To avoid anything looking too out of the ordinary, Yu Hai deliberately waited a few days before sending "May We All Be Blessed with Longevity" to Old Xu.
This time, Yu Hai couldn't even be bothered to make a demo.
The email to Old Xu simply contained the lyrics and the score, marked as being for Bai Yan, and after that, he didn't give it another thought.
When Xu Nanshan saw Yu Hai's email, however, he muttered to himself in private.
Wasn't this kid being a little too eager for quick success? How long had it been, and he'd already written a song? Did he even bother to polish it carefully?
He was still too young, after all.
With a sigh, he casually opened the email. Just as he was getting ready to pick it apart and have a talk with Whale Fall, the next second—before he even had time to look at the melody—the lyrics completely captured his entire attention.
For a moment, there wasn't a single sound in the office; everything seemed to have come to a standstill.
Only after a long while did Xu Nanshan snap out of it, drawing in a sharp breath.
These lyrics—holy crap!
He couldn't for the life of him think of an adjective grand enough to describe how insanely good these lyrics were.
He only felt that this time, Whale Fall had truly unleashed his ultimate move!
What kind of sheer genius could write such earth-shattering, deity-level verses?
Xu Nanshan's mindset had completely shifted by now.
All thoughts of him being a youngster or being eager for quick success were long thrown to the back of his mind.
Forget the melody; just based on the quality of these lyrics alone, he was going to massacre everyone in the Clash of Gods!
*I am invincible, do your worst.jpg*
After quite a while, Xu Nanshan hurriedly poured himself a cup of tea to calm his nerves.
He savored the lyrics once more, and after a long time, pressed the intercom on his desk and said to his assistant, "Go ask Bai Yan to come over."
"Got it."
At that moment, the singer Bai Yan was discussing her streaming and sales data with her manager.
"As long as there's a song of decent quality, I should be able to hit the numbers needed for the Diva title."
"Mhm, there's only one month left. We absolutely cannot fail at the finish line."
"Have any of the composer teachers given us a word?"
"The gold-medal composers at the company have all indicated they don't have a suitable song on hand. As for Grandmaster Composers, those big shots directly designate their collaborating singers, so there's definitely no share for us."
"What about Whale Fall? I think the quality of the songs he released this year is exceptionally high; even if we put them out in December, they'd have a fighting chance."
"Mhm, we've already brought it up with Supervisor Xu, but there's no reply yet."
"Still, regarding Whale Fall, should we reconsider? He's too young. If we invite him and end up not using the song he writes, it won't look good if we offend him."
"I think his songs shouldn't be too bad. I've studied them—every single one of his tracks is a boutique production. If he's willing to take this on, there shouldn't be any problem."
"Sigh, if all else fails, I'll just go post a commission on the Music Association's official website."
"Right!" The manager was about to say more when he suddenly received a call from Xu Nanshan's assistant.
His face instantly lit up with joy, and he said to Bai Yan, "Supervisor Xu is asking us to his office. There might be news about the song."
Bai Yan immediately stood up. "Let's go. We mustn't keep him waiting."
The two of them hurried over to the composition department on the sixth floor.
Xu Nanshan had already printed out the lyrics, score, and other details.
Seeing the eager expressions on the faces of the two, he didn't waste words, handing the papers straight over. "Whale Fall has already sent over the song for you. Have a look and see if you're satisfied."
Hearing that it was a song by Whale Fall, Bai Yan and her manager were actually a little disappointed.
However, they didn't let it show too much on their faces.
*Oh well, let's look at the song first!*
Bai Yan took the papers and lowered her gaze to the work in her hands. The very next second, the contents completely stunned her.
Her manager, standing beside her, reacted even more exaggeratedly, letting out a direct "Holy crap!"
Old Xu and his assistant both looked at him with calm expressions.
The manager hurriedly explained, "I just think the lyrics for this song are insanely good, so I got a little excited, haha, just excited..."
*Understood. That was my exact reaction when I first saw it, too.*
Xu Nanshan's expression spoke volumes.
Naturally, as for Bai Yan, she didn't have a single shred of dissatisfaction with this song.
All of her previous thoughts had fundamentally changed.
Right now, even if a Grandmaster Composer or a Lyric Deity were to contact her and offer to collaborate on a December release, she would find a way to refuse them.
In December, she was definitely going to release this song.
She had a premonition that this track wouldn't just lift her onto the throne of the Heavenly Queen; it would allow her to go even further down that path.
This was a song that would provide for her career for a lifetime.
As if afraid someone might snatch the song away from her, she dived straight into the recording studio that very afternoon to begin recording "May We All Be Blessed with Longevity."
For the next half month and more, Bai Yan practically lived in the recording studio, polishing the vocals over and over.
Yu Hai didn't make excessive demands regarding her singing, nor did he even come to the company to guide her recording process.
It was Bai Yan herself who recorded it over and over again, hoping to bring out the absolute best finished product.
Bai Yan knew very well that with a song like this, and lyrics like these, she might only encounter such an opportunity once in her lifetime.
If she failed to complete it properly and turn it into her signature classic, she would undoubtedly regret it for the rest of her life.
Fortunately, her efforts paid off.
Yu Hai listened to the final version she recorded and was extremely satisfied.
At the same time, in order to push Bai Yan toward the Heavenly Queen title, Xinhai began vigorously promoting the song.
"Whale Fall's most stunning lyrics to date!"
"A work worthy of making Whale Fall a legendary figure!"
"Bai Yan's most perfect song!"
"Bai Yan's definitive masterpiece to claim the Diva crown!"
"..."
That Bai Yan was aiming for the Heavenly Queen title was something many had anticipated long ago. After all, anyone with eyes could see that Bai Yan was already very close to that position.
What many hadn't expected, however, was that the song she was using for this push was written by Whale Fall.
The name Whale Fall had only gradually become known starting in the second half of this year.
Strictly speaking, he was still a newcomer to the entertainment industry.Using a song written by a newcomer to challenge the Heavenly Queen title—Bai Yan's decision could hardly be described as anything less than bold.
In response to this situation, people both inside and outside the industry began buzzing with discussion.
Bai Yan's fans were somewhat worried, while her competitors schadenfreude-d.
"What on earth is she thinking? If she couldn't find a Grandmaster Composer, getting a gold-medal composer would have been fine too! Why go looking for a newbie who hasn't even debuted for half a year?"
"Is she just too confident in herself?"
"She's about to ruin a perfectly good hand!"
"Maybe she really couldn't find any good songs?"
"This promotion is way too exaggerated. Aren't they afraid of getting their faces slapped?"
"..."
As for Bai Yan, people couldn't understand her choice; as for Whale Fall, many held a skeptical attitude.
In the second half of this year, Whale Fall's songs had indeed created quite a stir, letting a lot of people hear of this particular composer.
However, having only recently gained fame, his fan base and influence were still limited.
In many people's impressions, he truly was just a newly debuted composer. There was simply no comparing him to veterans who had been churning in this circle for a long time, let alone Grandmaster Composers.
Therefore, to many, Whale Fall entering the Clash of Gods was thoroughly overestimating his own capabilities.
Even if his partner was a first-tier singer like Bai Yan.
Some people pulled up Whale Fall's statistics, only to discover that this newcomer of less than half a year already had four songs with downloads exceeding five million.
In other words, with just one more song, this newcomer was actually about to become a gold-medal composer.
Many people couldn't help feeling that this was unbelievable.
How long had it been since this guy released his very first song? He was already about to become a gold-medal composer?
Some people suddenly saw the light upon seeing these stats: Whale Fall must be trying to use Bai Yan to push his fifth song's downloads past the five-million mark, thereby achieving gold-medal status.
Who knew what kind of price Whale Fall had paid to make Bai Yan give up her chance at becoming the Heavenly Queen just to fulfill his gold-medal ambitions?
Many muttered under their breath, yet felt that if this was indeed Whale Fall's game plan, he was being rather naive.
Was attaining gold-medal status really that easy?
The Literary and Art Association's evaluation of these titles was extremely strict, featuring a complete set of rigorous procedures and review standards.
If stats were that easy to farm, the number of gold-medal composers and Grandmaster Composers in the industry wouldn't be so scarce, their gold content wouldn't be so high, and their status wouldn't be so lofty.
He was a newcomer after all; having achieved decent success in half a year, he was bound to be a bit presumptuous.
Of course, there were also those who suggested that perhaps the quality of Whale Fall's song this time was exceptionally high, which was why Bai Yan was willing to use it to secure the crown.
After all, Xinhai's promotion for this song was truly over the top.
The promotional vocabulary used was the kind that easily offended people; as long as the song's quality fell even slightly short, it would invite universal mockery.
Still, people with this kind of mindset were relatively few—mostly fans who particularly liked Whale Fall.
Yu Hai ignored all these controversies and speculations.
Fearing that his mental state might be affected, Old Xu even specifically called to comfort him.
He told him not to mind the ignorant netizens, not to argue with them, and that they'd be proven wrong once the song was released.
Yu Hai was somewhat speechless. He rarely looked at netizen comments anyway, focusing entirely on his own world—he had no energy to bicker with such people.
And so, amidst the various squabbles of the onlookers, the month of November came to a close.