The first season of The Voice was truly a bustling era. While its early performance was quite decent, the later stages were plagued by controversies over rigged results involving Liang Bo. Nonetheless, the top four contestants still soared in the music industry, each leaving behind representative works.
As for the one who fared the worst in terms of career development, it was probably Wu Mochou. Yet rumor has it that back in 2013, at the height of her fame, her commercial performance offers were endless, netting her a staggering one hundred million yuan and landing her near the top of the Forbes celebrity list.
The remaining artists—Jin Zhiwen, Liang Bo, and Jike—each had their unique strengths and resounding signature songs. As for the subsequent seasons, far fewer contestants achieved lasting fame; the only ones who barely managed to make a name for themselves were Zhang Bichen and Zhou Shen.
By 2024, The Voice had already ceased broadcasting. Having undergone several name changes along the way, whenever people mentioned The Voice nowadays, it was essentially met with a flurry of negative reviews, with rumors of rigging emerging endlessly.
However, the first season had spared no expense. To ensure high quality, the producers primarily invited contestants who already possessed exceptional strength or distinct characteristics.
This was an important reason why The Voice went from being underestimated at the start to breaking through the siege and becoming a phenomenal program.
One could tell simply from the ratings: it started at over one percent at premiere and climbed steadily all the way up. That momentum could genuinely be described as a phenomenal phenomenon. Therefore, the fastest way to achieve instant fame back then was to take outstanding works to The Voice and become a household name overnight.
In the blink of an eye, May arrived, and the auditions for The Voice began. Qin Tian sent his demo to the production team and began living a life of jittery anxiety. Although he felt confident about his song, he feared the production team might fail to receive it, rendering all his hard work and efforts completely futile.
The reviewer at Zhejiang Television who received the demo was filled with pleasant surprise upon listening to it, crying out, "Splendid!" The young man possessed a crystal-clear voice and sang remarkably well, making him exceptionally suited for the show.
She immediately reported the song to music director Liu Zhuo. Upon listening, Liu Zhuo also felt it was remarkably good, noting that the song had the potential to become a massive hit.
"Notify Qin Tian to come for an audition as soon as possible. It's just that the application says he's a bit young; check whether the copyrights are in his hands and if he truly wrote it himself. If so, well, he'll be an absolute treasure!" Liu Zhuo instructed his subordinates.
A week later, Qin Tian's father received a call from Zhejiang Television notifying them to come for an audition as soon as possible. In this era, smartphones had only just emerged, and students simply did not own cell phones. Qin Tian asked for leave, boarded a plane, and headed straight for Zhejiang Province.
Speaking of novels about talent show debuts, one cannot ignore Maomao's works like Xiang Chou, One Day I Will Become Very Rich, Feeling Like a Super Star, and A Guy Like Me.
However, The Voice was not an original song competition after all; what it contested was the voice. Although Maomao's lyrics struck straight at the heartstrings, his arrangements fell a bit short. This was also why a certain Huahua dared to criticize him.
When participating in a competition, one crucial point to keep in mind is not to choose overly simple songs. Just look at The Voice, and you will know: out of ten singers, eight hit high notes, and the rest either bend notes or use elaborate vocal techniques.
Because in a competition—especially the audition stage—no one will calm down to listen closely to the inner meaning of your song or whether it is emotionally moving. There are too many singers, and each can sing at most a few lines. Otherwise, with a three-minute song, you wouldn't even get through a handful of contestants in an entire day.
It's useless!
With just those few short lines of lyrics, you have to grab the judges' ears. You must have distinctive features, something that makes people's eyes light up the moment they hear it and instantly remembers you. Either you hit high notes, or your timbre is exceptional. Timbers as raspy and roguish as Zhang Chusheng's are simply unmatched by ordinary people.
Hitting high notes is the most direct and simple method. That is why, if you watch competitions, high notes dominate. The same goes for singing shows. Therefore, one must distinguish between competition songs and performance songs.
Otherwise, you are very likely to be eliminated. There were quite a few talented singers who failed the auditions, and there were specific reasons for that. For instance, Li Ronghao did not perform terribly well on The Voice.
This was precisely why Qin Tian chose Wukong instead of Xiang Chou.
Arriving at the audition venue, he took a look—perhaps this was what the first-season venue looked like? It was rather rudimentary indeed. Spotting the three judges, Qin Tian recognized only one of them: Teacher Liu Zhuo, whom he knew from watching variety shows in his past life. Otherwise, he wouldn't have recognized a single one.
"Hello, teachers! I am Qin Tian, eighteen years old this year. The song I am entering the competition with is an original composition titled Wukong." Qin Tian introduced himself.
Liu Zhuo said with a smile, "We have already listened to the demo you sent over, and the song is quite good. However, the arrangement is incomplete; it still needs some refinement."
"Teacher, I haven't fully prepared this yet. I will improve the completeness of the arrangement in the near future," Qin Tian explained.
"Qin Tian, I have already listened to this song. Calling you over this time is mainly to hear your live performance effect. Can you sing it?" one of the other judges asked.
Qin Tian submitted a new backing track and began to sing along:
"Illusory worlds fill the sky, grudges and grievances rest no more;
Giving up enlightenment, casting off delusion, the six dusts remain unchanged.
Now angry, now sorrowful, now wild;
Are they human, ghost, or monster?
It is merely a demonic debt in the heart.
Crying out to the Buddha, turning back has no shore;
Kneeling to one as master, life and death are irrelevant.
The floating world of good and evil, the boundary of true and false;
Dusty fate scatters and gathers, distinction unclear..."
The live performance effect was simply a pleasant surprise! All three judges felt utterly astonished.
Original songs are quite literally a double-edged sword, so sharp that people love and fear them in equal measure. If you write well, you are hailed as a talented creator in everyone's eyes, becoming the center of attention wherever you go. After all, talented creators are scarce resources these days, and swaggering wherever you go comes naturally with the territory.
But if the song isn't well-written, it's an entirely different picture. No matter how well you sing, you will only leave people with an impression of being "so-so."
Therefore, when entering competitions, singers mostly choose to cover classic tracks, at most tinkering with the arrangement to play with fresh tricks. After all, with new songs, the audience is unfamiliar with the lyrics. If you fail to grab their ears right away, it is essentially a declaration of failure.
Initially, Qin Tian's heart was fluttering with anxiety, but the moment he picked up the microphone, it was as if a spell had been cast upon him. The outside noises were instantly blocked out, and he was completely immersed in the world of the song.
Recalling his past life, Qin Tian had graduated from university only to find his work going poorly, his live-streaming failing to earn much money, and his conflicts with his parents growing increasingly deep.
His parents always felt he was neglecting his proper work and refused to settle down with a steady job. Those years had been utterly miserable; he couldn't even manage to get a girlfriend. Just as his life was finally starting to show some promise, he was reborn into the present.
The mere thought of these things filled Qin Tian with a piercing ache in his heart.
When he sang the lines:
"Hard to sever, what use do I have for this iron rod?
What does it matter if I possess this transformation?
Still uneasy,
Still melancholic,
The tight-fillet pressing upon my brow,
Much left unsaid, yet hesitant to speak."
Qin Tian seemed to see his own determination upon being reborn. Like Wukong, he would fight the heavens, fight the earth, and fight himself. In this lifetime, he refused to live in vain; he had to seize this opportunity to showcase himself, lest he do a grave disservice to his identity as someone reborn.
Once the emotion hit the right note, the song instantly sublimated.
After he finished singing, the venue fell so silent that you could hear a pin drop. Qin Tian's heart skipped a beat: "No way? Was my singing that bad? Should I sing another one? Or is there a problem with my vocal technique?"
Just as Qin Tian's heart was pounding nervously, one of the staff members took the lead and started applauding with a crisp "clap," and then, one after another, the applause erupted like firecrackers.
Teacher Liu Zhuo offered his critique: "You sang better than I had imagined. The song itself is very good, and you infused it with plenty of emotion, though your vocal technique still needs improvement.
We hope you can practice more and refine the song. We begin recording on June 10th, and we hope you can deliver an even better performance."
Qin Tian nodded repeatedly. "Thank you, teachers. I will definitely go back and prepare seriously." Although he had been reborn, he had only been an insignificant nobody by the age of thirty in his past life, and facing such a grand scene still intimidated him slightly. Fortunately, all three teachers thought highly of him and felt he had immense potential.
In this lifetime, this was the very first season of The Voice. To establish its reputation, they selected only contestants with genuine talent. If this were placed in the second season, without a few hundred thousand yuan, you couldn't even make it past the city-level qualifiers.
So, either you have money, you have connections, or you have talent. Then again, sometimes talent alone is not enough; you need someone to say you've got what it takes for you to actually make it.
Returning to school, Qin Tian resumed his routine of studying, practicing music, and refining his arrangements. He held a breath of determination in his heart—whether he turned out to be a dragon or a worm depended entirely on this single chance.