Voice Audition
The Best Idol show went trending several times due to marketing by the program crew. There were threads on the mentors Xi Nancheng as well as Ye Shuning.
There was also another trending topic: criticism revolving around Meng Fu. During the initial assessment of the Best Idol show when all the trainees practiced the group song, Meng Fu stupefied the netizens with her poor and rustic English.
The female journalist did not have any talent. She was tone deaf and had never learned to dance. She participated in the show with the purpose of becoming infamous and was satisfied so long as she became a hot topic. Because of this, Meng Fu was ridiculed by netizens for her incoherent English.
Upon hearing Wei Jin’s words, Meng Fu then realized that they were worried about her English.
“It’s okay. I’ll sing.” Meng Fu reached out and patted Wei Jin on the shoulder. There were cameras around and she didn’t speak further. She just gave Wei Jin a calm look, trying to put her at ease.
After being assigned to their teams, the 50 trainees regrouped and assigned to four different training rooms to begin training. After the two-way selection, the girls went to their respective training rooms to practice and the four mentors took a half-hour break.
Tang Ze removed his microphone. Pressing his throat, he walked to the lounge. He saw his manager staring at him gloomily in the lounge.
Tang Ze put away his microphone and looked at him. “What’s wrong?”
“I just heard from Xiaowen that you chose Meng Fu for your group? Why did you force her to join your group?” the manager asked. He got up and passed the thermos flask to Tang Ze.
Xiaowen was Tang Ze’s assistant.
“Yes.” Tang Ze took the flask and sat on the stool. He then drank from the flask slowly.
Inside the flask was boat-fruited scaphium seed tea. As a singer, he relied on his voice for a living. However, his health had not been not particularly good recently. His manager thus prepared some tea for Tang Ze wherever he went.
After listening to Tang Ze, the manager cast him a I-don’t-know-what-else-to-say look, as if he had expected better from him. “Can you stop being so devoid of desires? Look at Xi Nancheng. He’s so popular on the show because of Ye Shuning! Ye Shuning is in his group all the time. She may really make it onto the international stage this time. If that happens, the internet will be booming with news about her. As the one who scouted her, Xi Nancheng will undoubtedly become very popular. If you don’t spare a thought for yourself, so be it. Why did you take in Meng Fu, someone that he didn’t want? Don’t tell me you’ve not had enough of your current situation?”
The manager felt that Meng Fu was a hot potato and therefore not suited for showbiz.
Tang Ze glanced at his manager and smiled warmly. “Actually, she is really good at dancing and is a natural for showbiz. She has also improved rapidly. Just one week after Mentor Xi commented that she was tone-deaf, her singing improved tremendously. So, I want to find out how far she can go with her singing. If she can continue to improve, she will certainly be an outstanding contestant.”
Tang Ze understood his manager’s thoughts. He and Xi Nancheng had made their debut in the same period and both of them had similar strengths and appearances. After their debut, they signed with different companies. Xi Nancheng went on to participate in two popular variety shows and became very famous. He was fast becoming an A-lister.
On the other hand, Tang Ze was at the borderline of B-list, and did not create a lot of hype. He was very focused on writing and singing songs, so he wasn’t very popular.
The manager looked at Tang Ze and didn’t know what to say.
He knew that Tang Ze cherished talents. He then sighed softly. “Go far? How far can she go? Can she be like Ye Shuning?”
“You’re kidding.” Tang Ze almost choked. “You sound like Xi Nancheng. How can you compare the two of them?”
Although he wanted to unleash Meng Fu’s potential, he was aware of the gap between Meng Fu and Ye Shuning. Ye Shuning had a good reputation and was popular. She was also very attractive and striking. She was also excellent in her studies.
She also had a strong family background. Basically, she had a perfect persona for the entertainment industry. She would definitely gather more fans. In terms of talent, even Tang Ze could not deny that Ye Shuning was good.
Furthermore, he had a little bit of insider information. The program crew had been coaching Ye Shuning intensively in order to put her on the international stage.
“Isn’t that enough?” The manager looked at Tang Ze and was silent for a long time. He was aware of Tang Ze’s forthright character. This was also why he wasn’t very popular and couldn’t break into the industry. “Forget it, I’m not going to talk about this anymore. I just hope that you won’t be chided by the netizens because of Meng Fu after the show airs.”
He was truly worried about this. After Tang Ze finished his drink, he put down the thermos and contemplated for a while. He then said, “Can you go to the training room with me later?”
The manager said angrily, “There’s nothing to watch. I’m not going.”
Despite this, he eventually went along with Tang Ze, but without a camera. He stood by the door. All 13 trainees of the vocal group were present. They would be singing 2 difficult English songs.
Each of the top nine contestants would get a solo performance and the rest would form a team to sing a group song. Each individual would only have a handful of seconds to perform.
Tang Ze sat by the piano and tested the sound by playing a few notes. He then glanced at the trainees and said with a smile, “I’ll get to know your vocal ranges first. Both songs require you to hit high notes. Please come here one by one.”
“Yuxin, you can go first.” He pointed to one of the trainees.
As he played the piano, moving from low to high notes, with his slender fingers the girl tried to copy the notes. She was a soprano. However, she couldn’t keep up on the C2 note.
Tang Ze nodded slightly and noted down the girl’s vocal range. He then gestured for the next person to come over. The vocalist group was overall very strong and everyone’s vocal range was pretty good. There were mezzo-sopranos and sopranos distributed throughout the 13.
Wei Jin was the second last person to step forward. When it came to her turn, she raised her pitch by two ranges but could barely keep up with Tang Ze. Tang Ze nodded in satisfaction. “Not bad.”
After speaking, he glanced at the last person. “Meng Fu, come here.”
As he said that, everyone shifted their gaze to Meng Fu. The trainees couldn’t help but lower their heads and smile. Wei Jin looked worried.
Tang Ze’s manager was standing by the door. The girls’ vocal ranges were actually average. He was used to Tang Ze reachingthe C4 note effortlessly. Girls who could barely hit C2 did not impress him. He only looked up slightly when Wei Jin sang.
He finally glanced inside when he heard Tang Ze’s voice. He knew that Tang Ze told him to come because of Meng Fu.