Chapter 122 - Choice
Actually, this song's performance could be considered decent.
Climbing to the top five of the new songs chart in just two days' time could be considered passing.
The reason Zhang Fanzhi wasn't satisfied was because of the drop in expectations.
'Initial Dream' had topped the new songs chart, and remained in the top three until its time was up and it left the chart, consistently staying in the top ten of the best-selling chart.
This song had brought Zhang Fanzhi a massive amount of popularity. Releasing a new single while carrying such popularity, for her current rising phase, merely passing was not enough.
"I'm fine," Zhang Fanzhi said.
"The new single has just been released, the current performance doesn't represent anything. Who knows, maybe in a couple of days it will charge up," Chen Ran comforted her again.
Zhang Fanzhi didn't want to talk about this, asking Chen Ran, "How is your program going?"
"It's alright, we're about to start producing it right away. I've been selecting a host these past two days," Chen Ran said.
"Do you still need to pick a host?" Zhang Fanzhi asked.
Chen Ran said, "Our program is different from others; it's quite important. We have to choose a host with a suitable style. I've been constantly watching programs these past two days, my head is getting a bit big from it."
There were quite a few outstanding hosts at Zhaonan Satellite TV, but their styles weren't what Chen Ran wanted. After looking through all these popular hosts, he still hadn't found one.
Zhang Fanzhi listened quietly to Chen Ran talking about his work matters, the tips of her brows gently relaxing. Listening to Chen Ran chattering away like this, her mood improved a little.
Chen Ran hesitated slightly and asked, "When are you coming back?"
"I might come back in a few days."
Before Chen Ran could be happy, Zhang Fanzhi added, "Sister Lin will also be coming along then."
Chen Ran's wishful thinking came to nothing, and he asked, "What about Xiao Qin? Doesn't she usually accompany you?"
Zhang Fanzhi said, "They will all come. Sister Lin is coming over because she has some business."
Chen Ran felt slightly depressed. One giant lightbulb was bad enough, he didn't expect it to be doubled.
He thought for a moment and said, "I have another song. When you come back, you can see if it's suitable."
Having thought about it for so long, Chen Ran no longer tangled with the question of whether Zhang Fanzhi was famous or not.
Even if he didn't help Zhang Fanzhi write songs, would she not become popular?
With Zhang Fanzhi's looks and singing voice, as long as she had one good song, her popularity would grow wildly. If Chen Ran didn't write songs for her, the company would also prepare them for her.
Zhang Fanzhi wasn't as happy as imagined. She was very clear about the quality of the songs Chen Ran wrote.
For example, 'Initial Dream', as well as 'For the Rest of My Life' which was currently exploding in popularity across the entire internet.
It was just that she didn't know what was going on in her heart. Hearing Chen Ran say he had a new song, she felt somewhat stifled, and said gloomily:
"We'll talk about it when I get back."
Chen Ran could hear that something was wrong with her, and was somewhat puzzled.
They were chatting perfectly fine just now, so why was it that when talking about having a new song, she became somewhat unhappy?
After hanging up the phone, Chen Ran pondered for a long time before feeling he had grasped a bit of Zhang Fanzhi's mindset.
He picked up his phone and sent a WeChat message over: "I want to buy a car recently and am a bit short on money. When the time comes, if you are satisfied with the song, remember to offer a higher price!"
Zhang Fanzhi carefully looked at the message, pursed her lips slightly, and replied: "We'll talk about it when I get back."
It was still this exact same sentence, and the reply was quick, but the feeling was different now.
……
Zhang Fanzhi's new song settled its home in fifth place on the new songs chart.
Starry Sky was expanding its promotion, wanting to help her charge up the rankings. But this song didn't have the right time, right place, and right people that 'Initial Dream' had back then.
There were quite a few singers releasing new singles during this period, and their strengths were all very high.
You invest in promotion here, and others also follow up with promotion. The gap remained this big—unable to close the distance, and unable to shake them off.
Basically, during the new song period, it would stop at this ranking.
As for its ranking on the best-selling chart, it was outside the top fifty. Who knew how far it could climb upon refreshing once the new song period ended.
Chen Yao and Zhang Ruyi returned to Huahai. Because Chen Ran was busy, he didn't have time to see Chen Yao off, so she and Zhang Ruyi took the high-speed rail there by themselves.
It was just that when he called her, he gave her a good talking-to, telling her to study well after getting there.
Since she didn't want to go down the path of a singer, she should go sing at the bar as little as possible. They weren't short of the money she earned right now.
Chen Yao agreed very quickly. She was quite afraid of Chen Ran. This wasn't to say it was fear, but rather there was a kind of respect mixed in. Although she would definitely still go sing at the bar, she wouldn't talk back.
Chen Ran knew his sister's temper and was just mentioning it.
When Chen Yao was at home, their parents also said these things a lot; her ears were about to grow calluses.
Saying more wouldn't necessarily be listened to. Chen Yao was an adult and knew what she should do.
The program's approval came down. Director Wu Tao also found a few people; these were brought in to write the scripts. He asked Chen Ran to interview them personally.
Because Chen Ran had written the script for the first episode and was also the program's chief planner, he knew best what kind of people were needed.
In the end, three people were selected. The three of them had lively minds.
After reading the first episode written by Chen Ran, they were able to draw inferences, making up jokes based on the news.
Some of what they wrote was humorous and witty, while some was sharp and incisive.
After Chen Ran polished them slightly, the effect was not bad at all.
"Not bad, these scripts will indeed do." Director Wu Tao was very satisfied.
Because they were selecting real-time news, the jokes also had time sensitivity. Otherwise, if you waited until all the heat had passed before talking about the matter, that would be rehashing cold rice.
Wu Tao could only speed up the preparations.
The program was a small-scale indoor studio program, so there was no need to go to the production center and use the large hall. It could be completed directly using a small broadcasting studio in the station. The stage and lighting were even simpler; these didn't take up much time.
For this kind of small program, the preparation went very fast.
"By the way, do you have a candidate for the talk show performer you mentioned?" Director Wu Tao asked.
"There is a candidate," Chen Ran said.
"Our satellite TV channel's host, Xu Yang. He hosts the talk show 'Youth'..."
"Xu Yang?" Director Wu Tao frowned slightly.
"Although this person's hosting foundation is not bad, his reputation isn't very good."
Although they worked at the same TV station and Director Wu Tao basically never spoke ill of people behind their backs, when it concerned the program, he could only tell the truth.
"His reputation isn't good?" Chen Ran was slightly puzzled.
Director Wu Tao explained, "It's just that little matter between men and women."
He spoke tactfully, but Chen Ran immediately understood.
This was considered a private matter, so it didn't really affect things. He actually had two candidates: one was Xu Yang, and the other was originally at the satellite TV channel but had now gone to the Metropolitan Channel.
Speaking from the order of selection, Xu Yang was the first choice because of Xu Yang's fame and his style. Unless there was no other way, he was better than the candidate from the Metropolitan Channel no matter what.
Chen Ran said, "Director Wu, let's just finalize using Xu Yang. His style is suitable. As for other things, we are only producing a program."
Wu Tao nodded. "Alright, I'll go discuss it with the Director in a bit."
Once the host was finalized, the personnel of the program crew would be considered complete.
This program was indeed small. Just this handful of people they had wasn't even as many as 'I Love Remembering Lyrics'. At least that one had outdoor scenes; this one was entirely inside a studio.
Originally, Chen Ran thought everything would go smoothly. He didn't expect that later in the day, he would see Director Wu frowning and saying:
"Xu Yang won't take this program, saying he has no availability in his schedule..."
Chen Ran was puzzled.
"What he's been doing recently is just 'Youth'. With just this one program, how could he not have time?"