Chapter 1084: The first concert of its kind in the industry!
Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
The next day.
The Celebrity Rankings Index website was still down.
The netizens were continuing to gloat over this problem.
"@ZhangYe!"
"You made a huge mess!"
"All the celebrity rankings have been wiped out because of you!"
"Teacher Zhang Ye, you've caused trouble again."
"Hahahahaha!"
"Pissing myself laughing, this is so funny!"
"Every time Zhang Ye does something, the entertainment industry experiences an earthquake!"
"I just like how this fellow always causes trouble wherever he goes!"
As the cause of the problem, Zhang Ye could only wryly smile!
What are you guys mentioning me for?
What the fuck has this got to do with me?
Quite a number of netizens were "blaming" him for it, but of course they were just joking.
The one thing that relieved Zhang Ye was that none of his music industry peers had scolded him this time around!
Wang Zhuishu's Weibo: "During the run of King of Masked Singers, my favorite singer was Petal Shower. But the one who sang best was definitely The Clown. That's something that anyone would admit!"
A female musician: "Zhang Ye is really the favored Son of Heaven! His music literacy is so good that you'd never believe that he isn't even a professional singer yet."
A lyricist: "No one has ever dared to sing only originals on any singing show. Only Zhang Ye would dare to do something like this! He's incredible. In the field of writing lyrics, there shouldn't be anyone who is a match for him!"
In the past, whenever Zhang Ye crossed over to a new industry, there would always be people calling him out. So those people from Zhang Ye's fan club were gearing up for a fight, ready to take on the industry peers in the music scene. But to their surprise, there was not even an opportunity to do so as no one scolded Zhang Ye at all! Instead, there was only praise all around!
...
At around 2 in the afternoon, the official website of the Celebrity Rankings Index was finally partially restored after being down for close to 40 hours.
The updated celebrity rankings were published!
Countless netizens and entertainment industry insiders anxiously came to check!
Fan Wenli's name glittered at the front of the B-list Celebrity Rankings. She was already in second place on the B-list rankings after her popularity score had increased by an unknown amount!
There were also changes to Li Xiaoxian's ranking. She shot to the middle of the B-list!
Spinach, Liao Yiqi, reached the front of the C-list rankings!
Flowing Time, Zhao Qiquan, also experienced quite an increase to his popularity score!
As the only host of the show, Dong Shanshan was almost within reach of the B-list!
Chen Guang, Yao Jiancai, Zhang Xia, and the others also skimmed some popularity off of King of Masked Singers. Their popularity had also grown, although it was not as much as those who took part in the show as contestants.
Only Zhang Yuanqi's ranking did not change, but that was because she had already reached the top. Being an S-list Heavenly Queen, this increase to her popularity score might have been a large increase for others, but it was only considered a minor change for her. Of course, it wasn't negligible, but it wasn't really that much either.
Everyone was happy!
For the celebrities who took part in King of Masked Singers, the celebration and revelry this time was all to the credit of Zhang Ye alone. Whether it was from the perspective of the show's production or the copyright of the show, this entire show was essentially Zhang Ye's baby. Using his show and the production to gain their current popularity, even if Flowing Time did have a conflict with The Clown and clashed with Zhang Ye's fan club after the competition ended, he didn't have any complaints—all for that reason alone. He could blame The Clown, but there wouldn't be any pointing of fingers at Zhang Ye!
On Weibo.
"Fan Wenli has risen in the rankings so quickly!"
"That's really fast! She's already second place on the B-list rankings?"
"She could even get to this position by purely singing? I guess it's only Fan Wenli who could do something like that, right?"
"Haha, Old Chen had better work harder. He's been overtaken by his wife!"
"Li Xiaoxian is really fearsome too!"
"Spring Garden is gonna blow up!"
"Yeah, all of the Spring Garden members are now B-list celebs. Put them together and there would simply be no competition! They deserve to be called the #1 girl group! Definitely one of the top ten in Asia!"
"Eh, where's Zhang Ye's name?"
"Damn, you're right!"
"Why isn't Zhang Ye's name listed?"
"There's no sign of him on the rankings at all!"
"I've also checked! His name really isn't there!"
The netizens all rushed to lodge complaints with the official website in an instant!
In the end, another announcement was made.
"Explanation regarding Zhang Ye's celebrity ranking: The system is currently undergoing maintenance to repair the statistics to recalculate Zhang Ye's popularity score. Our technical team will strive to complete the maintenance within the week."
Only his ranking was not fixed!
The system was not fully repaired yet!
"It's still not done?"
"I'm just waiting to see Zhang Ye's ranking!"
"I'm also waiting for it."
"They will get it fixed within the week?"
"Isn't the King of Masked Singers concert scheduled for this Saturday? Are they going to wait until then to calculate all of his data at once?"
"Anything that involves Zhang Ye always ends up a mess!"
"Zhang Ye has probably created history in the entertainment industry with that, hasn't he? Pfft!"
"I'm really looking forward to this weekend's concert!"
"I wonder what songs Zhang Ye will sing."
"Me too! I can't wait!"
"Looking forward to seeing Fan Wenli's performance!"
"How I wish I could attend the concert!"
"How can we get tickets? Or do they only give them out through a lottery?"
"Are there scalpers selling any?"
The topic gradually changed to the weekend concert!
Countless viewers were anticipating it highly as there had never before been a concert like this. This was going to be an unprecedented concert that no other variety show had put on before. It wasn't that the other singing shows did not want to hold one, but that they were not popular enough to do so. King of Masked Singers was the first to hold one and had booked an entire stadium that could hold tens of thousands of spectators!
It was the first in the industry!
The first in the entire country!
Beijing Television invited everyone from all walks of life to join in the celebration!
Of course, there was also a small issue here that everyone was worried about.
...
Beijing Television.
Hu Fei asked, "Have you guys sent it upstairs already?"
Hou Ge nodded. "Yes, but the SARFT did not make a single comment."
"Not a word?" Hu Fei was startled.
Hou Ge gave a wry smile. "Nothing."
Dafei blinked several times. "Then would that mean that Teacher Zhang can take part in the concert and it'll be fine? Is this how we should understand this?"
Hou Ge shook his head. "How would I know?"
Hu Fei felt that this was strange and was wondering about it. "Have you guys realized? In this past year, the SARFT's toward Little Zhang has changed a lot. They barely touch him anymore? Just think about it. I think the SARFT also did not issue any statements regarding the air pollution documentary incident? What's more, the air pollution documentary even managed to stay online for a few days! And there was that time when those associations issued a joint statement to make those changes but were chased away by Little Zhang with 'The Internationale.' The SARFT did not say anything and even criticized those associations for cooking up those nonsensical guidelines. All these incidents don't add up."
Xiao Lu added, "Now that you've brought it up, that's true."
Hou Ge said excitedly, "Then does that mean that Teacher Zhang's ban has been lifted?"
Hu Fei replied, "Not necessarily. Who knows? Since no one has said anything against it, we'll just go ahead with the concert arrangements! Everyone, start getting down to work. We must do well and make this first concert of its kind a success! Let's make it beautiful! We'll have the perfect finale for King of Masked Singers! None of you are allowed to screw this up!"
...
Back home.
Zhang Ye received a lot of calls to thank him.
The first call was from Fan Wenli.
"Thanks, Director Zhang."
"What are you thanking me for?"
"Your show, of course. Who else would I be thanking if not you?"
"Hur hur, you're welcome."
"See you at the concert this weekend."
Then came Liao Yiqi's call.
"Thank you, Teacher Zhang."
"You're welcome, Student Spinach."
"Hehe, I've mooched off of you this time. My popularity has grown by so much. An advertising company just approached me to give me an endorsement and offered me 3 million RMB straight up. I was stunned since I was never worth that much in the past."
"3 million isn't that much. You're really popular now, so I think you can still push for more."
"Eh?"
"Just take my advice."
"Alright then, I'll listen to you."
After hanging up, Zhang Ye smiled.
Since his popularity score hadn't been calculated yet, he stopped thinking about it. It was better to do something fruitful, like choosing a song for the concert. He definitely had to be well-prepared for it even though it was no longer a competition. Although he had already been crowned the champion, he was still not going to be sloppy about things. As long as it was related to work, Zhang Ye would take it seriously.
Which song then?
For this final song, what should he sing?