HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 121 [121] On Happy Camp, perfect pitch, three keys to form a song
The show Happy Camp was created in 97.

Initially, the hosts were Li Xiang and Li Bin, but this year, Li Bin was replaced by radio host Hai Bo.

For some unknown reason, Haibo left and He Jiong joined, and the variety show "Happy Camp" entered a period of rapid development.

Li Xiang's vivaciousness and generosity complement He Jiong's wit and humor perfectly, and their partnership has attracted a large audience.

Mainland TV stations are much more generous than those in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Qi Yuan promoted his album on Hong Kong and Taiwan television, but the money the TV stations gave him was barely enough for travel expenses.

The later hugely popular show "Kangxi Lai Le" only cost about 10 RMB to produce per episode.

This 10 yuan includes a series of expenses such as studio rental fees, set design fees, and prop fees.

No matter how famous a celebrity is, they only receive a little over 10,000 NT dollars when appearing on a TV show, which is about 3,000 RMB.

Less famous artists fared even worse; some couldn't even earn a thousand dollars.

This is related to the fact that their market is too small; how many people are there in Hong Kong and Taiwan?

There are countless TV stations in Taiwan, more than 300 in total.

The population itself is not large, and the audience is further divided among multiple television stations, resulting in a small number of viewers for each station. The production costs of programs are too high to recoup the costs.

The situation is different in mainland China, where a single province can have tens of millions of people.

For a top-tier TV station like Hunan TV, a 30-second ad placement can cost tens of thousands of yuan.

With a large enough audience and sufficient revenue, one can naturally afford to hire celebrities.

"Take it." Qi Yuan said without hesitation.

The show "Happy Camp" had very high ratings. During the Li Xiang and He Jiong era, "Happy Camp" was a must-watch variety show for many people every week. Hunan TV was also willing to pay him, so there was no reason for him not to appear on it.

Appearing on "Happy Camp" can help promote your new album and also give QQ some publicity.

QQ has been launched and is even more popular than the Little Pony team expected.

The number of downloads exceeded 10 within three days of its release.

Five-digit accounts are no longer enough; new users can now only register six-digit accounts.

Fortunately, the little pony was smart and had reserved several hundred five-digit account numbers in advance for company employees and relatives and friends.

In addition to the account number 10001, Qi Yuan asked Little Pony for thirty more five-digit accounts.

I'll keep the account 12345 for myself, and give the rest to my friends in the industry, such as Gao Yuanyuan, Huang Xiaoming, Yan Danchen, Fan Xiaopang, and Li Xue.

Qi Yuan discovered that the account 10001 could only be used for collection purposes; he couldn't use it at all.

When Little Pony's team advertised on various forums, in order to attract more downloads, they claimed that Qi Yuan used account 10001 in the MV.

Now, as soon as Qi Yuan logs into his account, people are adding him as a friend every minute; the request notifications are practically exploding.

Only by using the account 12345 can he find peace and quiet.

The premise is that this account is not known to netizens, otherwise his new account will also be quickly compromised.

It's worth mentioning that Fan Xiaopang became the first generation of online dating goddess in mainland China's internet community because of the music video for "Romantic Love".

Many netizens in the community saw that Qi Yuan found a beautiful girlfriend, Fan Xiaopang, online in the music video, and they followed suit, registering QQ accounts to find female netizens for online dating.

When they were having online romances with female netizens, the image they imagined was of Fan Xiaopang.

Little did they know that, in order to increase user engagement, Little Pony and his team had one person simultaneously using dozens of accounts to impersonate female netizens and chat with them. Those netizens sitting in front of their computers, smiling like doting aunts, probably never imagined that the people chatting with them about cheesy love talk weren't Fan Xiaopang, but a group of programmers in their twenties with hairstyles that looked like they were in their fifties.

Qi Yuan and Gao Yuanyuan have now changed their contact information to QQ.

Gao Yuanyuan texted Qi Yuan to ask when he would be able to return to Beijing.

Qi Yuan replied that it might take some time, as this trip was from south to north, and the last stop for the book signing was Beijing.

……

In the days that followed, Qi Yuan held autograph sessions in Shanghai, Guangzhou, and other cities, and each session sold a lot of genuine records.

On September 27, he came to Shanghai and sang songs such as "Jiangnan", "Dongfeng Po", "Writing Poems for You" and "Romantic Love".

The most explosive moment of the event was when Qi Yuan sang "Serious Snow," a song she wrote last year when she came to Shanghai to promote her first album.

Fans in Shanghai have always believed that this song was written by Qi Yuan specifically for them, so the screams from the audience were much louder as soon as the intro started.

As Qi Yuan waved to her fans, she sang the lyrics with deep emotion: "I loved so earnestly, I loved so earnestly, but I still heard you say it was impossible. Shanghai, which hadn't seen snow for over a decade, suddenly had snowfall, right the moment you said we should break up. The snow fell so deep, so earnestly, reflecting the scars I left in the snow. I don't care how many scars I have, but I care who will be with you from now on..."

The next day, photos of Shanghai fans cheering for Qi Yuan appeared in the newspaper.

……

Two days later.

Qi Yuan came to Changsha, Hunan Province, to participate in the recording of the latest episode of "Happy Camp".

After the two hosts, He Jiong and Li Xiang, opened the show, Qi Yuan came on stage and sang half of "Romantic Love".

"Give it a gentle push, but I just can't let go of my feelings for you. I never knew love could slowly grow heavier. I want to turn off all the lights in this city and focus on smelling your hair in the darkness... You smile as you browse the screen, watching the romance unfold. I never knew it was so simple to sincerely express my love. I revisit your adorable image on the screen, and I've added another line to my explanation of fate..."

Qi Yuan is incredibly popular.

After singing half a song, He Jiong looked at the enthusiastic fans holding up signs and said to Li Xiang to liven up the atmosphere, "Why don't we go down and let A Yuan hold a concert?"

"it is good!"

The fans in the audience responded in unison.

He Jiong made a surprised expression, and the show's effect was instantly achieved.

After chatting for a while, Li Xiang asked Qi Yuan, "We are all very curious about how you created so many popular songs. Did you show musical talent when you were very young?"

Qi Yuan was afraid that Li Xiang and He Jiong wouldn't ask.

He never used the 'perfect pitch' he borrowed from Jay Chou in public.

“I’ve been sensitive to the sounds of musical instruments since I was a child. I can turn my back to you, and you can press three keys on the piano with your back to me. I can then use those three notes to write a simple melody for everyone to hear,” Qi Yuan said confidently.

Li Xiang looked somewhat surprised; this was far too difficult, and the probability of failure was very high.

He Jiong quickly came to the rescue: "Why don't you play and sing a new song for us, A-Yuan? We really want to see you play the piano and sing at the same time."

It's not good that a singer as popular as Qi Yuan would have a mishap on their show.

But Qi Yuan insisted, so Li Xiang could only turn his back to Qi Yuan and randomly press three keys on the piano.

Everyone held their breath, watching Qi Yuan on the stage.

Qi Yuan's performance began.

(End of this chapter)