novelraw Chapter 130 - 127: The Chinese Music Scene’s Eternal... Joker
Chapter 130 - 127: The Chinese Music Scene’s Eternal... Joker
The moment Li Yueling saw the numbers, she couldn’t believe her eyes.
Just a short while ago, her song "Must Love You" had surpassed 150,000 in sales before the other party had even uploaded "Can’t Help Falling in Love."
All she did was attend a meeting, so how had their numbers already surpassed hers, reaching over 180,000?
And in the time it took for her to process her disbelief, the sales figures refreshed again—they had broken 200,000.
Moreover, as time went on, she discovered something terrifying. For every 10 sales she gained, the other side gained 40 or 50.
This gap existed despite her having a front-page recommendation banner on Penguin Music.
At this rate, their single could very well end up breaking ten million in sales.
"Is this a joke?" Li Yueling was utterly devastated.
Almost no one ever reached those kinds of sales figures.
This year, only a handful of people had managed it.
Most of them were superstars, the kings and queens of the music industry.
The only other one was Mao Mao, whose song "Ordinary Day," released in May, had reached the ten-million-sales mark and was still the reigning sales champion of the year on Net Suppression Cloud.
But how could a song written by an internet celebrity and sung by another internet celebrity possibly achieve such sales?
Watching their sales numbers skyrocket, she felt like she was being slapped in the face, over and over.
Just yesterday, she had said she would let her skills do the talking. Now, the other side was indeed showing their strength, and she suddenly realized she didn’t even have the power to put up a fight.
Li Yueling didn’t even know how she got back to her company break room. Her sister rushed over and said, "Sis, you should really listen to Jiang Xiaobai’s ’Can’t Help Falling in Love’."
Even without her sister telling her, she was going to listen to it. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to accept this loss.
Her sister immediately played "Can’t Help Falling in Love" on a tablet and handed it to her. The screen was playing the music video, which featured Chen Jincheng and Jiang Xiaobai singing a duet.
"Every day I need your love, my thoughts are for you to guess..."
As Li Yueling listened to Jiang Xiaobai’s singing and their duet, her expression grew darker and darker.
After just a few lines, she knew the difference in quality.
Both were sweet love songs, but her "Must Love" was only a little sweet. Theirs was saccharine, cloyingly sweet. The emotional resonance was so strong that as she watched the MV and listened to the song, the corners of her mouth curled up into a doting smile against her will. And then her expression became even more miserable.
’If even I, her rival, feel this way listening to it, what hope is there for anyone else?’
The thought left her feeling completely powerless.
She knew she had made a terrible mistake.
Publicly reporting him was already bad for her reputation, and now her song was getting crushed. Not only would she not gain any popularity from this, she would probably lose some.
This time, she was afraid her dream of becoming an A-list star was over. Or at least, it wouldn’t be happening in the next couple of years.
’But who could have expected an internet celebrity to write a song of this quality, just to humiliate me?’
’It’s like he’s using cheats.’
「Tiao Yin.」
In the president’s office, Han Shangyou was also staring dumbfounded at the data for Jiang Xiaobai’s "Can’t Help Falling in Love" as he received his assistant’s report.
It was just too incredible.
Even though he had considered that Chen Jincheng might win, he never expected the victory to be this decisive.
These numbers were a landslide victory of epic proportions.
He immediately played Jiang Xiaobai’s "Can’t Help Falling in Love," and a look of complete astonishment washed over his face.
’The song Chen Jincheng wrote is amazing.’
’And Jiang Xiaobai’s performance is excellent too.’
’The emotional resonance is even stronger than that of many female pop stars.’
"Push this song with everything we’ve got. I want Tiao Yin to be flooded with it by tomorrow," Han Shangyou immediately instructed his assistant.
His goal was to have Chen Jincheng win, to break down the barrier between internet celebrities and mainstream stars, and to blur that very line.
’Look, Chen Jincheng and Jiang Xiaobai are internet celebrities, right? But look at their sales figures. How many pop stars can achieve that?’
Previously, when "Obscure Characters" had suddenly blown up, he had tried to push it across all platforms, but unfortunately, it didn’t have the intended effect.
Because it was a low-brow, catchy tune, it couldn’t be taken seriously, and its digital sales weren’t that great either, only reaching just over 1.2 million.
But "Can’t Help Falling in Love" was different. In terms of sales, arrangement, lyrics, and mainstream appeal... it wasn’t a low-brow song at all, but a genuinely high-quality track.
He felt it was the kind of song that could even be nominated for an annual award.
「Meanwhile.」
「Xiaoxiang TV Station.」
A music competition show was currently being filmed. Master Yu was participating as a mentor, with the ability to select promising contestants for his team.
As the self-proclaimed "eternal god of the Chinese music scene," he desperately wanted to complain about the abilities of these contestants.
’None of the ones doing covers can hit the high notes.’
’And none of the ones with original songs can write a decent melody.’
"Teacher Hua, hello. I’m the internet celebrity Chen Jie. I have three million fans on Tiao Yin, and today I’ll be performing an original song!" a contestant introduced himself as he walked on stage, then began his performance.
Master Yu’s expression, however, darkened.
He currently had no goodwill toward the words "internet celebrity."
Especially after the incident with Chen Jincheng and Li Yueling, he felt that internet celebrities were an insult to the music industry and a provocation to professional singers like them.
That was why he had dissed that Chen Jincheng twice in a row.
He hadn’t expected to run into another internet celebrity while filming a show.
Already harboring ill feelings, he had no intention of actually listening. He cut the contestant off and criticized him bluntly, "Honestly, your arrangement is a complete mess. It’s a failing grade from me. You don’t meet my standards."
Chen Jie was stunned. "Teacher Hua, you’ve only heard me sing two lines."
Master Yu retorted mercilessly, "Two lines is more than enough. I never have any expectations for the ’creations’ of you internet celebrities. You’re always arrogantly peddling your low-quality stuff, thinking you’ve written some world-shaking masterpiece."
"You should have heard Li Yueling’s ’Must Love,’ which she released today. That song is a finely crafted piece with a beautiful melody. Industry insiders predict her single’s sales could reach two to three million. Isn’t there some arrogant internet celebrity named Chen Jincheng in your circle who was audacious enough to release a song to compete with her?"
"But how many sales can a song by one of you internet celebrities even get? Such arrogance will only end in utter humiliation."
Hearing Master Yu’s words, Chen Jie knew he was being targeted because of his internet celebrity status. Moreover, the man clearly didn’t know the sales figures for "Can’t Help Falling in Love." ’Makes sense,’ he thought, ’he’s been in here filming.’
So, since he had no hope of staying on the show, he shot back at Master Yu with a mocking tone, "Teacher Hua, I did in fact see their sales data before I came on stage. So, Teacher Hua, since you look down on Chen Jincheng so much, do you think your own songs can sell better than his?"
Hearing this, Master Yu’s face took on a haughty expression. "I can give you some numbers. My last single sold over two million copies. That’s considered a top-tier result in the industry. Do you really think a song by an internet celebrity like Chen Jincheng could ever reach that level?"
Chen Jie said playfully, "Of course not. You’re the amazing one, Teacher Hua. You’re the Chinese music scene’s eternal... buffoon."
Master Yu actually smiled at the first part of the sentence. ’Who doesn’t know I’m the eternal god of the Chinese music scene?’ he thought.
But when the final word, "buffoon," came out, he froze. Before he could even speak, Chen Jie had already turned and walked away without a backward glance, looking cool and carefree. His face was lit up with a wicked grin; after all, he had just dug a massive pit for the man.
He had just set him up to be tomorrow’s trending buffoon.
The scene left the live audience stunned, and an uproar ensued. Those who had been secretly recording with their phones couldn’t be happier. This kind of conflict would be perfect for Tiao Yin; it was guaranteed to attract a ton of attention.
Master Yu was left on stage, his face about to explode with rage. If the show wasn’t still recording, he would have stormed over to his assistant, grabbed his phone, and posted on Weibo to condemn this internet celebrity’s insolence and unleash his fans on him.
An hour later, filming finally wrapped up. He hurried to the lounge the production team had arranged for him, but as he walked, he noticed something was off.
Why was everyone around him giving him such strange looks?
Soon, he reached the lounge and saw that his assistant was looking at him with the same odd expression. This infuriated him. "What’s with that look? Is there something on me?"