Huayu: Traffic is king

Chapter 49 Key Upgrade
After the first two parts of "Idol Producer" were broadcast, there was only one day left for the trainees to perform in the first round.

Gu Jingyi has been really busy recently, and the "first public performance" only leaves each trainee with one week of practice time.

Not only does he have to practice choreography and segments with his teammates, but he also has to record dormitory derivative programs, including pre- and post-interviews, behind-the-scenes materials, sponsor advertisements, and all the other trivial daily things that can add to the popularity.

Today, the election officials told Gu Jingyi that the online voting rankings for round zero were out. He ranked first in popularity.

As a bonus, there's a short video he needs to record, which will be played as an Easter egg after the next episode is finished.

Gu Jingyi returned to the practice room as soon as he finished recording the short video.

"What happen to you guys?"

Looking at the trainees' somewhat depressed mood, Gu Jingyi didn't understand what was wrong with them.

"Brother Jingyi, I'm hungry."

Justin touched his stomach a little embarrassedly, and Fan Chengcheng also said embarrassedly that he was hungry.

"It's no big deal. I'll go to the store and buy some food right now."

It was past five in the morning, and the cafeteria didn't open until seven or eight. The trainees' training was intense, and the food in the cafeteria wasn't enough to keep them going for long.

I got hungry quickly after eating, and my stomach started rumbling soon.

Apart from the canteen, there is really no place to eat.

"Idol Producer" recordings require you to hand in your phone, so few people can bring cash. And the canteen only accepts cash, not credit.

The kids in the group had already used up the little cash they had on food.

Gu Jingyi was quite well prepared, and he brought with him a thick stack of money.

As he walked out of the practice room, the cold wind blew in his face, making him tighten his collar. The winter was so cold that it made people shiver, and even the air seemed to condense into ice crystals.

Therefore, when Gu Jingyi saw those trainees who were shivering with cold in such weather but still forced themselves to walk past the cameras of the fans, he knew their intentions at a glance.

In the absence of much contact with outside news, the information that the fan club members unconsciously reveal is closely related to them.

"Gu Jingyi!"

"Jingyi, look here!"

As soon as Gu Jingyi appeared at the door of the convenience store, he saw the station girls calling his name.

He walked a few steps closer and asked, "Did you bring any heating pads today?"

"Bring it!"

"Yeah, everything is ready. Jingyi, go buy some things and don't worry about us."

Gu Jingyi noticed that an election official was about to come towards him, and he just said hello to the fans and was about to leave.

Then she saw Tian Xiwei's face flushed with cold, and she said to him, "Gu Jingyi, don't check Weibo recently. Just focus on your competition, and I'll take care of the rest!"

After she said this, the rest of the fans also started shouting:
"Jingyi, don't look at the trending searches recently"

"Xiaoyi, if the election officials tell you anything, don't listen or believe it. This time, you won't be wronged!"

Gu Jingyi's lips moved slightly. He saw sincerity and protection in each of the lovely faces. The election officer had already come over and signaled him not to linger too long.

Gu Jingyi just waved to the fans and left.

After returning to the practice room and dividing the food I bought, Li Ronghao came over.

He watched the group's performance and paced around the trainees for a while. Finally, a thought struck him, and he said, "Your performance was indeed good, but it felt a little off. How about singing the song in a higher key at the end to give it some depth?"

Everyone looked at Gu Jingyi, "Sure, I have no problem."

The team members also breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank you for your hard work, Brother Jingyi"

The director behind the camera was stunned. The original version of "Cant Stop" was the band's song. The pitch was already high enough, did Gu Jingyi need to raise the key again?
This song is actually quite difficult, and Group B broke their vocals several times during practice. The production team was thinking about how to help the next group with backing vocals during the performance, but Group A was trying to figure out how to raise the key?

This gap is too big.

Li Ronghao smiled warmly, "I believe in Xiaoyi's ability. Let me see if you can work together again."

Half an hour later, after listening to the up-key version of the song, Li Ronghao nodded with satisfaction. "Not bad! Gu Jingyi's high notes gave me goosebumps. But do you still have some energy left? I feel like you could have gone up a key in that last part."

Gu Jingyi nodded, "Indeed, it's possible, but I'm afraid it will affect the aesthetics, so I've retracted it a bit.

"Cant Stop Love" is a hybrid rock style with a British rock base. I was afraid that showing off too much technique would make the final product look a bit exaggerated."

Li Ronghao laughed heartily. He patted Gu Jingyi on the shoulder and said, "No need to hold back. I'm telling you, during performances, ballads generally don't perform as well on stage as dance music. Most ballads are just for show. The audience loves the high notes; they think they're impressive."

Gu Jingyi thought this made sense. Most of the audience members weren't vocalists. They couldn't usually hear the connection between the mid-range and the buildup to the bass. But high notes were something they could intuitively sense and could detect as soon as the song was sung.

Seeing that Gu Jingyi was wavering, Li Ronghao spoke again, "Don't you feel like you don't know how to weave it in? We still have a day, let's think about it. What are other people's opinions?"

“I think it’s okay.”

You Changjing was the first to nod. For the trainees who volunteered for the vocal field, they hoped that the whole song would be as difficult as possible.

The better the stage performance, the more likely he will be remembered by the audience along with Gu Jingyi.

Justin and Fan Chengcheng also nodded. "Brother Jingyi doesn't need to restrain his own brilliance just to take care of us. The better the overall effect of the stage presentation, the more we can benefit from it."

This is also the idea of ​​most trainees in the group. No one thought that they could surpass Gu Jingyi on stage when they were in the same group with him.

They just wanted to finish their singing segments normally and then try to get extra votes for the "Best Group" award.

Everyone had no objection, and Li Ronghao was also very happy.

He discussed the arrangement directly with Gu Jingyi, "Then we can raise the key of the Cant Stop at the beginning layer by layer, so that the audience will be amazed as soon as we open the song."

"Jingyi, I think you could do with a little more hoarseness here..."

Time passed by little by little. Seeing the overall effect of Group A led by Gu Jingyi getting better and better, Li Ronghao felt a sense of accomplishment. He encouraged them again:
"Team A did a great job. If you can maintain this level of performance tomorrow, you'll be in great shape."

"Thank you, Mr. Ronghao, for your hard work."

After Gu Jingyi politely thanked Li Ronghao, he led the trainees to rehearse again and then dispersed.

　The second update will be out before 13pm, around 14-pm. The title will be changed in a couple of days and has already been submitted to the editor.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)