Chapter 176: The Trainwreck Came All Too Sudden
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
The backstage of the concert was in full swing, and Meng Fan was done with makeup and was properly dressed. He had nothing to do and was sitting in the break room chatting with Tao Tao.
Tao Tao’s voice was nice, and her words had meaning. Although her temperament was a bit cold and bleak, she was still happy to chat with Meng Fan, and Meng Fan was also happy to talk with her.
She wasn’t a top figure in the music industry, barely even a middle-level one. She had legitimately come from nothing and built herself up, and the scope of her activities was catered towards a small audience, so she was very down to earth. Talking with her, Meng Fan was able to gain a lot of insight and learn plenty of interesting things. These interesting events were things Bai Zhi nor Su Qing Cen had ever encountered before.
As for Su Qing Cen, she had not arrived yet, since she was the finale of the concert. She would probably arrive an hour before the rehearsal site.
After talking over two topics, the two didn’t continue to force more conversation. Tao Tao began to browse her phone, and Meng Fan also sent a message to Wu Tong asking if she arrived. He then sent another message to their roommate’s chat room.
“You guys didn’t come?”
“Hehe. Zhang Zhou Wei arrogantly flashed his ticket and it got confiscated by w.a.n.g Ya Nan. Then Wei Zhi Xue found out too. Then, I gave my ticket to my girlfriend as well,” Xing Ta Ge replied.
Meng Fan smiled and responded, “That’s fine, you guys can obediently watch the stream.”
There were only 2000 seats. It wasn’t possible to ask for more tickets.
Zhang Zhou Wei and the other two were already awaiting the stream in an internet cafe. Since their girlfriends were at the concert, they had at least two or three hours to relax, how could they not play a few rounds?
Wu Tong responded that she was at the door and that she was with Qin Jiao and the other girls. She told Meng Fan to prepare with peace of mind and not to worry about them.
Meng Fan responded with a smiley face, then went to browse the Tiger Cat stream platform. As soon as he opened the APP, he could see the content regarding Bai Zhi’s concert stream. The channel was open as well but was blacked out for now. There were already plenty of people in the channel already though, about 300,000 online viewers.
They waited until seven in the evening, the viewer count remaining at three hundred thousand or so. By 7:20 when the concert began, the viewer count began to rise. There were two million viewers by the time the concert started.
The Tiger Cat platform had a strong attraction. In addition, Bai Zhi had a large fanbase as well, and they’d been promoting it for a long time. At this time, the number of online viewers was just a start. The forecasted viewer count by Tiger Cat was at a peak number of five million.
The concert began on time at 7:30. It was likely that the stage effects and venue set up were super gimmicky, except maybe for the lighting that had been carefully considered. The large projection screen in the back was also very high tech.
The live accompaniment began. Bai Zhi didn’t have any excessive entrances but appeared quietly as she began to sing. This signaled the start of the concert.
Bai Zhi’s singing skills were considerably good. There was such a saying that she was the best singer that could act, and the best actress that could sing. She could hold her own at a concert, kill it in the cinema, and hold down the TV industry too. By dominating all three industries of film, television, and singing, she was well recognized by the industry and her audience.
A person’s energy is limited. There weren’t many people in the industry who could dominate all three categories. There were plenty who claimed this though, relying on this to hold onto their namesake. The most frightening thing was that these people were able to deceive others by flaunting their success in all three industries. It was already good enough they could admit they were crossing a large border. For example, Hang Jiao Zhu. Everyone doubted his singing abilities, and he was sincere in stating that he was only an actor and that he couldn’t even act, so why judge his singing skills?
Of course, there were a select few who have received top honors in all three industries, but they were all children of natural selection only appearing once in a blue moon.
This was also based on the times. There were a few of these spectacles in the 90s, but there weren’t many artists who debuted in the 21st century that could be found.
Someone like Bai Zhi, who had won the best actress in one out of the top five awards for Chinese cinema, and partic.i.p.ated in multiple TV dramas and sang several chart-toppers could be considered a top candidate for a person dominating all three industries.
Furthermore, anyone who could win five famous film awards, a few mainstream TV female lead awards, produced five alb.u.ms and five songs that were top of the charts… Aside from the few Hong Kong G.o.ds, and oh right, and Taiwan’s Liu Ruo Ying, n.o.body else had these t.i.tles altogether.
Of course, it was difficult for Bai Zhi to continue improving. However, she was still young, and it seems she can continue to develop in all three aspects of film, television, and music. After gaining some experience, she might just settle down and focus on one industry.
“The world is too small, and we are fated to be, it’s a pleasure to meet…The gossip, rumors, I know what you said…”
The first song Bai Zhi performed was “I know”, one of her most well-known songs that have rotted the streets in the last few years. It wasn’t a derogatory term; the music literally broke the speakers playing it on the stores along the streets.
After singing the first song, Bai Zhi greeted the audience and chatted a bit before beginning the second song. The second one was a slow song where Bai Zhi sat at the piano and sang in a serene fas.h.i.+on.
After the concert stream began, the number of viewers in the channel suddenly shot up to nearly 4.5 million.
Bai Zhi then sang five songs in a row before introducing her first guest, Tao Tao. Tao Tao and Bai Zhi sang one of Bai Zhi’s songs together, and then Bai Zhi stepped down to change costumes and rest. Tao Tao had brought her own guitar and performed one of her famous songs.
Tao Tao was a folk singer with distinctive characteristics. Only, it wasn’t very market-friendly. Her fanbase was small, and although her songs were popular, she herself was not. Many people heard her songs and realized she was the original singer, but in a moment they could only remember the song and not the artist.
Meng Fan was the second guest of the concert. After Tao Tao performed two more songs alone, Bai Zhi went up once more to perform four songs before inviting Meng Fan up.
At this time, there were over 5.3 million viewers in the channel. They had completed the Tiger Cat platform’s set target.
Based on these numbers, if Meng Fan got up there, he should be able to gain experience from 5 million viewers. That was a good number; it was the equivalent of a dozen live streams on his channel!
Of course, Meng Fan only had time for two songs. If it took too long, there’d be more people coming in and out of the stream, and he’d gain more views.
Whoos.h.!.+
The backstage staff brought Meng Fan to the entrance position, while another staff member came over to fix his clothing and makeup. Meng Fan, who wasn’t nervous to begin with, suddenly felt the nerves when they began operating on him in such a way.
“….Where is your gentleness, I don’t want to hide.”
Bai Zhi wasn’t done her first line when a short interlude began. At the sound of the drumbeat, Meng Fan had been counting too, and he entered the song on time. The song was affectionate, his voice was charming, and as he walked out, he could be considered appealing, although he was a bit large. He was even more attractive on stream because of his photogenic appeal.
The two looked at each other and began to sing the chorus, “Secret love is not a long-term strategy, your eyes can’t keep secrets from me….”
There was a high note here, and Meng Fan, who was being dearly gazed at by Bai Zhi while holding her hand, with no stage experience at all, experienced a voice crack. By accident, his high note had broke, and the sound was overwhelming!
The trainwreck came all too sudden!