The recording site of "Masked Singer"
Audience members were steadily taking their seats.
As the show aired, "Singer of the Year" took over from the city finals, becoming the hottest program in the Chinese music scene. Initially, everyone thought that without the explosive popularity of Ting Yu, the show's heat would not be very high. But no one expected "Masked Singer" to produce Dark Night Rabbit.
Barring any surprises, every song by Dark Night Rabbit would be a new song by Ting Yu, thus indirectly including Ting Yu in the show.
Not only that, but other singers also performed many of Ting Yu's songs.
This led to the popularity of Ting Yu and the show rising together.
It was truly remarkable how Ting Yu could become famous just by lying down.
However, it was also normal. After all, Ting Yu's songs were all exceptionally good. Besides the few songs he sang himself, others could not capture the same essence when covering them. For his other songs, as long as one grasped the core essence, they were excellent choices for competition.
"They've analyzed my psyche online. And it's quite accurate..." Su Yu was browsing Weibo in the lounge.
Many music critics online were analyzing what song Dark Night Rabbit would sing this time.
The most discussed topic was love songs.
Their guesses were correct; this episode was a love song special.
The first song Su Yu prepared was Xue Zhiqian's "What More Do You Want Me To Do," a typical Xue-style love song, embodying extreme humility and greatly testing the singer's emotional control.
Many fans said the live version of this song would surpass the studio version because the live performance allowed for deeper emotional immersion, whereas the studio version pursued perfection.
The second song was JJ Lin's "Cannot Learn."
This song was considered JJ Lin's evolutionary work that unlocked his vocal prowess and the beginning of his dream.
Of course, this dream turned out to be a nightmare.
Starting from "Cannot Learn," JJ Lin's subsequent songs became increasingly difficult, with ever more demanding high notes and complexity, leading fans to exclaim that from "Cannot Learn" onwards, JJ Lin's songs were truly unlearnable.
"Cannot Learn" was a typical lyrical ballad featuring piano and strings, building towards an explosive climax. It was perfectly suited for the second round of competing for "Singer of the Year."
As for the broad category of love songs, Su Yu certainly had no intention of letting it pass by.
Suddenly, Su Yu received a WeChat message.
He opened it to find it was from Lin Yanyu.
"Su Su, good luck! Win Singer of the Year again!"
It was accompanied by a sticker made by Lin Yanyu herself. In the sticker, Lin Yanyu was making a 'cheering' gesture, looking very cute.
"As you command, my dear wife." Su Yu replied with a playful emoji.
...
Two days later.
The show's production team.
Shen Tianyue, Chairman of Yihai Entertainment, had a grim expression.
None of the executives beside him dared to speak.
"Sigh..."
After a long silence, Shen Tianyue finally sighed.
"Mr. Shen, shall I go find Sun Yang and criticize him?" someone meekly suggested.
"Forget it. Those old guys have already laughed enough at me. Sun Yang performed quite well, apart from that hiccup... Tell him to drink less cola; it's not good for his health."
The thought of his company's singer being eliminated like that almost made Shen Tianyue spit out a mouthful of blood.
Sun Yang had fallen into the loser's bracket in the first round. His skill was the strongest among the losers in that bracket, but unexpectedly, due to nervousness before the competition, he had drunk too much cola. While singing the climax, he let out a hiccup that stunned everyone.
This led to Yihai Entertainment, one of the four major entertainment companies, being eliminated early.
Many people online were now ridiculing Yihai Entertainment. As one of the four major entertainment companies, they were expected to have a chance to win. However, Sun Yang's dramatic elimination added a comedic element to Yihai's reputation.
It was known that the four major companies had announced they were sending their top singers. Originally, Yihai Entertainment, relying on its host advantage, sent its singer out earlier to gain some popularity. Unexpectedly, they were eliminated in such a manner.
Shen Tianyue was depressed for a long time before gradually recovering.
"Mr. Shen, what do we do next?" an executive asked.
"What else can we do? We lost, we lost. Do you dare to make any moves under the watchful eyes of the officials?" Shen Tianyue replied irritably.
If it were an ordinary program, they might have been able to manipulate things behind the scenes. But this time, with official supervision, they, as the hosts, had to ensure fairness and impartiality even more.
"Next, we'll see how far Su Yu can go. The next episode will feature a replacement singer from Dingsheng Entertainment. With that person's vocal abilities, it won't be easy for Su Yu to win 'Singer of the Year' again."
Shen Tianyue had a good relationship with Lin Chaoyang. His company's singers had already been eliminated, so his attention naturally turned to Su Yu.
Rumor had it that Dynasty Entertainment dared not send singers to participate in "Singer of the Year." However, as the host, they knew that Dynasty Entertainment was quietly preparing a trump card.
"I really look forward to everyone's expression when Dark Night Rabbit's mask is removed," someone said with anticipation.
As the host, Yihai Entertainment naturally knew the true identities of every participating singer.
In other words, Dark Night Rabbit had been subverting their understanding of reality every episode.
After watching so many episodes, Shen Tianyue finally understood why Lin Chaoyang was so insistent on having Su Yu participate in "Singer of the Year."
It was because this Su Yu was an anomaly, whose versatile vocal range perfectly matched the concept of a masked singer.
"I truly envy Lin Chaoyang for having such a good son-in-law," Shen Tianyue also had children, Shen Qingfeng and Shen Qingling.
However, his two children were far inferior to Lin Yanyu, both in terms of popularity in the entertainment industry and personal strength.
They even became disciples of Ting Yu, which often led Lin Chaoyang to use seniority to his advantage.
Although he believed his son and daughter becoming Su Yu's disciples was a wise choice, he couldn't stand Lin Chaoyang's smugness, and he was extremely envious.
...
The show had reached the drawing of lots.
The first match was Dark Night Rabbit.
His opponent was the replacement singer for this episode, "Summer Fruit."
Judging by the name of the mask, it should be a female singer.
The draw for Balloon Queen against Black Warrior also sparked discussion among the audience.
Balloon Queen, relying on incredible luck, had repeatedly navigated through dangers and had become a popular contestant on the show.
No one expected her to encounter two opponents' mistakes consecutively.
Furthermore, Balloon Queen had revealed her true vocal timbre in the previous episode, and her identity had been largely guessed.
"It's definitely Zhang Xiaoqi. Her vocal timbre is very distinctive. In the situation last episode, it was understandable for her to use her real voice, after all, if she was eliminated, there would be no more opportunities, and hiding it was useless."
"I still really like singer Zhang Xiaoqi. Although her fame plummeted after that incident, she has been working hard. Anyone else would have collapsed long ago, and her persistence is already very commendable."
"I hope she can stay on for a few more episodes."
"Being able to last until the fourth episode is already impressive. I think she's reached her limit."
"Maybe she has some hidden cards up her sleeve. But having stayed for so many episodes, and with the 'luck' meme, her popularity after unmasking is already sufficient."