Chapter 74: 074

Chapter 74

Everything was going according to Jiang Juyou's plan, except for the concert tickets.

She had expected the 84,000 tickets to sell gradually from the start of the show, with more fans joining after watching the program. She thought they would mostly sell out by the final performance. But unexpectedly, all tickets were gone just half an hour after going on sale.

"..."

She put away her phone and sighed, "...I almost forgot these fans can generate millions in revenue just by buying photo cards."

The sold-out tickets also caught the attention of entertainment media accounts. In just a short time, many related videos were produced.

Random Entertainment used these 84,000 tickets to prove their ability to succeed even without collaborating with other capital. As a result, more and more brands became eager for advertising spots at the final concert.

Fans joked openly that Random Entertainment was finally starting to "harvest the leeks" (exploit fans for profit).

First came the grand entrance, then the official announcement of the debut competition, followed by the show's promotion. It all happened in just one week, but that week perfectly maintained the public's anticipation.

At 8 PM on Sunday night, the show premiered on time on the streaming platform.

Liu Yue sat on the carpet, saying a quick prayer before pressing play, hoping she wouldn't see anything that would break her heart.

After hitting play, the show's logo animation flashed by, opening with a plane streaking across the sky—

Jiang Juyou stepped off the plane wearing sunglasses, her mouth turned down and brows furrowed into a frown. An assistant followed behind, pulling her luggage. Jiang Juyou looked down at a tablet, her expression displeased.

Only after getting into the car did the stern-faced Jiang Juyou speak, "Tell the driver to hurry, we're going to be late."

The scene changed to trainees sitting along the walls of a practice room, with mentors on the couch. Everyone waited quietly for something. After a few seconds, the practice room door opened. Jiang Juyou entered, first apologizing before immediately saying, "Let's begin."

This was the final monthly evaluation, and everyone knew the result—it was the only time Group C had won in these past few months. The trainees' official account had also posted related videos and behind-the-scenes content.

But the focus of this segment wasn't the monthly evaluation, but rather—

"The five-month training period ends here," Jiang Juyou said, closing her iPad and setting it aside. She looked directly at the group of young people in front of her and announced firmly, "From now on, your debut competition begins."

The trainees, who had been looking down, all raised their heads to look at Jiang Juyou. Their eyes showed panic and doubt.

The danmu (on-screen comments) also became chaotic:

"?"

"The debut competition is starting so early?"

"Wow, so you've been hiding this from us and started already?"

Everyone thought the competition would begin after returning to China, but in fact, it had started a month ago.

Jiang Juyou told the trainees: "The competition rules are simple. It's what you've been doing repeatedly for these five months."

"Group battles."

"Self-sufficiency."

"Winners advance."

The screen went black, emphasizing and zooming in on each of these phrases Jiang Juyou spoke, making them more memorable for the audience.

She explained, "In the coming months, you'll need to choose your own demos, write your own lyrics, choreograph your own dances, design your own stages, choose your own styling, and decide your own concepts."

"For the group battles, who will decide the winners and losers?"

Jiang Juyou stood up, and a staff member cooperatively moved over a large screen. She walked over and pointed to the accounts displayed, saying, "The data will determine who wins and who loses."

The accounts she pointed to were TikTok accounts for each small group. The company had already set up accounts for the three groups, with account names matching their self-chosen group names.

@Alpha_official

@BanananA_official

@Circlecenter_official

Accounts were registered on both China's Douyin and the international TikTok.

"The songs you choose and the stages you produce—the more widely they spread, the more people like them, the closer you are to winning."

"And in the end, from the winning team, I will..."

She paused here.

"Choose five members to debut as Timetrain."

"In other words, 21 will be narrowed down to 5."

"Holy crap!"

"Ahhhhhhh I can't take this!"

"...Speechless."

"Group battles, first eliminate other teams, then eliminate within the team. Why not just kill me instead?"

Jiang Juyou handed over the power of choice to the public, letting them decide. But this public wasn't just the fans who had already made clear choices, but a broader audience.

In this era where short videos reign supreme, if a song becomes popular on short video platforms, there's no need to worry about subsequent resources—invitations for commercial performances and shows will naturally follow.

Jiang Juyou had calculated this point, which is why she incorporated short video operations into this debut competition. These trainees were her chess pieces, and so were their fans.

Because there was no fan voting system to determine winners and losers, in order for their favorite idols to win, fans could only act as voluntary promoters on various platforms. The fans' ideas and strength were far greater than Random Entertainment's marketing team, and their creative promotional activities could solve the problems of song promotion and group publicity.

"I thought I clicked the wrong video until I saw Pei Luming's pouty lips."

"LOL, why is your group's style so different?"

"Ye Xing, what are you doing with that beautiful face of yours, I'm asking you what you're doing!"

"Look! Not all Beijingers drink fermented mung bean milk! Ye Xing doesn't!"

"Brother Monkey scared me, I almost thought your account was hacked."

"What the heck hahahahaha!"

"Is it true that all handsome guys have the heart of a comedian?"

Fans didn't know whose idea this video was, but clearly, it worked very well on TikTok and was down-to-earth. The data crushed the other two groups, breaking a million likes in less than an hour.

During the week waiting for the second episode, none of the three groups stopped updating TikTok. They posted videos every day. The other two groups would follow trends and post videos related to their profession, like Dance Challenges, while C group stuck to their comedian concept. They didn't appear together, for example, the day after the show aired, Pei Luming posted a video where he seemed to be helping walk a dog, but ended up being dragged by the dog. The phone camera was shaking wildly, and fans only recognized it was Pei Luming by his shouting.

This video got the highest likes among the three groups, reaching over 7 million likes.

"Bro, where are you going?"

"Wow, that was a person shouting? I thought it was the wind!"

"Dog: How thoughtful! Even provides background music!"

"Hahahahahaha laughing till I crow!"

"Huh? Is this my baby Pei Luming?"

"Baby, why are you flying?"

Every day they had new topics, and because TikTok users knew they needed TikTok data, everyone who came across their videos would help by liking.

This level of popularity made everyone in the industry envious, wishing these users would dote on them like this too.

Amidst this heat, the second episode aired on time, showing them composing and choreographing.

Since the songs had already been decided, you could occasionally hear their chosen songs throughout this episode. The three groups were quite different. With groups A and B having very strong styles, C group's song choice seemed somewhat unremarkable.

Because of their strong vocal abilities, group A took a risk and chose a relatively slow R&B track. On the captain's suggestion, they incorporated elements of Dream Pop, turning the song into a Pop Song with a hint of sacredness and dreaminess. They also put a lot of effort into the lyrics, constantly referring to dictionaries.

Group B's song choice was very typical of idols, focusing mainly on stage design. Their dance difficulty was also the highest, even inviting over a hundred backup dancers. Because of this, they needed to practice in an indoor stadium. Their song gave a blood-pumping feeling, as if they were about to tear the stage apart.

In contrast to these two groups, C group chose a song that fit their theme, light and refreshing. Gao Xiayu and Chen Wu even participated in composing and arranging, adding a wind sound effect at the beginning. They even drew up an MV script to help the members understand the concept and setting of the song.

Unlike the other two groups, they were the only group to write lyrics entirely in English. This decision actually made the song and lyrics more compatible, making the content smoother to the ear.

In this episode, fans also learned why Jiang Juyou had stayed in Korea for so long. All the lyrics written by the trainees had to be approved by her before they could start recording.

During this process, Jiang Juyou was tortured quite badly.

She sat in the music recording studio, holding her head in her hands as she looked at the A4 paper, her brows furrowed, wearing a pained expression.

"...I love you, I really love you, LikeSun, I love you, I really love you." Jiang Juyou looked up at the leader of Group A and asked, "Do you think I have too much free time on my hands?"

This was exactly how the original demo was written; they had simply translated the English directly into Chinese.

The leader of Group A immediately stood up, "I'm sorry, Producer Jiang. I'll go back right away and tell the kids to change it!"

When Group B arrived, Jiang Juyou listened to the lyrics once and frowned, asking them, "Did you change the flow of the hook?"

She was referring to the melody of the chorus. Their chorus was a simple, catchy rap, but it seemed they had altered the rhythm.

"Um... yes, we thought it would be more catchy this way, easier for the audience to remember," they replied. When facing Jiang Juyou, everyone tended to unconsciously shrink their shoulders, trying to minimize their presence. The two members of Group B spoke with their heads lowered, almost huddling together.

Jiang Juyou rubbed her temples and said wearily, "How is this any different from shouting slogans during military training? One, two, three, four! One, two, three, four!"

After she said this, the two members of Group B were stunned for a moment, realizing it really did sound like chanting slogans. They quickly gathered up their lyric sheets, saying, "We'll change it back right away!"

By the time Group C arrived, Jiang Juyou had no energy left to speak. She warned them in advance, "I've already scolded the previous two groups. Be careful, don't wave trash in front of my eyes."

Gao Xiayu and Chen Wu felt a chill run down their spines, but still stepped forward bravely. "...These are our lyrics, and as for the melody, we both participated in the production and made some small changes."

Hearing this, Jiang Juyou immediately felt a headache coming on. "Why did you change it? Do you think that after studying composition for a year, you're better than professional music producers?"

Since last June, the trainees had been learning how to use computer software to compose music and write lyrics. Among the twenty-one people left, Chen Wu was the most talented. During his training period in Korea, he had met many musicians and learned a lot.

He had even composed some songs. In the album Jiang Juyou was preparing, there were two songs that Chen Wu had participated in composing, though he was only the third composer and his contribution wasn't large.

Most of the songs written by trainees were self-indulgent. If Jiang Juyou were to critique them, she'd say they were a pile of garbage that only fans would praise if released.

Despite her words, she sat up and told them to play the song. After the lyrics, she looked closely and thought it was the English lyrics from the demo, but upon careful examination, she realized they had written their own English lyrics, with Chinese translations thoughtfully provided beneath each line.

"English?" Jiang Juyou raised an eyebrow.

Gao Xiayu quickly explained, "Yes, we were thinking about the overseas market, so we wrote the lyrics in English."

Jiang Juyou shook the lyric sheet and looked at the two of them. "I have no objection to writing in English, but you need to understand that if the pronunciation isn't accurate, it's very unpleasant to listen to. Do any of you have native-level English proficiency?"

The two of them pressed their lips together, and Jiang Juyou said, "Play the song first."

The demo was recorded by Pei Luming, who had attended international schools since childhood and often participated in overseas summer camps. His English pronunciation was almost indistinguishable from a native speaker's.

The upbeat melody made one want to bob their head involuntarily. Jiang Juyou nodded as she listened to the end, then tossed the lyric sheet back to the two of them. "If you can all sing at Pei Luming's level, then go ahead and record it."

This meant she had approved.

Gao Xiayu and Chen Wu's faces lit up with obvious joy. They held back their excitement and said enthusiastically, "We'll go back and practice!"