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

Chapter 97 Xu Yao's second single becomes a huge hit and goes viral.

"Hello there."

Cai Jianya was the first to speak.

Her voice came from the mentor's chair, carrying a long-suppressed excitement, as if she had finally waited for her teammates to finish their pushes and it was her turn to speak.

The corners of her mouth couldn't be stopped from curving upwards, as if carrying the joy of a little girl.

"So cool, so really cool," she said twice, her voice still trembling from the heavy rock chorus she had just heard.

"To be honest, when you started jumping, my feet were off the ground for about three seconds. If I weren't mindful of my role as your mentor, I really would have jumped up with you. The energy of the performance was incredible, really, incredibly powerful."

Zhou Huajian put down the microphone and shrugged in Cai Jianya's direction: "You already jumped. I saw you jump off the chair when you putted the pole. Your feet were off the ground for more than three seconds, at least five seconds, I'd estimate."

Cai Jianya glared at him, her lips still curled up, but she couldn't hold back her laughter for more than three seconds before bursting out.

"Brother Wakin, don't bring this up. I did jump around, but at least I didn't sing along from beginning to end like you did. That part your mom didn't tell you," were you singing harmonies with him or trying to steal the melody? It sounded like there were two Wakin Chaus on stage."

Zhou Huajian slapped the armrest of his chair and said confidently, "It's a professional habit! His chorus is so catchy that anyone who has heard it once can't help but sing along. Just wait, you'll be humming it even when you're walking alone after the show."

Upon hearing this, Xu Yao lowered his head and smiled. The song was chosen precisely because of its popularity and subsequent online discussion.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, bent down, and bowed solemnly to the four tutor chairs facing him.

"Thank you to the four mentors."

Yang Kun didn't say a word from beginning to end. He leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs, crossed his arms in front of his chest, and smiled.

That smile wasn't a silly grin; it was a confident "I knew this would happen" kind of smile.

Every time Zhou Huajian got excited and danced with joy, and every time Cai Jianya jumped up excitedly, Yang Kun would deepen the knowing smile on his lips.

That was pride that came from the bottom of my heart, and it overflowed.

Cai Jianya leaned forward again, her voice still carrying a lingering echo of the melody, and tentatively asked Xu Yao, "Could you introduce yourself first?"

"You don't know who he is?"

Zhou Huajian turned his head sharply, his face showing utter disbelief, and slammed his hand on the armrest of the professor's chair.

"He just won The Voice of China this summer, are you sure you don't want to appear in an episode?"

Cai Jianya opened her mouth, looked at Xu Yao carefully, and then shook her head: "I don't watch TV much. I spend more time writing songs and making albums. I do watch the news about 'The Voice of China,' but I don't watch every episode. So—oh, it's you, Xu Yao? Well—then you should introduce yourself too, so the audience doesn't think I, as a mentor, know nothing."

She waved her hand, with a touch of self-deprecating lightness.

"Okay." Xu Yao bowed again, bringing the microphone to his mouth.

"My name is Xu Yao. I participated in 'The Voice of China' and was a student in Yang Kun's team. I am extremely passionate about music."

Cai Jianya led the applause, Liu Hai nodded slightly and clapped along, and Zhou Huajian clapped the most enthusiastically.

As soon as the applause subsided, Zhou Huajian brought the microphone to his lips, his earlier playful banter replaced by an unusually sincere expression: "Although I wasn't the first to push the lever, my sincerity is definitely the first today."

Cai Jianya whispered from the side, "When Teacher Yang Kun pushed, Brother Hua Jian's chair had only just started to turn."

Zhou Huajian ignored her additional comment and continued, looking at Xu Yao, "Teacher Yang Kun recommended you because he knew you were on his team; he probably recognized you just by your voice. But I was purely stunned by your singing and stage presence. At that time, I had no idea who you were. The moment you jumped up on stage just now, I almost stood up from my chair. This song was so powerful live! I was thinking, how can someone sing a rock love song so cool and sweet?"

Liu straightened up from the mentor's chair, took off his signature black-rimmed glasses, folded them, and placed them on the push rod platform.

"Xiao Xu," he said, his voice not loud, but the authoritative tone immediately silenced everyone.

"There's something I don't quite understand. Could you explain it to everyone?" He paused.

"Your song doesn't have a complicated melody, and the chord progressions are fairly standard. Logically, this kind of song should sound straightforward, but when you sang it, I observed the audience's reaction. They were swaying along with you during the first chorus. By the second chorus, some people were already singing along. Can you analyze why you chose a song that doesn't sound particularly impressive for this original song competition?"

Teacher Liu was actually being quite subtle. He had high expectations for Xu Yao, so how did you end up singing such a cheesy pop song?

Xu Yao paused for a few seconds to gather his thoughts before speaking again: "Personally, I think the original intention of creating a song is to touch or appeal to a certain number of people. I like listening to Liu Huan's songs, but I also like listening to Dao Lang's songs."

"Young listeners today prefer emotionally impactful expressions. So the melody of this song doesn't have many fancy vocal techniques, but this means the chorus has to be instantly catchy and memorable. The lyrics don't need to be too convoluted either; the things most people can't say in real life are often the most touching because they are straightforward."

39

Cai Jianya picked up the microphone and answered his words in a very serious tone: "Wow, your musicality and market sense are really amazing. I fell in love with this song after just one listen. During the second chorus, I couldn't help but sing along during the interlude when you yelled 'Your mom didn't tell you,' and I ended up doing a very unprofessional harmony with the producer behind me. We both laughed so hard we couldn't continue."

Yang Kun didn't say much, he just sat up a little straighter.

Cai Jianya put the microphone back on the table, and Zhou Huajian stopped talking.

Teacher Liu smiled and said, "Alright, alright, please make your final choice, Xu Yao."

Zhou Huajian leaned back in his chair and deliberately pointed at himself, shouting, "Pick me, pick me, pick me!"

"I am a singer from the Yang family." Xu Yao switched the microphone to his other hand, his voice steady as a hammer blow, "This time, I still choose Teacher Yang Kun."

"Yes."

Yang Kun finally uttered two words, sprang up from his mentor's chair, raised his hands above his head, turned to the audience, and shouted, "See that? I didn't need to say a word the whole time. I knew Xu Yao would choose me! He came here specifically for me. That's skill, that's confidence!"

Zhou Huajian laughed out loud: "Yang Kun, take it easy. Be careful, or I'll bring someone even more explosive next season, someone who'll blow your poles like fireworks."

Yang Kun, without turning his head, gave a thumbs-up to the audience: "Go ahead and bring whatever you want, I, Xu Yao, will wipe you out!"

Soon after the fifth episode aired, "Lover Missed" sparked a wave of "nitpicking and singing along" across the internet.

The comment section of the latest post on The Voice of China's official Weibo account was overwhelmed.

There was no organization, no prior notice, but all the messages were surprisingly consistent in format.

"Didn't your mother tell you that you should apologize if you bump into someone?"

This sentence appeared in a neat and uniform line for three whole pages, from the first row of top comments to the fiftieth, with no other content interrupting the queue.

It can only be said that these netizens seem to have become Xu Yao's family. Even though Xu Yao has reconciled with the company, these netizens still can't let go of The Voice of China and will occasionally form groups to attack him.

So much so that netizens felt that Xu Yao had let go of his ex-girlfriend with this single, but not the Voice of China.

The Voice of China also promptly posted on Weibo: "Take the beating, stand at attention, admit your mistake, and congratulate Xu Yao, the champion of The Voice of China."

This is a way of capitalizing on the hype while also stating our position: you can criticize us all you want, but Xu Yao is one of our Voice of China contestants.

Some people added layers of complexity, creating a continuous chorus: "Passing by without ever encountering you, turning back, it's still the same mistake. Those who bump into people on the subway on their way to work and don't apologize, do they feel guilty upon hearing this song?"

This post has been shared over 20,000 times.

The secondary creations in the bullet comment section quickly followed up with the most viewed segment of the program video.

The clip from "Lover Missed" was pushed to the top of the site's trending list by a single bullet comment less than four hours after it was uploaded.

The comment section contained only six characters: "Xu Yao is a real genius; even his subtle criticisms are so sophisticated."

Immediately following, another account posted: "He writes songs to curse others, and he's the one who teaches rude people to be polite. The Voice of China was forced to back down on set."

Immediately, netizens began to delve into the story behind the lyrics, leaving lengthy analyses in the music comment section: "Don't overinterpret it. Xu Yao isn't that petty. 'Missed Lover' itself reflects the aftereffects of a breakup. The rhythm was amplified, turning it into a catchy, brainwashing anthem, spreading like a virus. The line in the song, 'Your mom didn't tell you, if you bump into someone, you should apologize,' ostensibly criticizes a heartless woman for her lack of manners, but it's actually written for all those overly accommodating people who lack boundaries."

"Stop trying to justify it. Isn't it obvious what Teacher Liu said? It's just a catchy pop song. I'm disappointed in Xu Yao."

"What's considered vulgar can also be considered refined, and even if you're vulgar, you still won't understand it. This song seems simple, but so far, no one has been able to articulate its meaning. The real meaning of 'Your mother didn't tell you that if you bump into someone, you should apologize' is that we encounter many people in our lives, some of whom will touch our hearts, but they are irresponsible and ultimately leave, causing us to miss out on loved ones. Do you understand?"

"The people upstairs are all too naive. Xu Yao has a nickname, 'The Scheming Fatty.' Is he really just here to sing?"

For his first performance after the conflict with his company, he deliberately chose a controversial song to stir up discussion.

This interpretation was screenshotted and forwarded to Tieba (a Chinese online forum), and the most upvoted comments unanimously pushed it to the top. Many netizens went to Xu Yao's Weibo to leave messages, insisting that he come out and explain what the song really meant and who was actually listening to it.

Xu Yao posted a Weibo post: "A thousand people have a thousand Hamlets. The final interpretation belongs to you who like this song."

This explanation seems to say it all, but upon closer inspection, it also seems to say nothing at all.

Some netizens then followed up with comments retorting: Didn't your mother tell you that you should apologize if you bump into someone?

Marketing accounts started to manipulate this trend: Xu Yao shot himself in the foot, trying to please his fans, but ended up being attacked by them.

The number of views continues to soar.

Within a week, "Lover Missed" jumped from its debut to number 35 on QQ Music's new song chart.

Liu Yifei then reposted the official clip from the show. "Oh my god, I've been listening to this song on repeat all day. It's so addictive, so catchy! Little brother, can you write me a song?"

The caption also included waving and microphone emojis.

Nayoung then reposted the same video at around 3 a.m., simply writing two words: "Explosive, there are actually lyrics like this."

Immediately afterwards, Deng Ziqi added a series of explosion and clapping emojis, saying, "I've saved this. This is a song I'll listen to on repeat. I have to say, you can't forget it after just one listen!"

Cai Jianya commented, "When I'm lying in bed at night, with my eyes closed, I can still see Xu Yao jumping around singing 'Your Mom Didn't Tell You.' Now you know the value of my live commentary."

After the latest rankings were updated, "Lover Missed" jumped from 35th to 11th place.

The songs ahead of him in order are: Su Yunying's "Wild Child" firmly in first place, Li Ronghao's "Li Bai" close behind, Lu Han's "Our Tomorrow" holding onto third place, and Jay Chou's "What Kind of Man" and JJ Lin's "New Earth" ranking fourth and fourth respectively.

Fifth, followed by Jolin Tsai's "Third Person" and Wang Leehom's "Your Love".

Xu Yao's upward curve is the steepest among this batch of songs, and he has a very good chance of reaching the top.

As for whether it can replace Su Yunying's "Wild Child", many netizens are discussing and betting on it on Weibo.