A total of 88 people passed the Idol Project auditions and entered the final program recording. These were the 88 girls who, out of the 100 who passed the initial auditions, ultimately passed the program team's tests and remained. From these 88, six will eventually be chosen to form a girl group.
The reason there are only six spots for the group is actually determined by the resources of the three major idol agencies.
The three major idol agencies are Jiayu Company, Xingyao, and Leqi. It can be said that these three agencies control over 90% of the idol group resources in Huaguo.
Among them, Xu Yunyi and Yin Nan belong to Jiayu Company, Fu Peiyao belongs to Xingyao, and Wang Yijia belongs to Leqi. Only Mu Li joined purely as the author and lead singer of the Idol Project theme song.
However, to outsiders, Mu Li's involvement seems inextricably linked to Wu Yun of Jiayu Company, but the three major agencies internally are clearer about this matter.
Anyone with a discerning eye can see the relationship between the three companies—what appears to be a struggle for market resources is actually a solid alliance, even frequently engaging in resource exchange and other collaborations.
Idol Project is a product of the cooperation between the three major idol agencies.
Of course, as a talent show, the three companies are not so petty as to employ small tactics like prohibiting other smaller entertainment companies from participating, as the trainees resources of the three companies themselves do not have an overwhelming advantage.
Taking the 88 spots for this Idol Project, the three companies at most account for less than one-third, with the rest being trainees from other entertainment companies, and even quite a few individual trainees.
To put it bluntly, the strength of an agency is only one part; as for whether one can ultimately form a group, individual strength still plays a very large role.
It is undeniable that behind every show there is capital pushing it, and capital itself can indeed influence some people's ability to form a group or even debut. However, for most capital, seeking wealth and fame are their most fundamental goals.
Yin Nan's debut is a typical example of this. Back then, Xu Yunyi strongly promoted Yin Nan, battling against the capital-backed two-dimensional idols in the summer of that year, becoming the Champion of that talent show and soaring to fame.
As a result, capital immediately followed Yin Nan. In just two or three years, Yin Nan transformed from a singer who debuted through a talent show into one of the leaders among new-generation singers. How can this not be the work of capital?
In Mu Li's view, while the involvement of capital certainly reduces the probability of ordinary people becoming famous, once an ordinary person possesses sufficiently strong abilities to be recognized by capital, isn't that capital also a powerful aid?
Although he said that, if he were to participate in a talent show, he would rather not.
If it was just for fame, he might as well directly reveal his Champion identity. With his strength, where in the world could he not go? The reason Mu Li chose the path of Sing, to put it plainly, was that he wanted to experience the entire process of starting from scratch and enjoy the fun of performing on stage.
In Teacher Mu's mother's words: "Doing something outside is better than slacking off at home every day. If it doesn't work out, you can always go back to slacking off."
Mu Li also embarked on this path with such a belief.
Just as Mu Li did, the girls participating in Idol Project also came with various different ideas.
Some people are for fame and fortune, some are for dreams, and some just treat this program as a formality. These things will be truthfully reflected in their works, which is the charm of art.
Perhaps you can hide your inner thoughts, but artistic expression cannot deceive people. Every movement and every expression on stage tells the story of your inner world.
The program recording quickly began.
Today's program required two parts of content to be recorded: one part was the trainees' initial stage performance, and the other part was the mentors' performance.
Before the four mentors and one temporary guest entered, the trainees had already entered the studio.
The trainees' seats were arranged in a pyramid shape, with the top layer being equivalent to a throne, representing the highest level of evaluation. In a sense, the person sitting in this position represents that she is currently the strongest among the 88 trainees.
The same applies to the other positions; the higher the position, the higher the ranking it represents. And on the top layer, including the highest throne, there are only 6 positions. Everyone knows that these are the six positions for the final group formation.
As the trainees gradually entered the studio and began to choose their seats, Mu Li and the other four were observing the trainees' reactions from a nearby monitoring room.
"I always feel that it's not quite right for us to be peeking like this, is it?" Mu Li mumbled, stroking his chin.
Wang Yijia's face stiffened. He glanced sideways at Mu Li and said, annoyed, "If you hadn't said anything, I wouldn't have felt anything."
"Then you tell me, with so many girls together, will they start fighting?" Mu Li continued to mumble, "Jia Ge, have you ever seen girls fight? I'm telling you, I've seen it before, and it's really intense when they fight, especially when two girls are fighting, and their Pokémon are also fighting…"
Before Mu Li finished speaking, he suddenly felt a shadow envelop him. He instinctively looked up, and the owner of the shadow was Fu Peiyao.
At this moment, Fu Peiyao had no expression, but Mu Li felt that her gaze at him was like his own gaze at his suicidal Arcanine.
"Teacher Mu seems to have a lot of research on girls?" Fu Peiyao's tone was faint, yet it sent a chill from Mu Li's tailbone straight to the top of his head.
"No, I'm completely uninterested in these things," Mu Li immediately stood up and replied. "Those were all my college roommates, who insisted on dragging me to watch. You know, I never like to join in on the fun."
"Oh? Really?" Fu Peiyao gave a cold laugh. "When I just saw you looking at the studio monitor, weren't you quite happy?"
Mu Li was stunned, then his eyes darted around, and he immediately pointed at Wang Yijia, saying, "It's all Jia Ge! He insisted on dragging me to watch. I told him it was creepy, but he just wouldn't listen. Sigh, I chose the wrong friends!"
Fu Peiyao snorted coldly in annoyance, "This time it's fine, but next time if I see you not working properly and slacking off here, you're dead."
"Yes, Teacher Fu," Mu Li replied, standing ramrod straight.
"You may leave," Fu Peiyao waved her hand, indicating that Mu Li could leave.
"Yes, ma'am," Mu Li turned and quickly pulled Wang Yijia away, only beginning to breathe heavily after they were out of Fu Peiyao's sight.
Wang Yijia said, annoyed, "You can leave, but why drag me?"
"Are we still bros? Are we still homies?" Mu Li showed a heartbroken expression. "At a time like this, you just watched from the sidelines and didn't even say a word to help me. I'm very disappointed. My brother betrayed me!"
"Go play somewhere else," Wang Yijia said, annoyed. "When you needed me to take the blame just now, why didn't you remember 'bro'? If you ask me, you're definitely going to be subjected to domestic violence every day in the future."
"You have a point!" Mu Li began to consider the possibility of this matter. His eyes lit up, and he looked at Wang Yijia with ill intent, "Jia Ge, are we good bros, are we good homies?"
Wang Yijia sneered, "It depends on the situation."
"No, Jia Ge, you can't just abandon me like this," Mu Li hugged Wang Yijia, giving him no chance to escape.
"First, tell me, what do you want to do?" Seeing that he couldn't break free, Wang Yijia could only reluctantly give in.
"Actually, it's nothing," Mu Li tried his best to show his kindest smile. "Don't you live in the Greater Bay Area? It's not very interesting there, so why don't you move to Magic City? We can be neighbors, and if I ever get kicked out, I can go to your place to take shelter."
"Get lost!" Wang Yijia immediately got angry. "You want me to move just for this trivial matter? Are you even human?"
Seeing that Mu Li still wanted to say something, Wang Yijia suddenly reacted, "Wait, wait! I knew something was off. What exactly is your relationship with Pei Yao?"
"Ah? This..." Mu Li's body stiffened, trying to muddle through. "Ah, the trainees over there are almost all in, we..."
Just as Mu Li was about to leave, he was directly pressed against the wall by Wang Yijia. Wang Yijia showed a cold smile: "Alright, still 'bro,' still 'homie,' huh? I've long felt that you two had something going on, and you even tried to hide it from me? If it weren't for you already planning an escape route after domestic violence, I would have been kept in the dark all along."
Mu Li could only force out a smile: "Jia Ge, we're just ordinary, pure friends! There's nothing going on!"
Wang Yijia sneered, "I'll believe that when pigs fly."
Just as Mu Li was about to explain, a masked staff Miss passed by and happened to see Wang Yijia pinning Mu Li against the wall, almost fainting on the spot from holding her breath.
"Ah!" The staff Miss screamed, then quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't see anything, you two carry on, carry on."
After saying that, she left the two dumbfounded men behind.
The two looked at each other, then immediately backed away several meters, mutually disgusted.
"She didn't misunderstand something, did she?" Mu Li had a bad feeling.
Wang Yijia also said uncertainly, "Probably not, right?"
When the two walked out, they seemed to notice that all the staff members were looking at them with very ambiguous gazes.
Fu Peiyao saw the two approaching and, like everyone else, scrutinized them with a very ambiguous gaze, showing a hint of curiosity: "I heard you two kissed where no one was around?"
Xu Yunyi also leaned over, looking at the two with a gossipy expression: "I heard you two couldn't help yourselves and were French kissing nearby?"
Then, while the two were stiff, Yin Nan walked over and said with difficulty, "May you two live a long and happy life together."
Mu Li and Wang Yijia exchanged glances. Mu Li immediately wanted to faint, but he still held a glimmer of hope: "Pei Pei, listen to me, it's not what you think."
Fu Peiyao raised her delicate eyebrows slightly, looking at Wang Yijia with an ambiguous expression and said, "Why are you explaining to me? Shouldn't you explain it clearly to your Jia Ge?"
Upon hearing Fu Peiyao's words, Mu Li's entire being turned from colorful to gray.
Wang Yijia, beside him, also lost his color at the same time.
The two almost simultaneously sighed, "My life is over!"