Chapter 342

For this Mid-Autumn Festival Gala, compared to previous years, there were fewer old acquaintances, but many new faces; stars who had gained popularity in the past year basically all had the opportunity to appear on stage.

Some members of the public felt that inviting so many traffic-driven stars might seem too perfunctory, but most people still held a wait-and-see attitude. After all, you have to watch the show to know if it's good, although the mere appearance of some people's names makes passersby feel it will be terrible.

Luo Quan was naturally not that kind of person; on the contrary, she was a guarantee of quality. Following the hit of the fifth season of "I Am a Singer," her singing skills finally gained public recognition, and having been red-hot for a whole year, her appearance at the Mid-Autumn Festival Gala was a matter of course.

As one of the female stars with the best public opinion environment in the country, Luo Quan was the embodiment of talent and beauty in the eyes of passersby. Seeing her pleasing face made people feel comfortable, and she was naturally prone to winning favor.

Although it was inevitable that there would be haters, then again, which star doesn't have haters?

In an era where the media and the public examine people with microscopes, Luo Quan was one of the few with zero black marks. Apart from fabricated news and clickbait headlines, you couldn't find any negative information about her online.

Her student days were free of smoking, rebellion, or hanging out with bad crowds; she was a typical "good girl."

Such a near-perfect star, no matter what kind of stage she appeared on, would not provoke resentment from the audience; instead, she could trigger anticipation and enthusiastic support.

Especially since Luo Quan's "May We All Be Blessed with Longevity" was scheduled for the golden time of the Mid-Autumn Festival Gala, which could be called typical C-position treatment.

First of all, CCTV definitely recognized Luo Quan and her work very much; otherwise, they wouldn't have let her appear in this time slot.

Because the Mid-Autumn Festival Gala is different from the Spring Festival Gala, it is held on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival itself, so there is no such thing as "crossing the year," so the best time slot is around 9:30 PM.

At this time, most people have finished dinner after work and will watch TV or play on their phones before resting. As long as they open either of these two things, they are almost certain to see the live Mid-Autumn Festival Gala.

In previous years, those who could appear in this time slot were big names in the entertainment industry, highly respected senior artists, and household-name national idols.

However, this year, almost none of the stars of that level were invited.

This could also be considered a trial by CCTV; inviting these old acquaintances every year would likely cause the public to have some aesthetic fatigue. Anyway, the Mid-Autumn Festival Gala isn't as grand as the Spring Festival Gala, so they simply invited more young people.

And Luo Quan was undoubtedly the leader among young Chinese artists at present.

To be honest, the term "leader" was used to tease her when she first debuted, but before long, she became the veritable leader of the young generation of the Chinese music scene, and now she has become the leader among young artists.

Although no one would really go to great lengths to promote this, Luo Quan herself didn't have a marketing team for this aspect.

But her achievements were right there; among artists of the same age, the public could see at a glance who was better and who was worse.

And her appearance in the golden time slot of the Mid-Autumn Festival Gala this time was equivalent to CCTV recognizing the fact that she was the C-position among young artists. Therefore, after the program schedule was released, it immediately sparked heated discussion online.

Bilibili, as a video site and ACG community, didn't get involved in entertainment industry affairs much. After the list was released, more people were looking forward to what new song Luo Quan would bring this time; whether Luo Quan was in the C-position wasn't particularly focused on.

But Zhihu was obviously much more interested. The related question, "How to evaluate Luo Quan performing during the golden time?", quickly became a hot topic on Zhihu.

"CCTV must have figured it out too. With the ratings of the Mid-Autumn Festival Gala and the Spring Festival Gala continuing to lag, the old way of having old artists and young idols each take half won't improve the situation.

Therefore, 80% of the programs for this Mid-Autumn Festival Gala invited artists under thirty, and they were all stars with high topicality and popularity in the last year or two.

However, young is young, but they didn't invite just any young idol. Look at those so-called traffic stars on the internet who have no work, market themselves every day, and build personas—did CCTV invite them this time?

I can only say that CCTV is worthy of being CCTV. No matter how many popular young female stars, fresh meat, and top traffic stars you have in the entertainment industry, flying around with announcements every day, invited to this fashion magazine, attending that awards ceremony—now that the 'demon-revealing mirror' is out, they have all shown their true colors.

Even if CCTV's gala ratings decline every year, it is still the program with the largest number of viewers nationwide and even worldwide. No announcement can bring more traffic than appearing on a CCTV gala. This is different from the hot search list on Weibo that you can pay to get on; this is appearing in front of the whole nation for real!

Then again, among the young artists carefully selected by CCTV, Luo Quan indisputably occupied the best performance slot of this gala, which actually goes without saying what it means.

Before writing this answer, I specifically checked the age of the artists on the program schedule. Excluding backup dancers, Luo Quan is the youngest one; she just turned nineteen this May!

To become the C-position of this Mid-Autumn Festival Gala at such an age, I don't know what else to say other than that her future is boundless.

However, those who have been following her probably won't be too excited about such a small matter. After all, she is someone destined to become a world-class musician. What I am more concerned about now is whether she will have any moves after the Mid-Autumn Festival Gala.

She promised personally before that she would release a new album before the end of this year. It's already October, and there isn't much time left for Luo Quan. (Dog head)"

This highlighted answer successfully diverted the focus of the entire discussion.

It was originally intended for everyone to discuss Luo Quan becoming the leader of young artists this time, but the answers below basically chatted a few words about the Mid-Autumn Festival Gala and then dragged it to Luo Quan's new album.

Even more, some people directly posted urging Luo Quan not to slack off anymore and that releasing a new song quickly is the serious business.

As for Weibo, it discussed Luo Quan's C-position on CCTV quite seriously, and there were two types of tones in the comments.

One was naturally feeling that it was very impressive, believing this was proof of Luo Quan's real popularity; from today on, Luo Quan steps into the realm of China's top traffic!

The other tone was feeling that the appearance order on the program schedule didn't explain anything at all. Some people even felt that the Mid-Autumn Festival Gala, including the Spring Festival Gala, had lost its glory, so what difference did it make whether one appeared or not?

Most of the people who said such things were those whose own stars didn't appear on the program schedule's big list.

Being sour is also normal. After all, with such a big cake, others get to eat it while their own artists don't; who wouldn't be sour?

But no matter how sour they are, it can't change the fact that Luo Quan has completely stepped into the domestic top traffic. Although her Weibo follower count hasn't broken 20 million yet, these things are no longer important.

From genius singer to top traffic, it seems that it hasn't brought too many changes to Luo Quan. Her weight remains at the same level, and the effectiveness of her weight loss is not obvious.

The emails in her inbox have increased a lot. Major satellite TV stations have started sending her invitations for programs, and many film and television companies have also sent her scripts; she can choose whatever she wants, whether it's movies or TV.

However, she is currently too busy to even have time to refuse, so they have been piling up in her inbox without a response.

As time passed bit by bit, the Mid-Autumn Festival finally arrived.

Compared to the Spring Festival, the festive atmosphere of the Mid-Autumn Festival is still much less. There weren't many celebratory slogans posted on the streets, and I didn't see many supermarkets having Mid-Autumn sales, though those mooncakes were selling more expensively than the last.

However, the interfaces of various apps online were done quite well. Clicking in, there was an animation of a full moon climbing into the night sky, accompanied by poems like "The bright moon rises above the sea, we share this moment across the horizon."

And tonight, the most eye-catching thing is undoubtedly CCTV's Mid-Autumn Festival Gala.

This year's Mid-Autumn Festival Gala gathered the most young artists in history. It had traffic, it had beauty, and the strength of most was widely recognized.

However, the types of programs performed were still the same old things, nothing more than skits, singing, and the like. The "Four Returning Sons" did choreograph a dance, which was also a major highlight of the Mid-Autumn Festival Gala.

Of course, the biggest highlight had to be Luo Quan's "May We All Be Blessed with Longevity."

The final rehearsal for the Mid-Autumn Festival Gala ended yesterday, and the recordings to be used for lip-syncing were all done. To achieve the best effect, Luo Quan even redeemed the character card of the diva Teresa Teng at the time, almost replicating the original version.

However, lip-syncing while wearing the diva's character card made Luo Quan feel a bit strange, or rather, like a waste of a treasure.

Actually, if she were to sing live, she could perform even better. In the small environment of the recording studio, she always felt she couldn't get her head voice up, and it took several repetitions to record a version that was barely satisfactory.

Stepping onto the CCTV gala stage for the first time, Luo Quan was still quite excited and attached great importance to it.

She, who usually doesn't like makeup, wore heavy makeup this time in order to have a more brilliant image on stage.

For a stage like this, the lighting is always very bright, and the effect of not wearing heavy makeup on screen would really be very poor.

Hailed as the pinnacle of human beauty, she was obviously even more radiant and moving after makeup. Luo Quan herself, in order to record this rare moment of makeup, also took many selfies, during which many female stars came over to take photos with her.

Luo Quan didn't recognize any of the female stars who came to take photos with her; some were very popular, while others were lukewarm. However, she didn't refuse and took photos with all of them.

It's a holiday, after all, so it's all about being happy. Even if these people were looking for her to take photos for hype or marketing, she wouldn't refuse. Besides, taking a photo doesn't take much effort.

On stage, the Mid-Autumn Festival Gala has already begun.

Backstage, some people are still touching up their makeup or reciting lines, while others are chatting with acquaintances to relieve pressure.

Luo Quan is playing on her phone, by the way, achieving the feat of watching the Mid-Autumn Festival Gala live on her phone at the Mid-Autumn Festival Gala venue.

Although there are many young artists this year, everyone has been rehearsing quite seriously for the past half month. Even Girls' Generation, who performed at the Shanghai Bund, reported for rehearsals on time. They only left when the general director let them, and there wasn't a single case of being late or leaving early.

Therefore, although the program format is old-fashioned, the quality of the program is actually okay, and the real-time viewership data after the broadcast is better than last year.

It's finally a good start, but whether the data can rebound depends on whether the subsequent performances can retain the audience!

For General Director Zhang of this Mid-Autumn Festival Gala, this live broadcast is a battle. He cannot have the slightest relaxation until it ends. In the monitoring room, he stared at the big screen without blinking, with a dozen sub-screens beside him, using all his energy to monitor and control the scheduling of every camera on stage.

For all gala and concert live broadcast shots, from the beginning of the song to the climax and then to the end, the camera movement from far to near, from left to right, is very particular. If the camera is pulled well, it is easy to bring immersion to the audience in front of the screen.

And all of this is commanded in real-time by the general director in the monitoring room, so he is the one with the most pressure and workload for the entire gala.

From the start of the Mid-Autumn Festival Gala until now, everything is still normal, and very soon, it will be the highlight of tonight.

Luo Quan backstage has already put down her phone. Senior sister Kong Yue has already gone on stage to start singing "Small River Flowing Water." Luo Quan can hear her high-pitched and bright voice from far away.

Even though she wasn't in the direction of the sound transmission, she could still hear it clearly. The key is that the quality of this singing voice is ridiculously high. Kong Yue used to say she couldn't compare to her, but hearing it now, she was simply being too humble.

The quality of this head voice, as well as the thickness of the sound, are the best of the best, and extremely emotional!

If she didn't use Teacher Gong's character card, it would be very difficult for her to reach such a level on her own.

Before, she felt that in terms of singing, she was already hard to find a rival in the country. Now it seems that was truly a bit arrogant.

After Kong Yue's "Small River Flowing Water" ends, it will be her turn. The high pitch just now should be the climax of the song.

And as the hottest traffic group in the first half of the year, "Girls' Generation" naturally wouldn't be absent.

"Please have Luo Quan go to the backstage position immediately. Once you hear the order, stand in the elevator and prepare to go on stage for the performance!" General Director Zhang's voice came from backstage. Luo Quan's heart tightened, she took a deep breath, and walked behind the curtain.

"Please have Luo Quan enter the elevator and prepare to go on stage for the performance!" General Director Zhang's voice sounded again.

Luo Quan stepped into the pitch-black elevator, and the curtain behind her was slowly lowered. At this moment, she was isolated from everything and could only see the position where she was standing through the faint fluorescent light on the elevator platform.

I don't know how much time passed, but the top of Luo Quan's head lit up. She slowly rose from under the stage, as if a bright moon were rising in the dark night.

Today, she is wearing a pure white long dress, and her flame-like red lips, set off by her skin like mutton-fat jade, are even more dazzling and mesmerizing.

Undoubtedly, thanks to the efforts of the CCTV makeup artist, Luo Quan's beauty reached the highest level since her debut. Just by stepping onto the stage, the audience at the scene couldn't help but want to applaud and cheer.

And at this moment, the barrage in the live broadcast room, such as "stunning," "so beautiful," and "beautiful to the point of bubbling," started a screen-scrolling mode.

However, at this moment, which should have brought the ratings of tonight's Mid-Autumn Festival Gala to its peak, General Director Zhang felt cold all over.