Chapter 162: Three Songs for the Spring Festival Gala Audition

The day after the broadcast of "Song of the Seven Children", the debates on Weibo still showed no signs of stopping; instead, they tended to intensify.

Throughout his journey, Fang Xing had indeed offended the fan bases of many top-tier celebrities.

First came the fans of Wu Junchen and Liu Yichen, followed by the fans of SPK.

Then, during the recording of "The Voice", some followers of Liu Hongsheng also grew deeply dissatisfied with Fang Xing, viewing him as an uninvited guest who lacked respect for his elders.

Consequently, many fans viewed the show through colored glasses from the very beginning.

Even though "Song of the Seven Children" featured verses penned by historical sages, they still had the audacity to hurl abuses.

However, a vast number of viewers felt deeply moved by the song.

Yet, a large portion of this audience rarely browsed Weibo, and even when they did, they seldom left comments or messages.

This made the debates on Weibo appear evenly matched.

That is, until the afternoon.

Spearheaded by Tuantuan, more than ten official social media accounts of state departments reposted "Song of the Seven Children", finally cementing the official verdict on the song.

Even though some stubborn fans continued to spew hatred online, the agencies behind them no longer dared to fan the flames.

Therefore, following the reposts by Tuantuan and other official accounts, the controversy surrounding "Song of the Seven Children" slowly began to subside.

On the second day, the studio received a call from the Spring Festival Gala production team, who had also taken a liking to "Song of the Seven Children."

Thus, in the morning, Fang Xing received a work message from Qiao Yinghong, notifying him to attend a meeting at the company in the afternoon.

"Boss, we received a call from the Spring Festival Gala production team this morning. They've fallen in love with 'Song of the Seven Children' as well, feeling that it is exceptionally well-suited for a performance on the Gala." Qiao Yinghong beamed with joy, her smile stretching from ear to ear.

For a singer to have four songs selected by the Spring Festival Gala production team in a single year was an exceedingly rare occurrence.

Qiao Yinghong continued, "In fact, according to information I've gathered, the Gala team is also quite fond of 'Blue and White Porcelain'.

"However, with four or five of our songs already chosen, it's simply impossible for every single one of them to make the stage."

Fang Xing naturally understood this logic.

The Spring Festival Gala could not possibly broadcast a single singer's songs for the entire night.

Therefore, choices and trade-offs were inevitable.

After a moment of consideration, Fang Xing said, "I can just sing one or two. If the Gala team has their eyes on other tracks, they can always have other singers perform them."

In accordance with the Gala team's arrangements, singers were typically assigned to perform in collaborations.

Being able to perform a solo on the Spring Festival Gala was already an immense honor.

In any case, the scenario of a single singer performing four or five consecutive songs on the Gala was out of the question.

That being the case, having other singers take on the tracks was also a good outcome; at least the songs would still make it to the Gala stage.

Qiao Yinghong went on, "By the way, the Gala team also has ideas regarding 'Homecoming Cloud' and 'Tragic Opera'. However, according to the director's intentions, they hope to find a traditional Chinese opera actor to perform 'Tragic Opera'.

"My thought is that Caiwei has a foundation in traditional opera. Although she hasn't practiced in many years, she should probably strive for it.

"According to the Gala team's vision, they will most likely look for a highly respected opera artist to duet 'Tragic Opera' with a pop singer.

"They might even incorporate traditional opera choreography or Kunqu opera singing styles into it.

"Every year, the Spring Festival Gala features traditional folk art performances. Placing 'Tragic Opera' right after the folk art segment might be a rather good idea."

Fang Xing pondered for a moment and agreed, "That's a sound idea. We can coordinate with the Spring Festival Gala production team on this."

Qiao Yinghong continued, "As for the remaining four—'Ode to the Young China', 'Song of the Seven Children', 'The Brightest Star in the Night Sky', and 'A Real Man Stands Proud'—

"The Gala team's intention is to select one or two from these four.

"They would like to know your thoughts and see if you have any ideas for the staging and arrangement. If you have any creative proposals, we can discuss them."

While all these songs were excellent, the Spring Festival Gala could not be turned into a solo concert for one artist. Therefore, getting one song selected was an honor, and getting two would be the absolute pinnacle.

If "Tragic Opera" also made the cut—even if performed by another artist—it could well be considered a grand slam.

As for the final count of selected songs, it would depend entirely on the results of the final dress rehearsals.

From the studio's perspective, the more selected songs, the better.

To secure a spot, they had to effectively showcase the strengths of the songs.

Performing on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala was vastly different from a variety show stage; it required a complete readjustment.

Fang Xing thought for a moment and proposed, "Here is what we'll do. I'll go back and prepare, put together a proposal first, and discuss it with the Gala team during our next audition."

"Let's do that then. If you don't object, I'll also have Caiwei strive for 'Tragic Opera'," Qiao Yinghong said.

"Go ahead. Let's get as many songs on the stage as possible; it doesn't matter who sings them," Fang Xing nodded in agreement.

...

After the meeting concluded, Fang Xing returned home to rearrange "Ode to the Young China" and a few other tracks, pondering how to stage them in a way that would deeply impress the Spring Festival Gala production team.

Beyond that, he also needed to consider the theme song for the major Three Kingdoms historical drama directed by Chen Jilin, slated to premiere as the opening blockbuster next year.

Although the theme song for a Three Kingdoms historical drama and the Spring Festival Gala were two entirely separate matters, helping Chen Jilin resolve the theme song issue would naturally make future collaborations much smoother.

He already had a few ideas in mind for the historical drama's theme song.

However, the theme song did not require immediate urgency; the entries for the Spring Festival Gala needed to be rushed out as soon as possible.

The next audition was scheduled for this coming Wednesday, leaving very little time.

In two days, Fang Xing produced two distinct proposals, each featuring two songs.

On Wednesday, Liang Yusong personally led a team to fly to Beijing once again to participate in the CCTV Spring Festival Gala auditions.

This time, it wasn't just a single audition, but more than a dozen different acts being evaluated.

Since it was the first round of auditions, the pool of participating programs was massive.

The Gala production team had to audition over a dozen acts every day.

There were dance routines, vocal performances, traditional folk arts, comedic sketches, and various other forms of entertainment.

However, the Gala team tried their best to schedule programs of the same genre on the same day.

Consequently, the programs auditioning on this Wednesday were predominantly vocal performances.

Given that it was the preliminary audition, the creative teams essentially presented their performance concepts rather than fully polished routines.

Furthermore, for vocal programs, the singers typically provided the song itself, while the stage visuals and production effects were left for the Gala team to arrange.

This time, Song & Stone Records had two teams present. Li Caiwei had also brought "Tragic Opera" to audition.

After five or six preceding singers finished their auditions, a Gala staff member stepped out and called out, "The team for 'Tragic Opera', please come in."

Li Caiwei stood up, turned to Fang Xing, and said, "I'm going in now. I'm a bit nervous; this is my first time participating in a Spring Festival Gala audition."

Fang Xing clenched his fist and encouraged, "You've got this."

Li Caiwei took a deep breath, led her production team into the audition hall, introduced herself, and began outlining her program concept:

"The program we are submitting is the song 'Tragic Opera'. Our initial concept is to invite Kunqu opera actors to collaborate on the performance.

"We are currently in contact with several Kunqu artists, though nothing has been finalized yet. If the production team can assist in coordination, we should be able to secure a master of the Kunqu art form..."

After detailing the concept, Li Caiwei delivered an acapella excerpt of the song on the spot.

Hearing the live vocal performance, the Gala directing panel asked a series of follow-up questions.

Once she answered them, the audition concluded.

Stepping out of the audition hall with her team, Li Caiwei let out a heavy sigh of relief.

Qiao Yinghong hurried forward and asked, "How did it go?"

"I'm not sure. Judging by the questions the production team asked, they seem interested, but the outcome is still up in the air," Li Caiwei replied.

Liang Yusong chuckled heartily and said, "There's no need to rush. Spring Festival Gala programs don't get decided in a single audition. Even if you pass the initial round, there are rehearsals to get through, followed by five major dress rehearsals. Programs can be cut at any single one of those stages."

With the conclusion of the "Tragic Opera" audition, a Gala staff member emerged and called the next number: "Next group, Fang Xing."

Fang Xing stood up and led Guo Keda and the others into the audition hall.

Inside the hall, seven members of the Spring Festival Gala directing panel sat behind a long table, jointly evaluating the acts.

Notably, Chen Jilin sat right in the center, personally overseeing the auditions.

Fang Xing began with a self-introduction: "Hello, directors. My name is Fang Xing, and I have brought two program proposals for today.

"The first proposal pairs 'Song of the Seven Children' with 'Ode to the Young China'. Both of these songs incorporate children's choir sections.

"Therefore, under my envisioned concept, we could invite a children's choir to jointly perform these two tracks on the Gala stage.

"First is 'Song of the Seven Children', where the majority of the lyrics can be performed by the children's chorus.

"Once 'Song of the Seven Children' concludes, the children's choir will remain on stage and immediately transition into 'Ode to the Young China'.

"Regarding this idea, I have produced a demo, which has already been sent to the production team's email. We can play it to see how it sounds."

Chen Jilin tilted his head to look at the staff member beside him and instructed, "Play the demo."

The demo began to play.

It opened with the children's choir singing "Song of the Seven Children", expressing the poignant call of the "child" to the "mother." The overall effect was remarkably striking.

Immediately following the end of "Song of the Seven Children", the children's choral recitation of "Ode to the Young China" began without pause.

This was followed by the main verses of "Ode to the Young China", performed by Fang Xing himself.

The two songs blended together seamlessly, without a shred of abruptness.

"Song of the Seven Children" first recounted the hardships and suffering the motherland had once endured, followed by "Ode to the Young China" to voice the soaring ambition of strengthening the nation.

After listening, Chen Jilin's expression did not immediately reveal whether he liked it or not. Instead, he asked, "Proposing two songs in a single audition—aren't you worried that neither will pass?"

Fang Xing smiled and replied, "I genuinely feel that these two songs complement each other exceptionally well. This is my vision, and expressing that vision is never a mistake."

Chen Jilin nodded and said, "What about your second proposal? Tell us about that one as well."

Fang Xing then introduced the second option: "The second proposal features 'The Brightest Star in the Night Sky' and 'A Real Man Stands Proud'."

He proceeded to outline the details of the second proposal.

However, "The Brightest Star in the Night Sky" and "A Real Man Stands Proud" were fundamentally quite mismatched as a pair.

Thus, this second proposal felt somewhat immature.

In truth, both of these songs were exceptional enough to be performed separately on the Spring Festival Gala.

However, performing them separately while hoping to get both approved would be quite difficult.

After listening to both proposals, Chen Jilin conferred briefly with the other directors beside him before asking, "Could you perform acapella excerpts of 'Ode to the Young China' and 'A Real Man Stands Proud'?"

"Certainly."

Fang Xing nodded in agreement and delivered live acapella renditions of both pieces right there in the room.

Performing without instrumental accompaniment placed demands of the highest order on a singer's vocal technique.

Yet, for Fang Xing, this posed very little difficulty.

Lacking accompaniment instead allowed the distinctive timber of his voice to shine through, fully displaying his vocal prowess.

Since the day's auditions were dedicated to vocal programs featuring over a dozen teams and dozens of songs, the Gala directing team had naturally invited professional vocal consultants to vet the entries.

A man in his fifties sitting directly next to Chen Jilin was a professor from the National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts.

After listening to Fang Xing's live acapella performance, Chen Jilin whispered a few words to the professor.

The professor nodded repeatedly and remarked, "This young man has a rock-solid vocal foundation. Among all the singers who have auditioned today, he is currently in a league of his own."

No amount of hype on other music variety shows would ever sway the Spring Festival Gala production team.

However, the on-site evaluation by the Academy professor carried substantial objectivity.

Hearing the professor's assessment, Chen Jilin smiled and said, "The proposal combining 'Song of the Seven Children' and 'Ode to the Young China' is a great concept. We can look into developing it further. That concludes today's audition; go back and wait for our notification."

The Spring Festival Gala auditions came to a close.

As Fang Xing walked out of the audition hall, Liang Yusong, Qiao Yinghong, Li Caiwei, and the others hurried over to ask, "How did it go?"

"It should be fine. We'll head back and wait for the notice," Fang Xing answered with a calm tone.

Though the final verdict was not yet confirmed, judging by Chen Jilin's tone, he was clearly very satisfied with the combined proposal of "Song of the Seven Children" and "Ode to the Young China."

The day after returning from Beijing, they received the official notification from the Spring Festival Gala production team.

"The Gala production team has selected the proposal featuring 'Song of the Seven Children' and 'Ode to the Young China', and they've recommended a children's choir based in Beijing. They want us to attend a briefing meeting next week to finalize the arrangements for the program's rehearsal," Qiao Yinghong triumphantly announced the news.

Fang Xing had always been confident in the selection of "Song of the Seven Children" and "Ode to the Young China" for the Gala, so hearing the outcome didn't come as much of a surprise to him.

In stark contrast to Fang Xing's composure, the studio employees erupted into wild cheers.

The studio had been established for a little over half a year, and it was already heading to the Spring Festival Gala.

This trajectory of growth was simply unimaginable.

For any star, performing on the Spring Festival Gala was the ultimate honor.

It also signified official national recognition and served as a symbol of elite status.

Watching the excited staff members, Qiao Yinghong clapped her hands and reminded them, "Don't celebrate too early just yet. We still have five rounds of dress rehearsals ahead; we cannot afford to be careless."

Guo Keda wore an expression of absolute confidence and said, "Brother Fang will definitely have no issues. This year's Spring Festival Gala spot is locked in."

Qiao Yinghong added, "Keep your guards up and focus on your respective duties."

"Understood!" all the studio employees chorused in unison, brimming with motivation.

Since the Spring Festival Gala was broadcast live, not a single error could be tolerated.

Consequently, Fang Xing set aside time every single day to practice his singing.

This Friday, the eighth episode of "The Voice" was set to air.

This upcoming episode would feature his performance of "Love Confession."

Thus, Lu Xiang'er had made arrangements early on: they would watch the show together on Friday, preparing two days in advance with utmost seriousness and excitement.