Peninsula: My mentor Kim Tae-yeon

Chapter 99 Ten Million! (7.2k views)

Su Xia took a bunch of photos of the trophy with her phone, not even bothering to look at the stage that followed. She kept taking pictures of the trophy and sending them to her family, old friends, her WeChat Moments, and even dug out her QQ space, which she hadn't used in ages, and posted a message about it.

Time passed by little by little, and in the blink of an eye, Li Yongzhi's performance ended, and it was Su Xia's turn to perform.

Reluctantly putting down the trophy, without changing his clothes, he went on stage in his gray suit, holding the microphone.

"Let's get a custom microphone made. It's not appropriate to always use other people's microphones for your performances," Kim Tae-yeon said, looking at the microphone in Su Xia's hand.

Su Xia nodded silently and took a deep breath while standing on the stage lift.

The countdown from PD came through my in-ear monitor.

Artist waiting area.

After Su Xia, there were only a few shows left before the IVE, so they didn't stay in the rest area any longer. Instead, they changed into their stage costumes and came here to prepare for their performance.

"What will Attorney Su sing?" Naoi Rei asked the members, looking at Su Xia who was already in position on the lift platform.

"Taeyeon's '11:11'." Liz answered instantly.

"Has he never covered this song before?" Zhang Yuanying asked in surprise.

"No." Liz shook her head firmly. She had watched all of Su Xia's videos and was certain that Su Xia had never covered "11:11".

"Hehe, I'm kind of curious to see the audience's expressions after Attorney Su starts her performance." Ahn Yoo-jin suddenly laughed.

Hearing her words, the other members also laughed.

For someone who has never heard Su Xia sing but has heard Kim Tae-yeon sing, it must have been a truly unique experience.

"It's a pity we can't see what's happening in the live stream," Zhang Yuanying said regretfully.

"Everyone's so active!" At the same time, in Kim Chae-won's house, Hong Eun-chae looked at the live comments on the right side of the huge 85-inch TV and exclaimed in surprise.

The other four members of LESSERAFIM were scattered in various corners of Kim Chae-won's living room, while the 2024 MAMA was playing on the screen.

The live broadcast.

"Yongzhi's performance was still great. It's good that Attorney Su is in the lead-up to her; she'll be there to warm up the crowd," Sakura said after thinking for a moment.

"Why not pair it with IVE? Wouldn't it generate more buzz if it were aired alongside IVE's shows?" Heo Yoon-jin asked, puzzled.

"Maybe he has his own reasons?" Kim Chae-won shook his head. "Whatever, it's not important."

They didn't participate in this year's MAMA and therefore didn't go to Japan. At Sakura's suggestion, they gathered at Kim Chae-won's house to watch the live broadcast together.

The reason it's Kim Chae-won's family —

Her TV was the biggest. People in Seoul buy houses of similar size, but their home appliances are different.

Sakura's home appliances are all functional, but her gaming room cost nearly ten million won to build.

Jin Caiyuan's house is more normal, except for its large 85-inch TV, which is quite eye-catching.

"What song is Attorney Su singing?" Nakamura Ichiyo asked casually, looking at the still quiet live stream and the comments speculating when the next performer would take the stage.

"Let me see." Kim Chae-won picked up her phone and found the program schedule released by MAMA, "Taeyeon sunbaenim's '11:11'..."

》

"They're here!" Hong Eun-chae's excited voice rang out as soon as Kim Chae-won finished speaking.

Everyone turned to look at the screen.

"Here it comes!"

Inside the NMIXX dormitory, the girls from Xiaoyao sat around the sofa in the living room, becoming excited as they watched the images on the television screen.

In the live stream, the lights suddenly turned on, the camera switched to a wide shot, and the missing black cube in the center of the stage was slowly rising, and a figure gradually emerged.

"Who is this?"

"11:11? Isn't that Taeyeon's song?"

"Me, Teok Tae-yeon?!"

"Who is this? He's quite good-looking."

"Is he a newly debuted solo artist?"

"Isn't that the internet celebrity who got the applause from the whole audience earlier?"

"Oh, I remember now, the recipient of that Influential Contribution Award, wasn't he Chinese?"

"A Chinese person on the MAMA stage? And singing a cover? This is the first time I've seen that."

"Didn't JJ Lin appear on it?"

"He's not a Chinese citizen."

"Oh right."

"There are plenty, aren't Chow Yun-fat and Eason Chan examples?"

"I need his information!!!"

As Su Xia stood on the rising platform and arrived at the center of the stage, his face appeared on the big screen.

The audience at the venue and in the live broadcast room were mostly unfamiliar with him. They were curious about this "stranger" who had caused quite a stir when he received the award and wanted to hear what kind of song he could sing.

When the stage lights suddenly dimmed at MAMA, Su Xia looked at the heads illuminated by the cheering sticks below the stage, and tens of thousands of eyes were fixed on her on the stage. Her knuckles turned white as she gripped the microphone.

"I'm here," Kim Tae-yeon's voice rang in my ears.

Hearing this, Su Xia inexplicably relaxed.

He wasn't standing alone on the stage.

Behind her, the LED screen flowed with shimmering starlight, which coalesced into the music Su Xia was about to perform.

11:11

Original singer: Taeyeon

Performance by: SuXia

Su Xia wore a simple gray suit without elaborate stage makeup and hair, making her look rather shabby compared to the other celebrities who were dressed up in their finest attire.

But such thoughts did not last long, and dissipated as the prelude began, replaced by a slight commotion throughout the venue.

Kim Tae-yeon's "11:11".

This ballad, which swept the music charts in 2016, became a beloved ballad for countless listeners with its exquisitely delicate vocal transitions and a three-octave vocal range.

As the intro begins, the camera pans across the audience.

In the audience, some people sat up straight instinctively after hearing the intro, while some artists in the front row looked at the stage with surprised expressions.

There were no cheers or shouts of encouragement when other artists took the stage; instead, there were only whispers and scrutinizing glances.

But Su Xia on stage was not affected in the slightest.

The intro to this lyrical piece, dominated by acoustic guitar, incorporates light rhythmic elements, and the guitar sound in the intro resonates throughout the venue in the next second.

Su Xia's voice rang out.

"It is 11:11 now."

"There's less than one bar of time left today."

The moment Su Xia opened her mouth, the entire audience fell into a brief silence. It wasn't Kim Tae-yeon's rich and unique tone, but it had a strikingly similar clarity.

This?

"The time we spent making wishes and laughing."

"Those special things remind me of you."

"A wind as cold as the tip of your heart"

"Open the window, and all that blows in is you."

"That's the voice!" Oh Hae-won clapped her hands excitedly in front of the TV, her eyes wide with excitement as she watched Su Ha sing on stage. "Every time I hear Lawyer Su sing, I immediately think of Taeyeon sunbaenim?"

The bass register is as deep and steady as the sea at night, with each note accompanied by a perfectly breathy tone, carrying the same delicate quality as Kim Tae-yeon's original version.

"Instead of imitating timbre, she focused on honing her singing skills and vocal techniques. Even though the timbre is different, people will immediately think of Taeyeon when they hear it." Lily looked at Su Xia on the screen with shining eyes. "Most importantly, Attorney Su has become much more proficient in controlling her low register!"

Her skill level is not far behind Su Xia's, but not by much. Given time, she is confident she can catch up.

But now that I hear it, Su Xia is also making progress!

This made Lily very happy, and she felt a bit like she was seeing a prey, but unfortunately her voice didn't quite match Su Xia's.

"After all of this time has passed..."

Will parting end everything?

"Will I then completely forget you?"

The bridge section was completed so perfectly that Kim Tae-yeon couldn't help but want to applaud.

Su Xia's learning talent was truly unparalleled in her life. In such a short time, she had already mastered everything that Su Xia had taught her. The only difference between them was the things that Su Xia hadn't taught her yet.

But it wasn't that she was keeping these things to herself; it was that she couldn't teach them.

Those who learn from me live, those who resemble me die.

This is a hidden technique used to protect Su Xia.

"Everyone leaves after finding a place."

Even if you leave with everything I have.

When it came to the chorus, Su Xia did not deliberately imitate the delicateness of a woman. Instead, he used the unique thickness of a male voice to support that explosive high note. His breath control during the transitions was as precise as a precision instrument, and he even hid the sound of his breath perfectly.

The lights shone on Su Xia, who stood in the center of the stage. He didn't perform any complicated dance moves or even use any extra body language; he could capture everyone's attention with just his voice.

When he sang "will be stranded in the same place, spinning endlessly," his voice suddenly weakened, so weak that it seemed to whisper in one's ear, yet it clearly penetrated the huge venue.

That was a completely different kind of empathy from Kim Tae-yeon's original version, carrying a uniquely masculine restraint and melancholy, yet equally touching the softest spot in people's hearts.

As the soft humming interlude began, someone started clapping.

The applause spread rapidly, like pebbles thrown into a lake.

The once silent stands erupted into thunderous cheers, with some holding up light sticks from other groups, the colorful lights forming a sea of ​​stars in the darkness.

With the soundproofing provided by the in-ear monitor, Su Xia's rhythm wasn't interrupted by the applause.

His gaze swept calmly across the audience, his eyes showing no trace of the naivety of someone new to the stage, only unwavering confidence in the music.

The second verse began as usual, as if neither the audience's silence nor their cheers could affect his stage performance.

The three verses and chorus of "11:11" are actually setting the stage for the final humming in each verse, and the humming is the essence of the whole song.

In the final chorus, Su Xia and Kim Tae-yeon slightly modified the ending, adding a brief breathy transition at the highest note, giving it a more wistful and layered feel than the original.

As the final note faded, the cheers from the entire audience nearly lifted the roof off, a stark contrast to the initial silence.

The moment the music stopped, the applause and screams in the stadium lasted for a full half minute.

Su Xia bowed slightly, her wisps of hair damp with sweat and clinging to her smooth forehead, once again causing the entire audience to erupt in cheers.

Those in the artist section, the audience section, and even those in the live stream who didn't know Su Xia before today were already dumbfounded. Their questioning gazes turned into shock. They finally understood why an online blogger without any of his own works could stand here.

There are connections involved, but who among those who can get a piece of the pie here doesn't have connections?

More importantly, on this stage where the microphone is partially or even not open, the super strong live performance is fully open!

Su Xia bowed deeply and remained standing for a long time. Those days and nights spent in the practice room, repeatedly studying and refining every pronunciation and transition under Kim Tae-yeon's guidance, had ultimately paid off.

After a long while, urged by the PD in her earpiece, Su Xia finally stood up and stood on the stage, looking at the sea of ​​lights that lit up the audience below.

I suddenly remembered the scene when I first met Kim Tae-yeon in my rented apartment this year.

At that time, he was a legal worker, his mind was full of making money, and he only thought about music when he wanted to pass the time.

If it weren't for Kim Tae-yeon, he probably would never have appeared here in his entire life.

Music?

A faint smile appeared on Su Xia's lips.

Having a goal to pursue seems pretty good, doesn't it?

The lights shone on him again, and he bowed deeply to the audience once more before slowly descending from the platform.

clap clap clap!

As soon as Su Xia arrived backstage, she was greeted by enthusiastic applause.

Upon closer inspection, it was indeed the members of IVE.

Just as she was about to go over, the staff stopped Su Xia.

"Attorney Su, IIVE needs to get ready to go on stage," a staff member reminded her.

"Okay." Su Xia nodded and gave the IVE members a thumbs-up from afar.

The girls returned a smile.

Back in the lounge and with my phone back, I immediately saw messages from LESSERAFIM and the members of NMIXX.

Caiyuan Street: [Photo]

Caiyuan Street: Attorney Su is absolutely amazing!

Clicking on the photo reveals a picture of the other four members, excluding Kim Chae-won, squatting in front of a TV watching the live broadcast.

SuXia: [Thumbs up]

Then I opened Oh Hae-won's message.

Haiyuan Street: [Photo]

Haiyuan Street: It's so beautiful! [tears welling up]

Haiyuan Street: I want to listen to this a hundred times!!!

In the photo, Oh Hae-won extends her right hand and gives a thumbs-up, while behind her thumbs-up are the other five members of NMIXX giving their thumbs-up as well.

Su Xia found it amusing.

"Hey, it's the DM Sparkling Star series bracelet." Kim Tae-yeon suddenly poked her head out and said, looking at the bracelet on Oh Hae-won's right wrist in the photo.

"I think she was wearing this bracelet last time I saw her?" Su Xia remembered it when Kim Tae-yeon mentioned it.

"These are things you wear once or twice and then stop, but Hae-won wears them all the time, so you can tell she really likes them," Kim Tae-yeon said.

For celebrities, wearing such luxury accessories is a rare treat, maybe once a week. Why would they wear them all the time?

"Maybe they'll like it."

As he spoke, he sent a message to Wu Haiyuan.

SuXia: [Thumbs up]

SuXia: The bracelet is nice.

Haiyuan Street: This is what I bought when I first started out, isn't it pretty? [Photo]

This time, the details are even more detailed, but you can still tell that this bracelet is indeed quite old; you can see the wear marks just by looking at the details.

SuXia: That's good.

Haiyuan Street: ? No way! Why are you able to use your phone?

While holding her phone, Oh Hae-won suddenly discovered the key point!

"If I remember correctly, we weren't allowed to use our phones during MAMA, right?" Oh Hae-won asked the members.

"Yeah! It's so torturous not being able to use my phone!" Pei Zhenlu wailed first.

"It's like being in jail!" Maknae Jang Kyujin strongly agreed. Not being able to look at his phone for six or seven hours is just too much torture for him.

"How did Attorney Su respond to our messages?"

Who knows?

SuXia: [Voice]

Wu Haiyuan curiously clicked on the voice message.

"Guess?" Su Xia's teasing voice rang in the girls' ears.

Six people:

'

'

"You must have been playing this secretly!" Wu Haiyuan said in a vicious voice.

"I'm doing this openly and honestly. I only have one camera here, so just don't sit over there," Su Xia's voice came through again.

"I remember now." Xueyun's eyes suddenly lit up. "Attorney Su is an international artist. He should be in the international artist lounge. I heard there are no cameras in that room."

Case solved!

So that's the reason!

She told Su Xia about Xue Yun's guess.

"Oh, who's so smart to guess that? It definitely wasn't Hae-won, you don't have that brain."

"Hey! Even you can't talk to me like that!" Wu Haiyuan said angrily.

"Children, am I right?"

Pei Zhenlu took Wu Haiyuan's phone and pressed the voice button.

"Yoona guessed it, and you're absolutely right, we all agree!"

The other girls joined in the commotion, leaving only Wu Haiyuan, whose face had turned green.

"Hahaha, Hae-won, do you have anything else to say?" Su Xia's gloating voice came over.

"You're all in cahoots! I'm not playing with you anymore!" Wu Haiyuan said, dissatisfied.

"Fine, I won't play then. I'll play with Guizhen and the others," Su Xia said cheerfully.

"Hehe." Zhang Guizhen, who was called out, immediately smiled. The cat was happy, the cat was going to take the place!

"Alright, I'm not chatting with you guys anymore. I'm getting sleepy from singing. Go take a nap."

These words made them envious again.

When they participated in MAMA, they couldn't play on their phones when they were bored, and they didn't dare to sleep when they were sleepy. They also had to maintain their image. It was so difficult!

But they didn't say anything and said goodbye to Su Xia.

Su Xia was certainly not going to sleep. It was only ten o'clock, what was there to sleep for!

Of course, I'm going to play with my golden shovel!

I excitedly opened the golden shovel, and before starting the ranked match, I was ready to admire my fully-fledged 95, and Old Eight's comeback.

Then----

"?"

Is Lao Ba out?

Su Xia slowly raised her head, looking at Xiao Li with a dangerous gaze.

Xiao Li:

Do my family members watching this on screen think there's any hope for me?

The next day, in her hotel room, Su Xia was awakened from her sleep by a series of urgent ringing sounds.

Yesterday's mama didn't end until after 11 p.m., lasting more than seven hours. Liz and the others were too tired to have dinner together, so they said goodbye before leaving and went back to their hotels to get some sleep.

Su Xia slept very well that night.

"Feed." Su Xia rubbed her eyes and answered the phone.

"Boss, it's blown up!!!" Park Hee-min's excited voice came over. The usually composed Park Hee-min was as excited as Xiao Li, whom he had beaten up yesterday.

-

"What exploded? Was it the company's gas cylinder?" Su Xia blurted out in her dazed state.

Park Hee-min: "?"

"The company doesn't have gas cylinders; we use electric stoves," Park Hee-min said, rolling her eyes. "I'm talking about the fans! Your music video has over ten million fans!"

Su Xia instantly regained her senses.

Despite being called a blogger with millions of followers wherever he goes, that number is actually inflated.

It refers to "a blogger with tens of millions of followers across the internet," not "a blogger with tens of millions of followers."

The total number across all platforms is just that – the total number across all platforms. In reality, Yin Fu only has eight million fans, and on Bilibili, it's just over four hundred, still far from ten million.

But now Park Hee-min says he has over ten million fans?

"After last night's buzz, your follower count skyrocketed by two million, reaching ten million by 7 a.m. this morning!" Park Hee-min exclaimed excitedly.

"Let me see." Su Xia quickly switched her phone to another app, opened the music player, and saw that her follower count had reached—

1000.7w!

"I'll blanch it!" Su Xia couldn't help but swear when she saw the number.

Holy crap, he became a genuine million-follower blogger overnight?

"And you've also been trending on social media. You've been trending on Korean websites several times, and you even got first place in the entertainment category and third place on the overall trending list in China!" Park Hee-min continued.

Su Xia opened Weibo and immediately saw the hashtags related to herself on the list.

#Su Xia wins MAMA award#

Scrolling down, I found that there was more than one related entry.

#Su Xia and Luo Yingxi walk the red carpet#

#Su Xia took the wrong path#

#Su Xia's Status in K-pop#

#苏夏11：11stage#

"Wait, did you guys buy the trending topics?" Su Xia stared blankly at the top fifty trending topics, six or seven of which were hers.

Is that correct?

Is this the kind of popularity a social media influencer can get?

"We didn't buy it! We haven't had a chance to buy it yet. We were thinking of letting it ferment for half a day, and then buying it this morning. We thought that letting it ferment overnight would save us some money on buying traffic. Who knew that it would actually raise the popularity on its own!" Park Hee-min was also a little incredulous. It had already generated so many trending topics before we even started to inflate the numbers. What would happen if we did inflate the numbers?

"No, no, I was so excited I almost fainted, so I still bought it. There was an entry that showed Ahn Yoo-jin clapping when you received the award, and we paid to have it suppressed."

So they even spent money to suppress a trending topic?

"Our prices for collaborations have already increased by 10%, and this is just the beginning. Prices will be even higher after Bilibili's midnight broadcast!"

It's no wonder Park Hee-min was so excited. As her manager, her income is based on a percentage; the higher Su Xia's income, the higher her income.

The revenue-sharing model that tightly binds agents and artists can maximize the motivation of agents, and it is a very common method.

The assistants receive a fixed salary, but Su Xia promised everyone on the team a bonus at the end of the year based on their income.

While it may not be possible to achieve the level of Taylor, where each person receives an average of several million, it is not difficult to give each person a year-end bonus of tens of thousands.

"So, will we be raising our prices for each month's live-streaming sales?" Su Xia asked.

"We won't raise prices if we've already agreed on them, as that would damage our reputation. For those we haven't reached an agreement on yet, we can raise prices," Park Hee-min said with a smile. "Your activities will be suspended for a while. I will lead the team to negotiate collaborations, so you can take a break for a period of time."

"So, you mean I don't have anything to do before the official recording for Bilibili?"

"You still need to attend NMIXX's concert and the city's cultural and tourism conference," Park Hee-min reminded him.

"I know that," Su Xia replied.

"That's all for now, I'm getting a phone call."

"Um.

""

After hanging up the phone, Su Xia sat on the bed and looked at the number of millions of followers on the screen.

"Hehe—hehe—ten million!"

Kim Tae-yeon rolled her eyes at the smug Su Xia, and looking at the numbers on the screen, she couldn't help but feel a mix of emotions.

In just six months, she went from being an unknown to becoming a multi-million dollar internet celebrity who appeared on MAMA.

I'm awesome.

Kim Tae-yeon proudly raised her head, thinking of her teacher, Jung Joon-won.

Hmph, TheOne's teaching skills are far inferior to mine!

Looking back at Su Xia, who was still grinning foolishly, Kim Tae-yeon's pride faltered.

You can't think of it that way. This guy doesn't seem very smart. I'm much smarter than him.

"Stop grinning like an idiot." Seeing Su Xia still laughing, Kim Tae-yeon said irritably, "Take a look at your video."

"What?" Su Xia said, clicking on the pinned video, "My Love," a collaboration with Liz.

He has many pinned videos, and he has pinned almost all of his collaborative videos. However, his famous work "Why" is not pinned.

The main focus is on cooperation.

The comment section, which was previously filled with IVE fans, is now filled with messages like "Congratulations on reaching 10 million followers," "10 million followers," and "Celebrating 10 million followers."

There were also many new fan reports and comments, mostly from fans from all walks of life, who obviously flocked over after the MAMA stage performance.

It's true that Su Xia has the highest K-pop popularity among bloggers in China, but that doesn't mean everyone involved in K-pop knows him; at most, about a third of them do.

But MAMA is different. As one of the most famous award ceremonies besides the three major TV stations at the end of the year, MAMA has a huge number of K-pop fans watching every year. Su Xia's appearance at MAMA can be said to be his first official debut in the K-pop industry, and his debut is on such a huge stage as MAMA.

After learning a little about Su Xia's experiences, I was amazed.

Especially for fans of girl groups, after seeing that Su Xia had collaborated with Fu Yao Chi one after another, they immediately had the idea.

Who knows, the next one might be our own girl group?

It's obvious that Su Xia isn't looking at popularity.

If you say he came for popularity, then why would he choose NMIXX?

If you say he only considers ability, would he have chosen LESSERAFIM and IVE?

This shows that Su Xia chooses girl group partners purely based on first impressions!

Even if their idols are from a relatively unknown group, they might still have a chance to appear in Su Xia's videos?

I'll follow you first!

There are also some people who are just there for the fun of it.

Regardless of their motives, they all started following Su Xia's account.

Then I opened Bilibili, and it had grown a lot, but it's still far behind Yin Fu, and it's a long way from having 10 million followers.

"When my collaboration stage with my second brother comes out, will I top the trending searches on the overall charts?" Su Xia said with a look of anticipation.

The musical notes have reached 10 million views on Bilibili, which is incredibly impressive.

"Possibly." Kim Tae-yeon thought for a moment and nodded in agreement. "Wang Leehom is still quite popular."

These singers may not have many followers, but the popularity of a national-level singer cannot be judged by the number of followers.

Jay Chou's "Musical Notes" has over 20 million fans, and Crazy Little Yang has over 9999 million fans. The total number of fans could reach over 100 million. And then what?

The former's status, reputation, and popularity far surpass the latter's.

The two collaborated on the home turf of the music venue; who is trying to ride on whose popularity?

The same logic applies to Su Xia's collaboration with her second brother. Her second brother's music videos and Bilibili account don't even have as many fans as Su Xia, but their collaboration is definitely a chance for Su Xia to take off.

Su Xia's fan base is still mainly composed of K-pop fans, accounting for more than 90%, with the remainder being casual fans who came in after watching "Under the Clouds".

This collaboration with my second brother will undoubtedly blow away a lot of music fans in the Chinese music scene.

Thinking of this, Su Xia's eyes immediately filled with anticipation.

Double 10 million —

I get excited just thinking about it.

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