Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 244 Season 2 premieres

[PS: Researching singers was a real headache, so only two updates.]

October 1st, outside the square.

"That's the angle, good, good, hold on!"

Zhang Yan adjusted the angle, selected a five-second delay for filming, and then quickly ran over, raising his left arm to form a heart shape with Chen Hong's right arm, framing the fluttering national flag in the center.

This year is not a major celebration, but the area around the square was still packed with people. It was difficult to find an open space outside, let alone get inside.

Zhang Yan finally found the right angle to take this photo, and then, too lazy to squeeze any further in, he and Chen Hong walked hand in hand for three miles, got into the Crown parked by the roadside, and began their journey towards Tianjin.

The wedding was held the day before yesterday. Everyone else left yesterday morning, but the couple stayed an extra day because they needed to discuss the decoration of their wedding room with the designer and wanted to take a group photo on National Day.

After returning to Tianjin, the two went their separate ways; one went to a television station, and the other went to a film crew.

Upon arriving at the television station, Zhang Yan first inquired with Ma Yuan and learned that the city had basically approved his proposal to keep the Golden Eagle Awards in Tianjin and hold it permanently at the August 1st Film and Television Base.

Meanwhile, some suggested using the Golden Eagle Award as a pretext to hold a music festival—after all, it's impossible to bring the actors attending the awards ceremony to the film and television city to perform on the spot, but a music festival is different, and it would definitely add a lot of color to the August 1st Film and Television Base.

That's a good idea. It seems that not everyone in the city government is a bunch of old fogies.

"We will set up a Best Live Performance Award and let tourists visiting the film and television base vote on the spot. The winner will be recommended to do more commercial performances, which will also provide some motivation for the singers."

After coming up with the idea, Zhang Yan stopped paying attention to the matter for the time being. As long as the Golden Eagle Awards were settled in Tianjin, Yuanmeng would be able to reap the benefits. Since the city and the TV station were quite enthusiastic, there was no need for him to be at the forefront.

For a period of time afterward, apart from taking a medical check-up at the hospital with Chen Hong, Zhang Yan devoted most of his energy to the second season of "I Am a Singer".

The preliminary rounds are currently in full swing, and this time there are more talented singers emerging than last time—but fewer top-tier ones, mainly due to the new rule that singers cannot have released an album before.

Many of the singers who were eliminated in the semi-finals last time wanted to make a comeback, but under Zhang Yan's instructions, except for one or two particularly outstanding ones, the rest were basically eliminated.

The story of the loser starting over is certainly inspiring, but having too many familiar faces in the top 32 is not a good thing—it just shows that someone is becoming more and more like a qualified capitalist.

Park Suk, who was eliminated in the preliminary round last year, is here again this year, but as usual, he was eliminated in the preliminary round.

The young man presented an original song, which should have been a plus, but his verses were sung haltingly and poorly, which the judges didn't appreciate.

Despite his best efforts to defend himself, claiming that he was trying to be innovative, he was still eliminated by the judges.

Given that he has two songs on the charts, Zhang Yan also took the time to encourage Pu Shu, saying that he was optimistic about his potential and told him to stay humble, keep up the good work, and come back to try making his dream come true once he has mastered music.

The young man was greatly encouraged and immediately nodded through gritted teeth, saying, "I'll go back and drop out of school!"

what? !

In the short time Zhang Yan was stunned, the young man had already run far away, and many people had gathered around him to try and get close to him, so he couldn't chase after him and put the matter out of his mind.

10 month 10 number.

Tianjin TV officially started broadcasting. In order to ensure sufficient viewership, it adopted a "reheating old dishes" approach for the first few days, broadcasting "I Am a Singer" during the day and "Tianjin TV" at night.

The Golden Eagle Awards ceremony was also broadcast in between.

Incidentally, every half hour, they would give an advertisement for the second season of "I Am a Singer".

If this were twenty years from now, people would probably be furious and shut up, but these days it's normal for a show to be replayed for several years, and nobody would find it strange.

that's it.

On October 21st, "I Am a Singer" aired as scheduled, featuring a novel blind audition and turning-around mode, mentors who seemed to be on steroids, and contestants with even better overall abilities.

As expected, the second season got off to a great start, receiving unanimous praise from major media outlets. They believed that the "I Am a Singer" program team had fully considered public opinion and adopted a blind audition + team format, doing its best to maintain fairness and impartiality.

The practice of using postcards that came with instant noodles to vote for the teams to determine the winner has also won praise from the audience.

In the past, if you wanted to vote for an event, you usually had to cut out the cover page of a magazine, write a handwritten letter, put on a stamp, and send it over. The process was tedious and expensive.

Instead, you could use the postcards that come with instant noodles. All you need to do is write the singer's name on it and use a two-cent stamp.

The most important thing is that the instant noodles have more filling but the price hasn't increased.

So ever since the show aired, Bright Dairy instant noodles saw a surge in sales – even viewers who didn't watch the show or intend to vote wouldn't refuse a free postcard when they needed instant noodles.

At first, some record companies tried to take shortcuts by hoarding voting cards to secure votes for their artists. However, Bright Dairy's market share was too high, selling so many packs of instant noodles every day. The cost of consistently securing votes was simply unsustainable for companies in those days.

After all, these days, record companies are considered quite wealthy if they have two or three million in their pockets. Asking them to take out hundreds of thousands or even millions to gamble is really asking too much.

As for the crazy fans...

Of course there are crazy fans these days, but most families are just barely making ends meet, so where would they get the extra money to support their children's idol worship?

So the competition was generally quite fair.

In the second season's semi-finals, a number of excellent original songs also emerged, such as Han Xiao's "Flying Apsaras", Han Xiao's "I Want to Go to Guilin", Huo Feng's "Big Sedan Chair", Sun Hao's "Chinese Folk Song", Chen Ming's "Loneliness Makes Me So Beautiful", and Zhu Hua's "What's Wrong With Me".

However, most of these singers have record companies supporting them, and most of the songs they sing are not written by themselves.

Ultimately, only two contestants were selected from the team's semi-finals: Sun Yue, who later became famous for her song "Wishing You Peace," and Xie Xiaodong, who had already performed on the Spring Festival Gala.

Sun Yue is from the railway art troupe; she can simply transfer directly from her previous job to this position.

Xie Xiaodong was originally prepared to sign with a music company in Hong Kong, but because the terms offered by the company were not very good, and it just so happened that the second season of "I Am a Singer" was starting, he decided to sign up and try his luck.

Compared to the first season, this season's contestants have gained significantly fewer opportunities in terms of becoming singers.

But there's no way around it. Now that Yuanmeng has become too big a target, if they continue to promote their own artists like they did last time, the industry capital in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou will probably unite to criticize and discredit "I Am a Singer" and Yuanmeng.

Only by giving up the center stage and letting the contestants from different companies fight it out can a win-win situation be guaranteed.

Moreover, the current situation of Yuanmeng is relatively stable, and it is not suitable for signing a large number of new talents.

So, the biggest discovery of this season was actually Tengger, who was unable to participate in the competition.

However, this guy's arrival has also changed the atmosphere within the Dream Club. Now, the singers get together to drink every now and then.

Tengger never misses a beat.

He even started a beer association, whose members included contestants from "I Am a Singer," such as Huo Feng, Yin Xiangjie, and Sun Hao...

As a result, the record companies behind the three protested to the program team, feeling that it was a deliberate attempt to target their counterparts in Beijing and to favor those in Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Because all of these people are involved in Beijing's elite social circles.

Zhang Yan felt speechless and wronged. First, northerners are more fond of drinking, and second, Tengger has no connection with the south. How did this become a conspiracy theory?
However, Tenggol's alcoholism problem really needs to be addressed.

Zhang Yangang was about to have a talk with Teng Ge'er and warn him to behave himself in the future, but Teng Ge'er's own backyard caught fire first, and his wife started to rage.

The two fought from the third floor of the apartment building down to the first floor, and then dragged each other by the collar to Yuanmeng Company to ask Wang Jinghua and Wang Zhongqi for justice.

It turns out that Teng Ge'er's wife is Chen Hong's senior at the Shanghai Theatre Academy. She heard that her husband had signed with Yuanmeng and thought she could also get her name listed on Yuanmeng.

As a result, Tenggeer patted his chest and made a firm promise, but halfway there he went out drinking and didn't get home for two days and one night. When he came back, he had completely forgotten about his official appointment.

This sparked a major argument between the couple.

Upon hearing the news, Zhang Yan rushed to the company and first held a short meeting with Wang Jinghua and Wang Zhongqi.

"This guy can really drink."

Wang Zhongqi immediately complained, "I heard he drinks at least two jin of baijiu (Chinese liquor) every day, and I don't know how much beer he drinks—and he only goes to the recording studio after drinking; he doesn't practice his voice at all otherwise."

Wang Jinghua frowned and said, "Xu Wei was never one to stay still, and now he's always indulging in gluttony. The two of them are even competing to see who can treat the other to more meals. Recently, even Wang Feng and Gao Feng have been affected."

After hearing this, Zhang Yan couldn't help but scratch his head. He originally thought that Han Lei would be the most affected by signing Tengger, but who knew that Tengger would cause so much trouble.

Finally, he made the decision: "Let's take him out for a spin. We'll have him sign an agreement beforehand that if he still can't control himself during the tour, we'd rather lose money than not send him away."

Even if Tengger is the biggest discovery of this season, this kind of 'black sheep' who can't control himself must not be allowed to stay!

This suggestion not only received the support of Wang Jinghua and Wang Zhongqi, but also the strong approval of Tengger's wife, Hasigaowa.

So Hasgaowa also signed an agreement with Tengger that if he still couldn't control himself during this tour, he would be fired and divorced at the same time.

(End of this chapter)