novelraw Chapter 61 Rain God Jam Hsiao Lands
Chapter 61 Rain God Jam Hsiao Lands
Zhang Juan was stunned.
The beef jerky in Tian Xiwei's hand broke in half, and her jaw almost dropped to her collarbone.
The two of them turned their heads at the same time and stared at Song Ze.
"Are you still asleep?"
Zhang Juan reached out to touch Song Ze's forehead.
Song Ze slapped it away.
"The flagship program of Hunan TV! The partner positions are so popular that all the major talent agencies are scrambling to get their people in; they're full of veteran hosts and rising stars."
Zhang Juan pointed to Tian Xiwei.
"You're letting her go? A freshman at the Shanghai Theatre Academy, what would she go there for? To cheer for everyone?"
Tian Xiwei took two steps back and grabbed a sofa cushion.
"Boss, I'm scared. It's full of gods fighting in there, and I just finished learning the basics of acting."
Song Ze picked up a stinky tofu skewer from the coffee table, steadily poked the darkest piece, and put it in his mouth to chew.
"It's not nonsense."
He took out a tissue to wipe his hands.
"Sweetie, what's your core competitive advantage?"
Tian Xiwei was thinking frantically.
"Can you eat three bowls of rice in one meal?"
"fart."
Song Ze rolled his eyes.
"It's a contrast."
"What are the production team looking for in a partner? Someone who can sing? Someone who understands music theory?"
He pointed to the empty mineral water bottle on the table.
"Those initial singers are either members of the national team who are too proud to be outdone, or they are socially awkward music fanatics."
Song Ze leaned forward and crossed his hands on his knees.
"They need someone who can engage in front of the camera, adjust the atmosphere, and accurately catch and throw out jokes."
"Go away, don't pretend you know music."
"But I'm still scared."
"You have your senior brother supporting you from behind."
Song Ze added a sentence.
"Also, don't mention you've already signed with Star Shine. Go for the interview as an individual. Who knows, you might become my music partner."
Three days later. Changsha. The annex of the Hunan TV Broadcasting Building.
A long line formed outside the interview room. The candidates were all handsome men and beautiful women, all promising talents from various talent shows sent by major production companies.
Tian Xiwei, carrying an ordinary backpack, huddled at the back of the line, clutching the A4 paper that Song Ze had compiled overnight.
"Your turn, number seventy-four."
She pushed open the security door to interview room number three. A blast of cold air hit her.
Assistant director Xiao Zhao sat in front of the monitor, flipping through a resume booklet. He glanced at the form, then looked up at the young woman in a hoodie and jeans in front of him.
He wore a standard, perfunctory smile, typical of the workplace.
"A freshman?"
Xiao Zhao threw his resume onto the table with a crisp sound.
"Little girl, this is the highest-rated music variety show in the country, not some children's channel playing house."
He tapped on the table.
"Partners need to network with top musicians. You can't even tell how many faders are on the mixing console, what are you doing here?"
Tian Xiwei remained silent.
She took a deep breath, placed her backpack on the chair, and unzipped it. She pulled out an incredibly heavy, secondhand gaming laptop. She turned it on, connected the data cable, and started screen mirroring.
All in one go.
A black-on-white PowerPoint presentation appeared on the projection screen, which was in complete loss of image quality.
Main title: Analysis of the ratings curves and generational migration of the audience of "I Am a Singer" over the years.
The director next to me, who was scrolling through short videos, slipped and dropped his water glass.
Tian Xiwei stood up straight. Her ruthless nature was forcibly activated.
"Hello everyone, I really don't understand mixing consoles."
She tapped the page turner.
"But I understand data."
"After crawling the viewership data from episodes six through eight of the first three seasons, it can be seen that the period of desensitization for viewers to purely technical high notes is being shortened infinitely."
The red dot falls at the point where the line chart shows a precipitous drop.
"In the first season, a C5 high note could bring a 1.5-point increase in ratings. By the fourth season, a G5 high note could barely maintain the same level. The audience had become immune to high notes."
Xiao Zhao slowly sat up straight.
Tian Xiwei switched pages.
"Playing it safe with the rumored starting lineup is tantamount to slow suicide."
This is the material Song Ze prepared for her. It doesn't cover music theory or sight-singing/ear training; it goes straight to data monetization and breaking through traffic barriers.
"Take Han Hong for example. Audiences can guess what she will sing even with their eyes closed, so their expectations are completely locked in. But if the partner can successfully communicate with her and let her debut with a pop-rock song with a subversive arrangement, the contrast will directly ignite the trending topics on Weibo that night."
She walked up to the screen.
"Looking at Li Wen, her music is mainly dance and R&B. The average audience doesn't understand her fusion style, so her audience is too narrow. If her partner can't intervene in the song selection stage and help her add a Chinese narrative feel to lower the listening threshold, she won't survive two rounds of elimination."
Fifteen minutes. Purely dry information bombardment.
There were no platitudes, no awkward attempts to appear knowledgeable; it was all about audience profiling and market analysis.
Xiao Zhao's back was already off the chair back, his hands were crossed and resting on his chin, and he was leaning forward staring at the screen.
This isn't looking for a music partner; it's practically hiring a chief data strategy officer.
Xiao Zhao turned his head.
The deputy director, who had been wearing headphones and watching the main monitoring device, took them off and gave Xiao Zhao a big thumbs up.
"Number 74, right?"
Xiao Zhao picked up a ballpoint pen and drew a huge red circle on the resume.
Keep a copy of the PPT source file.
Tian Xiwei packed up her laptop, bowed deeply at a perfect 90-degree angle, and walked out of the interview room. The moment the door closed, she let out a long sigh of relief, her legs buckling as she leaned against the wall for support.
"That scared me to death, I almost misremembered those words."
corner.
Song Ze leaned against the wall, holding a bottle of AD calcium milk in his hand, and handed it over. Tian Xiwei took it, inserted the straw, and took a big gulp.
He came back to life.
"Senior brother, how did my act go?"
"Good."
Song Ze put his phone in his pocket.
A series of rapid footsteps echoed from the end of the corridor. The atmosphere was extremely powerful.
A man was escorted in by seven or eight black-clad staff members, who treated him like a star. He wore a leather jacket, ripped jeans, and heavy-duty Doc Martens. His hair was medium-length, and his sunglasses almost completely covered half his face.
Jam Hsiao. Lead singer of the band Rainstorm, a top figure in the Chinese rock scene.
He walked to the middle of the corridor when suddenly there was a rapid knocking sound outside the window.
One second Changsha was bathed in sunshine, the next a torrential downpour of rain the size of soybeans fell without warning. The rain formed waterfalls, cascading down the windows.
Song Ze stepped forward and raised his hand.
"Brother Xiao, I've heard so much about you."
Xiao Jingteng stopped and took off his sunglasses. He glanced at Song Ze, then his gaze shifted and precisely locked onto Tian Xiwei, who was leaning against the wall holding an AD calcium milk drink.
The sweet girl's cheeks were plump and round.
Hsiao Ching-teng raised his eyebrows.
"Your new junior sister?"
He pointed at Tian Xiwei.
"That's interesting."
Tian Xiwei quickly stood up straight, hid the AD calcium milk behind her back, and gave a standard 90-degree bow.
"Hello, Teacher Xiao!"
Xiao Jingteng was startled by the scene. He turned to look at the torrential rain outside the window and sighed heavily.
"I knew that once I landed, I would have to get off."
Song Ze strode forward.
"That's right. I specifically checked the weather forecast before I came, and it said that Changsha would experience a dry and sunny week ahead."
Song Zechong gave him a thumbs up.
"The Rain God truly lives up to his name; he can even shatter the subtropical high pressure system."
Hsiao Ching-teng shrugged helplessly and smiled.
Five days later. Shanghai, Xingyao Entertainment, third-floor office.
Zhang Juan held the landline microphone, her knuckles bulging, and remained in that position for a minute.
She put down the microphone, turned around, and looked at Song Ze, who was slumped on the leather sofa.
"Passed."
Zhang Juan's voice was hoarse.
"Xiangnan TV has officially confirmed that Tian Xiwei, a freshman at the Shanghai Theatre Academy, has been selected as one of the first contestants for the Singer Partners program with a high score."
Veteran hosts, talent show champions, and top idols have all been overtaken by this young girl.
She had to admit defeat. Song Ze's incredible turnaround, playing a terrible hand into a winning one, was simply unbelievable.
She walked over, intending to say a few words of praise, but found that Song Ze wasn't listening at all.
Song Ze was nestled on the sofa, his right leg crossed over his left, his phone volume turned up to the maximum. A video of an overseas performance was playing on the screen.
A young male singer with an exotic appearance and a high nose bridge holds a microphone.
Zhang Juan leaned over to look at the subtitles.
Korkemim. Kazakh language.
The next second, the male singer tilted his head back.
Without any warning or build-up, an extremely high-frequency dolphin-like sound burst forth. It wasn't a roar, nor a tearing sound, but rather smooth and ethereal. The sound pierced the eardrums of everyone present.
Zhang Juan instantly broke out in goosebumps all over her arms. The sound, coming through the phone's speaker, carried an overwhelming, penetrating force.
The video skips to the next track. Daididau.
The person opened their mouth and immediately launched into a sustained note that lasted for fifteen seconds. The transition between true and falsetto voices was seamless across four octaves, completely defying the physical limits of the human vocal cords.
Zhang Juan swallowed, her throat dry.
Her finger trembled uncontrollably as she pointed at the screen.
"Is this the person you'll be facing in the first round?"
Song Ze pressed down on the screen.
The image freezes.
The moment is frozen in time: Dima Creek with his eyes closed, neck slightly tense, delivering the ultimate high note.