The stage setting was clearly meticulously designed.
The intro did not play.
Song information appeared on the screen.
"Hua Xin" (Painted Heart)
Performed by: Bai Zhou Tu.
Lyrics: Ting Yu.
Music: Ting Yu.
Upon seeing the song information, the audience's expressions gradually became meaningful.
Bai Zhou Tu’s first song wasn’t a Ting Yu song, and everyone thought the second song would also be by someone else.
But no one expected her to save this Ting Yu song to sing for the King of Singers competition.
Wasn’t this a case of family fighting family?
“La la la…”
This song, "Hua Xin," was different from ordinary songs. It didn't begin with an intro, but rather with a melancholic vocalization.
In the quiet venue, a slightly eerie sound arose.
It suddenly felt like a midnight serenade.
Especially in Bai Zhou Tu's vocalization, there was a hint of a cry, which added another layer of mystery to this section of the song.
“Hiss… what kind of song is this again?”
“Painted Heart, the name sounds quite artistic. Why does this part give me a chilling feeling…”
“I suddenly remembered the fear I felt being dominated by Ting Yu’s song ‘Xi’ (囍)!”
“Oh dear, is this another song that leads to the underworld?”
Just as the audience was guessing if this was a song like a midnight ghost story.
The intro began.
The string instruments played a mournful melody, accompanying the scene on stage where a charming and beautiful girl was painting a portrait of a scholar.
Finally, the chilling feeling from before was dispelled.
“Can’t see through, your lost soul,
Can’t guess, the color of your pupils,
A gust of wind, a dream, love is as unpredictable as life,
What has ultimately bewitched your heart…”
When the first verse began.
The audience immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, it wasn’t a song about the underworld, but a love song with a classical flavor.
As for the melody of the song.
Beautiful.
Only this word could describe it.
Generally, many songs would build up in the beginning, and the chorus would explode with a catchy melody. But this song was different; from the very first verse, the melody was exceptionally beautiful.
Coupled with Bai Zhou Tu’s narrative vocal style and the stage performance.
The sense of immersion was strong.
It felt as if one were personally painting a portrait of their beloved.
However, this most beloved person was actually a faithless one!
“Your silhouette drowns in the night,
Watching the peach blossoms bloom into what kind of result,
Watching you hold me, your gaze as lonely as moonlight,
Then let you find happiness in someone else’s arms…”
It was like a whisper in the ear late at night.
Or like someone weeping in the boundless darkness.
Beautiful, yet carrying a heart-wrenching sadness.
On the dimly lit stage, the protagonist was not Bai Zhou Tu.
But the two dancers.
The girl's movements were graceful. Her delicate fingers repeatedly reached out to touch the boy, but stopped at the crucial moment.
Her brows were slightly furrowed, and her eyes were filled with love.
Yet, her movements always felt ethereal.
Leaving much to the imagination.
“Loving you, like a heartbeat hard to touch,
Painting you, but unable to capture your bones.
Remembering your face, is my persistent waiting for you,
You are a song of mine that will never finish singing…”
When the chorus began.
The audience’s throats felt a tickle.
The emotion of this song was captured perfectly.
There was no dragging or indecision. After the unaccompanied opening verse without any instrumental accompaniment, the sense of eeriness and desolation had persisted. The chorus didn't explode with energy, but rather a subtle suppression.
Wanting to speak, yet fearing to speak.
From the lyrics, it was not difficult to understand.
The song was written from the perspective of a girl.
In the song, the scholar had already turned unfaithful, but the girl still held onto a sliver of hope in her heart.
She realized.
Tested.
And then was heartbroken time and again.
Finally, she proposed that, just as the scholar had painted a portrait for her when they first met, she began to draw, sketching out the scholar’s appearance.
However, although everything resembled him, something was missing.
“Can’t see through, your lost soul,
Can’t guess, the color of your pupils…”
Throughout the entire song, only the string instruments laid the foundation.
That low timbre suppressed the emotions to the extreme.
“Is this finally a true faithless lover?” Mo Yan said softly.
Ting Yu had released several songs about ancient scholars.
Like the line from "Tan Chuang" (Peeking at the Window): "She sang of meeting an old friend in a foreign land, each step and each sentence filled with longing." Ting Yu changed the ending of this opera, making it a story of lovers who couldn’t be together, with one dying and the other going mad, making the story more vivid. Consequently, when the Opera Association later performed this play, they specifically added this ending.
The line from "Lu Zhou Yue" (Lu Zhou Moon): "A strand of dark hair, cherished for a lifetime," even if love was unattainable, at least the girl remained in one’s heart.
And in this song, every line described the person in front of her as no longer the person from the beginning.
The sense of struggle made one’s heart ache.
Especially Bai Zhou Tu’s handling of the details; each breath she took seemed like a sigh, making it even more touching!
“Loving you, like a heartbeat hard to touch,
Painting you, but unable to capture your bones,
Remembering your face, is my persistent waiting for you,
You are a song of mine that will never finish singing… Heh~~ Ah~”
The second chorus's emotion was even more intense.
On stage, the girl danced gracefully in the moonlight. The scroll in her hands moved like soft silk with her dancing.
The scholar stood there quietly, his face devoid of any expression, his eyes chillingly cold.
At this moment.
The camera finally focused on Bai Zhou Tu in front of the stage.
She tilted her head slightly and began a beautiful vocalization.
Ethereal.
Melancholy.
Dancing alone under the moon.
An astonishingly exquisite vocalization.
Like a desolate echo from the abyss.
“What beautiful vocalization!”
“Holy crap, are they competing on whose vocalization is better this episode?”
“Dark Night Rabbit’s vocalization is full of power, while Bai Zhou Tu’s is the opposite, making my heart ache with pain!”
“Even though it’s a stage performance, I can’t help but want to punch that guy twice, this scene is too heartbreaking!”
“Something’s wrong, this vocalization is still rising!”
“Hiss… no way!!!”
“Holy crap, she’s hitting the dolphin notes now!!”
“Does she really have such a voice???”
As everyone realized something was amiss.
The pitch kept rising.
If the earlier part was poignant and beautiful, the latter part gradually turned into despair!
All the emotions, at this moment, erupted in a suppressed manner!
No heart-wrenching cries, no explosive emotions!
Only a vocalization as beautiful as a siren’s call!
Yet, the sense of shock was no less than that of a roar!
“Damn it!!!”
Then.
Dolphin Doll couldn’t hold back any longer.
Since when did dolphin notes become so common?
Are you kidding me!
Two completely different emotional expressions!
Are both of them teaching themselves to sing dolphin notes?
…
ps: Original singer of "Hua Xin": Jane Zhang, Lyrics: Vicent Chow, Music: Ikuro Fujiwara.