Chapter 61: Pre-Competition Rehearsal!

Wu Chaoyang chatted with Xiao Weiyang for a while longer before turning back to Galen. “Take the show’s rundown home and study it carefully. There’s no way you’ll memorize everything in such a short time!”

“That’s right,” Xiao Weiyang chimed in. “And those lines, you don’t have to recite them word for word. As long as you get the gist, that’s enough. For a singing competition like this, what matters most is the contestants’ natural state.”

“Understood,” Galen nodded. “When does rehearsal start, then?”

“Right now,” Xiao Weiyang replied. “Let’s start by working with the band. You have two days. On Wednesday, we’ll be recording the championship here. You won’t be able to come; the contestants mustn’t see you in advance.”

With that, Xiao Weiyang led Galen off to find the show’s music executive producer—the same person who’d just taken Galen’s song selection.

They left the studio, took the elevator up a floor, and entered a rehearsal room. Xiao Weiyang went ahead and opened the door for them. Inside were eight band members, along with the music director from earlier. At the sound of the door, all eyes turned toward them.

“This is our show’s music executive producer, Lu Mucheng,” Xiao Weiyang introduced. The man, young and clean-shaven, sported a shaved head, black-rimmed glasses, and a baseball cap—he was also one of the producers under Dream Star Music.

“Hello, sir!” Galen took the initiative to shake his hand; it was important to make a good impression.

“Hello! You’re Galen, right?” Lu Mucheng smiled. “I didn’t recognize you earlier! If the guys in the band hadn’t recognized the song you chose, I wouldn’t have guessed you’d be the one coming to challenge us this time.”

“Oh?” Galen was genuinely surprised and glanced at the band members.

He hadn’t met any of them before—they were all seasoned, middle-aged men, faces weathered by time. He probably owed them the title of ‘uncle.’ As far as he could recall, they’d never crossed paths.

Seeing Galen’s puzzled expression, the guitarist laughed. “No need to wonder, young man! Of course, you wouldn’t know us. At the Ideal Music Festival, when you performed, we were backstage. We all heard your song—whether it was the live effect or the song itself, it was top-notch!”

He even gave Galen a thumbs-up.

Galen blushed with embarrassment. “I’m not worthy! Compared to you veterans with decades of experience, I’m still just starting out.”

“No need to be modest,” Lu Mucheng said with a grin. “You’re pretty popular online these days! Especially after you stood up to Liu Pengfei’s crowd—everyone at Dream Star was cheering for you!”

Galen scratched his head sheepishly. He was well aware of the feud between Sparrow Legend and Dream Star. The news had been everywhere a few years ago.

Back then, after Sparrow Legend won the championship and became famous overnight, a powerful record company poached them, offering to pay their hefty break fee and dangling a lucrative contract. Given Sparrow Legend’s character, they naturally chose to leave.

The first season of Star Light Show had just begun then, and no one expected it to become such a hit, so the original contract wasn’t very strict. The break fee was only three million, and with that a money-making act was lost.

After that, the Star Light Show’s contracts became much stricter. The moment someone won the weekly championship, they’d sign a new contract with a ten-million break fee.

Only if a contestant failed to advance to the annual championship would the contract be voided automatically.

A singer like Galen, who had already signed with another company and debuted, would never be allowed to make it to the final. There were five challenge rounds anyway, and he could be eliminated in any of them.

At the same time, Galen desperately needed this chance to appear on television, so he was determined to approach the challenge with caution.

As the conversation went on, it seemed to bring them closer together, though everyone harbored their own thoughts. The band members were all seasoned pros and had already practiced the song Galen selected, so the arrangement came together easily.

However, a disagreement arose over how to arrange it. Since this was a TV show, Galen wanted to stick to the original version, but Lu Mucheng preferred to adapt it into a rock performance to immediately ignite the stage.

After some back-and-forth, it was the band who suggested a compromise: split it in half—the first half as per the original version, the second half reworked into rock.

The guitarist patted Galen’s shoulder, saying, “Galen, I’ve heard you sing rock live. It would be such a waste not to use that talent here!”

“But is there really a need to sing rock in the very first round?” Galen replied.

His words made everyone exchange glances. Wasn’t he being a bit arrogant? Could he be sure there’d even be a next round? Just surviving this one would be enough!

Though that’s what they were thinking, no one said it aloud. Wu Chaoyang, who shared their thoughts, cleared his throat and said, “Galen, that’s not the right mindset. Competition is different from a regular performance. You should give your best every time, treat each round as if it’s the last. Don’t you agree?”

“Well…” Galen wasn’t stupid—he understood the implication at once.

It was only at that moment that the full reality hit him. This was a competition, not just a showcase. Even if there was a script and lines, it was still a real contest, one where he’d be showing his abilities to the nation.

“All right then,” Galen conceded. “Let’s go with the band’s suggestion. But, Mr. Lu, I really believe singing ballads does a better job of showing vocal skill and strength. I know you can’t have it both ways, but I’d still like to try.”

“That’s fair! You have a point,” Lu Mucheng smiled. “This arrangement works, but we’ll have to design the transition carefully—like this…”

Despite his youth, Lu Mucheng was highly accomplished in music arrangement, perhaps even more so than Li Ronghao. Li Ronghao, being a film composer, emphasized depth and grandeur, focusing on the artistic experience.

Lu Mucheng, on the other hand, valued live effect more. He knew which instrument timbres would stimulate the audience’s hearing, which rhythms could fire up the crowd, and how to arrange harmonic clashes to create striking contrasts.

For a TV show, even subtle tweaks to instrument combinations could make a huge difference. Spontaneously adding elements could give the audience a real surprise.

Working with Lu Mucheng, Galen learned a lot and found inspiration.

By the time lunch had come and gone, the arrangement was nearly flawless.

Galen rehearsed with the band; after just over four minutes, he was drenched in sweat but didn’t feel tired at all.

Such exhilarating music made him want to give it everything he had.

When they wrapped up for the moment, Xiao Weiyang waved his hand. “Let’s all go eat! After all this work, lunch is on me. We’ll be more energized for rehearsal this afternoon!”

The band members cheered and crowded out the door together.

The restaurant was close by, and with Xiao Weiyang present, conversation never ceased. From the days of vinyl records to the digital music era, the talk was full of nostalgia and resignation.

During lunch, Galen also learned how Xiao Weiyang and Wu Chaoyang first met.

Back then, Xiao Weiyang was still an executive producer. The company had a talk show that invited King of Singers Zhang Lei as a guest, and Xiao was in charge of contacting Wu Chaoyang. That’s how they got acquainted.

They’d only ever exchanged greetings, but now, with Wu Chaoyang bringing Galen along, both their lives had changed dramatically. Neither could be said to be doing better or worse, but reminiscing about those days left them both reflective.

After lunch, Xiao Weiyang stayed a short while longer before leaving for other matters.

Before he left, he arranged for Lu Mucheng to take Galen to record his competition song in full.

This served two purposes: to give the band and production team a reference and to facilitate post-show promotion.

During the competition phase, the performance rights to the song would be authorized to “Dream Star Show” and CCTV Channel 2, per industry practice. The show would later release a “Dream Show Live Version” online, and to avoid possible issues with the live recording, they needed a studio version as backup.

The recording took place in the CCTV Channel 2 studio, though most of the equipment there had been especially purchased by Dream Star.

Just like the studio stage—though the show was authorized by “Dream Star Show,” the set construction and design were all Dream Star’s responsibility.

Recording depended a lot on atmosphere; top equipment could still yield poor music. It was said that the legendary singer Zhang Lei still used equipment from the 1990s and refused to let it be replaced—even a new microphone, he claimed, would ruin the sound.

Recording wasn’t difficult. Although Galen had only rehearsed once with the band, with Lu Mucheng conducting, they recorded the instrumental tracks together, then Galen laid down the vocals. After several tweaks and adjustments, it was quickly done.

By the time they finished, it was already four in the afternoon. They all returned to the rehearsal room for one final, meticulous run-through.

With the recording as a reference, they could immediately correct any issues that cropped up in rehearsal.

Nearly another hour passed, and when Lu Mucheng saw it was after five, he finally called it a day. “That’s it for today! Go home, get some rest, and be sharp for tomorrow’s live rehearsal!”

As soon as they left CCTV and got into Wu Chaoyang’s car, Galen wilted.

Seeing him like that, Wu Chaoyang couldn’t help but laugh. “Drink plenty of honey water tonight, skip the late night, and get some sleep!”

“I know,” Galen replied, nodding. This afternoon’s rehearsal was more exhausting than singing half an hour at a music festival.