Chapter 12: Sing My Heart Tonight

This Y City Music Festival truly established Mengmeng’s market value.

One aspect of this was that numerous music circle bloggers, and even entertainment industry bloggers, were now mobilized, working overnight on analyses of whether the third-generation Heartbreak was successfully revitalizing or just a fleeting flash.

They hadn’t done this before, purely because there were too few live performances for reference.

They were doing it now because the topic included First Sister, whose popularity they could piggyback on.

The Heartbreak part of the analysis only served as a lead-in. In the title, it looked like a critical matter of succession and survival, but in reality, large portions were dedicated to dissecting Mengmeng’s personal qualities in detail, including, but not limited to, his singing technique, timbre, skill, and performance quality. Even his seemingly casual standing posture during the performance was theorized with three or five motives, trying to prove he was specially trained and deliberately posed this way to pander to fans, thus refuting fan claims that “Mengmeng’s star quality is innate.”

It was clear: men were more prone to jealousy of other men than one might imagine.

As for Li Tingzhou’s other side as a producer, they dared not casually critique that.

Because that part involved another area of expertise, even multiple areas, where speaking too much meant making more mistakes. Stage presence and performance perception, however, were subjective impressions. Even if criticism outweighed praise, among a hundred viewers, one could always find one or two who felt the same. Even with only a single voice of agreement, they would amplify it.

The one point they didn’t exploit was, surprisingly, Mengmeng’s relationship.

How ironic and laughable…

But who cared?

Whether the industry wanted to see Heartbreak rise or not, Mengmeng had risen anyway.

Riding the heat of this Y City Music Festival, Liu Lusi smoothly secured Heartbreak a guest singer contract for Tide’s Sing My Heart Tonight Season 7, with the performance fee negotiated even more smoothly and favorably than expected.

“Alright, just read the online comments casually. How professional could they be?”

Dai Jier had been working for many years and could certainly handle it calmly, but Mao Maoyu, only in his third year of work, still couldn’t resist arguing online—

[Every time Heartbreak fans get criticized, they trigger the bot reply: We play live]

Mao Maoyu replied: Not wrong, is it? Otherwise, show me evidence Heartbreak faked playing? Did you frame-by-frame verify the fingering or bar-by-bar overlap-compare the live audio tracks?

[Is Mengmeng really that handsome? In my opinion, a 10 is only a 6.]

Mao Maoyu replied: Who asked you? But blogger, with a profile picture of that face, and such terrible aesthetic judgment, life’s probably going to be tough.

[Everyone else is dressing for effortless cool, only Heartbreak is so calculating with full styling]

Mao Maoyu’s fingers flew across the keyboard: Willing to show off a good figure to the viewers is generosity. Wearing makeup and styling is because you’re genuinely handsome and fresh. You don’t show either, so I assume you have neither the figure nor the handsomeness.

After replying to over a dozen posts, Mao Maoyu couldn’t take it anymore.

He turned to Liu Lusi, who was still checking contracts with Legal, and interrupted her work: “Sis, can’t we buy some permanent online water army? Anyway, it’s cheap, like 1 yuan per comment.”

Liu Lusi said nothing, but Li Tingzhou’s notebook flew at his head first.

“Not running a household, you don’t know how expensive firewood and rice are.”

One yuan per comment was a price from how many years ago?

Now, the mindless water army tactics were out of fashion. It was all about precise, targeted deployment.

Those marketing accounts with any influence charged a minimum “PR fee” starting in the four figures. Buying hundreds at once, coordinating that scale of output with a strategically placed hot search, would burn a seven-figure sum in one night just to see results. Anything less was deemed ineffective marketing—seen and instantly forgotten by netizens.

Currently, Heartbreak certainly couldn’t afford such a package.

The previous relationship exposure making hot search was purely due to netizens’ love for gossip, plus the residual heat from Mengmeng’s first stage appearance; combined, it achieved decent reading volume.

This time, it was mainly piggybacking on First Sister’s momentum.

Whale Media’s actors and singers had annual package deals with Weibo.

“Major platforms are great, but our small label can’t quite sustain it.”

Once the legal team left, Ms. Lusi let out a long sigh, expressing the need for Heartbreak to recruit new people.

“I looked at the list of main guests for Season 7 provided by Ren Shiyu’s side. Honestly, Tide really put serious effort into inviting people this time, and each main guest, while guaranteeing skill, also has strong specific functionality. It seems Tide is determined to establish a certain period of cooperation with Whale Media. And you know what? If everything is done properly, and the show puts genuine effort into sound effects and design for the public performances, this season could have a lot of highlights.”

Dai Jier nodded: “That’s great!”

Only if this show became popular and a hit could the participating Heartbreak get a share of the spoils.

With the vastly different level of traffic and hype from the mainstream entertainment industry boosting them, Heartbreak—or rather, Mengmeng—maintaining an upward trend in a positive cycle, would have the chance to receive more and better opportunities and commercial deals.

This logic was undoubtedly correct, but it all hinged on operations and maneuvering.

And this had exceeded Liu Lusi’s capabilities.

Proactively admitting her limits was better than being forced to concede her incompetence.

Liu Lusi plainly stated they needed to recruit new people for Heartbreak, not just some ordinary operations, planning, or marketing specialist. The level needed to be raised to Partner level. Heartbreak’s momentum was strong now; they couldn’t afford the time for long-term cultivation. They wanted a fully formed entity who could immediately get to work.

But where could they find someone?

Without quickly finding help, were they supposed to just watch good opportunities slip away?

~

After two days of relaxation back in J City, Li Tingzhou re-entered work mode.

The first thing back was an online meeting.

From Heartbreak, only he and Liu Lusi participated.

As the undisputed First Sister of the entire Whale Media empire, Ren Shiyu was participating in Tide’s music variety show with a very important mission. She had signed a contract for the full season. In other words, regardless of how First Sister performed in the subsequent program, she was guaranteed a spot in the finals.

This was both a foundation and a pressure.

Compared to previous seasons, Season 7 of Sing My Heart Tonight had a rule change: Each main guest invited a group of guest singers. Unlike previous seasons where guest singers only played a role for one episode’s duet before quickly leaving, they would now, to some extent, act as assistants for the main guest in adapting to different competition formats and stages. Their roles included, but weren’t limited to: duets, backing vocals, accompaniment, and arrangement/production.

Looking at it this way, guest singers were harder to choose than the main guests!

More work, not necessarily more screen time, and pay was a digit lower than the main guest.

Chose well, and it was a force multiplier.

Chose poorly, and it was probably a drag, dragging each other down into obscurity.

This was precisely why Ren Shiyu firmly chose Heartbreak.

Regarding vocal ability, Li Tingzhou could sing pop and mainstream academic styles.

Regarding live instrument performance, Heartbreak’s musicians were professionally trained, absolutely presentable.

If later stages involved adaptation, rearrangement, and the like, Ren Shiyu could rely on Li Tingzhou to realize her ideas painlessly, rather than having to stealthily seek outside help away from the cameras…

Therefore, in Ren Shiyu’s view, she needed to correctly position herself with Heartbreak.

Good music producers were like giant pandas.

Catch one and not treat it well? How could she mistreat him?

No matter how confident Ren Shiyu was, she had a relatively clear self-awareness: still relying on the company’s production and choices for so many years, didn’t that precisely show she was lacking in this area? In unfamiliar territory, she should listen more to professional opinions. Stubbornly insisting would only trap her in obscurity. Being humble and cautious was always the right approach.

“The theme for the first episode is unchanged, still singing your own song.”

Ren Shiyu unhesitatingly chose Telepathy. This was her biggest, most mainstream hit in recent years, without question, and also a highly representative work marking her artistic transformation.

Li Tingzhou wasn’t surprised by her choice. He asked, “What about the others?”

Her agent quickly rattled off a list of song titles. He roughly got the picture.

“Sister Shiyu, you want to do a stylistic adaptation?”

“Yes, I want a more refined adaptation, deepening the Jazz label on top of the pop foundation. I’ve heard the original demo version of yours. It had a very fitting saxophone part, which was switched to an electric guitar performance for the female voice’s transposition adaptation.”

Ren Shiyu’s comfort zone was the mid-to-high range.

But that didn’t mean she couldn’t sing low notes.

Li Tingzhou understood what she meant: “I’ll restore a version for you as soon as possible.”

~

【When to Criminalize Lip-syncing and Fake Playing | Can’t Endure Another Day】

————

Got a connection. Through a friend of a friend, saw Sister-in-law Meng’s Moments updates.

So heartbroken, so helpless, anyone understand?

Sister-in-Law Station only gets submissions from Little Red Book users, but I’m facing the direct impact…

[Blurred photo of Sister-in-Law Meng’s Moments 4-grid post]

[Blurred photo of Sister-in-Law Meng’s WeChat avatar]

Both are blurred, so this counts as verification, right?

1L: Damn, this is a real person with connections!

6L: Should be real. After enlarging and sharpening P1, you can see the second image is First Sister’s signed album. Considering Mengmeng would directly ask First Sister for a signed album for Maoyu, if his girlfriend liked First Sister, he’d 100% agree too.

9L: So these past two days, Mengmeng’s been…

10L: Need you even ask? No need to deceive ourselves.

12L: Even though it’s tightly covered, Little Red Book users are always encountering people by chance.

19L: J City Kunqu Opera Troupe was also performing in Y City these past two days. Their official WeChat account posted a thank-you photo for floral baskets. Comparing it, the bouquet in the first image of P1 is also there…

25L: Okay, the first two images in P1 are both identified.

62L: Combining the Little Red Book encounter timeline, can roughly deduce the schedule.

[Long image analysis] 1

71L: Just switched a page and it’s all solved.

78L: Really can’t give anyone peace of mind, this Mengmeng. Last time’s hot search didn’t teach him a lesson, still doing whatever he wants.

…

151L: Now the new fans are lecturing him too (smoking emoji).

156L: This is how Band Boys are, many trials waiting.

164L: I don’t get why some people are disappointed. I saw big forum leaks that Tide’s starting Night Heart Seven in June. Heartbreak is suspected to have landed their first proper mainstream entertainment gig. They’ve got a new summer single coming out, new song okay, outside gig okay, what exactly is there to be dissatisfied about?

180L: They’ll never be satisfied until they’re the one dating Mengmeng.