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

"When checking and counting the votes, the program team and the notary office found that for some of the votes generated by the support activities, the user's operation records and time intervals were exactly the same, and it was determined that the support activities were automatically completed by some kind of software..."

"We have determined that the votes generated by the software are invalid."

"Here, the production team also solemnly calls on all the producers in front of the screen to support the trainees with genuine love from the heart, rather than relying on cold, mechanical software to do it for you."

He was obviously prepared for this situation and gave a high-sounding explanation that he had prepared long ago.

“Supporting software…”

"Hey, first place, is this how you get it?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the trainees all looked at Xia Fan with contempt, ridicule, and disdain.

Although no names were mentioned, after the "software ticket" was abolished, Xia Fan lost the first place...

In other words, Xia Fan had at least two million votes that were judged to be generated by software.

However, after losing these huge amounts of "software tickets", Xia Fan was worried about what place he would fall to, which became the next question in everyone's mind.

"So that's how it is. It's normal for the tickets generated by the software to be invalidated."

"Oh, there's actually such a thing as a cheering app. The idol industry is also taking off with the Internet."

In the mentor's seat, Oda Masaru and Hirai Shota looked at each other and nodded as if they had realized something.

"Second place, Nagase Kaito, 14.15 million votes..."

"Third place, Takahashi Yuu, 13.46 million votes..."

"Fourth place, Xia Fan, 1,316 votes..."

Kimura Goro continued to announce the names of the fourth place winners, and finally everyone heard Xia Fan's name...

"With four million votes, the ruling was scrapped with just one sentence: 'generated by software'... Have the production team really lost their minds to this extent?"

"How ridiculous! Xia Fan's ticket was 'machine-printed', but the extra tickets that the guys in the back suddenly got were 'handmade'?"

Yayoi Tsukki, sitting in the instructor's seat, held her chin with one hand and smiled coldly.

"The number of votes is only one aspect. This kind of negative public opinion that 'Xia Fan's fans used software to cheat the votes' is what the production team wants most, right?"

"To be able to come up with such a good plan to kill two birds with one stone, it seems that the production team has burned a lot of brain cells during the days when the recording was suspended."

She could imagine how big a whirlpool this news would cause in online public opinion alone.

Chapter 319 It’s easy to ask God but hard to send him away

2024-07-13

In the rankings announced by Goro Kimura next, the top ranked ones were, as usual, the trainees from District 11.

Except for a few international five-star trainees such as Jack, Basong, and Martin, who barely maintained within the "safety line" of thirty places, the rest of the international trainees were basically wiped out and fell into the list of twenty to be eliminated.

"Then let us congratulate the trainees who advanced to the second round of survival battle."

"Please, everyone, keep the hugs, tears and farewells at this moment forever. Although you have been eliminated, you have gained a lifetime of brotherhood here..."

"Producers in front of the screen, please don't be sad. You and our contestants will meet again outside the show. Please continue to pick them in the future and look forward to their better performances and works!"

During Goro Kimura's "emotional" speech, the trainees hugged each other affectionately and said goodbye in tears in front of the camera.

"Hey, Xia Jun, you are the pride of our international trainees, you must debut..."

Ken, Sid and several other international trainees who had performed on the same stage with Xia Fan could not escape the fate of being eliminated, and they stepped forward to hug Xia Fan tightly.

"Big Devil, show them something good in the next performance."

"Inherit the will of Internaxion and keep moving forward!"

"Hey, don't talk like you're going to die."

But if they had not been lucky enough to win with Xia Fan's team, they might have been eliminated in the first round. Therefore, they were not too sad, but instead smiled and cheered Xia Fan on.

By the way, Shibata Makoto was unable to participate in the recording due to "physical discomfort", but his ranking was already below the elimination line, so almost no one noticed.

"Carrying the blessings of their departed teammates, the last thirty trainees will face an even more brutal final round of performances..."

"The performance in this round of performances will directly determine to a large extent which nine trainees will stand out and be qualified to officially debut as a group."

After the twenty eliminated trainees left the stage, Kimura Goro wiped away the tears from his eyes and directed the program content to the next segment...

The final round of performances and the survival battle for the group’s debut.

After hearing his words, all the trainees stopped crying and their expressions became more serious than ever before.

The popularity ranking after this final round of performances will directly determine the nine crucial debut positions.

"Next, let me announce the competition rules for the final round of performances..."

"This time, our four mentors will personally stand on the stage and perform with the thirty trainees to support them in their last performance before their debut!"

Before Goro Kimura finished speaking, the trainees were in an uproar again.

"Performing with the instructor?!"

"I thought there was no booster segment for this performance, but it was saved until the end?!"

"The pressure is so great, the pressure is so great..."

The practice of mentors acting as guest performers was originally a very common segment in talent shows.

However, this segment is usually only arranged in the front part to create momentum and add to the fun.

In the first and second rounds of performances, the production team did not arrange for any mentors to appear on stage, and did not even provide any rehearsal guidance. The trainees naturally thought that there would be no more such content...

Unexpectedly, it was scheduled in the finals.

"What's wrong? Isn't it a good thing to perform with an experienced, talented, and popular mentor?"

Seeing the trainees' complicated expressions, Xia Fan quietly asked Martin behind him.

"What you said are all real advantages..."

"However, with mentors joining all four stages, all these advantages have been 'eliminated' by internal competition, leaving only disadvantages..."

Martin smiled bitterly and explained to Xia Fan in a low voice.

In order to maintain the status of "mature artists" in programs with mentors, not only are the requirements for stage performance and stage design very strict, but the entire performance must also be designed with the mentors as the center...

Considering that the trainees’ talent level is likely to be inferior to that of the instructors, if they are not careful, they will be compared with the instructors in the performance, and even become the background board, which will lead to the embarrassing situation that the audience will only remember the instructors after watching the performance...

Of course, even if a trainee surpasses the instructor in talent, he or she must hide his or her shortcomings according to industry rules to avoid causing any embarrassing situations.

In short, the stage with the participation of mentors is an awkward situation where "it is easy to invite a god but difficult to send him away".

"In the final round of performances, the four songs that the four mentors will support are as follows..."

On the big screen, the names of four songs appeared one by one below the names of the four mentors.

The song that Oda Masaru collaborated with is his classic song "Sudden One-Night Stand".

Goro Kimura's song was "The Other Side of the Ocean", a popular and soulful single from his former group "PAMS".

Shota Hirai's song is the title song of his latest album, "Fall", which combines street dance and rap.

The songs sung by the first three mentors were either famous songs or promotional songs, which is in line with industry practice.

"Teacher Yayoi's is 'Villain'?!"

“Why did you choose this song?”

But when the collaboration song with Yayoi Tsuki was announced, all the trainees showed puzzled expressions...

This song "Villain" is a collaboration between Yayoi Tsuki and District 11's top rapper OG Kato. The lyrics and music are both of good quality and are also very suitable for collaboration stages...

But this song is not even in the top ten of Yayoi Tsuki's famous works.

Because, most of the song was rapped by Kato, and Yayoi Tsuki was only responsible for the "soul chorus" part...

"Besides, isn't Teacher Yayoi hearing impaired..."

"The performance is a live performance, is she really okay?"

What makes the trainees even more worried is whether Yayoi Tsuki, who has "indefinitely stopped her music activities" due to hearing loss, can contribute a live performance on the performance stage that is no less good than her original performance?

"..."

In the mentor's seat, Yayoi Tsuki, who was the source of everyone's speculation, had a calm expression.

The selection of songs for this collaboration was the result of repeated communication between the program team and Xiaoxi's agent.

The reason given by the program team for choosing the song is to enable Yayoi Tsuki to perform as stably as possible on the live stage without making mistakes, thus ensuring the broadcast quality of the final.

As an artist, Yayoi Tsuki could only agree with this reason.

After all, the chorus she sang in "Villain" was just a monotonous and repetitive part, with low complexity and difficulty. She didn't need any ear monitor or background music, and she couldn't make mistakes even with her eyes closed...

"Next, our trainees will be randomly drawn by the system and assigned to the four mentors' collaborative songs..."

“No matter which group you are assigned to, being able to rehearse with our mentors and receive professional guidance will be an experience that will benefit us for the rest of our lives!”

Chapter 320: The Bad Fortune

2024-07-13

"Well, let's start drawing lots to form groups now..."

As soon as Kimura Goro finished speaking, the names of the trainees began to scroll below the four mentors' collaborative songs...

"God bless me, as long as I'm not a villain, anything is fine..."

"No Yayoi moon, no Yayoi moon, no Yayoi moon..."

"You must be kidding me! That's OG Kato's rap. He spent days rehearsing before going on stage. If he gets tongue-tied, he'll be screwed!"

The trainees in the field didn't dare to look at the screen, but bowed their heads and prayed nervously.

Among these four collaborative songs, the one they were most reluctant to draw was naturally Yayoi Tsuki's "Villain".

Since her debut, Yayoi Tsuki has been known as the "Queen of Poisonous Tongue" for her direct, bold, harsh and picky words. When rehearsing with her, you will probably encounter all kinds of criticisms in front of the camera, and be recorded in the "Poisonous Tongue Collection" by the camera, with all your shortcomings magnified in front of the audience.

In addition, in order to ensure Yayoi Tsuki's performance, the program team chose the song with the lowest singing difficulty and the most monotonous content for her, but ignored that the cooperating trainees were responsible for OG Kato's difficult rap...

Due to various factors, "The Villain" became a "bad luck song" that did not get any "golden song bonus", was criticized by all kinds of venomous tongues, and had to bear the heavy burden of rap.

"Okay, stop!"

"For the final round of performances, the groupings for the collaborative repertoire have officially been formed!"

After Goro Kimura called a halt, the names on the screen stopped scrolling.

"Hey, hey, hey, is this true or not..."

"This... the result of the team formation is too unbalanced, isn't it?"

This newly generated "performance group list" left all the trainees stunned.

Three five-star trainees, Yuta Hirano, Yu Takahashi, and Jack, as well as several four-star trainees, drew "Across the Ocean" by Goro Kimura.

Hirano Yuta was naturally filled with joy when he met Kimura Goro, whom he had always admired, and the other people were also very confident about this singing and dancing golden song.

Kishi Sho and Basong, along with several other trainees, drew the song "Sudden One-Night Stand" by Masaru Oda.

Most of them are trainees who are good at vocal music, so they are naturally very satisfied.

Takahashi Yu, Nagase Kaito, and several others including Martin were assigned to Hirai Shota's "Fall".

They are all professionals in street dance and rap, so it is natural that they have a high degree of compatibility with Shota Hirai's new song.

Judging from the draw results of the first three groups alone, the mentors and trainees are quite satisfied with each other.

Of course, this does not include Xia Fan and several trainees with lower popularity rankings...

Because they were "unlucky" enough to draw the "very unlucky sign" Yayoizuki "Villain".

Perhaps it was a coincidence, or perhaps it was because they did not forget to demonstrate the original intention of "internationalization" in the finals. The few international trainees who remained were relatively evenly distributed into the four programs.

"In the finals, we're actually working with Yayoi?"

Unlike the other trainees in the same group who had gloomy faces, Xia Fan simply raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Then, after three days of rehearsal, we will have our final performance..."

"Just like the previous two rounds, one thousand audience members and four mentors will vote on the spot to determine the performance rankings of the four songs."