All-rounder Artist

Chapter 468: Chapter 446 Live Performance_1

“Mr. Lin, this is an invitation from the show’s production team.”

A few days later, Lil Goodoong brought a beautifully made invitation into Lin Yuan’s office.

“Read.”

Lin Yuan was writing the next series of Hercule Poirot Series in front of his computer without stopping. He didn’t have time to read it himself.

“Okay.”

Lil Goodoong opened the exquisite invitation and cleared his throat:

“Thank you, Teacher Admirable Fish, for participating in ‘The Masked Singer’. The production team sends you their most sincere greetings. You are one of the guests for the first episode. Please arrive at Su City Music Center on February 2nd to participate in the official recording…”

The rest was an introduction of the show’s rules.

“The program will be aired in the form of a weekly recorded broadcast. There are six contestants in each episode. After each singer performs, they will be scored by an on-site audience of five hundred, fifty professional music critics, and four judges. Each audience member has one vote, each critic has two votes, and each judge has one hundred votes. The total score will be out of a thousand…”

The votes that the judges hold could potentially be critical.

The show seemed to have considered this issue, so they designed a mechanism to indirectly weaken the influence of the judges:

“The 100 votes of the judges will be issued in an allotment method. The total number of votes per episode should not exceed 100, while the audience and the critic panel will have the right to vote in each round.”

That’s much better.

The audience has the right to vote in every round, meaning they essentially have six votes after six rounds.

Yet, each member of the critic panel would have a total of twelve votes.

Although, they cannot allocate.

The judges, on the other hand, have more flexibility as they can distribute their votes.

They could give all of their hundred votes to a certain contestant, or they could vote for multiple singers, as long as the total does not exceed one hundred…

Lil Goodoong continued to read:

“In each episode, the singer with the lowest votes will be eliminated and must reveal their identity, while the next lowest in ranking will be put on hold and does not have to reveal their identity. They will face a ranking challenge in the following episode.”

Lin Yuan nodded.

Having the lowest voted contestant eliminated was routine, the second lowest voted contestants still having the possibility to win was intended to provide an opportunity for some really talented, but occasionally underperforming singers a chance to turn the tables.

“In addition…”

“The show does not interfere with the selection of songs by the singers. The Literature and Art Association will liaise with major companies to acquire the performing rights of the songs for the competition, while also allowing singers to sing new songs during the competition…”

At this point, Lil Goodoong chuckled and said:

“The company has received a notice from the Literature and Art Association. Director Zhou asked me this morning whether you are willing to authorize the contestants of the show to perform your songs. The copyright fee will be in accordance with the standard for this type of show…”

“No problem.”

Lin Yuan didn’t mind if others sang his songs. As a matter of fact, no composer would.

This was the impressive part about ‘The Masked Singer’. They had the backing of the Literature and Art Association. Who would refuse a request from the Literature and Art Association?

Next, Lil Goodoong read some more instructions from the production team.

Lin Yuan had no objections to any of the terms mentioned.

If he could accept revealing his identity, then what other conditions could he possibly refuse?

…

Apart from Lin Yuan’s assistant Gu Dong, there was another person who knew he was going to participate in ‘The Masked Singer’.

That afternoon,

Lin Yuan went to the manga studio and told Jin Mu the news.

Jin Mu did not know about Lin Yuan’s camera phobia, so he didn’t think Lin Yuan going to sing was a big deal. The identity of Admirable Fish was semi-public anyway.

He had only one concern:

“Being on ‘The Masked Singer’ is fine, but after you reveal your identity, you won’t be able to conceal the identity of Shadow anymore.”

Lin Yuan said: “Leave that to you.”

Jin Mu nodded: “Does anyone else at the school know that you are Shadow?”

“No.”

The school only knew that Lin Yuan was good at drawing, but no one knew that Lin Yuan was actually the manga artist Shadow.

Only a few people, like Zhong Yu, knew Luo Wei was Lin Yuan’s manga assistant.

But no one knew exactly what manga Luo Wei and Lin Yuan were drawing, even if someone who knows Luo Wei could guess through subtle hints, it would not cause a great influence.

The truth held by only a few ordinary people was hard to widely disseminate, plus Jin Mu would surely have some kind of back-up plan on his end.

“Understood.”

Jin Mu said with a smile, “So the people who know that you are Shadow are basically limited to Luo Wei and the other assistants in the studio. When you reveal your identity formally, I will talk to them about the principle of confidentiality, and also support you in handling the aftermath.”

“Okay.”

For this outing, Lin Yuan was only going to reveal Xian Yu’s aliases; it was preferable for Shadow and Chu Kuang to remain behind the scenes.

“By the way…”

Jin Mu asked curiously, “Boss, can you sing too?”

Lin Yuan replied, “Just a little.”

He didn’t tell Jin Mu that he had switched his career to a composer as his vocal chords had given out.

“Only a little?”

Jin Mu looked at him quizzically. “Wow, you really do have a little bit of everything up your sleeve, don’t you?”

“There are also many things I can’t do.”

“Like what?”

“I can’t transform.”

Jin Mu: “…”

Lin Yuan thought for a moment, then added, “I mean ‘transform’ as in my physical form. Not the sound of my voice.”

Jin Mu was puzzled.

Did that clarification matter?

Was he trying to explain the difference between nasal sounds to me?

“…”

After his dialogue with Jin Mu, Lin Yuan took out a notebook and started scribbling away.

He was preparing for the competition.

The most important preparation, of course, was song selection!

Unlike most singers who would cover other people’s songs.

Lin Yuan did not plan to cover other people’s songs, nor was he planning to sing songs he had written for others…

He wanted to sing a new song!

With the high ratings of “The Masked Singer”, singing a new song was a great way to gain popularity.

But the purpose of Lin Yuan doing so was not just to gain popularity, but also because his singing skills were subpar.

Of course, this subpar singing skill was only when compared to top-tier singers and even the King and Queen of Singing.

So, to compensate for his poor singing skills, Lin Yuan had to perfectly execute his new song.

After all, he had the System, so he wouldn’t run into any situations where his creation speed couldn’t keep up with the competition.

But, singing a new song also had its drawbacks…

The issue at hand was whether the audience would accept the new song.

If the audience couldn’t get Lin Yuan’s new song at first listen, this feature could not only not becoming Lin Yuan’s strength, but rather, it could become his weakness!

Thus, Lin Yuan’s song selection needed to be taken very seriously!

He needed to choose songs that were easily understood by the audience.

After all, “The Masked Singer” was a live performance competition, which was completely different from a season-long race.

For seasonal songs, the audience could listen repeatedly, contemplate on them, and ultimately feel the rhythm of the song. Many songs might just seem okay at first, but they grow on you.

That’s why “May You Live Long” became popular.

But with live performances, the audience could only listen once.

Performing a song like “May You Live Long” on this kind of stage would surely be disadvantageous.

Because after listening to it once, many people might not yet comprehend how brilliant the song is by the time they need to vote…

So, the first impression of a live song is the most important!

If the first impression is not good, even if the lyrics are meaningful, the song’s connotations profound, and the composition techniques top-notch, it’s all for naught!

“What songs would fit the stage?”

“It would be best if they could take full advantage of my strengths…”

Lin Yuan summoned the System, entered the music library, and started searching for suitable choices.

As Lin Yuan pondered and chose songs, time slowly slipped away.

With the fervent discussions about “The Masked Singer” across the web, people’s enthusiasm grew day by day!

The competition was drawing near…

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ps: Thank you to [Lanlan, Laughing at the Nine Springs] for becoming the 33rd Alliance Hierarch of this book. I kneel before you, my dear friend. Even though I often pay back the additional stories, the debts recorded in my notebook increase rather than decrease. I bought a new keyboard on Taobao to reward the Alliance Hierarch with additional stories. The current keyboard has a key that does not work, and I’m relying on technical means to compensate, so I write very slowly.