Rehman: “That’s a nice melody, Tie Zhu, is that your new song? ‘Steak Shift’?”
His sense of humour is in his official accent as always.
Zhang Yang: “Ah I see, so Xu Shanqiang’s film Love Shift is a food film? As the saying goes, in order to catch your boyfriend, you have to catch your male friend’s stomach first.”
Li Tiezhu thought about the film script he had read and revealed a smile, “Indeed it’s a food film, crayfish ah and whatnot, it will be the male lead Xu Shanqian who got tired of eating white rice and said to go on a food journey.”
Rehman was bewildered, “Are those lyrics true?”
Zhang Yang: “Uncle, those lyrics are fake really, really fake.”
Rehman: “……”
Li Tiezhu began to scramble the egg fried rice, hot pan and cool oil, under the cold rice fried incense, and then the beaten egg liquid dripping to the rice, so that it will be a perfect package of rice, and then under the diced ham, simply stir-fried, sprinkled with green onions on the plate.
The dish of fried rice was golden and fragrant.
I don’t know why, the film crew even made a close-up of the steak and egg fried rice made by Li Tiezhu, really a bit of food show that taste.
When the programme was broadcast, the pop-up screen couldn’t stand it:
“Why let me watch this at night? I want to lose weight ah ah ah!”
“Luckily I’m full at night.”
“Good guy, give me a direct look hungry, order takeout to go.”
“No one said that Li Tiezhu just blindly sang the song?”
“Too good!”
“Serious Brother doesn’t write many love songs, but they are all fine, do we still need to discuss it?”
“Just blow it straight and be done with it.”
“This Sichuan flavoured steak is indeed a bit gluttonous ……”
“I can smell the aroma even through the screen.”
“When he was frying the steak, I wanted to spray him with foreign flavour, luckily I held back.”
“So, what the hell kind of two ghost assistants did Li Tiezhu hire? Surprisingly, they can even instruct Li Tiezhu in cooking? Also a mouthful of Xichuan dialect.”
“Once this song comes out, there’s no suspense in this competition again.”
“Just don’t know what the proper lyrics are.”
Li Tiezhu cut the steak into strips, Stuffy Tuner washed the pot and brushed the dishes, Hei Waer handed over a bottle of Wah Hip Hip Hip Hip Hip Hip Hip Hip Hip Hip Hip Hip Hip Hip Hip Hip Hip, Li Tiezhu started to eat.
“I’m going to eat.”
Li Tiezhu said.
Rehman and Zhang Yang just looked at him, meaning you eat ah, we watch.
Li Tiezhu was also helpless, but this was the rules of the show, he had to say, “Okay, I’ll sing a proper lyrics, however, my voice is not magnetic enough, it’s best to ask Chen Isen to sing this song.”
How many windows have I wandered through
How many hotels have we stayed in
Before you feel that separation is not wrong
Are feelings to be browsed
Or are they to be treasured?
To make every day unforgettable
“That’s enough, isn’t it?”
Rehman laughed, “Actually, I don’t mind listening to the full version! Anyway, for the sake of the show’s suspense, we won’t publish it all.”
Li Tiezhu: “I don’t think that’s necessary, right? It’s not like you know music.”
Rehman said, “I ……”
Zhang Yang was puzzled.
Li Tiezhu started eating.
Hmm! This steak is barbecue that flavour, it’s awesome. Especially with the butter on the side, it tasted very good after it was fried and charred.
Hot Hopman had a strange expression, obviously this steak was rather unorthodox, but why would I gulp? Also, it really smelled so good, like the smell of kebabs in his Great Western Frontier.
Hot Hopman continued the interview, because it was a necessary trope, and the audience loved it.
“Tiezhu, what kind of opportunity, or feeling, did you write this song ‘Love Shift’ from? Was it a lost love?”
“Zhu’er said that there is only widowhood but no love lost, besides, if I’m going to act in a play to play a murderer, do I have to go and kill someone?”
“Er, I was asking about your source of inspiration.”
“Smashing. Inspiration? Do you need inspiration to write a song?”
Hot Hopman: “Doesn’t it need it?”
Li Tiezhu chewed his steak, “Need it?”
Zhang Yang: “No need. Song writing relies on routines and skills, only that some people are highly skilled and some are average, so I think that a serious brother should write songs similar to me, where the routine is king.”
Zhe Heman: “Do you think this song can make you win in today’s group elimination again?”
Li Tiezhu: “In fact, it’s okay to be eliminated, so let’s give the newcomers a chance.”
Anyway, after signing a six-period contract, if you are eliminated early, you will still get the money, but the loss is CCTV.
Hot Hopman: “Er …… you have any goals for this competition? For example, the overall champion, the best song and so on.”
Li Tiezhu: “No, I’m here to write a new album and make money on the way.”
Zheheman: “Actually, you can be a little more confident.”
Li Tiezhu: “If I’m too confident, I’m afraid that the other contestants will be nervous and it will easily affect their state of writing songs.”
Zheheman: “……”
Tell you a sh*t, not cooperative at all.
So, Rehman took Zhang Yang away and went next door to interview the “Little Prince of Song Copying”. He thought the newcomer would be better to be interviewed, but he didn’t expect that Zhang Yang would be really open after being opened by Li Tiezhu in front of him.
“Zhang Yang, your group is known as the group of death, what do you think?”
“Laying down to watch, I usually lay down on the sofa to watch the live broadcast of the matches.”
“I’m asking if you’re confident of advancing from six to four?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Actually …… I’m here to write an album, and if I get eliminated now, the album is still missing so many songs.”
“Would you be a little too confident? Your opponents are established singers like Li Tiezhu and Huo Zhi’en.”
“I’m being humble. Why don’t you ask me if I want to win the championship?”
“I guess there’s no need for that, right?”
“You’re looking down on people, no wonder Serious Brother tops your lungs.”
“I I ……”
Afterwards, Rehman went to interview contestants such as Huo Zhi En and Zhao Liya, completing his mission.
The auditions began in the afternoon, with Liu Le giving pointers on each contestant’s work and singing, each contestant separately.
When it was Li Tiezhu’s turn to audition, Liu Le only mentioned a few singing questions and did not give pointers on the piece itself. Because he himself understood that Li Tiezhu’s composing ability was the pinnacle of his debut, not his own pinnacle, but the pinnacle of the entire Chinese music scene, and no one could give him any pointers.
……
At eight o’clock in the evening of the next day, the seventh instalment of “Chinese Good Song” officially started.
The contestants of each group gathered in their respective lounges, and today was the team elimination match of two groups, where four out of the twelve contestants would be eliminated.
In fact, out of the total of twenty-four singers who made it to the second round, there weren’t many pure newcomers, no more than five. Excluding Li Tiezhu and Huo Zhi’en, who were really famous singers, half of the remaining singers were singers who had been on the road for many years.
Liu Le’s team: Li Tiezhu, Huo Zhi En, Zhang Yang, Liu Hui, Li Minna, Zhao Qing
Yu Quan’s team: Lin Li Hang, Band on the Mountain, Wang Wu, Liu Tian Yang, Zhang Yue, Wu Xin Dye
Cai Ya Team: Zhao Liya, Su Yun, Zhou Yutian, Luo Zhongxu, Qian Chao, Wu Xu
Yang Keqian’s team: Zhao Lei, Li Xia “Tonight Train”, Liu Kuan, Reincarnation Band, Li Xiaobei, Chen Feng
Among them, Band on the Mountain, Zhao Lei, Reincarnation Band, and Lin Li Hang are all old songwriters with good strength.
They didn’t all come to this show for the champion and the best song because it was too difficult, especially after having Li Tiezhu on board, the difficulty coefficient went up geometrically.
Most of them came for the Chinese Good Song Album and the Chinese Good Song Concert afterwards.
After this programme was completed, fifteen excellent songs would be included and made into an album to be released, and the singers whose songs were selected could get a share of the revenue and participate in the concert. Moreover, only a maximum of three songs would be included per person, which left plenty of opportunities for exposure.
So, even if they were eliminated early, there was still a chance to turn it around as long as the songs were good enough.
The competition that took place first was Yu Quan’s group.
The first to perform was a rock singer named Lin Li Hang, who was originally the lead singer and songwriter of a band in Kyoto, and this time he came to the competition on his own, and did very well.
Today, he brought a heavy metal rock original called “Bloody City”.
The composition could only be described as medium to high, but the live performance was very good.
The contestants in Cai Ya’s group listened attentively, whispering and discussing every now and then, because, after the six to four, their opponents would be the contestants in Yu Quan’s group.
“The song is well written and strong.”
“Lin Li Hang is also a ranked rock singer in the Kyoto circle, odds are he’ll advance.”
“In our group, there seems to be only one rock singer, Zhang Yang.”
“No, there’s also Li Tiezhu.”
“Using Li Tiezhu to deal with Lin Lihang is killing the chicken with a bull’s knife, right Lia?”
“Huh? He’s killing a chicken with a bull’s knife with anyone PK.”
“Erm ……”
So reasonable that it was surprisingly impossible to refute it. It was also true that while this group of people were still struggling to make their debut, they had already gained global fame.
(Previously, Zhao Liya’s affiliated battle team was misspelled and has been corrected)
On Liu Le’s battle team’s side, everyone was also discussing.
In the end, Huo Zhi En asked Li Tie Zhu, “How is this rock song written?”
Everyone quieted down.
Li Tiezhu: “I don’t know! I don’t know rock music.”
Huo Zhi En: “Then you know that kind of music?”
Zhang Yang: “I guess Serious Brother doesn’t know much about that kind of music.”
Everyone looked at Zhang Yang with contempt, “You think Li Tiezhu is like you? Writing songs by sets?
Li Tiezhu however said, “I really don’t even know much about it.”
The crowd was even more speechless.
An hour later, the Yu Quan Battle Team’s civil war ended, with four of them, Lin Li Hang, Band on the Hill, Wang Wu and Liu Tian Yang, advancing to the next round, while the other two were eliminated. The best performer in this round was the Mountain Band, who amazed the audience with their song “Shangri-La”.
It was Liu Le’s turn soon, Liu Le came to the rest room and organised the six members of the team to draw lots to decide the order of appearance.
The result was that Li Tiezhu was the first to appear.
Liu Le returned to the tutor’s seat and the match continued.
The host, Zhehe Mann, exaggeratedly wore a rugby gear and stood on the stage, the audience under the stage burst into laughter, and with a weird doubt, what’s wrong with this person?
Hot Hopman said, “Don’t laugh everyone, hosting is a high-risk profession, because I’ve got the order of appearance for Tutor Liu Le’s team. Everyone can see that I’m dressed like this, so I know who’s coming out first, right?”
“Hahahahaha ……”
“Li Tiezhu!”
“Serious brother, top of his lungs.”
The audience naturally guessed it.
Rehman: “I heard Li Tiezhu’s new song ‘Love Shift’ yesterday, it’s very good. Let’s invite the first competing singer of Liu Le’s team!”
The applause was unusually warm, after all, Li Tiezhu had been a long time coming for this stage.