Love Variety Show: The despised me exploded in popularity

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"Seven hundred and eight votes are pretty good, too, no need to fixate on seven hundred and forty," Xu Qingyan said with a hint of embarrassment.

Damn it, I should never have bragged in the first place.

But at that time, right before Pei Muchan was about to go on stage, she turned her head and asked how many votes I guessed she would get. Anyone with a brain would shoot high, and saying seven hundred and forty wasn't wrong, really.

Should be... right?

"Ahem, you've advanced, haven't you? No rush, there's another chance next week," Xu Qingyan comforted her, but it was just a casual remark, something to buy time.

Unexpectedly, Pei Muchan suddenly leaned in close.

"Really?"

For safety reasons, the cabin lights were turned off during night flights, leaving the dim light swirling in the middle. Their faces were just two fists apart.

You could faintly hear the rustling sounds all around, making the cabin all the more quiet.

Pei Muchan's complexion was porcelain white, her eyes were narrow and slightly curved, with the corners of her eyes slightly reddened.

"Um..." He realized he was digging his own grave, but the words were already out, "Yes, if you're still standing on that stage next week, you can definitely get seven hundred and forty votes."

What a damn fool I am, Xu Qingyan really wanted to slap himself. A ninety-two point five percent vote rate, that kind of result would be monstrously hard to achieve.

"Okay," Pei Muchan turned her head away, not looking at him anymore.

It seemed she was looking at the night scene, and the atmosphere suddenly relaxed. Xu Qingyan leaned back in his seat, just as he closed his eyes, he suddenly heard her muttering from the next seat.

"Next week, remember to write a song for me, too."

...

The following day, in Xinghai.

Waking up, Xu Qingyan found that Lin Wanzhou was still mad, and he was instantly full of question marks.

At two or three in the morning, there came an angry mushroom emoji. Before sleeping at four o'clock, another "hmpf," and right at eight o'clock in the morning, she sent a "not happy."

Sending back a question mark, she stopped responding again from her side.

Xu Qingyan truly couldn't understand, puzzled about what made Lin Wanzhou so mad; at that time, he was busy on a call, not paying attention to the dinner table.

He felt like he hadn't done anything, just took a call, that's all. And the person at the other end was a guy, one hundred percent manly.

Angry?

Could it be that she doesn't like Lin Chuan?

But he didn't dwell on it—both of their studios weren't too far apart, so he figured he could drive over in the afternoon and ask directly.

During this time, he still needed to ponder over the songs for the competition. He couldn't go back on his word to Boss Pei. Having promised seven hundred and forty votes, at the very least he needed to find a song suitable for the competition.

Even though "Late Marriage" and "Fleeting Years" had good stage presence and each garnered over seven hundred votes, you can't always rely on mellow songs in a competition.

The guest challenger would suddenly appear on stage, and the listeners wouldn't have time to think about this person's musical style, etc. Then, bam—the lights come on, the song's intro floods in.

As the listeners start to really listen to the music, after hearing many fiery songs, suddenly a calming song comes on. Instantly, wow—one feels it's a breath of fresh air.

It's fine to use it occasionally, but if it's overused, it's likely to backfire.

Once labeled by the audience, seeing a certain artist, the thought inevitably pops into their mind: oh, this song's going to be mellow.

That's truly the end. No matter how hard you try, you won't get high votes. The initial impression is hard to erase. To aim for high votes, you must constantly break the audience's expectations.

Consequently, Xu Qingyan spent the entire morning in the studio.

He had to tailor-make new songs for the two pop queens for the tournament a week from now. It might be the last chance, but... he had to give it his all.

He found that after spending time with the two ladies, one benefit of their daily company was that choosing songs wasn't a guessing game anymore, no need to tediously write several and try them out one by one.

Now, Xu Qingyan just needed to close his eyes, and he could roughly imagine the result of Pei Muchan or Lin Wanzhou singing a certain song and then sift through the choices one by one.

He had thought it wouldn't be difficult, but he grinded away until noon and still had no clue. Several songs he prepared were rejected, and he scribbled through seven or eight pages of drafts in his notebook.

In the end, nothing was selected; aiming to create two high-scoring songs, there were just too many elements that needed to come together.

First, the songs had to be appropriate, then catchy, and also substantive. They couldn't be overly contrived; they needed tangible expression, simply put, to elevate the theme.

They had to be explosive, sound good, and have depth.

In the end, there were only a few songs that met these criteria. However, at the moment, Xu Qingyan hadn't made a final decision; he still had to discuss it with the two of them first.

After Pei Muchan returned, she plunged into her busy work, mostly preparing her album. Even with Teacher Xu as her go-to lyricist and composer, she still had to write at least three original songs.

Not just for the sake of it—in Xiaguo's music scene, singer-songwriters were highly valued.

If all the songs in an album were written by others, the album's worth would decrease. Even if it sold well, it wouldn't earn much fame.

The most direct example: brand endorsements depend heavily on an artist's image. Without the ability to create... sorry, you don't match our brand's philosophy, thank you.

After Xiaguo strengthened its copyright system, nearly every singer started with a dream to create their own music; the entire environment felt the impact to some extent.

If you can write but can't sing, you won't get much attention.

The evergreen figures in the industry can both sing and write, while singers without creative talent compared to them are naturally at a disadvantage in terms of ideology, doomed not to be very popular.

Both Pei Muchan and Lin Wanzhou were outstanding singer-songwriters in their own right. It's just that in a short time, they couldn't produce masterpieces, not like Xu Qingyan's songwriting factory.

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