A band, or a battleground?

The three girls sat together, Ning Qianyu in the middle, with Jiang Yi and Qiu Mengxue on either side, all staring at the phone in Ning Qianyu's hand. The phone was being held horizontally, and it was unclear what video was playing; the volume was very low.

Qi Yuan opened his mouth as if to ask them what they were looking at, but remembering the sound engineer's suggestion, he didn't make a sound. Instead, he walked to the sofa and took a look.

Then he realized it was from the episode of "The Great Murder Mystery Detective," the one where he had a guest appearance.

Ning Qianyu paused the video, then turned to her and said, "The air conditioner repairman you played was really just a background character the whole time."

Qi Yuan nodded.

Ning Qianyu sighed, "There's nothing I can do in this situation. You weren't even in the script to begin with."

Qiu Mengxue smiled and said, "So the song he wrote was just right."

Jiang Yi said, "Why don't we just drag the progress bar to the end and watch Qi Yuan's performance? He's resting right now, so we can turn up the volume without worrying about disturbing his recording."

Ning Qianyu teased, "Aren't you a loyal viewer of this show? What, you're not even interested in watching it anymore, and you're skipping ahead?"

Jiang Yi pursed her lips: "I'm not exactly a loyal viewer. I've watched a lot of variety shows, it's not like this is the only one."

Qiu Mengxue asked, "By the way, who was the final murderer?"

Qi Yuan's reply was concise: "Sister Yihan."

"Alright, now that we know who the murderer is, there's no need to keep reading. Let's just go straight to the end."

As Ning Qianyu spoke, she dragged the progress bar to the end, confirmed Qi Yuan's singing part, then dragged it forward a little, and watched the song in its entirety. Of course, she didn't forget to turn the volume up a bit.

On the phone screen, when Qi Yuan sang the lines "I have no secrets, why am I sitting here?" and "What does this game have to do with me?", the three girls couldn't help but laugh.

Qiu Mengxue: "Pfft, hahaha... You're so honest!"

Ning Qianyu: "That's why I say sunny and cheerful."

Jiang Yi: "Bai Xingye and Song Zhi look so embarrassed."

Qiu Mengxue: "The director is so mean, he's still showing close-ups of the audience's expressions."

Qi Yuan turned to look at the sound engineer. The guy was still busy at the control panel, seemingly unaffected by the laughter of the girls behind him.

That's why they call themselves professionals.

Qi Yuan withdrew his gaze, looked at Ning Qianyu who was holding her phone, and suddenly asked, "How did you guys come up with the idea of ​​watching this?"

Ning Qianyu blinked: "Because we saw it trending on social media."

Qi Yuan was taken aback: "Trending topic?"

Jiang Yi smiled and said, "Don't you know? The 'Script Murder Detective' show is always trending on social media, and this time it's trending twice."

Qiu Mengxue analyzed, "One of the trending topics was probably bought by the production team to promote Yihan's acting skills, saying that before the final clue was discovered, not many people suspected her of being the murderer. We watched more than half of it just now, and indeed we didn't suspect her. But the second trending topic should have nothing to do with the production team."

Qi Yuan took out his phone, opened the blog platform, and sure enough, he saw the post: [#QiYuanCanAlsoCriticizePeopleWhileSinging]

"Oh, I see."

Qi Yuan smiled and put his phone back in his pocket.

Jiang Yi asked, "The person involved who has caused this controversy again, don't you have anything to say to your teammates?"

Qi Yuan pointed to his throat and waved his hand.

Clearly, he meant that he wanted to rest his vocal cords, and he didn't bother with such trivial matters.

Jiang Yi then asked, "Will you go again next time? If netizens have objections and request the show to invite you back, will you agree?"

Qi Yuan: "That depends on their sincerity."

Jiang Yi said thoughtfully, "Because you were given a minor role this time, you won't go again if they don't show sincerity and give you a core role, right?"

Qi Yuan shook his head, a hint of helplessness on his face: "I don't care about the role, what is sincerity? Money!"

Ning Qianyu slapped her thigh: "I get it! Unless they offer a million, we should have some backbone and not go!"

Qi Yuan was even more helpless: "How could it be one million? Even Shen Yihan wouldn't get that much, right?"

Qiu Mengxue took out her phone and checked, saying, "How much Sister Yihan gets for appearing on this show is an industry secret, but there are rumors that it's 600,000."

Jiang Yi couldn't help but gasp: "Six hundred thousand a day's work, and all this work is playing one murder mystery game... I have to say, no wonder he's a top star?"

Qi Yuan: "Well, if they can offer that price, then I'll acknowledge their sincerity. However, I think it's unlikely."

Before he could finish speaking, the sound engineer turned around sharply and reminded him, "Voice cords, rest!"

Qi Yuan nodded quickly and shut his mouth.

The sound engineer added, "And there's also a neck and shoulder massage?"

Qi Yuan looked bewildered. Neither in his previous life nor in this one, he had hardly ever experienced a massage.

However, at that moment, Qiu Mengxue mustered up her courage and said, "Do you need to relax the muscles around my vocal cords? My mother massaged them for me before, so I know what to do..."

"Then why don't you press it for your teammate?"

The sound engineer finished speaking irritably and then turned back to his work.

Despite the man's unfriendly tone, Qiu Mengxue didn't mind at all.

The girl pursed her lips, trying hard to hold back her laughter, and looked at Qi Yuan, saying in a businesslike tone, "Please sit down first."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

170 is more than just a trending topic.

Shen Xingyun sat in his office, looking at his subordinate. This subordinate was a senior leader in the music department, and usually held considerable influence within the department. However, in front of President Shen, his proper posture resembled that of a primary school student.

The subordinate said, "The song 'Sunny and Cheerful Big Boy' is very strange, and it's completely different from the type of songs Qi Yuan has written before. We all thought he was going for a poet's path. Even in rock, he prefers to write things with a bit of depth."

Shen Xingyun rested his chin on his hands and asked, "But this song lacks depth?"

The subordinate scratched his head and said, "It's not that it's completely devoid of depth, but most of the lyrics are very straightforward, except for a short section at the end. Also, it's a fast-paced melodic rap, with a slightly satirical style and a catchy, almost brainwashing quality. It feels like..."

Shen Xingyun: "It's like an art film director making a comedy?"

The subordinate slapped his thigh: "Yes, that's exactly it! The difference in style is huge."

Shen Xingyun said calmly, "If it's just a change in style, you wouldn't need to report to me specifically, would you?"

The subordinate took out his phone, handed it on the table, and said, "Actually, what I wanted to say was that, internally, we believe that Qi Yuan's song is particularly suitable for promotion on the Dida platform. Because its rhythm is very upbeat, and the lyrics and music are a bit catchy, it's a perfect match for short videos."

Shen Xingyun picked up the phone, pressed play, and saw a video.

"You made this?"

"Yes, I had my colleagues in the department make an edited version. The footage was from Qi Yuan's appearance on that show, specifically showing other people talking while he was standing quietly to the side. That edited version is kind of funny. Also, my colleagues suggested that this song can be paired with a lot of things because there are many 'sunny and cheerful big boys' like this in many circles..."

Shen Xingyun said thoughtfully, "Because the main characters are always a minority, while the unsung supporting characters are the majority."

The subordinate chuckled: "In the end, Qi Yuan was made a supporting character this time, and this is the kind of thing he came up with. You can watch the next video in the local playlist; it was edited by another colleague. It shows a support character in a MOBA game being criticized for slacking off."

Shen Xingyun clicked to play the next video and watched for half a minute. Unfortunately, he didn't play that game, so he couldn't understand the humor of the character. He could only see that the game character stood under the tower for a long time, just giving his teammates a buff every few seconds, without even attacking the minions.

All he could ask was, "Is the feedback from your department good?"

The subordinate nodded: "The young people all say it's very funny, even funnier than Qi Yuan's original video. From my perspective, this song definitely has the potential to become a hit in the short video field. It's different from the songs Qi Yuan wrote before. Those songs were all good, but they weren't suitable for making memes."

Shen Xingyun pondered for a while, then nodded and said, "Then we can try pushing it."

The subordinate immediately straightened his back even more: "Okay, I'll give it a push right now."

Tianhua Entertainment's music department may not have much in terms of songwriting ability, but they are experts at how to generate buzz online, especially on short video platforms.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Qi Yuan was not in a good mood today because the recording of the first song did not go smoothly.

Despite their skillful performance on stage, new flaws could be found with every take in the recording studio. These flaws were subtle, barely noticeable in a band performance. But in professional recording equipment, even the smallest imperfections in pure vocals became unbearable.

So he could only accept the outcome of not finishing today and continuing tomorrow.

As we left, the sound engineer, no longer in work mode, softened his tone and reassured us, "This is your first time in a recording studio, right? You did a very good job, and your efficiency was quite high."

Qi Yuan could only respond with a "thank you" before walking out of the recording studio expressionlessly.

Three girls walked beside me, each of them scrolling through their phones.

Suddenly, Ning Qianyu exclaimed, "It's not just blogs! 'Sunny and cheerful big boy' has become the latest buzzword on the Dida platform!"

Qi Yuan: "Huh?"

Ning Qianyu waved her phone: "Someone edited your performance on the show into a video and put it on Dida."

Qi Yuan: "A short video of ten seconds or so?"

Qiu Mengxue said, "Dida not only has short videos of ten seconds or so, but also many one-minute videos... well, they can be considered short videos too. Anyway, they just cut in the scene where you were standing still on the Detective show, and it got millions of views."

Qi Yuan was taken aback: "It's only been a short time, and it's already reached a million views?"

Jiang Yi explained, "That's how short videos are. Once the momentum starts, it grows incredibly fast. And when I look at the comments under the videos, many people don't even know the Spring Shadow Band, but they know you first."

Qi Yuan: "..."

Ning Qianyu said with a mischievous smile, "Maybe this song of yours will become more popular than all the songs you wrote before. How about that, aren't you happy?"

Qi Yuan said expressionlessly, "I kind of regret writing this song."

Ning Qianyu: "Really? So many people make short videos, hoping to become famous like you. Dida has a much wider user base than blogs!"

Qi Yuan knew that, in other words, this was the lower-tier market for entertainment.

At this moment, Qiu Mengxue couldn't help but exclaim, "Hey, someone has choreographed a dance to this song, 'Big Boy,' to accompany a short video!"

Qi Yuan: "...Okay, that's all."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Qiu Fengfan had a very unhappy summer.

Not only were he turned away by his ex-wife and daughter, but he was also punched by some random kid who appeared out of nowhere, and he could only swallow this injustice in silence.

To make matters worse, starting in July, the boy and his daughter's band appeared on a TV show and actually became popular.

Qiu Fengfan could only force himself not to watch the show "Tomorrow's Band" and focus on his work.

His job is an MCN operator, and he manages a group of men and women who specialize in pushing the boundaries on the Dida platform.

On this day in early September, the most disgusting thing happened to him.

Even though it was already past closing time, Qiu Fengfan was still in the office. After all, this was the peak time for everyone to watch short videos, and it was his key working period as an operations manager.

His boss suddenly called him.

"Hey Lao Qiu, did you see that trending topic today? 'Sunny and cheerful young man,' a song, and suddenly it's gone viral. Someone choreographed a dance to it, and the data is pretty good. You need to get your talent team to learn it, especially the guys, and try to release the video tonight. We have to get there as soon as possible!"

"Okay, okay, I understand..."

Qiu Fengfan agreed, and after his boss hung up the phone, he put down his phone and picked up the mouse to search for that keyword.

Then he felt as if he had been punched in the stomach again.

"Why is it this kid again..."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The power of 171 short videos

These days, it's no longer strange for Qi Yuan to have lunch with his bandmates. But in the cafeteria, it attracts even more attention from his classmates.

Everyone knows their school has a star band, right? Seeing real celebrities eating and drinking the same food as you, who can resist taking a second look?

In the few days since the start of the semester, Qi Yuan has gotten used to these curious looks.

He held his plate, his expression unchanged, sat down, picked up his chopsticks, and began to eat.

But before I could even take two bites, a song started playing over the school's loudspeaker.

"It's a wonderful evening, even though we've never met before."

"The eerie atmosphere gradually fades, the music slows, and everyone receives an email..."

Qi Yuan's chopsticks stopped abruptly.

Ning Qianyu pointed at him and laughed: "Hahaha, you're finally here, Brother Gun!"

Qiu Mengxue also laughed and said, "I was wondering if the school radio would play a song by Haruhi Kage. But I didn't expect that this would be the first song they played."