Perfect Superstar

Chapter 119 - I Want To Make A Lot Of Money

"Pleasewelcome, contestant No. 007, Lu Chen, to the stage!"

Accompaniedby the enthusiastic call of the host, Lu Chen stepped onto the stage that hewas already familiar with.

Thebroadcast hall of Beijing Satellite TV has been rearranged, giving people arefreshing feeling. 1,500 audience seats were full. All four heavyweightjudges, Tan Hong, Chen Fei’er, Lin Zhijie and Zhen Zhen were all present.

On the lastday of July, "Singing China" top 10 of 16 competition in the Beijing SingingArea was held here on time.

This is alsothe last final in Beijing Singing Area. The top 10 contestants selected thisevening will set out from Beijing at the beginning of next month to tour the majorsinging areas and undergo a round of knockout competition to determines the top10 nationwide.

So, this competitionis extremely important and has also attracted a lot of attention!

"Fourjudges, good evening, dear audiences, hello!"

Standing infront of the microphone, Lu Chen first bowed to the judges, and then saluted tothe audience on both sides: "I am contestant No. 007, Lu Chen!"

The order ofthe top 16 contestants in the Beijing singing area is generated throughcomputer ranking. Before Lu Chen, six contestants have already appeared on thestage, and their performances were quite excellent.

No one knowsif it’s because of Lu Chen’s influence, but two of the contestants also came upwith their own original works!

In most realitytalent shows, especially singing competitions, the weight of original works isalways higher than cover songs, and can get a lot of extra points.

Themainstream attitude is to encourage originality. In addition, the large numberof audiences also need a sense of freshness. Even when it comes to cover songs,many singers also like to rearrange the original, or even deliberately increasethe difficulty, in order to improve the quality of their singing.

But there isa premise, that is, the quality of the original works can’t be too bad,otherwise one will only be overreaching oneself!

Talent is moreimportant than singing skills, and singing skills are more important thanappearance. Those who can rank in the top 16 in Beijing singing area are notweak.

Contestant No.002 Zhang Junhua’s "Ocean of Love" and contestant No. 005 ZuoQiuqing’s "Memorial Day" are all very good works. They have receivedhigh marks from the judges and the audiences.

Currently,the two are ranked 1st and 2nd in the top 16 rankings, respectively!

Unlike the qualifyingcompetition in the top 16, Beijing Singing Area Final is being broadcastedlive. So, it uses real-time scoring and counting. The contestants can get theirscores as soon as they finish singing.

For the contestants,the change in scoring methods is a considerable test of their psychologicalquality.

They need towork harder in their singing and can’t make any mistakes.

Theoutstanding performance of Zhang Junhua and Zuo Qiuqing undoubtedly put a lotof pressure on Lu Chen, who is the 7th to perform.

If in thequalifying round, Lu Chen’s "Life on A String" is a good performance.Then the song "You At The Same Table" in the last top 16 of 32 competitionundoubtedly placed him in the limelight.

Three of thefour judges scored a full score of 10 points, and with a total score of 39 point,he was able to occupy the first place and finally seize a seat in the top 16,with no one objecting his ranking.

Subsequently,the controversy that broke out in the Sky Forum and Inspur Blog pushed Lu Chento the top of the storm. His name was known by more people, and even regardedas a talented singer and songwriter in the new generation.

Not convinced?Then try writing a classic like "In Spring"!

As thesaying goes, tall trees attract the wind. Although Lu Chen has won honor andfame, he has also become the object of envy and jealousy of many people. He hadno idea how many people are watching him in the Beijing Singing Area Finals!

No onethinks that Lu Chen won’t make it into the top 10, but if he doesn’t sing wellenough, or come up with enough original material, then some people will havesomething to say.

Zhang Junhuaand Zuo Qiuqing, who are leading, are the best criticizing weapons.

Therefore, it’seasy to imagine that once Lu Chen’s performance shows any problem, then suchcomments as "running out of ideas", "lack of follow-up strength", oreven "lack of skills", will undoubtedly pour out on his head liketorrential rain.

Mostimportantly, since Lu Chen was praised by Beijing Satellite TV and LingXiaoxiao, which was strongly supported by Xiangnan Satellite TV, theirperformance on their sides, to a certain extent, will affect the ratings of thetwo talent shows.

If Lu Chen’sperformance is poor, it would be strange for Xiangnan Satellite TV to donothing behind the scenes!

Is the faceof this local TV overlord so easy to hit?

As a result,the pressure on Lu Chen to get on stage is even greater.

In theofficial post bar of "Singing China", there are already manypassers-by fans worried about Lu Chen. (TN: About Post Bar or Tieba: Here)

At the sametime, there is no lack of dispute.

"LuChen is on the stage. I’m looking forward to his new song!"

"BothZhang Junhua and Zuo Qiuqing are very strong. I think it is still uncertain ifhe can take the top place again."

"Theabove poster, how do you know that he is going to sing a new song, maybe he’sgoing to cover someone else’s work?"

"Che! How?Chen Fei’er said that she wanted to listen to Lu Chen’s new song. Even if he’sholding out one, he’ll have to bring it out."

"Didyou say that Lu Chen’s songs were all written by himself? That’s amazing."

"it’snot impossible to buy songs. A lot of people do that."

"Don’tbe ridiculous. Lu Chen only sell songs to others. Him buying songs from others?What a joke!"

"Thatis to say, our Lu Chen will never lose to anyone."

"Hahaha,cover someone else’s song? Do you know how many original works Lu Chenhas?"

"Howmany?"

"You’llsee!"

The officialpost bar of "Singing China" has not been established for a long time,but it has already gained over 2 million followers.

Thanks tothe interactive nature and live webcast content of post bar, thousands of LuFamily Army members have come here to support Lu Chen since he took part in thecompetition.

Up to now, "SingingChina" official post bar has almost become Lu Family Army’s sub-stronghold, inwhich the number of active fans is quite amazing, and also affected a largenumber of passers-by to turn fans.

Seeing thatothers are worried or even questioning Lu Chen’s strength, many Lu Chen fanssmiled.

Lu Chen willnot be able to come up with good original work?

That wouldsimply be a big joke!

Last time,in [Whale TV]’s PK Theme Show, Lu Chen took out seven or eight original worksin one breath and won the runner-up. The live video of the whole show is stillhanging in the [Whale TV] forum!

His worksare very pleasant to listen to, there is no lack of classics, but the circle oflive webcast is relatively closed. Plus, Lu Chen doesn’t have any hypepromotion, so outsiders do not know much, otherwise there is no need toquestion his ability.

This time,Lu Chen has plenty of works to choose from for the final of "SingingChina" in Beijing Singing Area.

The onlyproblem is. Which song did he choose?

Lu Chen’sfans will of course support Lu Chen, but it is inevitable that there will behaters. Post bar has always been a place where good and bad are mixed together.Seeing Lu Chen fans so confident and arrogant, it is inevitable that somepeople will be cynical.

"Lu Chenfans can really brag!"

"Braggingis not taxing, so what won’t they dare? Hehe."

"Now, you’redancing happily. Let’s see if you don’t cover your face in a moment!"

"Since hehas written a lot of songs, and is so good, why haven’t I heard of himbefore?"

"Hahaha..."

The haters started to spout negative comments¹. Of course, Lu Chen fans were not to be outdone, and the two sides fought on the spot.

However, nomatter how fierce it is in the online post bar, it will not affect the livebroadcast of "Singing China" in the slightest.

"Hello,Lu Chen. We met again..."

The firstperson to greet Lu Chen was Chen Fei’er. She smiled and said, "What songhave you prepared for everyone today?"

Lu Chenreplied, "Today I prepared for everyone my own original work. This song isalso my personal favorite. I hope everyone can like it, and I also ask the fourjudges to give more advice."

"Good!"

Chen Feiraised her arms and clapped her hands. "We’re all looking forward toit!"

The audienceat the scene was very respectful and followed the applause.

Lin Zhijiesaid: "Lu Chen. Now that I have heard several of your works, and all ofthem are excellent. Excuse me for asking, but what made you walk on this musicroad? "

Unlike thelast qualifying match, the number of contestants in this final has been halved,so the program time is relatively plentiful, and there are more opportunitiesfor interaction between the judges and the contestants.

Therefore,according to the requirements of the program team director, before thecontestants sing, the judges need to ask the contestants questions.

And in orderto ensure the authenticity of the program, the judges’ questions were preparedin advance. But the contestants were not informed in advance.

Therefore, whatthe contestants will say and how will they react is particularly important atthis time.

Lu Chenthought about it and replied, "I used to like music very much. I learned howto play the piano and guitar. But at that time, I learned music more to chasegirls."

"Haha..."

Hearing LuChen’s answer, several judges and many of the audiences laughed.

Interesting.

Chen Fei’ersmiled and said, "You still need to take the initiative to chase after agirl? I don’t think many girls can say no to you?"

Lu Chen is tall,handsome and talented. Such a person should have a lot of girls taking theinitiative to chase after him!

Zhen Zhenasked, "So you’re not a music major?"

Lu Chenreplied, "Yes, I graduated from the Computer Science Department ofJianghai University."

Computer Science!

His answeramazed everyone, and there was a buzz of discussion at the scene.

Many people thoughtthat Lu Chen majored in music. And that’s why he was able to create suchexcellent works.

But theydidn’t expect that what he learned had nothing to do with music.

Zhen Zhen sincerelyexclaimed, "That’s amazing!"

At thistime, Tan Hong opened his mouth, "Then what prompted you to participate in"Singing China" competition?"

Lu Chenhesitated for a moment and replied, "Make money. I want to make a lot ofmoney."

His answersurprised everyone again. Many people think Lu Chen will answer that he wants torealize his music dream or wish, because there are several contestants who haveanswered the same question before, and their answers are almost the same.

Only Lu Chensaid that he wanted to make money!

Who doesn’twant to make money? However, isn’t it not good to say it directly? Isn’t itharmful to his image?

But fromanother point of view, at least Lu Chen is honest!

Tan Hong andChen Fei’er looked at each other, and the latter said: "Then start yourperformance, good luck!"

Lu Chennodded and smiled.

_______

TN: Original text was "The haters started to spray". The word "spray" is an online term which mainly refers to online users acting like deaf (not listening to other’s explanations), swearing, and making unreasonable accusations. Since I don’t know and wasn’t able to find the English equivalent of the online term "spray", I change it.¹