Chapter 22 Chapter 22 Chorus + Dinner (Two in One)…
[Chapter 22, Chorus]
The five people followed Xu Baichuan to the steps of the castle to make preparations, and happened to meet He Yan who came out of the lounge.
He Yan glanced at Mo Xun and gave him a thumbs up: "Xiao Mo, you sang really well just now."
Mo Xun smiled and said, "Thank you, Brother Yan."
He Yan stepped forward and patted Mo Xun on the shoulder: "Congratulations on your official debut. If you have time, come to my concert as a guest."
This sentence made the five people stunned at the same time. Mo Xun didn't know how to respond, so he turned around and looked at his agent.
He Yan is currently the most popular singer and dancer. He has great physical fitness and can sing and dance for three hours at a concert without feeling tired. His concerts have almost become "national discotheques" and are very popular among young people. In the past two years, his national tours have been sold out and tickets are hard to come by.
Xu Baichuan received Mo Xun's pleading gaze, looked at He Yan and said, "A Yan, you are not kidding, are you? I've made a note of it!"
He Yan smiled and said, "Of course I'm not kidding, I'll contact you later!"
After he said that, he waved goodbye to everyone and turned to walk towards the castle on the right.
The five people looked at each other.
Xu Baichuan was in a good mood, and he raised his lips and said, "Not everyone can be a guest at He Yan's concert. He just listened to your song, and maybe he thought it was pretty good? Plus, he has a good relationship with Mo Xun in private, so he invited you."
Being able to be a guest at a big boss’s concert is a rare opportunity for a group of unknown people like them.
Xu Baichuan said: "Okay, let's talk about this later. Don't think too much, just prepare for the chorus first."
Mo Xun nodded, and led his teammates to the steps of the castle and stood in order.
At 22:30 in the evening, the concert is about to end.
The host's voice on the stage was clearly heard by everyone: "Did you enjoy today's concert?"
The cheers from the audience were deafening: “Happiness!”
The host said: "Thank you everyone. Finally, let us give the warmest applause to all the singers tonight to bring us a theme song for everyone to sing together - "Sounds of Shining"!"
The lights on the stage went dark and the glow sticks were turned off by the central control system.
In the darkness, the prelude of a familiar piece of music sounded.
The spotlight was on the top of the castle on the left, and the most famous senior Luo Hua appeared on the roof of the castle. He smiled and sang the first line: "In that corner of the silent world"
Fang Yinnian stayed in the darkness and listened carefully; the senior’s voice was so amazing. Luo Hua's majestic and deep voice is difficult for ordinary people to imitate. He is truly a treasure voice in the Chinese music scene.
The second floor of the castle lit up, and the female singer at the back did not get nervous and continued to sing: "The flame of singing is burning"
The lights on the first floor of the castle continued to light up, and the two singers who appeared looked at each other and sang a line each.
"Through the fog and noise"
"Tenderly entwined in my heart"
The castle on the left side of the stage was completely lit up, and the four singers walked down together.
Immediately afterwards we arrived at the castle on the right, and the next segment was opened by He Yan. His voice was high and bright, instantly catching the ears.
Behind him was Tao Yizhou, a lyric singer with a very gentle voice, which formed a sharp contrast with He Yan.
The four singers on the right sang the second verse in turn and came to the chorus.
The chorus begins with Xie Shiqi standing in the middle castle: "The voices shine, singing the beauty of the world"
The next sentence is the harmony of FTM.
Fang Yinnian sang behind her during the rehearsal yesterday. He felt very stressed and his voice was a little tense. But today, listening to the senior singers singing so beautifully one after another, he suddenly felt courageous in his heart.
He looked at his teammates, and the five of them picked up the microphone together—
"Every syllable is a signal of life"
The sudden appearance of the harmony singing is eye-opening.
No matter how well the previous singers sang, they all sang alone, but as soon as FTM opened his mouth it was a mixture of five voices.
The audience can feel the charm of harmony more clearly.
Only a team can create such harmony with built-in accompaniment and reverb effects.
A large number of bullet screens floated across the live broadcast room——
[This sentence sounds good]
[Not suppressed by Xie Shiqi, it’s OK~]
What’s the name of the guy in white? The tone is very special】
[With so many people singing the theme song, it felt a bit awkward, like singing "Unforgettable Tonight" at the Spring Festival Gala, but overall it was okay hahaha]
The chorus is the most challenging in terms of mentality and singing skills.
Among so many singers, if you are short of breath, or nervous and out of tune, the contrast between the sound before and after will be particularly obvious, which is simply a "public execution."
Fortunately, FTM held this line steady and sang it well.
Xu Baichuan was completely relieved and a relieved smile appeared on his face.
The little guys were in closed training for a whole month, and were scolded by Teacher Qiao from morning to night. Their hard work was really worth it!
——Today’s debut was perfect.
After all the singers had performed, the three castles were completely lit up, and the glow sticks in the audience seats also lit up again.
The rainbow lighting effect with different color changes of the glow sticks makes the entire stadium look like a colorful paint palette.
Everyone walked to the center of the stage and stood in the order they had during rehearsal.
There are so many masters tonight that the unknown FTM who just debuted naturally stands at the edge.
But Fang Yinnian was very happy.
He doesn't care about his status or position. He enjoys the feeling of being surrounded by different voices. It is too rare to have the opportunity to sing on the same stage with so many senior singers. He cherishes this rare moment and therefore sings very seriously.
As the accompaniment came to an end, the 20 singers on the stage began to sing in unison.
"Listen to the shining sound, playing the horn of hope"
“We are chasing our dreams together”
"No matter the wind or rain, I will never fall"
The chorus ends.
--Bang!
Suddenly fireworks were set off behind the castle.
At the same time, countless colorful ribbons were sprayed on the stage.
The audience burst into exclamations, followed by deafening screams and applause that swept through the stadium like a storm.
All the singers on the stage raised their hands and waved to the audience.
The fireworks continued to be set off, and fireworks of various colors completely lit up the sky above the Galaxy Stadium.
The five young men all raised their heads, looking at the colorful ribbons falling from above their heads and the gorgeous fireworks blooming in the sky. Their heartbeats became faster and faster, their eyes gradually became sore, and they even had the urge to cry.
——On August 18, they officially debuted and were tied to the name FTM.
The process of their forming the group and debuting was very rushed, as if there was a hand behind them pushing them forward.
Riding on the popularity of the company's 10th anniversary concert, standing on such a gorgeous stage, the five people were actually very uneasy and nervous, and even more afraid that they would make mistakes.
But in the end, they pulled off this debut performance well.
——They didn’t make any mistakes, they deserve this stage!
"Today's concert ends here. Thank you to all the singers for the wonderful performances. Thank you to the audiences in the venue and in the live broadcast room for their enthusiastic support!" The host walked to the center and said with a smile, "Goodbye everyone!"
"Please leave the venue in an orderly manner, avoid crowding, and pay attention to safety!"
The stadium lights came on, the singers left the stage one by one, and the audience also began to leave in an orderly manner.
***
When returning to the backstage, Fang Yinnian found that Tan Junwen's eyes were red, as if he had been crying. Xiaofei's eyes were also a little red.
Fang Yinnian suggested: "Should we hug each other?"
Mo Xunling came to his senses and said with a smile: "Yes, there should be a sense of ceremony. Congratulations on our successful completion of our first performance!"
The captain reached out and pulled everyone over.
We hugged each other and experienced the meaning of "team spirit" for the first time.
Yes, today’s stage is indispensable and it is a perfect performance completed by the five of them together!
Mo Xun gently patted Fang Yinnian's shoulder and whispered, "Yinnian, you're amazing."
Fang Yinnian smiled and said, "You are great too."
Tan Junwen seemed unable to control his tears. He cried and said, "I can't even remember how many times Teacher Qiao scolded me this month. I really... I didn't hold you back today, did I?"
This month, Tan Junwen has been the hardest working.
His vocal foundation was the worst, so Teacher Qiao took him to one-on-one tutoring every day, correcting his every note. He usually likes to sleep in, but this month he has to get up at 7 o'clock every day, and he goes to class with dark circles under his eyes almost every day.
Many times, he thought about giving up.
But seeing that his teammates were all working hard, he felt embarrassed to say "I quit".
Because FTM is a harmony group.
If he chooses to quit, the group will not be able to debut successfully, and he will drag down his four teammates. He didn't want to be the one who let his teammates down, so he had to force himself to continue studying.
Everything today seemed like a dream.
All the hard work and efforts before are worth it at this moment!
Tan Junwen yelled, "Thank you, brothers!"
Without everyone's persistence and encouragement, perhaps he would not have gone on.
Fang Yinnian took the initiative to shake Tan Junwen's hand and said with a smile: "Junwen, you are great today."
Mo Xun joked, "It's just that crying is ugly, so wipe your tears quickly."
Tan Junwen touched his face: "Did I cry?" After feeling a handful of tears, he immediately wiped his eyes: "Fuck! Why did I cry! Just pretend you didn't see it, okay? This really affects my handsome image!"
All four of them laughed.
Fu Fei rubbed his sore eyes and said, "What should we do next? Should we go back to the hotel?"
Xu Baichuan's voice suddenly sounded behind him: "Let's go back to the hotel together later. The boss will treat us to a midnight snack."
The five of them turned around at the same time. In addition to Xu Baichuan, several senior executives also came backstage.
Fang Yinnian didn’t know the company’s top executives at all, so he hurriedly stood next to Mo Xun. Everyone lined up against the wall to make way for them.
The men came to the FTM and stopped. The man walking in front was dressed in a suit and said with a gentle smile: "Baichuan, you lead this group well. I also listened to the song they sang today. It was quite nice."
Xu Baichuan said modestly, "Mr. Zhao, thank you for your compliment." He winked at the five people and said, "This is Mr. Zhao, the CEO of Shengyao Media."
The five people bowed hurriedly: "Hello, Mr. Zhao."
The man nodded and looked at the five people: "You are the first group of Shengyao. The company will not treat you unfairly. Keep up the good work."
The five people said in unison: "Thank you, Mr. Zhao."
Several leaders passed by the five people and went to greet the other singers.
After these people left, Fu Fei whispered, "Is this the big boss? Is he the one who let us debut on our tenth anniversary?"
Everyone: “…”
He is the culprit who rushed the five little ducks to the shelves, right?
Although he had a smile on his face, Fang Yinnian had a feeling that this kind of person was not easy to deal with. He might dig a big hole for you with a smile on his face, bury you, and you would have to thank him after that. Anyone who can become a big boss in the entertainment industry must have very sophisticated methods.
Fang Yinnian retracted his gaze and asked, "Today is actually the company's tenth anniversary team-building event, right? Will the boss treat us to a meal after the event?"
Fu Fei nodded and said, "The family concert is essentially a company team building. However, the music company's team building is very grand, and Shengyao obviously wants to use the tenth anniversary to promote it. The singers who came today have all been on the hot search list, and they spent a lot of money."
He paused, scratched his head, and chuckled, "We also took advantage of the popularity."
When Xu Baichuan passed by just now, he handed the bag containing the cell phone to Mo Xun.
Mo Xun sent the phone to his teammates. Everyone opened Weibo and saw that in just ten minutes, the number of fans had increased a lot.
Fang Yinnian was the first to break the 100,000-follower mark, an increase of 100,000 in one night, which was already a very fast speed.
A staff member came to ask them to get in the car, and the five people got into the chartered car that had been arranged in advance.
The boss directly booked the Chinese restaurant of the Ya'an International Hotel where everyone was staying and prepared midnight snacks for them.
It was the first time for the five of them to attend a dinner party, so they were inevitably nervous.
Xu Baichuan walked over and said, "I'll take you to meet some leaders." He took the five people to the main table and introduced them respectfully: "This is the CEO of Taohe Platform, Mr. Zhang... The director of Taohe's variety show department, Mr. Luo..."
Every time the agent introduced a leader, the five people would greet him politely.
Several leaders also nodded to them with a smile.
Mr. Zhang said, "Old Xu, your group is quite good-looking. It will definitely be popular in the future."
Xu Baichuan smiled and said, "Thanks to your good words, I also hope they can become popular soon."
President Zhang said, "Are you hungry, kids? Go eat by yourselves. There's no need to be so restrained. You can just coordinate with President Luo about the variety show."
The woman next to them smiled slightly, looked at the five people and said, "Don't worry, I will try my best to arrange it for you."
Xu Baichuan said, "Okay. Mr. Zhang, Mr. Luo, I'll take them there first."
He winked at Mo Xun, led a few people to a corner, and whispered, "Eat yourselves, and go back to sleep when I say you can leave. Don't run away early, understand?"
Mo Xun nodded and sat down in the corner with his teammates.
The dinner parties in the entertainment industry are not just simple meals. Many of them are used as an excuse to discuss cooperation.
The person Xu Baichuan just introduced them to was the big boss of Taohe platform and the director of the variety show division.
This concert was live-broadcasted on the Taohe APP, which shows that Shengyao Media and Taohe have many project collaborations. The boss of Shengyao will naturally invite Taohe’s senior executives to come over and use the dinner to recommend their own artists to the show.
Taohe is a platform that focuses on film and television, and also has many self-produced variety shows. Xu Baichuan had said before that he would arrange variety shows for them in the future, and it seemed that the discussions had been almost completed, so he brought them to meet the leader.
Fu Fei asked curiously, "I wonder what variety show Brother Xu has arranged for us?"
Mo Xun said: "First, rule out the music complex."
The four of them looked at him.
Fu Fei scratched his head: "We are a harmony group, so we can also be in the singing circle, right? Why do we have to exclude music variety shows?"
Mo Xun said helplessly, "We don't even have our own songs, and we haven't even practiced the harmony well. If we go to music variety shows now, the big guys will fight like gods, which makes us look really bad, right? We lose every PK, and all the fans we just attracted are gone."
Everyone: “…”
The captain's explanation of the problem was brilliant.
Be it their singing skills or fame, they are not yet good enough to compete in professional music variety shows.
Fang Yinnian also often watches music variety shows. Currently, the more popular music variety shows are either adaptations and covers of classic old songs, or PKs between mentors and students, and PKs between singers with live microphones to compete for the title of the best singer. The competition is extremely fierce.
The music variety show is not aimed at just Shengyao Media, but the entire Chinese music scene.
Mo Xun was right, that was a place where "gods fought".
They are newcomers who have just debuted, lack stage experience, and their singing skills are average. Going to a music variety show would be a humiliation for them.
Not to mention them, Xie Shiqi also lost in the PK in "Soul Singer" last week. Only senior people like Luo Hua, who has debuted for 20 years, are qualified to be a mentor for the variety show "The Voice of China".
Audiences of music variety shows don’t care whether you are an idol or not. If you don’t sing well, they will immediately make “unpleasant” a hot topic.
They need to practice more and wait until their singing skills reach a certain level before trying for music variety shows. Of course, boy bands rarely appear on music variety shows, so the specific arrangements depend on the plans of their agents.
Currently, I can only participate in some light-hearted game variety shows or reality shows. These variety shows don’t care how well you sing, as long as your agent can negotiate it, even an unknown person can go on there and show off their face.
Fang Yinnian is quite looking forward to it. What type of variety show will Brother Xu let them participate in?
At the main table, He Yan had already started toasting the leaders. He seemed to have a social savvy and could chat and laugh with the leaders even when having dinner.
In the entertainment industry, in addition to personal ability, social connections are also very important. The five of them knew nothing, but luckily their agent was experienced and seemed to have a wide network of contacts, so he arranged everything for them.
Fang Yinnian lowered his head and ate his midnight snack in silence.
He had dinner around four in the afternoon and he was actually a little hungry.
The five newbies didn’t have to sit at the leader’s table anyway, so they just focused on eating and everyone ate a lot.
It was a rare occasion that the agent ignored them, and Xiao Fei even secretly ate two more pieces of mousse cake.
***
It was already 1:30 in the morning when we got back to the hotel.
Fang Yinnian and Mo Xun lived in a double room. Their suitcases were placed on the floor, and their clothes were hung neatly in the closet by Fang Yinnian, with each of them occupying half.
Mo Xun said: "Go take a shower first."
Fang Yinnian nodded and went into the bathroom holding his pajamas.
Mo Xun took out another mobile phone from the drawer, logged into his secondary Weibo account, and checked FTM’s super topic and entry plaza.
The FTM super topic has added tens of thousands of fans. Their fan names are "notes" that were chosen in advance. There are official hosts, and there are also many small hosts who are newly arrived fans who are spontaneously electing to be hosts.
The entry has been read millions of times, and today’s push effect is average. The main reason is that their entry #FTM boy group officially debuted today# only stayed on the hot search for half an hour before it was squeezed out by other entertainment news.
This weekend, in addition to Shengyao's 10th anniversary celebration concert, there is also an in-circle fashion event hosted by a top magazine. Many first-line stars walked the red carpet, and marketing accounts took screenshots to compare their dresses and appearance.
The public is more concerned about this star-studded red carpet show rather than the glorious family concert.
If an entry wants to maintain its popularity, it needs a large number of living people discussing it.
Although some netizens are discussing and paying attention to FTM’s debut entry, they are all small-scale discussions. At the mass level, "boy bands" themselves do not have much appeal.
This result was also within Mo Xun's expectations.
When the entertainment industry wants to "explode", marriages, divorces, and extramarital affairs will "explode" the fastest, and the whole nation will be watching the gossip and it will stay on the hot searches for days.
How could a single concert be such a huge success?
It is enough for many fans and passers-by who are paying attention to the concert to get to know this group and the existence of FTM today.
Old Xu is right, they just need to make their debut smoothly and move forward steadily step by step.
After taking a shower, they turned off the lights and went to bed.
Mo Xun was trying to fall asleep, but Fang Yinnian was too excited to fall asleep, so he turned over and started chatting with Mo Xun in the bed next to him.
"Mo Xun, you said that we will debut in a stadium with 40,000 people and will soon have variety show resources. Isn't the starting point too high?"
It felt weird to chat in the dark, so Mo Xun reached out to turn on the night light under the bed, turned around and looked at Fang Yinnian, meeting his eyes.
This guy is ignorant about many things in the entertainment industry. Under the illumination of the warm night light, Fang Yinnian's eyes are full of the clarity and worry of a newbie.
Mo Xun couldn't help but laugh: "We are backed by Shengyao Media, this is normal."
Fang Yinnian thought for a moment and said, "Is it always like this when you have a big company behind you?"
Mo Xun said: "Big companies have more resources and will give you more opportunities, but they will also require you to earn more profits for the company. Starting a company is not charity. The top management pushed our group out to compete for the boy band market, which is a money-making tool."
Fang Yinnian nodded and listened carefully. He only has a vague understanding of the entertainment industry, but Mo Xun spent several years as a trainee in Korea before returning, and is now the captain of FTM, so he seems to know more. He was also used to asking Mo Xun when he didn't understand something.
Mo Xun: "Do you know which group is the most popular right now?"
Fang Yin had just finished a lesson a while ago, and replied, "Bluewind from Xingmang Entertainment has tens of millions of fans on Weibo."
Mo Xun said: "Yes, this group is a pioneer in the Chinese boy band market and has a very stable position. This year, Xingmang launched another group, a large group of 12 people, each representing a constellation, referred to as Xingtuan, and their starting point for debut is also very high. In addition, Huayue also has a talent show group established this year, Sonic Boy Band."
"As a boy band promoted by Shengyao, our future competitors will of course be the top boy bands from these big companies."
"Just like in martial arts novels, you are a disciple from a big sect. Your master will give you the best martial arts secrets, and your brothers and sisters will help you practice. Then when you travel the world in the future, you will not be fighting against those small sects, but you will go to the finals of the martial arts conference and compete with the top masters for a place."
Fang Yinnian quickly understood what Mo Xun meant.
Mo Xun has a very thorough understanding of the problem. As the captain, he is also the calmest among the five.
Fang Yinnian had previously worried that their starting point being too high would attract hatred, but now it seemed that their starting point had to be high.
Just as Mo Xun said, they are disciples of the major sects in the martial arts world. They have the support of the big tree of Shengyao, and their opponents are not small and obscure groups from small companies. They will be pushed by Shengyao to move to a higher level and compete with those first-line boy groups for the cake.
Fang Yinnian blinked and asked seriously, "Do you have the confidence to compete with the top boy bands? Bluewind has tens of millions of fans on Weibo, and we have less than 200,000, not even a fraction of theirs."
Mo Xun smiled and said, "Do you really believe that tens of millions of people in the country like them? Zombie fans and small accounts account for more than half. In the domestic entertainment industry, if you have 20,000 active fans, you can be a big shot. If you have more than 100,000 active fans, you can become a top star."
Fang Yinnian was puzzled: "What does live powder mean?"
Mo Xun said: "They will buy your endorsements, watch your shows, and pay attention to your daily life. They are more loyal core fans."
Die-hard core fans? Fang Yinnian thought about it carefully and decided that they probably didn’t have such core fans yet.
Most of the people who follow them today are just "spectators".
The comments under his Weibo are all like "This little brother is good-looking, follow him" or "You have a nice voice, keep it up."
I guess the enthusiasm of these passers-by will disappear in a few days.
The core fans must like them very much, which is why they pay attention to all their movements, accompany them, watch every one of their shows, support them when they encounter difficulties, and defend them when they are slandered.
They still need to continue to work hard to accumulate such fans.
Of course, in addition to core fans, popularity among passers-by is also important. Most passersby will not buy celebrity endorsements, nor will they search for every celebrity show, but they will know a celebrity, have a good impression of him, listen to his songs, and even go to his concerts.
For example, when singers with high national popularity, such as Xie Shiqi and He Yan, have concerts, passers-by will also participate in the ticket grabbing.
From the beginning, Fang Yinnian wanted to develop into a "singer" with a higher national popularity. But it’s too early to say this now. The entire boy band is very obscure, let alone him alone.
Fang Yinnian thought about this and couldn't help but joked, "We are a small obscure group, and we say we want to compete with top boy groups in the future. If their fans find out, they will tear us to pieces, right?"
Mo Xun lowered his voice and said, "I'm just telling you this in private. Before Lao Xu formed the group, he chose me as the captain and talked to me. Our group was launched to target the first-tier companies. So, the tasks ahead will be very heavy, and the pressure... may also be very great."
Fang Yinnian was silent for a few seconds, then said seriously: "It doesn't matter. Pressure is also motivation. We will face it together."
"Yeah." Mo Xun smiled and turned off the night light. "Go to bed. It's almost two o'clock."
Fang Yinnian said: "Okay, good night."
The house fell silent.
Fang Yinnian closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep. Suddenly he realized that debuting as a group was not a bad idea.
For someone like him who only has a vague understanding of the entertainment industry, it would be even more difficult to make it on his own, right?
Now he is a member of FTM, and no matter what happens in the future, he is not alone. He has teammates around him, and they can discuss and face it together.
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