Chapter 218: The Seventh Night
After the recording of "TOP IDOL" was successfully concluded, Xie Qingyu and his teammates returned to Yun City for a few days to rest, and then plunged into their respective busy work.
Although the album is still in the preparation stage, the mountains of announcements have left everyone too busy to do anything.
Apart from a group performance for Grape TV at the Mid-Autumn Festival dinner, it is almost impossible for the members to get together.
Those who are filming are filming, those who are running variety shows are shuttling between major TV stations, and those who are shooting commercials are running around in various studios...
This non-stop busy state continued until the end of November, when I was finally able to take a break.
However, the hard work is worth it. As the saying goes, "When together they are a ball of fire; when apart they are stars in the sky", the members' personal development and the group's popularity promote each other. MYST7's popularity and fame have ushered in a new round of surge, which is incomparable to when they first debuted.
This is the gap between debuted contestants and non-debuted contestants, and the reason why the platform is so confident. With all the resources allocated to support them, most regrets will eventually be drowned out, and the rest is just a matter of time.
The coming December will not be easy either. The tracks for the first album have been finalized and have officially entered the production stage.
The group variety show that has been prepared for a long time is also ready to go, and also... December 9th is Xie Qingyu’s birthday and coming-of-age ceremony!
At this moment, Xie Qingyu was driving to the office building of Yueyu Times, and other members were also on their way.
Today is November 26th, and they will jointly confirm the final tracklist for this long-gestated album.
Whether this long-awaited "answer sheet" is a surprise or a shock will soon be revealed.
Xie Qingyu was lost in thought as he stared at the passing scenery outside the car window, when he suddenly felt a heaviness in his legs.
Looking down, he saw a furry little creature looking up at him.
He reached out and gently stroked the iconic black hair, saying softly, "We Fanxing also want to see the scenery, right?"
As he spoke, he gently lifted Fanxing up and placed her on his shoulder so that she could also enjoy the view outside the window.
The little guy immediately found a comfortable position to nestle down, snoring comfortably and rubbing his head against his neck from time to time.
Compared with two months ago, Fanxing is now a completely different person. She has obviously gained a lot of weight, but her attachment to Xie Qingyu has not diminished at all.
As soon as he returned to Yun City last night, Xie Qingyu made a special trip to Bai Yan's house to pick up Fanxing.
Although Bai Lang's mother warmly invited him to have dinner and stay overnight, he politely declined considering that Bai Lang was not at home.
The other members just rushed back to Yun City today, but he happened to come back yesterday to record Guo Duoduo's new material, so he happened to catch up with today's group meeting.
The nanny car slowly stopped in front of the Yueyu Times Building, and Xie Qingyu carefully handed Fanxing to Yuanyuan.
Since completing the material shooting yesterday afternoon, agent Hu Xuan rushed back to Yunchuang Entertainment's Haishi headquarters without stopping for a moment.
Recently, Xie Qingyu's "Monsoon" and "Day and Night" are dominating the charts on major music platforms and have received rave reviews, so the follow-up work naturally cannot be slacked off.
Another executive agent was on the way, so now only assistants Yuanyuan and Dafeng followed Xie Qingyu and were on standby at all times.
"I've already said hello to Old Xu."
Xie Qingyu made detailed arrangements as he got out of the car. "Yuanyuan, you're so considerate. Please take Fanxing to the second-floor lounge to play for a while. Dafeng, just follow me. Order whatever you want to eat. I'll reimburse you."
Before coming, he specifically applied to Xuzhou for permission to bring his cat in. Although all other places were accessible except the conference room, Xie Qingyu still only applied for an independent lounge.
After all, it is an office space, and kittens running around will be caught!
Yuanyuan steadily caught the already heavy Fanxing and said with a smile, "Leave it to me~"
Xie Qingyu came to the designated meeting room, gently pushed open the door and looked out. Bai Yan and Ding Zai had already arrived.
His appearance brightened their eyes. After careful consideration, they realized they had not seen each other for two or three weeks.
During this period, everyone was busy running announcements and rarely returned to the collective dormitory in Lianyun City.
"Oh~ Thank you for coming, sir. I'm sorry for not welcoming you!"
Ding Zai immediately stood up to greet him, still looking carefree. He opened his arms and gave Xie Qingyu a warm hug. "Your recent report card is really eye-catching!"
Xie Qingyu smiled and patted his shoulder: "Black hair still looks better!"
Ding's rainbow hair color eventually returned to black due to frequent re-dying of the roots, and his eyes were finally saved.
"That's right! If you have a good foundation, what hair color can't you hold?"
Ding was grinning, looking very happy. His popularity has been growing by leaps and bounds recently because he has a lot of jokes and a quick mind. He can't keep up with all the variety shows and is overwhelmed with offers.
He looked Xie Qingyu up and down, and suddenly got stuck: "And... Yu! You changed again..."
"Handsome?" Xie Qingyu raised his eyebrows and continued.
Ding originally wanted to say "become beautiful again", but this word didn't seem appropriate for Xie Qingyu.
To be precise, her aura has become stronger and her charm has increased, just like the word that has been often used online recently: a "top-level succubus".
Watching the video through the screen is already amazing enough, but the impact of seeing the real person is not even one ten-thousandth of it.
After Xie Qingyu and Ding Zai finished chatting, they turned their gaze to Bai Lang who was standing quietly beside them.
His features became sharper after cutting his hair short, but the look in his eyes was surprisingly gentle.
"I saw your latest dance variety show, it was so cool!"
Xie Qingyu took the initiative to speak, and his words were by no means polite. Last night he really hugged Fanxing and caught up on all the members' recent variety shows.
He was impressed by Bai Lang's performance which was no less impressive than that of professional dancers. Although he still had his usual cold face and was taciturn, his extremely high popularity allowed him to get a lot of shots even without speaking.
Hearing such straightforward praise, Bai Lang unconsciously touched his earlobe, his Adam's apple rolling slightly: "Hmm."
As if he felt his response was too brief, he added, as if to cover up his mistake: "You took Fanxing away?"
In fact, as soon as Xie Qingyu arrived at his house yesterday, Bai's mother immediately "tipped off the tip-off". To be more precise, she wanted him to persuade Xie Qingyu to stay for dinner.
Knowing his mother's cooking skills well, Bai Lang decisively rejected the proposal, and thus earned the title of "rebellious son" for the Nth time.
Thinking of the chubby little Fanxing who is now raised by Mother Bai, the smile in Xie Qingyu's eyes deepened.
Although Mrs. Bai would carefully prepare gifts every time she visited and she always looked very happy, he always felt that these were not enough to express his gratitude.
After the three of them sat down at the conference table, they briefly chatted about their recent situation.
As the members arrived one after another, the meeting room quickly became lively. People usually talk a lot when they get together, and after not seeing each other for such a long time, they chatted even more enthusiastically.
Especially with the presence of these two funny people, Wei Liangchen and Ding Zai, it was difficult to keep quiet in the meeting room.
It was at this time that the general agent Xuzhou pushed the door open.
When Gu Qi saw him coming in with a stack of information, he coughed twice and the noise stopped abruptly.
"What? Are you secretly saying bad things about me?" Xuzhou joked with a smile.
Xie Qingyu sat quietly aside and watched the show, wanting to see how Gu Huli would respond.
How could Gu Qi be stumped by such a small situation? He raised his hand and patted Wei Liangchen's shoulder. After all, this guy had the loudest voice just now. Who else should he target if not him?
"How could that be? We are all praising you. We are just embarrassed for you to hear it."
He looked at Wei Liangchen meaningfully while saying, "Isn't that right?"
Wei Liangchen was completely bewildered, with the question marks in his eyes almost becoming concrete.
But under the threat of Gu Yan's eyes, he nodded tactfully and raised his thumbs: "Old Xu is brilliant today!"
Xie Qingyu quickly pressed the corners of his eyes and tried to suppress his smile.
Xuzhou didn't chase after him anymore. Time was running out, so he distributed the information in his hand to everyone first.
These are the detailed plans for the album, and he will give a more in-depth explanation through the big screen later.
Xie Qingyu opened the information booklet, and the three elegant cursive characters "The Seventh Night" were the first to catch his eye.
His eyes moved slightly and he continued to flip through the pages. Sure enough, it was a concept album.
The theme of the album revolves around "searching for the true self in seven nights of dreams, and finally ushering in a turning point in fate on the seventh night."
The entire album consists of 10 tracks, which construct a fantasy story about "loss, search and awakening".
It is worth mentioning that in addition to the debut song "Mystery Love", a hidden track called "No Dreams When Awake" has been added, and a total of 11 songs are actually included.
The visual design uses elements such as dark night, stars, clocks, broken mirrors, thorns and roses to create a surrealist style full of fate.
To be honest, this concept is not particularly novel.
Xie Qingyu cares more about the quality of the song itself.
Currently, only the lyrics and music score can be seen on the information. He tried humming a few lines in his mind and felt that the melody was not bad, but the overall effect could only be judged after listening to the demo.
At this time Xuzhou officially began to explain.
The serious atmosphere gave Xie Qingyu the inexplicable illusion of being back in the classroom.
Wei Liangchen, the worst among the worst students, has already started yawning.
It’s not that the content is boring, it’s simply that this formal environment makes him sleepy like a conditioned reflex. Those who understand will understand!
As Xuzhou explained each section of the album plan one by one, from track sequencing, concept positioning, production division of labor, publicity and promotion planning, to budget control and detail polishing, the members gradually had a clear outline of the album.
Such early communication is crucial. Only by ensuring that everyone roughly understands the core concept can the subsequent musical style connection and narrative logic construction not go off track.
After going through the text content, we finally came to the most anticipated demo listening session.
Xie Qingyu took the headphones that were handed to him and tapped the table with his fingertips to keep the beat.
When the melody of the pre-release song "Zero Hour Catcher" sounded, a smile appeared in his eyes. The long wait was worth it. The platform really put a lot of effort into selecting the songs.
The vivid memory points, unique style, and surprising details are all refreshing.
The subsequent title song "Rose No. 404", sub-title song "Twilight Line", concept song "The Thorn Birds", emotional song "Reflection Game", as well as songs of different styles such as "Survivor Bias", "Lie Flame", "Unchained", etc., further confirmed this feeling.
The storyline of the entire album is closely linked. It is neither rigidly "conceptual for the sake of concept" nor does it perfectly balance the depth and popularity of the work.
It is particularly worth mentioning that this album successfully avoids several common pain points of concept albums, such as vague themes that make it difficult for listeners to resonate, style jumps that destroy auditory continuity, and confusing positioning that affects communication effects.
When the last note of the ending song "Goodnight, Dream Thief" falls, the sense of fate of the entire album is pushed to a climax.
The hidden track "No Dreams When Awake" is by no means a filler, but rather the finishing touch.
Xie Qingyu can already imagine how happy a boy he will become after participating in the production of this album!
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