65: Chapter 65 This time, I'm riding in a real car.

July 15th, CBS Television City, Los Angeles.

Chen Mo was sitting in James Corden's car for the second time. Of course, this time it wasn't a prop car; it was a real one.

James Corden buckled his seatbelt, wearing that satisfied smile of someone who had just finished a good meal, and connected his phone to the car stereo.

"Last time you sang Queen on my show, the full six-minute version, and it hit over 200 million views on YouTube. Then my producer told me, 'James, you have to get him back.'"

James Corden put on his sunglasses and said smugly, "I said, his new album is coming out, if he doesn't come now, when will he?"

He drove the car out of the CBS parking lot, turned onto Sunset Boulevard, and said excitedly, "What are we singing today?"

Chen Mo leaned back in the passenger seat.

The July Los Angeles sun poured in through the windshield, cutting the air conditioning in the car into a line between light and shadow.

"Songs from the new album, and your songs too."

James Corden's eyes lit up, and he asked expectantly, "My songs? What songs do I have?"

"The one where you cracked the high note, 'Bohemian Rhapsody'—that's your song."

James Corden laughed so hard his entire chin was shaking and said, "Alright! Then I'm going to crack the high note today too. If I don't crack it, I'm not getting out of the car!"

The first song was "Closer."

James Corden was in charge of harmonies, but rather than harmonies, it was more like he was singing every word off-key with extreme emotional investment.

When Chen Mo sang the verses, he shook his head, and when it hit the chorus, he sprang up from his seat—

The seatbelt yanked him back, and his hands beat the rhythm on the steering wheel.

"We ain't ever getting older!"

He sang completely off-key, but his emotional investment was comparable to a performance at the Grammy Awards.

No technique, just pure emotion.

Chen Mo looked at him, laughing until he was gasping for air, and said, "You went off-key on that line."

"Even if I went off-key, I have to sing it! It's the summer anthem; if I don't go off-key, it's not respectful!"

The second song was "7 Years."

James Corden didn't sing. He drove, listening to Chen Mo sing the parts about being twelve, twenty, and thirty.

When the last note faded, he pulled the car over to the side of the road at Santa Monica Beach.

The waves lapped against the sand in the distance.

James Corden's hands were still on the steering wheel, motionless.

"When I was twelve, I was in a small town in England, and I formed a band with some friends."

James Corden smiled sheepishly, looked at Chen Mo, and said, "I was the drummer because I sang off-key, so no one would let me sing."

He looked out the windshield, his voice much softer than when he was hosting.

"At twenty, I was a bit-part actor in London, living in a basement, sharing a bathroom with others. At thirty, I was still doing bit parts, thinking that was all my life would ever be."

"Now I'm almost forty, and looking back, that kid living in the basement didn't know he would eventually host the hottest late-night show in America, didn't know he'd be singing in a car with a Chinese musician."

"He just got up every morning, went to auditions, got rejected, and went back the next day."

Chen Mo leaned back in the passenger seat. Outside the car window was the sea at Santa Monica. He listened quietly until the end, then suddenly spoke.

"James Corden."

"Yeah?"

"When you were harmonizing to 'Closer' just now, you went off-key on the third line, but you came back on the fourth. Going off-track and being able to come back—that's good."

James Corden turned his head to look at him. The smile on his round face faded slightly, but his eyes were bright as he said, "Can I use that line on the show?"

"Use it however you like," Chen Mo shrugged, joking, "Just remember to credit me."

James Corden laughed until his flesh shook, high-fived Chen Mo, and said, "I'm very conscious of copyright."

When the two drove back to CBS Television City, James Corden killed the engine in the parking lot and didn't get out immediately.

"Do you know how many people will watch this episode when it airs?"

Chen Mo said he didn't know.

James Corden held up one finger.

"Last time with Adele, it broke 180 million in two weeks. And today you sang 'Closer' and '7 Years,' two Billboard number ones, plus me going off-key."

He held up two fingers and said exaggeratedly, "Two weeks, at least 200 million."

"So confident?"

James Corden raised an eyebrow: "You gave me that confidence."

The show aired three days later.

The full "Carpool Karaoke" segment released by CBS on YouTube broke 60 million views in twenty-four hours.

120 million in forty-eight hours.

In two weeks, it hit 203 million, breaking the historical record for the "Carpool Karaoke" segment of James Corden's show.

On Twitter trends, "Chen Mo James Corden Sing-off" surged to number one globally.

"James Corden went off-key again" surged to number two.

"Chen Mo going off-track and coming back" surged to number three.

Someone clipped the part where James Corden went off-key and put it together with Chen Mo's rock-steady harmony, captioned: "James Corden went off-track, Chen Mo brought him back. This is what '7 Years' sings about—the words you swallowed at twenty, someone says for you at thirty."

James Corden posted a photo on Instagram—

It was him and Chen Mo in the car, the moment he was singing with his mouth open and cracking a note was frozen in time, while Chen Mo sat in the passenger seat with a blank expression.

The caption read: "He said, going off-track and being able to come back is good, so I came back, with a cracked note."

Chen Mo replied underneath: "I'll take you again next time."

James Corden replied: "Then I can rest easy."

In the comments, someone said, "This is the warmest off-key singing I've ever seen," and another said, "James Corden went off-key, Chen Mo brought him back, this is the meaning of Carpool Karaoke."

Taylor retweeted the show link, adding a little sun and a line: "Going off-track, being able to come back. I've noted this down."

Ed Sheeran retweeted Taylor's retweet, adding a cat and a line: "The Orange Cat said it noted it down too, although it never goes off-key, it just steps on the piano keys."

Lay Zhang posted a message on Weibo: "Watched James Corden's show, Mo said 'Going off-track and being able to come back is good.' I remembered when I was a trainee in South Korea, many times I felt like I had gone off-track and couldn't come back. Later I realized, being able to go off-track is because someone is waiting for you ahead. Being able to come back is because someone is catching you from behind."

Chen Mo replied underneath: "When you went to South Korea to be a trainee, that boy from Changsha was waiting for you too."

Lay Zhang replied with a row of crying emojis.

Kris Wu finished watching the "7 Years" MV in his Beijing apartment. After the screen went dark, he leaned on the sofa and stared at the ceiling for a long time.

Agent Lao Zhou's WeChat message was sitting in the chat box.

"'7 Years' debuted at number two, estimated to be number one next week. Chen Mo is competing against himself."

Kris Wu didn't reply. He threw his phone into the corner of the sofa and tugged at the corner of his mouth with a complicated expression.

Because he kept paying attention to Chen Mo, Lao Zhou also paid attention often, and then—

Lao Zhou became a fan of Chen Mo.

And Lay Zhang, they were in the same group before, and he was also a fan of Chen Mo.

Mo~

Kris Wu kicked the air.

Kris Wu pulled the curtains, sat back on the sofa, picked up his phone, and flipped to Chen Mo's Instagram.

The latest post was a screenshot of the Billboard chart: "7 Years" at number one, "Closer" at number two. The caption was just one word: Swap.

He stared at this word for a long time, then exited Instagram and sent a message to Lao Zhou: "For that Hollywood co-production, help me fight for it again, no matter the conditions."

He had to surpass Chen Mo in other fields, even if only by a little.

Lu Han finished watching the "7 Years" MV in the rehearsal studio. His new song was almost final.

He clicked on the comment section, typed a few words, deleted them, typed a few more, deleted them again, and finally posted:

"From 'Closer' to '7 Years,' from C Major to B-flat minor, you changed keys, but what didn't change was the moment your fingers lifted from the piano keys. This lift has more power than any note that falls."

After posting, he turned off his phone screen and picked up his notebook again.

Teacher Liu poked his head out from behind the mixing console, smiled and pursed his lips, saying: "That Weibo post just now was written quite well."

Lu Han didn't look back, laughed, and said: "It's not just writing about him, it's writing about myself. Learning from a role model is like crossing the river by feeling the stones."

"Young man, you've broadened your path."