Chapter 325

With the idea that if there is someone to use, it would be a waste if not used, Director Ford contacted Luo Quan, wanting her to compose a theme song for *Lord of the Rings*.

When consulting with industry insiders about the price, Director Ford only then knew how difficult it was to get Luo Quan to compose. Currently, the number of people asking her for songs worldwide is countless, but very few succeed.

However, Director Ford felt that Luo Quan was also a participant in this movie, so it shouldn't be difficult to ask her to compose a song.

It was indeed not difficult. When Luo Quan heard the director ask her to compose a theme song for the movie, she agreed without thinking, and sent the song to him two days later. The speed was ridiculously fast.

After listening to it, Director Ford praised it endlessly, saying that it would not only be used as the movie's promotional song, but also added to the movie as an interlude.

If so, Luo Quan might be able to ride the east wind of *Lord of the Rings* to compete for next year's Oscar for Best Song.

Of course, it is still too early to talk about these things, after all, the movie hasn't even finished filming.

Back to Luo Quan, her statement of withdrawal finally received a response from the *I Am a Singer* production team. The response didn't mention the conflict between her and Director Zheng at all, only expressing regret for Luo Quan's withdrawal, while respecting her decision to prioritize her studies, and wishing her a bright future.

This response is fine for fooling the general public, but a group of old viewers of *I Am a Singer* and Luo Quan's fans completely don't accept it. Those who have been paying attention to the show's trends all know the real reason for Luo Quan's withdrawal, and the *I Am a Singer* official side didn't make any response to the malicious editing, which belongs to the typical "talking about everything except the point."

Anyone with eyes knows that the biggest highlight of this season is Luo Quan, who can bring surprises and high-quality music performances to everyone in every episode. As a result, it's one thing to have little screen time, but you still want to cut her footage. Then what exactly did you invite her for?

Anyway, even the old viewers of *I Am a Singer* were a bit angry this time. Weibo is basically full of people criticizing the official side, demanding an explanation that satisfies everyone.

However, apart from releasing this response, the *I Am a Singer* official side had no other movement, clearly intending to handle this matter coldly.

There are also many people who are not reconciled, running to Director Zheng's Weibo to get to the bottom of it.

Currently, no one has thought that this person is the real reason for Luo Quan's withdrawal. If Luo Quan and the director himself don't say it, it is estimated that no one will know in the future.

As for Director Zheng, he is also overwhelmed now. In order to keep his rice bowl, he is racking his brains to plan the next episode of the show, wanting to maintain the viewership and word-of-mouth. Where would he have time to manage these things?

Luo Quan had a good sleep. After withdrawing from the competition, she didn't have to consider what song to sing next week, and she didn't have to set an alarm to disturb her normal routine in the future.

The next morning, Luo Quan slept until she woke up naturally, her head feeling a bit dizzy.

Looking at her phone, it was already 11 o'clock. She had slept for nearly ten hours.

Interestingly, everyone else in the dormitory was still in their dreams, and she was the first to wake up.

In this fast-paced era, people's sleep time is generally delayed. In the past, people went to bed around 9 or 10 o'clock, but now staying up late until 1 or 2 o'clock has basically become a norm.

Luo Quan also liked to stay up late before, but now for the sake of her body and skin, she sleeps relatively early, usually around 12 o'clock. Her roommates are not so regular. Sometimes when they find a good drama, they can stay up until 3 or 4 o'clock!

Fortunately, everyone is a civilized and good roommate. They all wear headphones when listening to music and watching TV dramas at night, and they are light-footed when getting up to go to the bathroom, trying their best to avoid affecting others. So although Luo Quan sleeps early, she hasn't been woken up once so far.

She didn't know what time they went to bed, so Luo Quan didn't deliberately call them after getting up. After going to the bathroom and washing up, she went straight to the cafeteria for lunch.

Today is the day the Shangyi Music Competition preliminary round begins. As one of the four major events of Shangyi, even the preliminary round is held very grandly.

All contestants whose works have been completed must go to the Shangyi Auditorium to show their works to teachers and classmates. Interested students can also go to the auditorium to watch, or watch on their mobile phones through campus TV broadcast.

The display of preliminary works will last for a long time. During this period, students can only watch. The power of promotion is in the hands of school teachers, while the semi-finals will allow students to vote uniformly. The batch with the highest votes will then be handed over to teachers to select the best ones to be sent to the city to participate in the finals.

Such a competition system can ensure the artistry and singability of the songs to the greatest extent. It is very likely that what students like and what teachers like will be different.

And if both sides like it, the controversy will be much smaller.

However, after all, it is a relatively formal competition, and this final will also be on CCTV, so the power to select the final songs is definitely in the hands of the school. If it is just a pure pop song, it is mostly impossible to get on the final stage.

Unless the lyrics are written very well, or the music is written very well.

Positive examples are the lyrics of *Blue and White Porcelain* or the arrangement of *In the Name of the Father*. These two basically belong to the peak level of domestic pop music, lonely and undefeated, with no opponents.

However, for others, compared to writing a work at the same level as these two songs, the difficulty of winning this Shangyi Music Competition is probably even lower.

The preliminary round starts at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. The cafeteria's campus TV has already started playing award-winning works from previous sessions. Luo Quan watched while eating, wanting to see the school's preference for music types first.

Although it is a bit late to investigate at this time, listening to previous award-winning works can also let her know what level she can reach in this session.

As a top-notch music academy in the country, the composers produced by Shangyi are as numerous as the crucian carp crossing the river, and many of these composers' debut works were created when participating in music competitions, and what is broadcast on TV is the competition version of previous award-winning works, so the quality is quite good.

Luo Quan listened to a few, and already found two that touched the threshold of famous songs, belonging to works that are just a little bit away from becoming regulars at various literary and artistic performances.

But after all, it is still a little bit short. After all, these are the composers' maiden works, and there is still a distance from becoming classics.

After watching, Luo Quan's confidence increased a lot.

After eating, Luo Quan returned to the dormitory to change into clean and refreshing clothes, wiped off the stains on her white shoes, brought her USB flash drive, and went out.

Participating in the preliminary round requires the author to go up and perform the music they composed themselves. The USB flash drive contains the staff notation, which must be handed over to the school for archiving before the performance.

Because participating in the competition can accumulate credits, there are a lot of students participating in every Shangyi Music Competition, even those who know nothing about music will try their best to put together a piece of music to perform.

It doesn't matter if it sounds good or not, participation is what matters.

Today, the seats in the Shangyi Auditorium were full. According to the student union's arrangement, contestants sit in the front, and students watching the competition sit in the back.

Luo Quan got a relatively late number, 112. There were a total of 150 people participating in the competition on site this time, and others had not yet made it, so they could only miss this opportunity to show their faces.

More than a dozen teachers from the Music Academy and the vice president sat under the podium. There was a piano on the podium, and the student union also prepared a lot of musical instruments under the stage for contestants to use.

However, most contestants brought their own instruments, and it was rare for someone like Luo Quan to come empty-handed.

Just after Luo Quan sat down, she saw Ai Wei in the crowd.

She was carrying a guitar on her back, looking around blankly in the crowded aisle.

Luo Quan got up and walked over, patting her on the shoulder.

Ai Wei jumped, and after turning around and seeing Luo Quan, she immediately smiled: "Boss!"

Luo Quan reproached: "Why call me boss, so distant. Just call me Luo Quan………… You're carrying a guitar, are you also here to participate?"

Ai Wei nodded: "Yeah, I wrote some songs before, and I want to come here to see my level."

"What's your number?"

"Number 10."

Luo Quan was startled: "Then you're going up soon."

Ai Wei smiled forcefully and tightened the guitar strap: "Yeah, I'm quite nervous."

Luo Quan comforted softly: "It's okay, just treat it as practice for future performances. If you become famous in the future, there won't be just this many people sitting under the stage, it will be dozens of times more!"

"Now that you say that, I'm even more uneasy about the future." Ai Wei was very excited when she signed the contract. After all, she earned a large signing fee and also had the hope of becoming a big star.

But when she went to bed late at night, she couldn't sleep at all, her mind full of expectations and worries about the future.

She kept thinking: Can I really be a star? What if I can't sing the songs Luo Quan wrote for me well? What if I sing well but still don't become popular? What if I have haters, how should I deal with them?

Too many, too many questions she had never asked before all surged out now, pressing her until she could hardly breathe.

For the first few days after signing the contract, she suffered from insomnia every night, just thinking about her future with her eyes open.

Hearing what Ai Wei said, Luo Quan probably understood what she was worried about, pulled her to a seat on the side, and enlightened her:

"You don't need to worry so much now. Striving to improve yourself is your most important task at the moment.

You also don't need to care about whether you can become popular in the future. There is a saying in the circle: small popularity depends on promotion, big popularity depends on fate. The more you force it, the more likely it is to be counterproductive. Knowing how to seize opportunities is the key to becoming popular.

I dare not guarantee that you can be as popular as me, but I guarantee that after one year, you will have a certain degree of popularity at home and abroad!"

Ai Wei deeply agreed with Luo Quan's words: "I believe you have such ability, I just doubt myself…………"

"Never doubt." Luo Quan interrupted directly, "You should believe in yourself the most. If even you don't believe in yourself, no matter how powerful I am, I can't help you."

Ai Wei clenched her fists, and her worried eyes gradually became firm: "I understand!"

"Please keep quiet, students!" The student host on the stage began to maintain order at the competition site, and the auditorium, which was noisy just now, suddenly quieted down.

After quieting down, the female student host continued: "The 16th Shangyi Music Competition preliminary round is about to begin. First, please invite President Liu to give a speech. Everyone, please welcome with applause."

"Clap clap clap clap——————"

Vice President Liu took the microphone, stood up and faced the camera and the students in the auditorium, smiling: "On behalf of the school, I would like to thank the students for their active participation and watching, and also thank the student union cadres for their careful preparation and arrangement.

As a top-notch art academy in the country, our Shangyi's cultivation of music talents and achievements in music are obvious to all. Since the founding of the school, Shangyi has always adhered to the school motto of 'utmost goodness and beauty,' focusing on the construction of teacher ethics and style………………"

After thanking, Vice President Liu started to use official jargon, as if all school leaders like to give a long speech on such occasions, and then everyone can only wait patiently for him to shout "Now start!"

Luo Quan fell into thought, always feeling that she had heard this set of official jargon from President Liu somewhere before?

After thinking carefully, she finally remembered. Isn't this the same as the set from Dean Zheng back then? Not even a single word has changed!

"This is too lazy, using one set of rhetoric until old?" Luo Quan complained in a low voice.

Ai Wei looked up: "What until old?"

Luo Quan shook her head: "Nothing, this President Liu looks quite handsome, didn't expect his voice to be so thick."

Ai Wei smiled: "President Liu is a national first-class tenor singer. He used to be on TV often, but now he is dedicated to school education, so he doesn't perform on stage much."

"No wonder…………"

"Below I announce, the 16th Shanghai University of the Arts Music Competition, now starts!" President Liu finally finished speaking. The four words "now starts," under his top tenor voice and the amplification of the microphone, immediately spread to all directions of the auditorium.

Sound waves rolled, echoes echoed, and students close to the speakers grimaced and rubbed their ears.

Seeing this scene, President Liu smiled awkwardly: "Sorry, I didn't control the volume when I got excited."

Students and teachers all laughed, and then began to applaud enthusiastically to celebrate the start of the Shangyi Music Competition.

After the leader finished speaking, the female student host returned to the stage, first explaining the specific competition system and some precautions, and then the competition officially began.

"Below, please invite the No. 1 contestant, Zhou Tang, a third-year student from the Vocal Pop Department. The competition work she brought is an original pop song, *Youth Memories*."

Students applauded enthusiastically, and a girl with short hair wearing a white shirt ran onto the stage.

Soon the backstage started playing the accompaniment for this song, and Zhou Tang had no instruments, just holding the microphone and started singing.

The melody of the song is average, the lyrics are about commemorating the past of youth, quite good, the style is full of girlishness and freshness, maybe it can be popular for a while on Douyin, but it's hard to say on the stage.

Several teachers studied for a while, and finally gave a "pending" result.

Zhou Tang seemed a bit disappointed, but still thanked the judges, and then walked off the stage gracefully.

PS: Thanks to book friends manusaka and YINGYUEYA for the book coins, thank you!