"Hello judges and teachers, my name is Luo Xin, an independent trainee."
"I'm not good at speaking, but I'm here to challenge myself."
"On this stage, I will constantly surpass myself and become a better person. I hope you can witness my growth with me."
Luo Xin's introduction was short and simple. He didn't prepare any fancy memory points because he knew it would be cut anyway. So, he decided to be straightforward and say less. Maybe his introduction could even be added to someone else's segment to fill up time later.
After hearing his introduction, the judges didn't say much. After all, there wasn't much to criticize about Luo Xin's company or experience, and they didn't want to make things difficult for him.
Meeting him for the second time, Lin Jiawen was very fond of Luo Xin's appearance, so she didn't deliberately create any topics. She just asked a few casual questions and let him start performing his program.
When the prelude started, Luo Xin lowered his eyes and let the shadow of his eyelashes fall on his nose.
Before performing, he struggled for a long time because the song he wanted to sing had already been sung in the previous "prank" performance. He didn't know what other song he could choose.
Moreover, earlier in the dormitory, Shao Xiangchen had already discussed with his teammate that he was going to sing "Different". Since Shao Xiangchen was going to sing it, Luo Xin wouldn't choose the same song again.
After much deliberation, he settled on the song he was going to sing now.
"Enchanted by your eyes, the Milky Way has traces to follow." After the prelude ended, Luo Xin slowly began to sing. Under the spotlight, his light-colored eyes seemed to sparkle like a dazzling starry sky.
It's funny to think about it. Before going on stage, Luo Xin had many thoughts and ambitions in his mind, but he didn't seem to take this preliminary round seriously.
However, once he started singing, feeling the stage lights and the audience's gaze, he lost all his thoughts.
It was as if something had wiped away all the complicated emotions in his heart, leaving only a strange feeling.
Of course, he didn't know that when he sang the first sentence, his eyes had already become watery. The cold voice of the song seemed to carry infinite tenderness.
What is "Mercury Records"?
It's a song that's calm and restrained, yet gentle to the extreme.
It's also known as the best song that describes the relationship between fans and idols.
Luo Xin stood on the stage, looking at the other people below in a blur.
Although he couldn't see clearly, he could still quickly identify where Shao Xiangchen was just by his silhouette.
Shao Xiangchen was red before, and he was still the same now, even when he was down on his luck.
Fans can always recognize their idols at first glance.
"I'll dream for you, I'll dream for you..."
I'll help you reach the top, definitely.
————
"Luo Xin, the level you received is—" After a brief discussion, Lin Jiawen announced Luo Xin's level: "C!"
It was not a high or low level, which was not surprising to Luo Xin.
After all, although he sang decently, he didn't have any extra points. He didn't look like a variety show or drama actor, so he couldn't bring traffic, and the evaluation was not outstanding, which was normal.
Luo Xin accepted this result calmly, smiled lightly, bowed, and left the stage.
This is just the first step, Luo Xin thought, the competition is still long.
One by one, the contestants went on stage, and it was finally Shao Xiangchen's turn.
At the beginning, he also came to the competition with the other members of his group, but later, seeing that the competition was unreliable, the company took out several people in the group who had slightly higher popularity. It was a coincidence that only three people from the same dormitory as Luo Xin were left.
Actually, Shao Xiangchen's popularity was not bad, after all, negative news is better than no news.
It's just that he didn't want to participate in activities at this critical moment, where he would get a little appearance fee but lose face. He would rather consume his existing popularity in a popular program.
In short, there were only three people left in the group who participated in the program together, so they had to rehearse the program again.
Now that they weren't allowed to form teams, Shao Xiangchen adapted to it very well.
However, no matter how open-minded he was, he was still a bit sad.
He was not inferior to others in strength, and he had creative talent. Why did he end up like this?
Now his songs were being sung all over the place, but he was struggling in a talent show with dozens of people, fighting for a few spots. Even if he won, he might not become popular, and he might continue to struggle.
He had been struggling for too long.
Long enough for fans to leave him one by one, long enough that even with scandals, he couldn't get his name out there.
After the last fan station that had followed him for years disappeared, he had no way out.
Isn't it just popularity?
He had it.
Maybe he still had some illusions before coming to the show.
But when the company asked him to come back just to participate in a few commercial performances, he understood that if he didn't seize the opportunity, he would only sink deeper into the mud and never climb back up.
Now, he had to regain his popularity here.
The creator of "Different", that ambitious director, would definitely not miss such a good promotional title.
Standing on the stage, Shao Xiangchen flashed his signature smile and said, "Hello, everyone. I'm Shao Xiangchen, and today I'll be performing a song I created myself. You may have heard of it before. It's called 'Different'."
Let's promote and market ourselves, shall we?
Shao Xiangchen doesn't want to be forgotten or abandoned anymore.
"Shao Xiangchen, your final grade is..."
"A."
"Congratulations!"
After the competition, all the members wore clothes representing their grades.
Luo Xin wore an ordinary blue shirt and sat stiffly. Although he had a cute expression on his face, his demeanor made him seem a bit indifferent.
"Is there any contestant you admire?"
"Shao Xiangchen. I think he did really well on stage." Luo Xin smiled lightly, but it looked a bit strange on his face. "Of course, I don't have that kind of talent, but I really want to learn from him."
Luo Xin originally wanted to say that he admired Shao Xiangchen and thought he was really talented. He just wanted to praise him a bit during the interview.
After all, as an opponent, his words were probably even more convincing than those of a fan.
However, he didn't realize that his appearance and demeanor were leading his words in a different direction.
So, when this interview was released later on, viewers who had watched the competition left comments one after another: "This Luo Xin's way of speaking is so strange and ambiguous!"
"Wow, his ability to throw shade is too much!"
"Who is he? His manners and way of speaking are really poor. He doesn't seem like a good person!"
Some criticized him, feeling that he wasn't qualified to say such things, while others felt that his words were fine and that everyone was just overreacting. They immediately stood up for Luo Xin: "What's wrong with you guys? He just said a few words off the cuff. Is it really necessary to make such a big deal out of it?"
"I didn't think there was anything wrong with his expression. Only someone who knows him well would be able to tell if there was something off!"
Of course, some people took the opportunity to attack Shao Xiangchen: "SXC is already promoting himself like crazy, so don't blame others for what they say. I bet Luo Xin couldn't stand it anymore and just had to say something. Don't cyberbully this poor contestant!"
"I never liked 'Different' when it was popular before. It makes me sick to listen to it. No wonder it was written by Shao Xiangchen!"
"I suggest SXC stop using others to promote himself and instead focus on resolving things with his ex-girlfriend. Even idols need to crawl before they can walk in love!"
...
Thanks to Shao Xiangchen's popularity, Luo Xin slowly gained some fame in the midst of the crowd's arguments.
As a result, in the second round of rankings on the show, he quickly surpassed many "comeback kids" and achieved a ranking of forty-something. Although his ranking wasn't high, he had already entered the safe zone.
Of course, that's all a story for later.
Just now, there was a simple but time-consuming preliminary evaluation, and next up for Luo Xin was a real test of his skills - learning the theme song.
Anyone who has watched this kind of competition knows that this stage of learning the theme song is the most revealing of one's level, and it is the only fair stage in the entire competition.
If it's good, it's good; if it's not, it's not.
It won't be affected by popularity or background manipulation, and even everyone can have their own part of the screen time in this stage.
For many talented contestants, this is the best opportunity.
But for Luo Xin, this stage was a bit of a letdown.
As we all know, Luo Xin is an amateur with zero foundation.
Maybe he has a little bit of talent in his appearance and voice, but that's about it.
Moreover, just like dancing and other skills, talent and practice are both necessary.
No matter how hard he works, he can't train himself to be like those professional players. If he can become a dance master in just a few days, then that's called cheating.
Unfortunately, all the theme songs are singing and dancing types, which means that Luo Xin can only get basic points in this section, and he may not even get the basic points, who knows, he might end up in the F class.
Sighing, facing this miserable future, Luo Xin is a bit worried.
Oh well, he thinks, going to the F class is not bad. If he performs well in the F class, he can still work hard, even if he can't get on stage, and eventually get a chance to appear in a play that moves the instructor to break the rules. Although it's old-fashioned, it's still quite interesting.
Thinking this way, Luo Xin's heart relaxed a lot, and he wasn't so worried in class.
However, relaxation is only mental, and he didn't really give up. In a situation where someone is monitoring and filming 24 hours a day, expressing a depressed mood is not a good idea.
So when Luo Xin is studying, he is still very serious and hardworking, and can be regarded as a model representative of a good student. Teachers all like this kind of good student, so inexplicably, he even has a name in the judges' circle. His recent catchphrases are "higher", "even higher", "you can do it, just a little higher, don't be afraid".
The instructor watched Luo Xin leave with satisfaction without breaking his voice, and praised him, "You're pretty good."
Hearing the praise, Luo Xin instinctively wanted to be modest, "No, it's all very simple things."
Other off-key contestants: ...
During dance class, when the show-off Xiangli couldn't help but show off his 360-degree unbeatable spin and how cool it was, only Luo Xin, who was trying to maintain his serious image, urged calmly, "Teacher, it's already cool enough...let's move on to the next topic!"
As a result, Xiangli's eyes lit up and he asked, "Is it cool? I knew it was cool! Luo Xin, you really have good taste!"
Other contestants who were trying to endure their emotions: ...
Although there were very few of them, there was still a rap section in the theme song, so as a teacher, Rainbow Bei was forced to come to the classroom. He clicked his newly inlaid gold tooth and said, "Is there really anyone who can't rap?"
Not knowing why he was isolated by the other contestants, Luo Xin raised his hand to try to save the situation, sacrificing himself for the happiness of the entire C class, "Teacher, I can't rap. Can you teach me more?"
Other contestants who didn't want to learn rap and just wanted to go back to practicing dance: ...
As a result, Luo Xin's popularity got even worse.
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