As soon as Xia Qingtian left Z University, she received a call from Yu Yinyin, informing her that Director Zhao had started casting for the character songs.
Initially, private auditions were planned. However, the buzz surrounding the project was quite high. Gu Corporation Entertainment’s higher-ups thought it would be a good opportunity for pre-release hype for the main drama if they used the character song casting for online voting. Thus, it was changed from a recorded session to an online vote-based casting after recording.
Gu Corporation Entertainment seized this chance and partnered with a short video platform for a联动 collaboration, using a new short variety show format to drive traffic for individual works. They also implemented an IP lock mechanism to prevent under-the-table dealings and malicious voting.
As part of the pre-release promotion, Xia Qingtian’s new song with Ling Fenghan, the character song for Princess Yingyue, was widely disseminated as the main track.
With its story-rich vocals, Ling Fenghan's heartfelt lyrics and composition, and the long-accumulated popularity, the song became an instant hit upon its release.
“Qingtian is finally active! Oh my god! Little Sun is going all out! Please, Qingtian, keep it up and release an album! Even a digital album is fine! I’m willing to spend all my money on you!”
“I always thought Ling Fenghan was just a popular singer who sang well. I was wrong. The lyrics and music truly gave me goosebumps!”
“As expected, career fans understand idols the best. Ling Fenghan’s lyrics and music are amazing, and Xia Qingtian’s vocals are also incredible! Lock it in! Let them release more songs!”
“I’ve had enough of people stringing together a few idioms and calling it ancient style with no artistic conception. Let those who are piggybacking on the ancient style trend learn from this! Learn properly!”
“One song made me recognize two excellent musicians. I cried listening to it, I really cried!”
“Storytelling, imagery, and soul-stirring music, trembling heart, shaking legs… My teacher said if I keep shaking, she’ll kick me out. I wasn’t convinced, so I played this song for her. Now, my teacher and I are shaking together in the office!”
“When I first saw the trending search, I thought Xia Qingtian was causing trouble again, but… the clown was me!”
“I always see all sorts of chaotic trending searches for Xia Qingtian online, about socks or clouds. I actually forgot she was a singer in the first place…”
“Xia Qingtian: An actor who can’t put on a show can’t sing well!”
“Sisters! I forbid you from not listening to this song, ‘Ying Yue’! It’s incredibly good! You must listen! If you don’t like it after listening, you’re welcome to chop me!”
“Thanks for the recommendation from the person above. I bought a case, and the child loves it.”
“I have a premonition that tonight will be a sleepless night for the music section…”
“I have a premonition that the trending searches are secured again…”
“I have a premonition that those two prophets upstairs will eventually be stabbed…”
That night, various platforms saw covers, song remixes, lyric rewrites, and video parodies…
The next morning, excellent works of all kinds frequently went viral, and comments were updated wave after wave.
“This is insane. I have a meeting this morning, but I stayed up all night scrolling… I can understand piano music and violin challenges… Why is someone directly making a cat meow edited version? Humans are no longer enough for you?”
“I can tolerate piano, violin, guzheng, and pipa, and even share them. But why the heck is there a suona version? As soon as that intro started, it almost blew my scalp off! I couldn’t sleep at all; I was completely awake!”
“Me too, I’ve been scrolling all night. I’m really looking forward to ‘Hua Yue Zui Xi Chun’! From the character song, I can tell that Princess Yingyue’s character is so full and rich. The production team is truly putting in effort. I’m so excited!”
“Now that they’re hyping her up so much, aren’t they afraid she’ll fall hard later!” Mo Jianing gripped her phone, gritting her teeth, her expression somewhat ferocious.
She hated it!
That voice should have been hers!
It was clearly agreed upon beforehand that Xia Qingtian’s voice was meant for her, and this song should have been tailor-made for her!
Mo Jianing was consumed by jealousy, almost to the point of madness.
Wasn’t Xia Qingtian rich and powerful enough?
Did even heaven have to chase after her to feed her?
Mo Jianing had attended countless music lessons during this period, from vocal cords to breath control, from syllables to enunciation.
Despite her utmost efforts, she remained only slightly better than an average person at a karaoke level.
She listened to Xia Qingtian’s “Ying Yue” all night and hated it all night.
The feeling of unwillingness bound and tormented her, almost tearing her apart.
She couldn't be bothered to look at the praise others showered on Xia Qingtian, nor did she care to read the rebuttals from her fans.
At this moment, her agent called to inform her that she needed to start preparing her song for the character song audition.
“The teacher recommended a relatively upbeat and lighthearted song, which will help mask your weakness in breath control,” her agent’s voice came through the phone. “Additionally, we’ve arranged for people in post-production to polish your vocals. When it airs, the company will also do some promotion. If it’s coordinated well with the talent show, it can at least guarantee stable votes. As for the song…”
“I want to sing ‘Ying Yue’,” Mo Jianing said coldly, hearing her agent’s hesitation. “I will only sing this one.”
Her agent knew that Mo Jianing had an unusual relationship with Yu Linwan and usually went along with her wishes. However, “Ying Yue”…
This song was too popular, and she had listened to it too.
It was no wonder it became a hit. Regardless of her timbre or vocal skill, even if she wanted to nitpick, it would be difficult.
“Isn’t post-production already arranged? Just like before, fine-tune it,” Mo Jianing said casually. “As for the live judges, I don’t care. It all comes down to the final votes anyway.”
Ultimately, this was just another talent show. No matter how the format changed, the core remained the same.
As long as under-the-table dealings were possible.
After all, she was different from other contestants. She had backing and could take shortcuts. She was the most outstanding!
“This… alright then.” Her agent didn’t want to confront Mo Jianing directly and could only agree. In any case, the music teacher who would accompany Mo Jianing for practice would be the one to worry about it; she couldn’t be bothered.
Hearing her agent agree, Mo Jianing’s lips curved into a sinister smile.
Later, she would have post-production polish the song to sound even better than Xia Qingtian’s original version.
Since Xia Qingtian was unwilling to give her the voice, she would use the power of technology to crush Xia Qingtian comprehensively and let Xia Qingtian know: The times have changed!
On the other side, Yu Yinyin and Wen Ning also discussed and decided to take a risk, choosing to cover Xia Qingtian’s “Ying Yue” for the competition.
Wen Ning informed Xia Qingtian, who immediately agreed. She even had Ling Fenghan make slight adjustments to the song based on Yu Yinyin’s vocal color and singing style.
In the blink of an eye, the recording day arrived.