The official recording of the program would start an hour later.
From the moment Ye Zi entered the door, everyone could tell that she would surely not be a good work partner.
When the program crew invited her, on the one hand, they took into account that she was currently at the peak of her popularity. Her popularity and online traffic were both quite good. On the other hand, Ye Zi's relationship with Strawberry TV had been rather ambiguous recently, and this program was full of hot topics. Otherwise, there were so many popular artists, and it wasn't necessarily her turn.
Ren Qingzhou hadn't paid much attention to this girl before. He only heard from those around him that she had a bad temper and was a bit of a diva.
At first, he didn't really care. After all, for entertainers, with irregular work schedules and high pressure, it was quite normal to have a bad temper.
However, he didn't expect that this girl not only had a big temper but also wasn't very dedicated.
There were over a hundred girls. Even if each person took three minutes to record, it would take more than 300 minutes.
The mentors watched from the beginning to the end. It was fair to say that they got more and more tired as time went by. However, who advanced and who was eliminated didn't entirely depend on the mentors.
The program "Youth Trainees" was a relatively user - friendly one. Among the 16 spots, six were at the mentors' free disposal.
Of course, there were also some programs where everything was pre - arranged by the program crew.
Ren Qingzhou sat there watching wave after wave of young girls. Some of them came for their dreams, while others were from various sponsors and entertainment companies. Anyway, once they got on stage, each had their own story, and one was more touching than the other.
As for how well they sang, that was secondary.
Some of the girls showed some singing skills, while others had none at all.
Among the outstanding 100, there weren't actually many that stood out.
After excluding the spots already allocated to each mentor by the entertainment companies, the rest were unexpected surprises.
When they really came across a good one, all three mentors would be eager to recruit her.
Well, except for Ye Zi.
To be honest, Ren Qingzhou couldn't figure out her criteria for selecting trainees. She didn't want the too - beautiful ones, nor the too - ordinary ones. As for singing skills, maybe she couldn't tell either...
After listening to about twenty girls, Chen Qiqi took the stage.
Her position on stage was quite good, and she sang a song by Ren Qingzhou.
The song was called "Desire", which was from Ren Qingzhou's first album when he just debuted.
Ren Qingzhou's songs were actually not very suitable for girls to sing, so her performance of this song wasn't particularly outstanding. It could only be described as mediocre.
As soon as she finished singing, Li Nandi asked her, "You're the first contestant to sing a song by a mentor on - site. Are you a bit nervous?"
"I'm extremely nervous. My heart has been pounding non - stop, but I really like Teacher Ren Qingzhou, so I must choose his song."
Hearing this, Li Nandi looked at Ren Qingzhou with a smile and said, "Teacher Ren, it seems that this trainee came for you."
"Thank you for your love. I think it takes a lot of courage for you to choose this song, because it's actually not very suitable for girls to sing."
"So I feel that your performance of this song isn't really excellent, but personally, I quite appreciate your courage." Ye Zi suddenly interrupted, "I wonder if you're interested in joining my team, because I really like your personality."
It was obvious to everyone that Chen Qiqi clearly came for Ren Qingzhou, but Ye Zi seemed extremely eager to recruit this trainee.
"Teacher Ren, I feel that she's also quite suitable to follow me. What do you think?"
Ren Qingzhou didn't know how to respond to her. Whether she was suitable to follow Ye Zi or not, he didn't know, but he did know that she had made an agreement with the program crew from the start...
"I think it should depend on the contestant's own opinion. Of course, if she's willing to choose me, I'd be very welcome."
"I think Teacher Ye Zi is also a very good mentor, but I participated in this program because of Teacher Ren. I really like him very much, so I'd rather join Teacher Ren's team."
Ye Zi's face looked very ugly. In the second half of the trainee - selection process, she started to target Ren Qingzhou both explicitly and implicitly.
Apart from the trainees pre - arranged by the program crew, whenever Ren Qingzhou took a fancy to a trainee, she would always interfere.
Ren Qingzhou didn't want to have any conflicts with her on the show. This was only the recording of the first episode. If the two mentors started to have a bad relationship, there would indeed be some buzz for the show, but it wouldn't do Ren Qingzhou any good.
Li Nandi and Zhou Yilun also tried to smooth things over. Ye Zi probably wanted Chen Qiqi because she knew some inside information in advance. Chen Qiqi was the daughter of the show's sponsor, and her ranking in the future wouldn't be too low.
Ren Qingzhou later recruited some trainees whom he thought had good singing skills. After the first segment of the recording, the mentors could go to the lounge for a short break. The program crew would first record a short interview with the trainees who had advanced.
Ren Qingzhou's throat was so dry from talking that as soon as he entered the lounge, he drank two glasses of water before feeling better.
"Ye Zi doesn't seem easy to get along with. You should stay away from her in the future and don't confront her directly." Li Momo knew Ren Qingzhou's temper too well and was afraid that he would suffer.
"I know. I won't argue with a woman." Ren Qingzhou put the glass aside and then asked her, "Do you think there will be any reactions on the Internet after today's episode is aired?"
"How would I know? But it's predictable that the program crew will definitely highlight the conflicts between you two during the editing process to create some buzz."
"Now she's in an ambiguous relationship with Strawberry TV. You'll probably suffer again."
"I've already seen this kind of thing clearly. Since I debuted, I've participated in many shows. The edited versions are always in a mess and completely different from the actual recording. At first, I would feel angry, but now I've become indifferent."
"Alright, I'm going to call my wife."
Ren Qingzhou had been out of touch for a few hours. As soon as he opened WeChat, he saw Su Tang's messages.
"I think Jiang Bai's arrangement is quite good. However, it ultimately depends on you. If you still like your original profession, then continue with the R & D." Ren Qingzhou expressed his opinion.
"I also think it's okay to try something different. It can be regarded as a new challenge." Su Tang had thought a lot during these few hours and felt that this arrangement was not bad.
"Why did you go to the company today?"
"Anyway, you weren't at home. I was bored, so I went to the company for a walk. How's the recording going on your side?"
"Everything's fine. It's just not finished yet. It'll probably take a long time."
"Then you should focus on the recording. Are there any particularly beautiful girls in this episode?"
"All of them are beautiful girls, but don't worry. In my eyes, none of them are as beautiful as you."
"I'm not worried at all."
They were still chatting when they heard a knock on the door. Li Momo went to open the door. The staff member didn't come in. After saying a few words, he left. The gist was that the recording was about to continue, so the two of them had to hang up the phone.
Ren Qingzhou returned to the recording site. This time, it was in a large lounge arranged by the program crew.
The other three mentors weren't there. It should be the recording of each mentor's interaction with the trainees.
To be honest, apart from Chen Qiqi, Ren Qingzhou couldn't match the others one by one yet.
When he opened the door of the lounge, the originally noisy lounge suddenly became quiet. Everyone stared at him in unison, which made him a bit nervous.
"Hello, everyone. I'm very glad that you've chosen me. During the following period, we'll discuss music together. Of course, since I think everyone has different ideas, we'll communicate with each other and then seek an optimal solution."
"Well, you should all know me, but I don't know you very well yet. So let's start with a simple self - introduction to get to know each other. How about that?"
After he finished his opening remarks, the 16 girls started to introduce themselves one by one.
Among these 16 girls, there were those who majored in dancing professionally, those who studied vocal music, those who only had a hobby for singing, those who had debuted before, and some pure amateurs. In short, it was a mixed group with all kinds of people.
Regarding the initial stage just now, the girl who impressed him the most was a girl named Han Qing. This girl sang folk songs. She didn't look outstanding, but her voice was very distinctive.
Actually, singing folk songs in this kind of talent show wasn't an advantage. On the stage, the more explosive the song was and the easier it was to drive the atmosphere in the venue, the more advantages it had.
However, Ren Qingzhou felt that this girl had some potential, so he recruited her.
"After we've all gotten to know each other briefly, now it's my turn to read out the rules of the program. After we form the teams, the next episode will enter the first round of team battles. You 16 people will be divided into three groups. That is to say, the four mentors will have a total of 12 groups in all."
"These 12 groups will mainly have pairwise PKs, and one person from the losing group will be eliminated."
"Now I don't know much about each of you yet, and I don't have any particularly good suggestions for grouping you. So I've decided that for the first grouping, you can form teams freely."
"Now go and discuss, find your teammates, and then report the grouping results to me later."
The rule of this program was that each mentor led three groups, and these three groups would randomly PK with the groups of the other three mentors.
The content of the PK was also randomly selected. The mentors would draw lots in advance to decide the specific theme.
Ren Qingzhou was completely in the dark at the moment. It would really be difficult for him to divide these 16 girls into groups.
Moreover, when girls got together, there were usually a lot of things to consider, such as who was willing to be in a group with whom and who wasn't.
Ren Qingzhou decided to let them think for themselves first. After they reported the grouping list, if there were really any inappropriate arrangements, he would adjust them.
They were discussing enthusiastically, looking for their own groups.
Ren Qingzhou was left alone.
Just as he was sitting there resting, the door of the lounge suddenly opened. It was Li Nandi.
He poked his head out and looked at the chaotic situation in front of him. Obviously, he was a bit confused about what was going on.
"Brother, what are you doing?"
"They're grouping."
"I just came to ask you about the grouping. I don't know how to divide them either."
"So you're letting them form teams freely?"
"Yes."
"What if there's no one who can dance or... the distribution is very unbalanced in a group?"
"If it's really unbalanced, I'll adjust it for them."
"That's a good idea. I'm going back. I'll also let them divide themselves."
"Thanks, brother. I'm leaving."
Li Nandi obviously came here for advice. After getting a relatively satisfactory result, he left contentedly.