CH 62

Chapter 62 – Idol Spirit

Please recognize Kaleido’s identity as that of idol singers.

Those four lines of lyrics persistently lingered in his heart throughout that night, embracing Fang Juexia into a dream.

He dreamt that he was a tree growing in a spot squeezed between cliffs and rocks. The growth process was painful, with the stones grinding against him and the cracks squeezing him, but for half a age, he was soaked in the clouds, until he was left paralyzed and nearly insensible.

In his daze, a dazzling bolt of lightning struck his trunk, so he became shaky and unstable, and he just wanted to go along with the flow and fall down. 

But what was there after falling? There was an abyss underneath. How could the lightning, that was making its getaway, accompany the dead branches and leaves trapped at the bottom of the valley? Perhaps he could still hold onto the phantom that this silver flash left behind and continue to dream of clouds and fog coiling around him, before burning himself up in a flash of fire against dry wood, inevitably turning into ashes for the rest of his life.

For some reason, Fang Juexia suddenly opened his eyes. He looked at the endless darkness in front of him and inhaled deep breaths. After waking up, he sat up in his bed, lost in a daze, for nearly half an hour. His mind slowly started to become clear, with every detail of his dream reappearing vividly, and the sensation of being completely engulfed in fire, burning, still didn’t completely disappear. 

Fang Juexia knew that this dream was a metaphor for what was going on in his heart. He was afraid that the lightning was just playing around in life, casually causing a disaster. The tree on the cliff had no feet and had no place to hide.

Kaleido continued to record programs as before once the early hours of the morning dawned. In addition to CloudTV’s MLH, there were two other appearances on singing and variety shows on different platforms.

It was also very realistic. Since they had gotten famous out of the entertainment circle because of their live performance, they were given a lot of preferential treatment when they took part in filming. Another platform directly shifted Kaleido into a bigger rest area, and also made a special trip to record a highlights reel for them, which was then uploaded on their video website so as to attract fans to watch the show.

Kaleido’s six members were still as modest as ever, bowing to every staff member on every set.

After the direct videos broke out of the entertainment circle, a well-known uploader on a video website made a special reaction video while watching the first performance of “Break Through”, and this reaction video’s title was— [Leaked song means abandon the song? Idols have no real ability? Let’s all watch the immortal live show that slapped the entire Internet’s face!]

This video soon appeared on the website’s home page because of its super high view count and favorites. Kaleido’s wonderful performance and the uploader’s witty and magical reactions were all very eye-catching, and it parachuted directly into the first place in its category. The popularity of this video also set off a wave of reaction  videos of Kaleido live stage performance on the platform, with many uploaders following suit. In addition to the performances of this comeback, there were many buried treasure performances from the past that hadn’t been discovered before, and digging these up allowed more and more people to discover the true strength of this boyband. 

Not only that, but “Break Through” also quietly grew popular in the music area, becoming a popular cover track for many cover singers. With these derivative works that achieved a win-win popularity, more and more people started to like “Break Through”, a song that had nearly died due to its leaked version. Some sign of this song couldn’t not appear in the popular searches of the major music sites, and the song’s numbers on these music sites improved by leaps and bounds, tossing Seven Luminaries’ song far behind as it came to rank first.

There were great ups and downs taking place online, but Fang Juexia was still that very Fang Juexia, stable and quiet. Only when they were on stage would he shed his hard shell and release his powerful energy.

It was already ten o’clock in the morning by the time they got finished with work at the song program, and the fan face-to-face meeting was arranged to start at two o’clock that afternoon, in a small venue that could hold 1000 people. Kaleido hurriedly took the time to change their outfits before rushing from the program’s filming venue to the venue assigned for the fan meeting about the new album. 

Ling Yi and Lu Yuan were chatting in the car. Fang Juexia looked at Lu Yuan, who was always funny and was looking over at the countless fans gathered around the building they had been filming in. He then said something like this—

“So this is what it’s like to be popular.”

All of a sudden, Fang Juexia felt very sad. Not for himself, but for the whole group. Every one of them did not fit the parameters of a so-called ‘orthodox idol’. Some of them had missed being the champion of a talent show because of some shady insider plotting, even though they should have become a trainee in the singing department. Some of them had lost everything after they had won the championship. Some of them had a classical music background but had to choose another path to raise their younger sister. Some of them were the kind of music creators who had worked at street bars and nightclubs, but still loved music with all their heart. And some of them were rebellious, thorny birds who had broken free of one cage only to be thrown into another.

Fate had gathered them together, and had allowed him, who had been branded with the label of being a failure at birth, to gain the company of such a group of companions, who supported each other in maturing together.

Ling Yi’s head leaned against the window. “I also have a slightly unreal feeling, and I’m a little confused. Maybe I’ve already gotten used to our previous state ba. From having no one watching us to having so many people supporting us, it’s a bit awkward.”

Fang Juexia smiled at them and gave a rare speech, “Popularity is just a parabola, rising and then right after, declining, and whether something is popular or not is always a process. But the work and the stage are eternal, right?”

Ling Yi nodded heavily, the rims of his eyes a little red, and he wiped his eyes and said, “Juexia, you’re like an adult right now.”

“Hahahahaha, he already was, okay?”

“Only Xiao Pei is not an adult.”

“Hey, why are you always bringing me up? I’m 20 now!”

In order to reward the fans standing below the stage and those who were waiting on the livestream, the starting performance had all the members in ancient costumes, and their colors were a very unified red. Before the official performance of “Break Through”, there was also a one and a half minute long dance intro. Everyone’s eyes were covered with two finger-width wide strips of long red gauze, which were tied behind their heads and fluttered with their movements. The music for this performance had been composed by He Ziyan, a traditional style electronic music. The dance had been choreographed by Lu Yuan, and it combined the characteristics of Chinese dance and hip-hop dance, and was both cool and sassy. 

At the end of the opening, everyone stepped down and changed their clothes. Other non main tracks from their album kept playing on the stage. When they stepped onto the stage again, everyone’s clothes had been changed to K’s support group color, Klein Blue. Pei Tingsong’s white hair was matched with a blue sports hair band, while his blue sweater and white capris carried a refreshing sporty air. Fang Juexia’s hair was tied into a low ponytail, leaving a wisp of hair that trailed down to his jawline. He wore a blue sweater with white trousers and a pair of silver glasses.

The fans were more enthusiastic than before, and had been shouting for Kaleido the entire while they had been off-stage, and once they got on stage again, these fans yelled even harder. The host couldn’t even interrupt them.

It was still Jiang Miao who spoke first, “Why don’t you let us say something first?”

The fans below the stage were immediately amused into laughing, and the atmosphere changed from the enthusiastic calls to something more relaxed. 

The host took the opportunity to get to the point. “First of all, congratulations to our Kaleido for releasing their new album ‘Break Through’ and doing a formal comeback. After a year spent developing this album, what are all of your feelings on it?”

Jiang Miao, the official spokesman, took the question and said, “Of course, we are very excited. In fact, the planning process of the album was quite difficult, and this time, every one of our members participated in the production of this album, especially for the main song. This was actually a very risky thing; our role changed from being the performer who performs the song to the performer who creates the song. This change has brought great pressure on us and the companies that support us.”

Fang Juexia listened carefully to the captain’s words, and suddenly thought of their first meeting, the one that had taken place after the airport video had come out of the entertainment circle. It was right at that time that he and Pei Tingsong, without any prior consultation, had both brought up the idea of allowing them to participate in the production of the album. Now, when he thought back on it, they, in that situation, really were like newborn calves not being afraid of tigers. He didn’t know where they got their self-confidence and determination from, and they hadn’t even thought about the consequences of failure; they had just wanted to try and do it themselves.

“There are really very few idol groups that can create their own works. Maybe it is because of that that this song ‘Break Through’ can get such a big response.” The host then asked the second question, “Then was there anything interesting that happened in the creation process of this album? Can you share it with your fans?”

“Interesting things…” Jiang Miao took a look at Ling Yi, and their tacit understanding made Ling Yi pick up the microphone quickly. “Ah, I’ve thought of one. At the beginning of ‘Break Through’, what I’m singing is a part from the Beijing Opera Lady Mu Guiying Takes Command. In fact, this idea was put forward by the team leader at the meeting a year ago, but I hadn’t actually sung an opera before.”

The fans below laughed, and Ling Yi said, “What are you laughing at? Do you think I’m especially suitable for opera?” Joking around, he added, “Back then, we found a Beijing Opera teacher for me to study with for a while. Of course, the company paid for it. If you sing opera, you have to sing every day ma, so I sang in the dorms every day.”

As his bandmate, Fang Juexia picked up the microphone at this time. “Let me say for you ba. Ling Yi was singing that day, and after singing two sentences, from the other end of the balcony, far away, an uncle’s voice drifted over, and he was also singing. We were shocked at that time, and then later, we searched for the lyrics the uncle was singing and found that he was singing The Generals of the Yang Family.”

The host said with a smile, “So you guys were singing opera across the air, weren’t you?”

Lu Yuan complained, “Mu Guiying vs. the Yang generals.”

Ling Yi added, “But I hope no one mentions me below the posts of actual Beijing opera artists. I’m just putting on airs, and I can’t be regarded as an opera singer. Mentioning my name will only display some ignorance and will end up causing embarrassment to you guys, so don’t make me feel too ashamed either.”

Jiang Miao nodded. “Yes, we must respect other people’s works, and only in this way can we earn respect.”

He Ziyan also chimed in, “Talking about creation, actually, we were stuck on the main song’s arrangement for a long time. We had made about three or four different versions of the arrangement ba, and the composer and I had gone numb from listening to it. Later, Juexia changed the arrangement and wrote the melody for the opening and closing of the main song.” He told the fans below, “The main point is, we didn’t even know Juexia could compose songs before.”

“Wow!”

“Juexia Gege is awesome!”

Fang Juexia was originally the kind of person who would get embarrassed when people praised him, so he was already a little embarrassed right now, but then Lu Yuan just had to go ahead and add, “And it was Xiao Pei who said that Juexia was good at writing melodies, and it was only then that the rest of us found out.”

There was another uproar from below the stage, and Pei Tingsong could only explain, “I found out by accident.”

By accident? Fang Juexia glanced at him. Clearly, he had known that he had written a song before he had even opened the USB flash drive, so how could he have the face to say it was by accident right now? 

“But Juexia Ge really is so talented.” Pei Tingsong looked at him and commented, “He broke all my prior understanding of talented people.”

This evaluation was so high that Fang Juexia’s cheeks had started to burn red. He even forgot to hold up his microphone and just turned his head towards Pei Tingsong and said, “You are more talented.”

At this time, Ling Yi interjected and joked, “It’s started, the segment of fanservice mutual praise.”

Everyone laughed again with them. After asking a few more questions, the host announced the sales volume of their new album so far. In just two and a half short days, the sales volume of the digital album had exceeded 400,000, which was completely already like a vertical line for a progress line compared to how the 60,000 of their total sales volume from their debut album and the 100,000 from their mini album.

“What’s more impressive is, let’s take a look at the trend of the song numbers and sales.” The host gestured at the fans below to look at the line graph on the big screen. “It was relatively flat at the beginning, and then it suddenly increased at this point to reach terrible heights, and this upward trend has continued this entire time. The turning point was when our K had their first promotional live performance broadcast. “

The host then asked the group members, “Your performance has attracted a lot of passers-by. The song ‘Break Through’ is now the new popular BGM on short video websites, and it has also received a lot of praise. People generally think that you all have already surpassed the level of idols, and that it’s even a bit of a waste to call you singers idols. What do you think of these voices?”

Several members said a lot, and in general, said that they were grateful for the praise of netizens and that they would show an even better side to everyone, but they didn’t go too deep into such a topic.

Fang Juexia had always been a member who didn’t speak very much. Unless he was cued to, he hardly took the initiative to speak, but this time, he couldn’t help himself from answering—

“It’s an encouragement to us, of course. However, what I want to say is that the word ‘idol’ was very positive in the beginning, but because of some practical reasons, it has now been colored more negatively. It’s good to be affirmed, but we really are idols ah, and based on our performance style, this description is very accurate. Seeing that some people don’t want to use such a word as ‘idol’ to describe us, my personal response is, please recognize Kaleido’s identity as that of idol singers.”

His eyes were very sincere. “In fact, the profession of being an idol isn’t some kind of disgrace, and its existence must be valuable. I really enjoy being an idol and expressing myself on-stage. Rather than being excluded from the idol category, our dream is more that when everyone sees the word ‘idol’, they will think of us.”

The applause below the stage grew more and more enthusiastic, and it was not just out of everyone in the audience loving Fang Juexia. These girls had also suffered from prejudice, and just because their idol was an idol, they were usually thrust into the bottom layer of the online social hierarchy. Even if there were many excellent people in their group, it was useless, and  such prejudice would last forever.

Upon hearing Fang Juexia’s words, Pei Tingsong felt ashamed. He was proud, but not arrogant, and was brave enough to admit his initial mistakes.

In the beginning, when he had just arrived at this company, he had an attitude of passive resistance when it came to engaging with this profession. Like many people with blinkers on, he had a prejudice against idols, believing that idols weren’t as good as singers or hip-hop artists.

He thought that these people were just singing empty songs given to them by others and dancing like beautiful puppets. He disdained to put his dream into such an empty and superficial form.

But the facts had proved him wrong, and the Fang Juexia in front of him was the most vivid counterattack against this prejudice.

From him, Pei Tingsong had gradually discovered the real form of an idol, which was a nearly perfect external form wrapped around a tenacious core.

Fang Juexia wasn’t pursuing a dream, and he had had no smooth road or a bright vision. All he had from the beginning to the end was the label of “a mistake”, and had faced attack, slander, darkness and loneliness. Even so, he still approached the stage step by step, feeling his way forward, crawling forward, and then running forward.

Everyone had explored all kinds of spirit, with there being the hip-hop spirit, rock and roll spirit… But no one had thought that maybe idols also had a spirit. 

And Fang Juexia was the very projection of that idol spirit.