Chapter 66 "Why be such an amateur hater?"

"Emptying out almost everyone with any capability in the entire Vocal Music Department?!"

Liu Kangping wore a complex expression, feeling for the first time in his life that he had indeed been too conservative.

Yet upon closer reflection, it didn't seem quite as absurd anymore.

For an ordinary student to ask teachers and professors to help complete a work in this manner would be pure fantasy.

However, if the work was receiving close attention and prioritized treatment, the situation changed entirely.

"You really are something else, kid..."

Liu Kangping was at a loss for words.

He merely moved his lips, his complexion growing even more complicated.

This kid always managed to pull off some surprisingly creative stunts within the boundaries of the rules.

It was utterly absurd, but upon closer thought, it was damn well entirely reasonable.

"Fine, you go handle the communication over at the China Conservatory, and I'll take care of the coordination on my end."

"Then I really must trouble you, Director Liu."

Li Can chuckled softly. With his worries dispelled, he instantly felt full of vitality.

Getting Jiang Jinhua, the Head of the Vocal Music Department at the China Conservatory, on board meant everything was settled.

As it happened, Jiang Jinhua was the mentor of Lin Feng and Han Jiayin, as well as a longtime friend of his own teacher, Professor Xu Qing. With a rock-solid piece of work and a performance of unique nature, it wouldn't be too difficult to secure his assistance.

Since hands were lacking, coordination fell short of perfection, and the temporary replacement concertmaster lacked sufficient experience...

Then he would personally optimize the entire rehearsal process and every critical stage!

Using deconstructionism to completely shatter the music as a whole, and then reconstructing it during rehearsals starting from the basic individual vocal parts.

Li Can felt it was time for him to play the role of an absolute, domineering conductor!

"Emotion, language, even the musicians' thoughts... I shall control everything!"

Walking out of the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Li Can headed back to the university to begin his preparations.

...

Meanwhile.

In Chengdu, at the Dong'an Lake Sports Park.

Chen Meijing was making preparations for her upcoming concert.

Following her album's dominance across the charts, this was the prime time to hold a concert.

Turning a profit was somewhat difficult; it relied heavily on volume, and if the seat occupancy rate fell below 70 percent, she might even end up losing money.

If she were to cut costs by reducing stage production values or hike ticket prices, it would not only be detrimental to her, but would likely incur Li Can's disgust—something she would never do.

"Sister Meijing, the recent public reception of the album seems to be dropping. The Jiangdou rating has fallen from 9.2 to 8.8, and quite a few low-score music reviews have appeared."

Her newly assigned assistant was scrolling through the data, reporting the work information to Chen Meijing.

"Oh? Have you looked at the bad reviews? Are they reasoned and well-founded, or are they malicious rating bombings?"

Chen Meijing, currently having her makeup applied, slightly furrowed her brow and took the smartphone handed over by the assistant.

The makeup artist temporarily paused, putting down the eyebrow pencil.

"...I can't really tell if they're malicious or well-argued, but it feels like these ratings are being forced to an absurd degree."

Hearing the assistant's words, Chen Meijing furrowed her brows even deeper.

Singers weren't afraid of bad reviews, but they genuinely dreaded well-argued critiques that picked bones out of eggs, or maliciously distorted reviews penned by professionals.

Such reviews possessed strong deceptive and misleading power over the general public, and since the singer had no way to refute them, over time, the reputation of the music truly would be ruined.

People were prone to herd mentality; under the illusion created by a multitude of voices, even if the majority genuinely felt a certain song was good, a flood of criticisms would inevitably sway their subjective feelings.

Frowning, Chen Meijing looked at the recently surfaced music reviews.

Her expression gradually grew peculiar.

A moment later, she raised her head to glance at her assistant's innocent expression, and couldn't help but complain.

"No way... even from this angle?!"

"...Sister Meijing, I don't really understand music. It feels like they make some sense, but at the same time, something feels off..."

"Of course it's off!"

Chen Meijing was rendered utterly speechless.

Being attacked, slammed, and cursed was inevitable.

No piece of music could possibly please everyone.

Yet she never expected that...

A massive horde of oddballs would suddenly crawl out of the woodwork to attack the "album format."

[If you ask me how Chen Meijing's new album is? Then I can only say it's very mediocre, extremely mediocre, and you could even say somewhat subpar.]

[The entire album can be described as a hodgepodge—half traditional ballads, half R&B, yet the R&B tracks are further cluttered with mixed elements, blending varying proportions of electronic and rock elements. In terms of the album's overall cohesion, it is truly a bottom-tier work. Pieced together haphazardly, disjointed in style, and utterly devoid of any theme. It might look good on the charts, but that's just picking the tallest dwarf among short men. The future of ChineseMandarin pop music is worrying.]

"...Talk about a flashback to 1998... Has this music critic been asleep all this time?"

Chen Meijing felt numb.

Just as she wanted to say something, she noticed another comment beneath this particular review.

Upon catching sight of the ID, Chen Meijing's pupils shrank violently.

It was entirely beyond expectations.

The person stepping forward to fiercely object this time turned out to be a well-known music critic who had previously been quite dissatisfied with Li Can and had also attacked Chen Meijing.

Wang Fusheng!

[The overall cohesion of an album is already a commercial product of a bygone era.]

[Back then, the way people purchased music was through cassettes and records, and there were hardly any channels to preview tracks. Therefore, to clarify commercial value and selling points, songs had to be highly unified—a love song album had to be entirely love songs, a dance track album entirely dance tracks, and the album as a whole had to serve as the central theme.]

[But we are in the internet age now, and music distribution is primarily free.]

[Under the current model, a uniform album is exceptionally monotonous, and the public's taste and aesthetic appreciation are also on the rise, demanding a much wider range of musical styles. Judging an album's quality based on its overall cohesion is sheer nonsense!]

[As a music critic, if you don't even know something as basic as this, stop coming out here to make a fool of yourself!]

"Holy shit!"

Chen Meijing couldn't help but curse out loud.

Her pretty eyes widened as she re-confirmed the content and the ID.

"It's actually him? How is it him?!"

Wang Fusheng's public defense left Chen Meijing stunned for a full five minutes.

Once she snapped back to reality, Chen Meijing keenly sensed that something was amiss.

A casual scroll revealed that old Wang was also bashing Li Can.

Yet while bashing Li Can, he was simultaneously tearing into the amateur haters.

Judging by old Wang's words, it seemed highly likely that these abysmally low-quality negative reviews were nothing more than paid internet trolls.

"Let's check the comments on other music..."

Chen Meijing began browsing through more works.

Sure enough!

This time, she truly uncovered the problem.

The comments appearing recently on those chart-sweeping tracks were actually relatively restrained.

[Mandarin pop is truly finished; even these medium-to-above-average songs can sweep the charts.]

[Actually pretty average, I'd just call it acceptable.]

However, when she flipped over to "Little Chicken Little Chicken"...

The comments started escalating into forced, textbook-style condemnation!

[Songs like this corrupt children!]

[I spit on this! Can this even be called a song? I really have no idea what kind of people are listening to it.]

[With this song being so popular, I genuinely fear for the state of Mandarin pop. Amusement to the point of death, completely devoid of bottom lines.]

Hardly anyone was attacking Chen Meijing directly.

Instead, they went straight for the work itself.

"If you want to bash him, just call him out by name! Why beat around the bush like this?"

Chen Meijing wasn't a fool.

Taking a closer look at the comments, many people were attempting to attack the album through roundabout ways, frequently singling out those chart-sweeping tracks by Li Can, yet they were careful to maintain a heavily neutral and objective facade, acting as if they wanted to pick bones but didn't dare go too far.

"Little Chicken Little Chicken" was being relentlessly blasted with rigid formulas.

Meanwhile, "I Am a Rebellious Butterfly" was left completely ignored.

The objective behind all this was simply too clear.

Seeing through the truth of the matter, Chen Meijing rolled her eyes and couldn't help venting.

"If you want to scold Brother Can, then go right ahead and scold him! You don't dare call him out by name, you don't dare attack him directly, and you can only pick on me—yet you don't even dare bully me too harshly, not even daring to resort to personal attacks. What kind of haters are you? Talk about amateurs."