "Is Black or White" had already reached eight times the play count of "She Knows"!
The album "Mist" is also seeing increased sales. While album sales are slightly slower than streaming numbers, "Mist" has climbed to third place on the weekly sales chart in just one day.
"Is it Black or White?" and "Primary Colors" are my two favorite songs!"
"Everyone in the world who hasn't heard 'Everything I Never Told You' should go listen to it right now!!"
"'Wings' album really exceeded my expectations, a hundred times better than I imagined. Not only are the songs good, but you can also hear the effort put into them, compared to a certain album from the same period..."
"Stop comparing and belittling it. If it sounds good, it sounds good; if it doesn't, it doesn't."
Many fans who had listened to Ji Ruan's new album "Mist" also bought Ji Ruan's "Do U Like". They thought that Ji Ruan's new album was number one on the sales chart, so the quality should not be worse than "Mist". However, they were greatly disappointed after listening to it.
"It's really awful."
"Ugly +10086".
"Aside from piling up elements, this album has absolutely nothing to do with being catchy."
Ji Ruan's fans diligently helped control the comments for their idol. Many fans who initially criticized the album as unpleasant were forced to delete their comments by the fans. However, the quality of the album was so poor that it was hard to say that it was "good". As more and more people commented that it was "unpleasant", Ji Ruan's fans couldn't control themselves anymore, and the hashtag "Ji Ruan is unpleasant" finally became a trending topic.
—Although it was taken down after half an hour.
"It's good to be rich and powerful. No wonder he's the young master of the Ji family."
"Ha, can't I even say something harsh? Besides covering her mouth, what else can Ji Ruan do?"
"Ji Ruan is awful! Ji Ruan is awful! Ji Ruan is awful! I'm going to say it a hundred times!! It's awful, awful, awful!!"
...
As the negative comments on Weibo increased, Ji Ruan couldn't help but feel annoyed. Not only were netizens criticizing his new album as unpleasant, but they were also comparing him to "Yi" and saying that he was not as good as "Yi".
In Ji Ruan's view, this was tantamount to saying that he was inferior to Ji Yan.
Is he inferior to Ji Yan?
Ji Ruan's face was gloomy, and his expression wasn't pleasant when he got home.
Ji Ruan didn't go home often before, after all, it was his home, and he could get the best things without doing anything. But now, he has to make his presence known to his brothers, otherwise his brothers will be taken away by Ji Yan.
Ji Yu returned a step later than Ji Ruan and saw Ji Ruan sitting on the sofa without saying a word, clearly in a bad mood.
"What's wrong?" Ji Yushi asked.
Ji Ruan shook her head.
"Tell your brother if you have any problems..."
Ji Ruan didn't pay attention to what Ji Yushi said in the second half. He only saw that Ji Yushi was holding several discs in his hand. If he wasn't mistaken, they seemed to be the cover of Ji Yan's new album.
Ji Ruan gritted her teeth, suppressing her urge to ask more questions.
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