She debuted after having a child with a celestial being.

"Insomnia Flight" was still in the top ten of the new song charts when the barrage of attacks from haters began.

The incident stemmed from an insider at Taihe Music revealing the size of the publicity budget during a media interview.

"The group just completed a 1 billion yuan financing in June. HF is our key independent label this year, with full promotional resources and simultaneous pre-launch promotion on four major platforms."

There's nothing wrong with what he said, but after it was screenshotted and reposted by marketing accounts, the comment section changed overnight.

"He maxed out his budget, yet his new song barely made it into the top ten? Any one of Xue Zhiqian, Mao Buyi, or Xu Song from the same period could easily outperform him."

This statement is not unfounded.

The Chinese music scene in the first half of 2018 was truly a battle of titans.

Xue Zhiqian released four new songs in four months: "Skyscraper" on April 18, "Dumb" on May 10, "Unrestrained" on May 16, and the fourth song "Awakening" followed closely behind.

"Unbridled" is written and sung by Xue Zhiqian and composed by Zhang Yihao. It is the first time that Xue Zhiqian has challenged the pop music style. The song blends the melancholy rhythm with live recordings of instruments such as piano, drums, synthesizers, guitar, and bass, as well as vocal harmonies, to create a highly infectious sad atmosphere, as if a brand new vocal instrument has been incorporated into the arrangement of the song.

"The Mute" is adapted from the original version written by Wang Sulong for Liu Wei. Xue Zhiqian rewrote the lyrics and arranged the music in the variety show "Infinite Melody Season". He passionately interprets the cold confession of a person who is speechless in love, but creates a sense of turmoil in the arrangement of the song.

On the other hand, Xu Song released the second single "The Great World" from his seventh original album at midnight on June 1st. The number of comments on NetEase Cloud Music exceeded 10,000 in 8 minutes, and it topped both the rising charts, with a rising index of 1316%.

The song is based on a Western musical style that blends Country-Blues and Rock, while also containing Eastern Zen philosophy. It revolves around the backdrop of the Syrian war and was released on Children's Day.

One music critic commented: "Xu Song's signature polysemous language system conveys multiple layers of meaning through carefully selected imagery."

Mao Buyi's first album of all original compositions, "An Ordinary Day," was produced by Li Jian and co-produced by Zhao Zhao. It was released on NetEase Cloud Music on May 31 and sold over 1 million copies in less than 9 hours. Within three months, it rose to second place on NetEase Cloud Music's cumulative digital album sales chart.

Prism's "Klin" was released on May 20, 2018.

"Kling, your journey was accidental, like a whale heading to the sea. Please laugh at the suffering."

Good Sister Band's "Ordinary People" also resonated with audiences in 2018.

"Sometimes I've thought about what will happen, and how I'll live the life I've planned."

Any song you pick will be a hit of the year.

Some people compared HF's "Insomnia Flight" with these songs line by line, and their conclusions were ruthless.

A long post that was shared on Weibo's homepage directly criticized Liu Yifei: "Xue Zhiqian's lyrics are etched into the bone, and his switching between true and falsetto is seamless. Mao Buyi tells a story with every breath, and his voice carries the texture of time. Xu Song's arrangement blends Country-Blues and Rock, and you can hear three layers of imagery in one song. Liu Yifei? Her breath control is fairly even in the verses, but she can't hold on in the chorus, oscillating between her true and falsetto throughout. This level wouldn't even reach the passing grade among professional singers."

People in the comments section immediately chimed in.

"An actor is an actor. If he insists on crossing over into singing, I can't think of any other reason besides trying to ride the wave of popularity."

"Xue Zhiqian writes and sings all by himself, Mao Buyi's albums, which are all original compositions, have sold over ten million copies, and Xu Song's songs can inspire three thousand words of analysis. The HF group relies entirely on the sound engineer layering reverb on top of them."

"Honestly, Liu Yifei really shouldn't sing anymore. At least she has a decent face when she acts."

Some even dug up her resume and lashed out at her every mistake: "So what if she released an album in 2006? That album, 'Liu Yifei,' sold 35 copies back then, which is less than a fraction of Mao Buyi's sales today. She hasn't sung for over a decade, and now she suddenly jumps out and calls herself a singer? This isn't crossing over; this is just fleecing people."

Liu Yifei nestled on the sofa in her Shunyi villa, the light from her phone screen reflecting on her face.

The orange cat was lying on her lap, and she was unconsciously stroking its fur.

As she grew increasingly angry, she touched the cat harder, and the cat meowed in dissatisfaction and jumped off the sofa.

She tossed the cushion aside; the long Weibo post was still hanging on the screen, with over 10,000 comments, the most liked one of which read:

"Fairy, you should go back to acting. Singing really isn't for you."

She stared at it for a long time, and then she laughed.

"What exactly do these capitalists want? I act in movies, and they criticize me. I've even started singing, and they still criticize me? I can't act, I can't sing, so what am I supposed to do? Go home and grow eggplants?"

Xiao He came out of the Nine Percent tour rehearsal room and leaned against the corridor wall to call her.

He waited until she finished venting her anger before speaking: "Sis, being criticized is still being criticized. The fact that you're being scolded means that someone cares about you."

I don't want this kind of concern.

"Didn't you notice the wind direction is changing?" Xiao He's voice was steady.

"Last time, the trending topics criticizing you were all filled with 'box office poison,' but this time, people in the comments section are speaking up for you: 'Liu Yifei has been acting for so many years, it would be abnormal if she didn't get ridiculed for crossing over into singing, but at least she's serious about it.' No one spoke up for you before. Now someone does."

Liu Yifei was silent for a moment, then sullenly hummed, "Only one person spoke up for me out of three hundred words, and you call that a change of wind?"

"If one person speaks up for you out of three hundred words, that's more than zero; last time it was zero."

Xiao He leaned against the corridor wall, with the hurried footsteps of the artists' assistants in the dressing room behind him.

"Sister, do you remember me telling you that all these criticisms hit the same bullseye: image? Before, they criticized you because you were too clean, so clean that it made everyone who came to pay their respects uncomfortable. Now they criticize you because you've crossed over into singing, an actress trying to take away from professional singers' market share. The content of the criticisms has changed, but the people criticizing you haven't. They're not afraid of whether you sing well or not; they're afraid that no matter how well you sing, people will listen."

He paused for a moment.

"Let them curse. As long as we eventually reach the summit, all the criticism and condemnation will become our stepping stones."

Liu Yifei did not respond immediately.

She tucked her phone between her ear and shoulder, bent down, picked up a neglected calico cat from the ground, and hugged it.

"Since you're so good at reasoning, why don't you go and sue me? Smash all this disgusting capitalism down!"

"That's a good idea," Xiao He said with a smile.

She hung up right after she finished speaking.

Then he opened WeChat and sent a voice message to Tang Yan: "Let's get together this weekend. It's on me. Yes, the usual place."

On Saturday night, Tang Yan booked the private rooftop garden room at Jasmine Restaurant in advance.

Jasmine is located on the shore of the artificial lake in the Workers' Stadium area. For most of the year, it is covered in lush green grass. It has a rooftop garden, a waterfront platform, and the largest wine cellar in Beijing.

When Zhang Liangying arrived from the recording studio, she was still wearing that navy blue velvet tracksuit. Shu Chang arrived the earliest, followed closely by Meng Jia and Hong Chen.

The two started arguing about who should grill the next round of meat as soon as they entered the room.

By the time the second round of dishes was served, quite a few bottles of wine had been opened.

Zhang Liangying, holding a glass of red wine, swirled it and said, "Yifei, I listened to your 'Insomnia Flight.' The second chorus was more stable than the first, which means you worked on it a lot in the recording studio."

Liu Yifei pointed to her chest with a fork: "We recorded it more than ten times, just that one line, 'I want to fly low with you,' over and over again. By the end, the producer was practically begging me to leave work."

Zhang Liangying was cutting her steak when she glanced up at her and said, "Your falsetto is a little thin, but your midrange is quite stable."

Shu Chang, who was dipping the crispy pork in sauce, slowly added, "Some people in my fan group have set 'Insomnia Flight' as their alarm clock and are woken up by Xixi's voice every morning."

Tang Yan leaned back in her chair, holding a wine glass and laughing, while Shu Chang reached out to grab the spring rolls from Hong Chen's plate.

Liu Yifei suddenly slammed her chopsticks on the table.

"Come on, one person, tell me one dirty secret about me. If you say something nice, I'll drink a glass; if you say something bad, you all drink."

Zhang Liangying was the first to raise her hand: "Your singing skills are terrible, you rely entirely on the sound engineer."

Liu Yifei picked up her wine glass and took a sip: "That's what the marketing account said. You pass."

Shu Chang picked up a piece of spicy chicken and stuffed it into her mouth, mumbling a response.

Tang Yan put down her wine glass and said, "You're too aloof. You never smile during interviews."

As soon as she finished speaking, Liu Yifei grinned at everyone, showing her teeth. Shu Chang pointed at her and said, "That's a fake smile, you have to drink." Liu Yifei then picked up her glass and took a sip.

After holding it in for a while, Meng Jia finally managed to say, "You're so beautiful, I'd be at a disadvantage taking a picture with you."

Hong Chen pushed her and said, "This is a compliment, not a criticism."

Liu Yifei had already picked up her glass, saying, "I like this one, so I'll drink it."

Then he tilted his head back and gulped down half a glass of red wine.

Everyone could tell that Liu Yifei was really in a bad mood; she had invited everyone out to drown her sorrows in alcohol.

Zhang Liangying put down her knife and fork, wiped her hands, and looked at her: "Yifei, did you really think about retiring from the entertainment industry last winter?"

A moment of silence fell over the private room. Liu Yifei put down her wine glass, her fingers unconsciously tracing the rim. "I thought about it. Not retiring from the industry, but completely shutting down. I wouldn't act anymore, I wouldn't sing anymore, I'd just go abroad alone. Anyway, at that time I felt that this industry only knew how to criticize me and didn't need me."

"So what happened and you changed your mind? You even sang?"

Liu Yifei tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear: "Because someone won't let me leave. He said that what I've lost because of the 'box office poison' label and the 'fairy sister' persona doesn't belong to me. I will have a new label: Liu Yifei."

Zhang Liangying picked up her wine glass and gently touched it to hers: "That person, is it Xiao He?"