210: On the day of the competition

The two foreign guests for this episode were Levi and Caesar.

Caesar was humble and got along well with the singers of the Dragon Kingdom, but Levi didn't like it here. He had joined the show for two reasons: one was the high appearance fee, and the other was because he heard this show was very famous in China and was considered a top-tier music variety show.

Levi had watched live performances of previous musicians on this show. Some were indeed good, and he had come with the idea of competing, but he didn't expect the show to be such a letdown.

He was already tired of taking first place; the live performances of these singers were far below his level.

Levi's Agent saw the challenge guest online and said:

"Levi, the singer for this episode seems a bit formidable. I heard he was voted in by the audience and is the most desired participant for the show."

Levi raised an eyebrow nonchalantly. "So what? I heard the challenge guests in previous episodes were also voted in by the audience, and didn't they end up the same way?"

Levi's Agent looked into Lu Qingyu and found a song Lu Qingyu had sung before, which was dispelling sorrow.

He played dispelling sorrow for Levi. As Levi listened, he pursed his lips; he thought it would be some powerful contestant, but it turned out to be nothing special.

"The melody is okay. The recording studios in the Dragon Kingdom are quite good at pitch correction, but this kind of song won't have the same effect live."

Before the singers of previous episodes arrived, the Agent would also play some of their music clips. After comparing them to the live performances, Levi had concluded this truth.

The Agent and he couldn't understand the lyrics and could only listen to the melody, so the song seemed ordinary to them.

A competitive stage considers comprehensive strength. The entire song didn't seem to require any technique and had no high notes at all; he didn't know how this person was voted number one.

Was it because he was handsome?

Lu Qingyu's plane landed at 6:00 PM. The show was set to broadcast at 8:00 PM. No one had seen him at the rehearsal the day before, and no one knew what song he was going to sing.

When the Program Production Team was collecting the song list, they suggested Lu Qingyu sing one of his representative works, but Lu Qingyu refused.

This stage was for competition. Both foreign guests had very rich live experience. Whether you sang dispelling sorrow or orchid pavilion preface, the chances of winning wouldn't be very high.

Although not absolute, the shock factor expressed through high notes easily impressed everyone.

So, he was singing "Stars."

When he gave the song to the Program Production Team, the review team reported the title to the director. Looking at the song titled "Stars," the director frowned.

"Have you heard this song? What do you think of it?"

Staff Member: "Currently, we only have the accompaniment. It feels like a song with a fairly passionate rhythm, but we can't judge anything else."

The director sighed again after hearing this.

An original song with no prior popularity or testing by an audience was completely unpredictable in terms of quality. Brashly bringing it to the stage was a major taboo.

The director wanted Lu Qingyu to change the song, but suddenly remembered the contract they had signed. Besides not participating in any form of rehearsal, it also stated they could not interfere with the singer's song choice.

This really blocked all his options. However, it also verified the director's previous thought: it seemed Lu Qingyu really only wanted to participate in one episode.

The director sighed deeply but was helpless.

A "one-day trip" on King of Singers was almost becoming the norm for singers in the industry.

At 7:30 PM, the other singers had arrived at the Program Production Team one after another. Only Lu Qingyu was still missing; he was still on the way.

Levi sat in his dressing room and asked:

"Has the challenge singer arrived?"

Xiao Zhou, the Agent responsible for Levi's segment, said, "Not yet."

Levi nodded without speaking, but in his heart, he seemed to understand what was going on.

At 7:45, Lu Qingyu finally arrived at the scene. The director was incredibly excited to see him; he was truly afraid Lu Qingyu wouldn't make it in time, which would have been a disaster for the show.

The live preview had already begun. The viewership for the previous episode of King of Singers was 52 million, but for this episode, it had already reached 90 million before the show even started. Everyone was waiting for Lu Qingyu.

When Lu Qingyu's figure appeared on King of Singers, the bullet chat flooded the screen frantically.

Lu Qingyu's fans screamed where they stood; they were boiling with excitement.

Every contestant's dressing room had a screen. Before the show started, everyone saw the live broadcast.

Although Levi couldn't understand Chinese, he could tell from the viewership numbers and the frantic bullet chat that Lu Qingyu's popularity was indeed very high.

Levi sneered inwardly. Laugh, go ahead and laugh. Just wait until I defeat your idol in a moment; then you'll have a reason to cry.

Lu Qingyu didn't have time to greet the other singers. By the time he entered his dressing room, the show had already started.

As the challenge singer, he was the last to perform. While the other singers were going on stage, the makeup artist hurried to help him change and apply makeup.

According to the drawing order from the last episode, the first to perform was Su Wang. He had been second to last for four consecutive episodes. Before joining this show, everyone thought his singing was delicate, gentle, and emotional. After joining, everyone's evaluation of him was: "Terrible!"

Since joining the show, Su Wang felt like he was being roasted over a fire. He couldn't win, and he couldn't leave. Fortunately, this wasn't just his situation alone.

This time, he chose a love song, a genre he was good at. After participating in so many episodes, he wasn't as fragile as he was at the beginning. Since he couldn't leave, he might as well accept his fate.

After accepting his fate, Su Wang's performance actually improved. The song he chose today was within his comfort zone.

The live performance with an open mic was relatively stable. Levi watched Su Wang's performance on the screen in his dressing room.

When the camera cut to his face, it showed a fake smile.

The singers performed in order. Everyone had expectations for the singers in each episode, hoping they would perform exceptionally. After all, since the show began, the singers from the Dragon Kingdom hadn't had a single decent, viral "famous scene."

Caesar was the fourth to perform. An English song with techniques naturally integrated into it helped cleanse everyone's ears.

This was Levi's only competitor on this stage.

After Caesar finished his performance, he received sincere applause from everyone. The next performance after Caesar was Levi's.

Levi got ready and then walked onto the stage. Compared to his thorough preparations before, Levi was much more casual.

Lu Qingyu watched Levi's performance in the dressing room and had to admit that foreigners were indeed strong in live performances.

However, he had seen Levi's first performance on the show. Compared to that, this performance was truly a bit casual.

It seemed he didn't take him seriously at all.