Tokyo: The evil god doesn't want to be the top star

The trainees after the top nine want to make a comeback. The five million popularity votes divided among the winners in the first performance are the only golden key...

The trainees, who had been particularly friendly after not seeing each other for a few days, suddenly changed from a harmonious atmosphere to a tense one.

"Yes, the rules of the show are cruel, but the real industry is even crueler than the show..."

"If you don't even have the awareness to face the challenges of the show and compete with fellow trainees, even if you successfully debut, you will be crushed by the competition in the industry."

"If you can't give yourself strength, how can you give strength to the audience? How can you become an idol?"

"Everyone, keep calm, prepare for the stage with all your strength, and shine the light you have accumulated through hard work to every producer in the audience and in front of the screen without any regrets!"

Seeing that the trainees looked strange and absent-minded, Goro Kimura suddenly spoke in a serious tone and shouted to encourage them.

"Yes, that's right... Even after we debut as a group..."

"Whether it's other teams or teammates in the same group..."

"As an idol, we are facing more brutal internal and external competition than we are facing now, anytime and anywhere."

As a retired top boy band idol, Goro Kimura's words are indeed from the heart.

These words awakened the trainees from their dreams, and they calmed down, with only the high will to fight left in their eyes.

"Nice look..."

"Then, the first thing to do is to divide into groups and select songs."

Seeing that the bowl of chicken soup for the soul that he had prepared had taken effect and the atmosphere on the field had returned to normal, Goro Kimura nodded and quickly CUE'd the next process.

"The top seven trainees in popularity will serve as captains for the international and local groups respectively. Please step out in order if your name is on the form."

Then, according to the list on the screen, seven international trainees led by Xia Fan and seven local trainees led by Hirano Yuta stood up amid the complicated looks of other trainees.

"On the opposite wall are the seven competition songs that the program team has carefully prepared."

On the wall opposite the stage, the staff tore down the curtain and revealed the names of the seven competing songs.

"Hey, there don't seem to be many foreign songs?"

"I know the choreography for that song. It's super difficult!"

"The original singer of this song is not a female voice, how can we sing it?"

A group of trainees glanced at the song titles on the wall and discussed in low voices.

The songs and choreography that can be performed on the stage must have official commercial authorization, so the works here are mainly well-known works from the idol groups of the three companies S, J, and A...

There is also a small part, which is obviously to take care of international trainees. The program team has specially purchased the copyrights of foreign singing and dancing works that have a certain degree of popularity in District 11.

"Captains, please select the songs one by one in reverse order of popularity."

"Attention, those who choose the same song will automatically become competitors in the competition."

While everyone was examining the music as carefully as if they were marking exam papers, Goro Kimura had already started the next step.

"It seems that we have to separate..."

"Let's each do our best."

"Don't give up easily."

Xia Fan, Basong and Jack looked at each other encouragingly.

The three roommates are all ranked in the top seven in popularity and automatically become captains. They each have to lead their team to compete with local trainees.

Then, under the guidance of the staff, the fourteen captain trainees, starting from the least popular, stood under their favorite songs one by one...

The selection of performance repertoire may seem random, but it is actually very crucial and can be said to be a step that determines fate, so the team leaders and trainees are very cautious.

These pieces are not only sung in different languages, but also have different levels of difficulty in terms of singing and dancing.

The captain trainees who are selected in front of them will choose the songs they are most confident in performing according to their own areas of expertise in order to ensure their own stage performance...

The captains who are then selected must consider all the tracks they like and choose the one that will PK with their weaker opponent.

Among them, songs in the language of District 11 are far more popular than foreign songs because they are more popular with the audience...

Even international trainees who are a little confident in their language skills will consider the audience's empathy and give priority to songs in the language of Region 11.

But when it came to Xia Fan, none of the above factors caused any trouble at all...

Because, as the most popular trainee and the last one to exercise his right to choose, he no longer has any choice.

Chapter 251 No One Cares

2024-07-13

Without any hesitation or choice, Xia Fan stood under the song titled "Prayer".

Standing under the same sign with him was Kishiyo, who ranked third in popularity.

"I didn't expect that we would meet each other in the first performance..."

"However, Xia Jun was really unlucky to have chosen this song."

Kishiyo touched the curly hair on his forehead, looked friendly, and whispered in a playful tone.

"What's wrong with this song? Didn't you choose it yourself?"

Xia Fan frowned slightly and asked curiously.

He had noticed before that most of the trainee captains obviously avoided this song when choosing the program.

But Kishiyo, who was the fifth from the last to exercise the right to choose, voluntarily chose this song even though there were many other options.

"Don't worry, you'll understand when we rehearse."

Kishio pretended to be handsome, casting charming eyes towards the camera and spoke in a low voice with a sinister tone.

"OK, next, all trainees, please take turns to line up and communicate with the captains who intend to participate in the program. After mutual confirmation, the team will be successfully formed..."

"Please note that you only have half an hour. Those who fail to form a team will be assigned by the production team."

After the fourteen captains took their positions under the seven song cards, it was the trainees' turn to "double-select"...

"I'm a strong dancer, let me join in!"

"I just happened to have practiced this song before. Don't believe me? Now I'll sing you two verses..."

"If you are sure you can take responsibility for the high notes in these places, then come on..."

For a moment, the main studio seemed like a large job-hunting site.

"Give me the C position and I will join."

"I've trained my leg muscles. If you still want to rely on me, then you can just... "

The trainees and the captains began to "bargain" over personal qualities, performance positions, and conditions for joining the team...

In order to compete for a place on the team, some people showed off their talents on the spot...

In order to recruit high-quality teammates, some captains are willing to give up the C position and even promise to pay some unspeakable price.

There is no other way. Under the cruel rules of the program group, the trainees not only have to work together to deal with external team confrontation, but also have to maintain internal competition at all times...

When choosing a team, everyone not only hopes to have a piece of music that suits their performance, but also considers whether their teammates are too strong and whether their own performance can surpass their teammates...

In short, we must ensure that the team has the strength to win, and also ensure that after victory, individuals can get as many popularity votes as possible.

Driven by countless "demands", the principle of "automatic market regulation" in economics began to take effect in the studio at this moment...

The average strength of the gradually formed teams is obviously not too different judging by the distribution of trainees of different star levels.

However, there is an exception.

"So idle..."

If the other captains have a bustling vegetable market in front of them, then Xia Fan's place is a haunted house in the wilderness that no one cares about.

More than ten minutes had passed, and even the neighboring An Ziyao had recruited several local trainees...

But not a single international trainee came to Xia Fan to ask a question.

"Hey, Mr. Xia, business is slow... I've already negotiated four offers..."

Martin Luther King came over at some point and raised four fingers with a smug look on his face.

"My song's title seems to be in the native language of District 11. Is it because the dance moves are too difficult?"

"Or maybe, I just have a bad relationship with people?"

Xia Fan shrugged helplessly and laughed at himself.

"It's not the problems you mentioned."

"Hey, you haven't seen this song performed before, have you? It was very popular for a while a few years ago..."

His reaction surprised Martin.

"I'm sorry. Although I volunteered to participate in the talent show, to be honest, I really haven't watched the stage performances of boy band idols very often..."

Xia Fan really knew nothing about the song "Prayer" above his head. He wanted to look it up on a search engine, but his phone was handed in before the show started.

"The dance moves for this song 'Prayer' are not difficult, but the difficulty lies in the singing..."

Pretending to "bargain" with Xia Fan, Martin squatted beside him and explained in a low voice.

It can be said that the song "Prayer" was born for the purpose of "showing off" from the very beginning...

The original stage featured 4 VOCALs taking turns singing high-pitched solos and 2 RAPPERS interspersed with high-speed rap, working together to create an auditory feast that was quite amazing to the ears.

The key point is that the high notes in the climax of this song basically start at C3, which requires a very high average singing skill and vocal range of the entire performance team.

You have to know that vocal range is a combination of innate conditions and acquired training, and not every vocalist can sing tenor.

An ordinary boy band usually has one vocalist and two or three assistant vocalists. But where can we find four lead singers, all of whom must be tenors?

Therefore, since the release of this song, the original male singer group has performed many LIVE stages indoors, outdoors, on rainy days, snowy days, and even on typhoon days...

But no other group has ever challenged to cover it.

"Is it so difficult? No wonder no one dares to come to me..."

After hearing what Martin said, Xia Fan suddenly realized.

Most international trainees already have a certain level of language proficiency.

On such a large-scale performance stage, the group dance and the solo singing take turns to sing high notes. If a performance error occurs and the voice breaks, not only will the score be low, but it will also become an indelible stain on one's career.

"No, besides the difficulty of the song itself, there are other reasons..."

"It seems that a certain 'conspicuous person' doesn't have enough self-awareness."

Staring at Xia Fan's delicate features and shining eyes, Martin murmured in a low voice.

Although the performance stage seems to be a team competition, the whole show is ultimately a competition of individual popularity...

No matter which international trainee, after seeing the broadcast effect of the "international version of the MV", they would not want to stand in the same shot with Xia Fan again and serve as a pitiful background board again.

"Oh, Xia Jun's brilliance is too dazzling. No one dares to stand with you."

An Ziyao, who was standing next to him, lifted his bangs and chuckled.

Just now, there were already seven people standing behind him, and the team was successfully formed.

"This An Ziyao, although his dancing is weak, I heard that he has been training in the choir since he was a child. He is known as the trainee with the best singing skills in S Club this year. Dolphin sounds are no problem at all..."

"The key is, you see, he also selected the right people. They are all local trainees who are good at singing and rapping."

Merging into the shadow behind Xia Fan, Martin silently injected information.

"There are three minutes left. Trainees and captains, please hurry up and communicate and quickly confirm the team formation..."

"The remaining people will be automatically assigned by the program team!"

At the same time, the executive director's urging came from the sidelines.

"Don't worry about it. I'll just wait for the team to be automatically formed. You've already negotiated with four companies, so go and finalize it."

There was not much time left, so Xia Fan quickly waved at him.

Chapter 252 The Upper Limit of Vocal Range

2024-07-13