Chapter 98: TVB Anniversary Rehearsal
Spring goes and autumn comes, and another anniversary celebration is approaching.
Seeing the words "94 Golden Diamond Stars Celebrate TVB Anniversary" on the schedule, and recalling how she entered the top four female singers last year by filling in, Li Sishi couldn't help but sigh at how fast time flies.
However, if you really think about it, she only officially stepped down from her Miss Hong Kong duties in the middle of this year. After the summer vacation, she was busy going to Miss Universe and helping to organize her parents' wedding. In addition, she filmed a TV series and a movie. With such a work schedule, it's just a dream to release another album.
After all, given the current market, unless a lot of effort and money is really spent on producing an album, it's definitely difficult for a newcomer like her, who comes from a beauty pageant background, to compete with veterans who have consistently achieved stable results.
Therefore, Zhuang Menghua and Lu Yiting planned for her to "sing after acting" - first, to build up popularity through film and television, then to accumulate reputation by using some of her songs as theme songs or interludes for TV series and movies, and finally to arrange album production gradually.
Li Sishi expressed no opinion on this: Although she loves singing, she must admit that classic songs still fall short of classic films and television dramas in terms of transcending time and space.
Especially given that at least half of her albums are in Cantonese, classic films and television shows, particularly classic movies, bring a much greater boost to an artist than classic songs.
Although music knows no borders, the number of people who speak Cantonese is far smaller than that of common languages like Mandarin and English. Therefore, due to language limitations, songs that can only be "heard" are much less widely disseminated than films and television shows that have audiovisual effects. This is because movies and television series can still use dubbing or original audio with subtitles, but if the lyrics of a song are incomprehensible, its popularity drops by at least several levels.
The most typical example of this situation is the fierce battle between the two kings in the 1980s. In terms of singing skills, vocal quality, and focus, Lun Yongnan, who focused on the music scene, was undoubtedly slightly better than Rong Juezhang, who was good at both singing and acting. However, the classic movies starring Rong Juezhang really gave his songs and popularity a lot of added value.
Therefore, while both are Hong Kong superstars, Lun Yongnan, who has many hit songs, currently has a wider and more authoritative local audience, but it will be harder to attract young people who are not yet experienced as time goes on; while Rong Juezhang, on the other hand, can become a timeless dual superstar by relying on those classic films and hit songs that have stood the test of time.
This is the ability of classic films and television shows to "transcend time and space".
Li Sishi set a goal for herself.
She wanted to seize the last vestiges of the golden age and become an artist whose name would be remembered during the final golden age of Hong Kong entertainment. Therefore, she naturally understood the importance of working hard in these few years to secure more opportunities to appear on screen.
Of course, the key reason for choosing this path is that she is still too young. Although constantly bringing up the issue of age may seem a bit Versailles-like, in the current era and in this circle, where people are considered to have shed their childishness by 25 and are only considered "mature" and capable of taking on leading roles by 30, she is indeed a bit "not up to par" at only 18 years old this year.
It's okay, there's plenty of time. We can always release some singles or EPs whenever we have a spare moment to build up our popularity. If we have a solid foundation and high-quality music, our achievements in music will be even better.
Anyway, she has the talent and ability, and she will regularly go to Leyun to learn and keep up her form so that she doesn't end up like Shang Lanyu, a forgotten gem in the music scene, who finally felt at ease spending time on music after winning various film and television awards.
The result was that because of his terrible skills and love of playing around, he lost a lot of fans after singing a song, and almost became completely isolated...
Li Sishi once again lamented the loss of some hidden gems and soulful divas in the music scene that she knew, and then packed her things to continue working.
This year's anniversary celebration was noticeably "easier" than last year's: there was no charity car race in Shenzhen during the day to celebrate the opening of the expressway, so the singers only needed to participate in local charity fundraising events with Po Leung Kuk, giving them a little more rest time.
As for the "Golden Diamond Stars Celebrate TVB Anniversary" recording tonight, since the TV station was unable to secure a slot at the Hong Kong Coliseum, the venue was set up at TVB City Studio 1. This reduced the travel time for artists who work in or near TVB City, both for rehearsals and the actual recording.
The venue is inevitably smaller.
However, he was quite glad that the venue was small, since he was scheduled to run back and forth between the stage and the audience to sing during the early morning. Although he was tall and had long legs and could run well, he had been heavily exploited by his manager recently, and with more work hours, he naturally had less rest time, which undoubtedly made this rare Buddhist person in the entertainment industry feel uncomfortable.
If this year's anniversary celebration wasn't likely to be the last time the four of them would perform together, he might not have even wanted to come.
Compared to the four Heavenly Kings who were forced to come together
Regarding the available slots, among the female singers who were among the top four in 1993, only Ye Shanyun and Li Sishi remain.
The reason is simple: Cen Xilian, whose main focus is on Taiwan, has had her contract with Huasheng expire this year and is therefore unable to attend the anniversary celebration; while Tang Jingwen is also unable to come because her schedule doesn't align with her concert preparations.
Therefore, the other two future divas who will compete against the four Heavenly Kings this time are Ban Shuyan, who is known for her cold and elegant style, and Cheng Zouyun, who has recently transformed into a quirky and eccentric style.
Among the new generation of four female singers, Li Sishi is still the youngest and least experienced in terms of age and seniority. In addition, she only had one hit single this year, "Love in Distress," which maintained her success in the music scene. Therefore, according to the "rules," she is still ranked last among the four, fourth from the left in the first row.
This wasn't a time to fight for the center position, because the center position was occupied by the host, Dan Ge, and the captains of the male and female teams, with their respective "Four Guardians" standing next to each captain. Therefore, Li Sishi's position was actually quite good.
At least when the camera pans over, she's almost always in the shot, unless it's a close-up of the host or the male and female team captains.
Her mentor, Yue Yun, wasn't even in a better position than her; he was fifth from the right. Of course, for a veteran like Yue Yun to participate in the anniversary celebration, besides being bound by contract, another reason was simply to "mentor the younger generation." Position was no longer important to him.
If we're really talking about seniority, then it's Li Sishi's other friends—whose names are hard to describe—who, taking advantage of being in the second row and not getting much screen time, were playing with the dance group's sparklers in the back. Their handsome faces, though different in style, all wore the same childish smiles…
Just as Li Sishi was about to look away and give a disdainful response that she couldn't bear to look at her half-brothers, she turned her head and saw Shang Hanyou, who had somehow gotten close to her.
"What are you looking at?" he asked curiously.
"Look, someone's not paying attention during rehearsal." Li Sishi pointed to the group of elementary school kids gathered over there, then added in a way that made it seem like "how come everyone can join in and chat for a bit?"
He glanced at Shang Hanyou.
"Anyway, it's not an official recording yet, so I don't need to do any work. What's wrong with me talking to other people?" Shang Hanyou said with a self-righteous and confident expression. "Many of my friends can only connect with each other in these kinds of situations!"
“That’s true.” Li Sishi nodded.
Normally, everyone has their own work. Unless they happen to be in the same film crew, perform at the same commercial event, or work in the same place such as a recording studio, it is common for good friends not to have a chance to see each other for several months.
That's what she said, but after saying that, Li Sishi seemed to remember something: "But you seem to have talked to the people next to you quite a bit during the actual recording, haven't you?"
"It's just an anniversary event, it's not a serious job anyway, so what's wrong with everyone being a little more relaxed—" Shang Hanyou was about to explain when he turned his head and saw Ling Chen curiously walking over, so he immediately tried to shift the blame, "Don't be fooled by Leo's serious demeanor now, he was secretly chewing gum when he was standing in the back as a human backdrop!"
"Then my dad saw this little thing I did and I got a good scolding when I got home!" This guy, who usually considers himself the big brother, was surprisingly revealing his embarrassing past in front of others, which left him somewhat amused and exasperated. "There were nearly a hundred people standing in front of me, and I was only on stage for three minutes, yet he still saw it..."
"But it's also thanks to my dad for reminding me that no matter whether others see it or not, I won't do anything underhanded at work anymore, not even at anniversary events where everyone can have fun." He smiled and looked down. Although his tone was slightly reproachful, it was easy to feel his affection for his father.
"With a father like that, it's no wonder you went from a playboy to a gentleman," Li Sishi teased him.
It has to be said that a person's temperament
It really does depend to a large extent on strict family education.
A father who can accurately find his son among hundreds of people to be the backdrop is also the greatest encouragement and support for his child.
"You still dare to laugh at me? Wait until the official recording of the show and see if we boys don't beat you girls to a pulp!" Ling Chen puffed out his cheeks, pulling Shang Hanyou along to turn the tables on Li Sishi.
It was rare for someone to be in the mood for jokes at this hour, so Shang Hanyou, ever playful, immediately joined him in standing in a row: "Sorry, May, May, we all have different stances, it seems we can only fight to the death..."
Before Shang Hanyou could finish speaking, Li Sishi, who was quick to tattle, turned to Pei Yansang, the female captain who was chatting with male captain Hou Beihua, and shouted, "Sister Pei, Hanyou and Leo have declared war on us ahead of time!"
"What?! What did you say?!" Upon hearing this, Pei Yansang rushed over like a mother hen protecting her chicks, her eyes glaring at the two of them like sharp swords. "Say that again?!"
"Friendship first...competition second!" Shang Hanyou and Ling Chen, cowering in fear at their older sister's imposing manner, responded in perfect unison.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
