Chinese Entertainment King: Starting as a Fat Boy and Becoming a Singing King

On the first morning after the interview aired, the trending topic showed no signs of declining.

On WeChat Index, the search volume for "Xu Yao's complete recording" exceeded eight figures by 6 a.m., and the Weibo topics #TrueKindnessHasRoughRoughness# and #XuYaoWantsJustice# garnered over 100 million views overnight, with more than 70,000 comments.

A dedicated thread on Douban was created overnight, titled "From Lyrics to Court Evidence, Is Xu Yao the First Talent Show Champion in Chinese Entertainment to Include Legal Awareness in His Workplace Handbook?"

At the same time, follow-up reports from various media outlets began to spread from the entertainment section to the workplace and social sections.

Southern Metropolis Entertainment Weekly published an in-depth article overnight titled "The 'Rhombus' of a Talent Show Champion: A Young Man's Choice in the Face of the Capital Machine," which detailed Xu Yao's entire process from being hospitalized twice for hypoglycemia during his tour to having his promotional posters removed. It also revealed for the first time the huge discrepancy between the actual monthly income of some trainees and the company's reported cash flow.

The Beijing News published a signed article titled "Why Does Kindness with Sharp Edges Resonate?" The article stated: In this society where silence is golden, a young person saying, "I really have no background or resources, but I want to give it a try," is itself a question mark thrown at the law of the jungle in the workplace.

Sanlian Life Weekly compiled a set of comparative charts using excerpts from Xu Yao's interview with contract disputes in the talent show industry in recent years. The charts use data to demonstrate how the unfair terms in the agency contracts of The Voice of China systematically deprive young artists of their bargaining power and creative freedom.

But what truly ignited this fire from entertainment news into a social issue was a Weibo post by Renren Daily.

At 7 p.m. that evening, @RenrenDaily published a long article with a restrained title: "Should Kindness Have Edges?"

The article states: "Why was a young person, just starting out, forced to apologize on Monday? It wasn't about admitting fault, but about standing up against injustice. Kindness has its limits, and tolerance has its boundaries; this is individual awakening and a microcosm of social progress. In any industry, young people should not be silent expendable resources."

One Weibo post didn't mention anyone by name, but the top comments section was filled with a neat row of comments.

"I'm the one who supplies the product, and I want to say thank you today."

Some netizens brought up a real-life example of a post-90s generation woman reorganizing the workplace: Xiao Ma, a post-90s girl from Zhengzhou, Henan, was isolated in a group chat by her team leader for refusing to work overtime. The team leader ordered others to "just criticize her," but she was regarded as a role model for workplace rebellion.

But Xu Yao was facing an entire brokerage firm that controlled both capital and legal affairs, making his resistance cost several orders of magnitude higher than that of an ordinary person.

Someone else mentioned that a recent graduate at Chery refused to attend a Saturday meeting and directly confronted his boss via email, copying the group's second-in-command. He single-handedly stood up to the entire management system and ultimately gained support from tens of thousands of internal private messages.

Compared to these news reports, Xu Yao's resistance was more solitary and more thorough.

He wasn't protesting a meeting or working overtime; he was shouting "I don't!" at the contracts and agreements of the entire talent show industry.

Soon, someone drew a comparison chart: the left side is a screenshot of an email from a recent graduate at Chery – "Why should I have to sacrifice my rest time for work?"

On the right is a screenshot of Xu Yao's interview—"True kindness should have edges."

The two had never met, but their answers transcended time and space, overlapping each other.

The story of "The Voice of China contestant Xu Yao confronting his management company" began to intertwine with events such as "rejecting workplace bullying" and "fresh graduate angrily confronting Saturday meetings".

Immediately, Xu Yao's response was highlighted by the line "I have no background, I have no fear," paired with a screenshot of a news article about a 90s girl being bullied in a private group chat by her group leader. The caption read: "Two young people with no background, one in an office building and the other in the entertainment industry, chose the same answer."

This post was forwarded more than 200,000 times, and some people began to call Xu Yao "the first person to rectify the domestic entertainment industry".

At this point, the issue truly went viral.

A large number of non-entertainment audiences began to pay attention to Xu Yao. His followers were no longer just fans from the Voice of China era, but also office workers working overtime in their cubicles, interns who were criticized in the meeting room and dared not utter a word, and young people who were browsing workplace bullying topics late at night but dared not reply with their real names.

They saw themselves in this news story.

On the same night that the news went viral, another bomb quietly exploded.

Someone posted an anonymous thread in the "The Voice of China Archaeology Group" on Douban.

"I was a contestant on the third season of The Voice of China. I can vouch for every word Yao Ge said."

The first line of the post read: "I don't know if he'll see this post. If he does, I want to tell him, you're my idol. You said what I'd never dare to say in my dreams. Yaoge, you're amazing."

The poster did not use their real name.

"Every day I would get on the bus at five in the morning and arrive at the performance venue. The stage was just a square made of tape. The sound system would malfunction and I would sing a cappella. I would also do my own makeup and hair. The organizers arranged for us to perform at real estate openings, shopping mall anniversary celebrations, and food festivals. When I sang the chorus, the smoke from the lamb skewers next to me wafted over and almost made me unable to get off the stage. Once, I was arranged to sing at a supermarket promotional booth. Halfway through my song, the supermarket's loudspeaker came on—'Eggs in the fresh produce section are on special today, limited to two pounds per person'—the voice was louder than my microphone."

Immediately, comments section users began digging up leaked photos of contestants singing in shopping mall atriums, open-air parking lots, and building materials market entrances during The Voice of China's tour, confirming the reports one by one.

Immediately afterwards, another anonymous account posted a second message on Weibo.

"I'm a female trainee. I don't want to say too much, I'll just say one thing: the company arranged for me to accompany clients for drinks. Someone was blocking the door of the dressing room asking for my WeChat, and I hid inside, too afraid to come out. Later, I refused to go to that event, and the company leader told me: 'If you don't go, you'll have to pay a penalty for breach of contract.'"

The post wasn't long, but the last sentence silenced everyone: "I've thought about terminating the contract, and I've even asked if anyone has ever succeeded. People say terminating a contract costs astronomical sums. I said I don't have that much money. He said, 'Then just hang in there. Hang in there until the contract ends, or hang in there until you die, hang in there until you rest in peace with my musical dreams. Yao, may you soar freely for all of us.'"

The two anonymous posts detonated like two bombs at the same time.

The discussion area under the original post on Douban was quickly overwhelmed.

In the interview, Xu Yao insisted that "I am only speaking for myself," but the complete recording he released has already spoken for too many students who dare not speak out.

The official Weibo account of The Voice of China was flooded with questions and insults.

The latest Weibo post, which was originally just a routine promotion for a certain tour, completely overwhelmed the comment section.

"Forcing trainees to drink with you, have you no shame?"

"Production team, where is your humanity?"

"Apologize! Apologize to all the students!"

In a panic, The Voice of China first shut down its Weibo comment section, and then was forced to reopen it.

Just hours later, The Voice of China's official Weibo account released a formal statement, strongly worded and swiftly distancing itself from the company: "Regarding the recent inappropriate remarks made online by our agent Lin Nan, our company takes this matter very seriously and has immediately launched an investigation. Preliminary verification indicates that the remarks were Lin Nan's personal actions and have nothing to do with the company. Our company has decided to terminate all positions held by Lin Nan and other relevant employees effective immediately, and reserves the right to pursue their legal responsibilities."

The statement was followed by two paragraphs. One paragraph read, "Mr. Xu Yao is an outstanding student of our company. His championship title is well-deserved. Our company has never treated him unfairly in any way."

The other section is a clarification regarding the bribery rumors surrounding Yang Kun.

"Regarding the false information spread maliciously by some marketing accounts about 'Xu Yao bribing his mentor,' our company has entrusted a law firm to handle the matter and will pursue the infringement liability of the rumor-mongers through legal channels."

Xu Yao looked at the statement. He had expected an apology, but he hadn't thought it would be such a quick and clean break.

That evening, Sister Lin's phone rang.

She answered the phone, but before she could even speak, the voice on the other end was like a knife slashing through her; it was President Liu.

"You big idiot! What a stupid thing you've done? Is this what you call 'fixed'? You've fixed my ass!"

Sister Lin's fingers, gripping the phone, froze: "Mr. Liu, I..."

She only had time to utter three words.

"I'm not worthy to be your General Manager Liu!"

Mr. Liu's voice was filled with extreme anger, so loud that the phone speaker was shaking.

"You're dumber than a pig. You've brought ruin to the company. You don't deserve to stay here, nor do you deserve to stay in my house. Buy your ticket today and get out. I don't want to see you in this city again."

"Liu Rende, don't forget, I've been following you since college. All these years, I've had no reputation or status, and I've had five abortions for you. Now you're kicking me out?"

"I think you've lost your mind. Leave the company, and you'll still get your living expenses."

The phone hangs up.

Sister Lin heard a busy signal coming from the other party.

"It's over, completely over... Xu Yao, it's all your fault... You ruined my life..."

Nayoung was also watching the drama unfold online with amusement.

She had three devices spread out on her coffee table: one for browsing Weibo's trending topics, one for displaying real-time comments under the official statement from The Voice of China, and the other for her WeChat chat interface, which was neatly arranged.

When Nassin came in, she didn't even look up.

"Sis, let me tell you, this Xu Yao is really something else."

Nayoung pointed her index finger at the top of the trending topics cloud, where Xu Yao's name was firmly positioned in the center of the popularity curve.

"Sis, I've met him. Don't be fooled by the fact that he doesn't have many connections or resources. His brains are on par with an entire team."

Naxin looked displeased: "You mean, you want me to back down to a rookie singer from a talent show?"