PS Chapter 95 – Real Pressures
Tan Hong and Chen Fei’er are two big superstars, which made the studio of “Singing China” became star-studded in an instant.
Of course, the audience’s response was extremely enthusiastic. Everyone stood up and gave the warmest applause!
The exciting scene lasted for several minutes before it ended.
The host introduced the third judge.
Although the audiences very much hope that Beijing Satellite TV can continue to burst out surprises, but the two big superstar singers are clearly enough to suppress the scene. There is no need to add to the icing on the cake in this respect.
The third judge of “Singing China” is Zhen Zhen, the editor-in-chief of Pop Music magazine.
Over the past 30 years, the rise and fall of pop music in China has made great progress. Today’s market has expanded to a level that could not have been imagined before. The scale of the industry is quite huge, so popular music-related newspapers and magazines are not in the minority, and taking also into account the simultaneous distribution of entities and networks.
And “Pop Music” magazine is undoubtedly one of the leading roles, and is recognized by the industry as the authoritative media.
Its editor-in-chief, Zhen Zhen, was once a famous musician and enjoyed a wide reputation in the industry.
The fourth judge is Lin Zhijie, the music director of Flying Stone Records.
Flying Stone Records is one of the most famous record companies in China. It has produced a number of Heavenly King and Heavenly Queen level singers. In the 1980s and 1990s, its sales in music tape and CD sales have been in the forefront of the industry.
After entering the Internet age of the new century, the emergence of a large number of new media, the management of Flying Stone Records suffered unprecedented difficulties, once facing the brink of bankruptcy.
Later, the old record company learned from the bitter experience, and tore away the bad assets and redundant personnel, followed the trend and lightly loaded into battle, opened up a variety of new business, and was able to revitalize.
In China and even in Asia, Flying Stone Records is still the most popular brand!
With two men and two women, two superstars plus two authoritative media representatives, Beijing Satellite TV has undoubtedly taken great pains to form a panel of judges, and its structure is perfect.
After the four judges had taken their seat, the first qualifying match of “Singing China” officially began.
According to the rules, the qualifying session also adopts the judges’ decision system. When the contestants come on stage and sing until the end, if three or four judges do not show a red light, they will pass and get the pass card successfully.
If two red lights are on, they will enter the waiting area, and the audience will vote to decide who gets the last three lucky places to make it into the semi-finals!
The first contestant was Zheng Kai from Beijing, a 24-year-old graduate from Northern Academy of Music. He opened with a song “Autumn Love Song” and won the applause of the audience. He passed without a red light and got the first semi-finals pass card!
Then came the second and third…
The qualifying match is different from the auditions. The contestants are carefully selected out of thousands of people. Therefore, each has their own characteristics. Some have excellent appearance, some have solid skills, some can play an instrument and sing, and some can dance and sing vigorously.
The attitude of the four judges is very serious and professional. There is no exaggerated expression of emotion. Whether they passed or rejected a contestant, they will give appropriate evaluation, praise or encouragement.
Thousands of spectators on the scene responded equally well. They would applaud, even stand up and cheer if they think that the contestant sang well and would be silent and even boo, and do not give face at all if they think that the contestant is bad.
Several contestants were so nervous that their opening sounds fluttered, and they were booed and collapsed on the spot.
Such a scene could not be seen on the talent show a few years ago.
At that time, the major satellite TV stations scrambled for variety resources and launched a large number of reality show programs. In order to create gimmicks, they really did everything they could. The program team would pay special attention to the kind of “bitter motivational, strange personality, suffering from terminal illness, tall, rich and handsome” and other good seedlings to promote the topic and enhance the effect.
It doesn’t matter if the contestants at that time didn’t have a touching story. The screenwriter of the program team will make one for you!
If they don’t want to cooperate with making fake story, then sorry, they will be eliminated in the next round. There is no reason to talk about it.
Not only contestants, even friends and relatives have to cooperate with the play to incite emotions. Most of the audience on the scene is supportive. They are often intoxicated with tears, and their expression is too exaggerated to be seen. As a result, a large number of ridiculous expressions appeared on the Internet.
Many talent shows were even jokingly called by netizens as “The strongest than the tragic king”, “Chinese good story”…
Contestants, friends and relatives, and the audience are all performing. The judges certainly can’t stay out of it.
The program team carefully designed the lines, actions and even personality for the judges. Some were keen to stir up trouble, some like to act cute, some were tearful from time to time, and some act as peacemakers. Anyway, the acting was right!
Since the so-called live broadcasting was recorded a few days in advance, there was enough time for later editing. Therefore, the so-called “contestant’s tearful sensation, judges pretending to listen, audience sobbing, and all kinds of “gossip” and “explosive material” spreading all over the internet every other day was not only easy to operate, but also looked full and exciting.
It is said that the behind-the-scenes editing and scriptwriting team of Xiangnan TV talent show has as many as hundreds of members!
However, the vast majority of TV viewers and netizens are not fools. They will be moved once or twice, and may also be moved in the third to the fifth times, but if they saw it every time, this will naturally produce great aversion and resistance.
As a result, many talent shows that want to continue to fool the audience will not have much soil for survival. If new programs want to win recognition, they must work hard on timeliness and authenticity, and not make real talent shows as movies.
There can be stories, tears can flow, and the audiences can be excited and can also disdain mockery, but it cannot be fake!
In this regard, Beijing Satellite TV has done a good job. Although the recording and live broadcast is one hour apart, the reaction of both the judges and the audience is real. The contestants should not think of making a comeback with a tragic story.
Some contestants went on the stage for only one minute before they get the red light and were eliminated. While others were able to interact with the judges after singing and gave them enough footage. The treatment was very different.
Such a gap in treatment does not mean that there are any behind-the-scene plotting or hidden rules, but is based on the judges and the audience’s evaluation of the performance of the contestants, which is equally true and credible.
And this kind of reality also gives the contestants who are still waiting in the backstage, quite a lot of pressure!
Because of the large screen TV hanging on the backstage wall and the live broadcast of scenes from the studio, the singing of the contestants in front of them can be seen and heard.
There is no rehearsal, no prior arrangements, and the quality of the performance depends on the strength and psychological quality of the individual.
If you sing well, you can certainly gain popularity in the limelight. If you sing badly, you have to lose face in front of the people of the whole country!
Lu Chen, who was also waiting, is interested to find that different people used different ways to decompress. Some closed their eyes, some listened to music with their headphones, some kept chatting with their friends and relatives, and some practice repeatedly with their guitar.
Besides, someone was peeking at a handsome guy! (TN: Not sure of this one. It’s either he is peeking at a handsome guy or someone was peeking at him.)
Lu Chen turned his head and smile to Mu Xiaochu.
Mu Xiaochu is the contestant from the Beijing Institute of Foreign languages. She has just turned 19 this year, which is the best age for a young girl.
Her character is shy and lovely, which makes people want to tease her.
With Lu Chen’s gaze, Mu Xiaochu blushed, just like a little girl being caught stealing candy.
But to Lu Chen’s surprise, she did not choose to escape, but hesitated and took the initiative to get up and walked over.
“Senior…”
The girl asked softly and timidly, “Can you accompany me with a song? I want to practice it again.”
Lu Chen could see that she had mustered up great courage to make such a request, so he nodded without thinking and said, “No problem. What song is it? I hope it’s not too hard!”
“It’s not difficult…”
Mu Xiaochu hurriedly wave her little hand and said, “It’s Chen Fei’er’s “Sweet Memories.”
Lu Chen was amazed and exclaimed, “Good choice!”
“Sweet Memories” is Chen Fei’er’s famous work, but also the representative work in sweet song. Mu Xiaochu certainly did not know that Chen Fei’er was one of the judges, and the choice of this song was undoubtedly just a coincidence.
With her voice and image, singing sweet songs is the most appropriate, and it will be easy to impress the judges!