Chinese entertainment: Top stars have no holidays

Chapter 79, "Masked Singer," will be broadcast again; I'm getting ready to join the production team!

The evening of July 8.

The final short video of "A Love So Beautiful" swept across the internet both at home and abroad.

The buzz surrounding its top ranking on TikTok and its dominance of social media trends in multiple Southeast Asian countries has not yet completely dissipated.

Discussions about Jiang Bai continue to be overwhelming and remain high across the internet.

Countless fans and casual viewers are still feeling reluctant to say goodbye to the sweet drama that was perfect for watching while eating.

The widespread recommendation and fan-made videos from overseas netizens continue to gain momentum.

No one expected that, just one day later, a new hot topic for Jiangbai would emerge again.

On the evening of August 22, during prime time on Saturday, the latest episode of "The Masked Singer" premiered on satellite TV and online video platforms.

Jiang Bai previously recorded two episodes of the program.

The production team of "The Masked Singer" is well-versed in the art of generating viewership and is exceptionally shrewd, so they did not play the episodes in the order they were recorded.

After witnessing firsthand how the first episode featuring Jiang Bai directly boosted the season's highest ratings and revitalized the entire season's variety show popularity, the production team completely figured out the secret to generating buzz.

In order to maximize and extend Jiang Bai's popularity and prolong the show's run, they deliberately aired the two episodes recorded by Jiang Bai separately.

One episode was aired early to break the ice and generate buzz, while the other was aired in the middle of the prime time slot to reach peak popularity.

As for the third episode, which hasn't been recorded yet, it's estimated that it will be aired in the latter half of the program.

She accurately grasped the rhythm of traffic and revitalized the ratings and topics of the entire season of the variety show by relying on the popularity of a single person, which can be described as making the most of traffic.

Many outsiders have criticized the production team for being too cunning, relying solely on the popularity of the "Jiang Bai" incident to prolong its run.

But it must be admitted that this strategy was incredibly effective.

Tonight's episode, the second stage recorded by Jiang Bai and released after a two-week hiatus, lived up to expectations, instantly igniting widespread attention across the internet.

After the show premiered that evening, its real-time viewership ratings soared, rising almost vertically.

It completely outperformed all other TV variety shows in the same time slot and led the online charts by a wide margin.

After the episode aired in its entirety, the official viewership data was released, and unsurprisingly, it broke the viewership record for this season of "The Masked Singer" once again.

It became the highest-rated episode since the start of this season, and Jiang Bai alone single-handedly raised the average viewership of the entire season's variety shows.

The online streaming platform was flooded with dense, non-stop barrage comments.

The current situation is that everyone knows Jiang Bai is the "busy school heartthrob," and the production team also knows that everyone already knows.

But they just won't reveal their true colors, they'll just pretend they don't know.

Jiang Bai's fans also joined in the fun, offering various arguments to prove that "the very busy school heartthrob" was not a valid reason for Jiang Bai's fame.

In this episode, Jiang Bai presented two complete stage performances, one a duet and the other a solo.

Unlike the previous episode, which featured an original song.

This time, instead of choosing an original song, he selected two high-quality cover songs with varying degrees of public familiarity.

He captivated the audience once again with his fresh and innovative performance style.

The first song was a duet with the show's new guest, "We're So White," titled "I Want You."

This classic folk love song is tender and affectionate, full of atmosphere, with a delicate and healing melody, and is extremely popular.

During the chorus, Jiang Bai's voice was clean, gentle, clear, and transparent, perfectly matching her partner's mellow and steady voice. The high and low notes complemented each other, and the harmonies were smooth and harmonious, creating a very sweet overall atmosphere.

After the performance aired, this choral piece quickly garnered countless positive reviews, becoming one of the most heartwarming and memorable performances of the episode.

But this is just an appetizer.

Jiang Bai's solo performance featured the song "Destiny," which was the theme song for the TV series "Lanling King."

When the TV series "Lanling King" was airing, this song failed to break out of its niche, and its popularity was mediocre and it wasn't widely sung.

It's a typical case of a hit drama but a hit song, remaining largely unknown on the list of obscure hit songs for years, with almost no one actively covering or mentioning it.

However, this song successfully became popular again on Douyin in the original timeline of 2023.

Wang Sulong and Zhang Bichen's re-arranged cover performance on the stage of "The Voice of China" has become a hit across the internet.

He adapted the performance from the two artists' stage version, hired an arranger to optimize the melody and rhythm, and upgraded the arrangement.

The rhythm of the song is made more catchy, strings are added to the arrangement to enhance the song's sense of destiny and make the emotions more intense, making it suitable for short video dissemination and popular aesthetics.

After the show aired, the song "Destiny" unsurprisingly became a viral sensation, overshadowing all other performances of the episode and becoming the biggest highlight of the show.

Countless viewers exclaimed that it was a masterpiece after listening to it, and flocked to various platforms to listen to it on repeat.

Related stage clips, cover versions, and pure vocal versions went viral on the three major platforms of Douyin, Bilibili, and Weibo, spreading at an alarming speed.

"Help! What an amazing cover! This obscure old song has become the song of the year!"

"I never paid any attention to this song when I watched 'Prince of Lanling' before, but I only realized how good it is after Jiang Bai sang it!"

"The rearrangement is absolutely amazing, the aesthetics are off the charts, it completely blows the original out of the water!"

"The original version was really unremarkable, but this person's adaptation and opening remarks transformed it into a fateful anthem! This is a truly effective cover!"

"I could listen to this on repeat all night and never get tired of it. I could watch this stage a hundred times!"

Overnight, the song "Destiny," which was originally quite obscure, saw its online search volume surge by tens of millions, and its charts on major music platforms soared rapidly.

It successfully transformed from an obscure old song that no one paid attention to into a hit single that became popular again.

Magic City.

As the studio lights dimmed, Jiang Bai, who had just finished shooting a set of photos for Lay's new potato chip product, finally had a chance to rest.

The intensive business photo shoots and brand appearances of the past few days have all come to an end.

All the long-awaited endorsement materials, posters, TV CGs, and product print photos have been shot.

He finally got a temporary break from his relentless business work and enjoyed a brief moment of relaxation.

Jiang Bai leaned back in his chair and casually opened Weibo on his phone. He was immediately greeted by a flood of positive reviews and comments from netizens.

Looking at the comments praising his singing skills, his amazing arrangement, and the resurgence of old songs, he couldn't help but smile slightly, looking relaxed and content.

That's the good thing about being a celebrity—the positive feedback is amazing. Even the smallest achievement will be praised tenfold or a hundredfold by your fans.

This made Jiang Bai instantly understand why some celebrities, despite their poor acting and singing skills, always act as if they are very capable and confident in themselves.

No matter who it is, if they are blindly praised by a large group of fans every day, they will be unable to have a correct self-awareness.

Therefore, Jiang Bai usually tries not to read fans' compliments, only reading them when he wants to relax, as a way to adjust his mood.

Just as he was leisurely scrolling through his phone.

Xu Xu, who had just finished a work call, put away his phone, walked quickly to him, and began to explain the core work arrangements for the upcoming period with a serious expression.

Xu Xu got straight to the point and explained clearly, "The production team of 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' has just officially informed us that the female lead, Li Yitong, has successfully finished filming her previous drama and is immediately preparing to join the production team without any rest."

"All your backlog of business trips, photoshoots, and brand events have been cleared, leaving a completely free schedule with no conflicts."

"The production team has finalized the schedule: a script reading for the entire cast and crew will be held on August 24th."

"To put it simply, it's the first time all the main creators have met offline to familiarize themselves with the script, work on their characters and develop chemistry with their co-stars, and get to know each other's rhythm in advance so they can quickly get into character once filming starts."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "After the reading session, the crew took two days off, and filming officially began on August 26th."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Bai slowly put away his phone and nodded calmly: "No problem, the timing is perfect. I have no issues on my end and will fully cooperate with the production team's arrangements."

After finalizing his schedule for joining the new drama production team, Jiang Bai completely unloaded his work burden and took a short two-day rest in his apartment in Shanghai.

Tian Xiwei has also been very busy lately. Thanks to the popularity of "A Love So Beautiful", she has successively won endorsements from three major brands: fast-moving consumer goods, skincare, and sports, and has been constantly engaged in business activities.

However, she is about to join the filming of "Ever Night" and will have a few days to rest.

The two rarely had free time at the same time, so they took advantage of the last break before joining the production team to spend a short, intimate time together in the apartment, enjoying a rare moment of leisure.

The price was that Jiang Bai used up two boxes of six-packs of Lan Jingling in two days.

Young people are just so hot-tempered!

Two days of leisure time passed in the blink of an eye.

On August 24, Shanghai Hongqiao Airport was bustling with people in the early morning.

The airport was already packed with fans and photographers who had rushed there after hearing the news.

Given Jiang Bai's current popularity, every public appearance of hers attracts a lot of attention from fans, with many fans greeting her at the airport.

At 10 a.m., Jiang Bai, dressed in a simple and low-key outfit, slowly walked into the airport accompanied by her staff.

A black casual sweatshirt paired with solid-color trousers creates a clean and refreshing look, exuding youthful charm.

Even in his simplest casual wear, his tall and outstanding figure and exceptional temperament are undeniable.

The fans at the scene were orderly and quiet, holding up their light sticks and cameras, following him closely, watching him walk away silently, and saying hello in hushed tones.

"Please be careful, everyone, and don't crowd together!"

"Thank you everyone for coming to see me off at the airport, but please remember to be rational in your fandom within your means and do what you can!"

While advising his fans to be careful, Jiang Bai casually accepted some postcards from them and signed his name on them.

His assistant, who had been following closely behind, diligently checked every piece of paper handed to him for signature. If it was blank paper, he would immediately stop and refuse to let Jiang Bai write on it.

"Don't sign on blank paper; it's best to use a poster or photo for a signature!"

Countless paparazzi followed closely behind with their equipment, filming and recording the entire process. Every frame and every shot was enough to become a popular airport photo on Douyin (TikTok).

Recently, Jiang Bai has also gained a few professional fans who specialize in following him around.

Whenever he attends a public business event, you're sure to see these same familiar faces.

They are indeed Jiang Bai's fans, but they are also using that fan identity to make money.

Jiang Bai took it all in stride. If it wasn't them filming, someone else would. Someone has to make the money; that's the nature of the fan economy.

Moreover, professionals are truly different; they can take perfect photos of him at every event, and the retouched photos make countless fans drool.

Surrounded by fans and paparazzi, Jiang Bai calmly made his way through the crowd, checked his ticket, boarded the plane, and set off for Qingdao.

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