I Became an All-round Artist

After Lin Yuan left, Zhou Ruiming listened to "Balloon" again.

"The quality is indeed pretty good..."

Even on the second listen, Old Zhou gave the same assessment.

The song didn’t strike him with immediate brilliance like "Big Fish" did, but Old Zhou understood that this was normal.

No composer can create a hit with every single work.

After creating three consecutive hits, Lin Yuan still managed to produce a decent new song, which was more than enough to satisfy Old Zhou.

"This song would be perfect for a March release. After all, next month is going to be another clash of the titans..."

With the new season falling around the Chinese New Year, the market competition would be just as fierce as in December. Avoiding February was an obvious choice for many artists.

To put things in perspective: even a song as high-quality as "Big Fish" only managed to secure the tenth spot in the December battle royale.

Old Zhou had done his research.

His conclusion: even if "Big Fish" had entered the charts at the beginning of the month, it would’ve likely ended up around fifth place at best.

With that thought in mind, Old Zhou contacted Zhao Jue and sent her "Balloon."

"Lin Yuan's song?"

After listening, Zhao Jue expressed her surprise: "He's incredibly prolific."

Old Zhou agreed. "He really is. And this time, the quality is still quite good. It may not feel as strong as his previous works, but I believe if we release this in March, it has a good chance of climbing the charts. Plus, he specifically requested Jiang Kui to sing it."

"Jiang Kui, huh?"

After thinking it over, Zhao Jue responded: "Jiang Kui’s popularity has risen a lot after 'Big Fish.' The company definitely wants to promote her further. I have no objection to her singing it."

"Great."

Old Zhou added, "What surprises me most about this song is the long sentence at the beginning. I've listened to so many songs, but this is the first time I've heard one with such a long opening line."

Zhao Jue chuckled. "It’s fine. Jiang Kui is a professional singer; this shouldn’t be too hard for her."

Old Zhou thought for a moment and nodded, "You’re right."

...

The two of them quickly finalized the work plan.

When Jiang Kui received the news, she jumped up in excitement.

Teacher Xianyu really gave her the new song to sing!

So, it turns out, being a devoted fan can eventually pay off with everything you hoped for!

However, once Jiang Kui got her hands on the sheet music for "Balloon," she realized she might have celebrated too soon.

Especially when she entered the recording studio, she finally understood why Lin Yuan had asked about her lung capacity the day before—

Because this song seriously requires oxygen! Lots of it!

How much oxygen, you ask?

Just look at the first verse: "Black, white, red, yellow, purple, green, blue, gray, yours, mine, his, hers, big, small, round, flat, good, bad, beautiful, ugly, new, old, all kinds of styles, all kinds of colors, take your pick."

Jiang Kui counted.

Yes, that's a total of fifty-six characters!

And there’s no chance to take a breath in between!

The first verse alone requires stringing all these words together and singing them in one continuous breath.

When Jiang Kui first stepped into the recording studio, she managed to barely get through the verse on her first attempt, but she was severely out of breath by the end, needing several seconds to recover.

Especially with those last few words, her voice trembled noticeably, a clear sign of unstable breath control.

Jiang Kui had never imagined that one day she’d struggle with her breath control while singing!

"Can I just say, classic Xianyu. This new song is... something else..."

Even the recording engineer was shocked: "Even for professional singers in the company, singing that many words in one breath is no easy task."

"Not only that."

Another recording engineer chimed in, "It’s one thing for the first verse to be so long, but the scary part is that the song's opening melody isn’t low. The higher the pitch, the harder it becomes to sing the entire verse in one breath."

"I’ll give it another shot."

Jiang Kui told the engineers, and then tried a few more takes. This left her feeling increasingly lightheaded.

Because every time she sang this song, she had to take a deep breath at the start!

Each ending line, and the beginning of the next, required a significant breath in order to transition smoothly.

On top of that, after taking in a big gulp of air, she had to release it evenly, making sure every word had just the right amount of force. If she put too much breath into any one word, the entire rhythm would fall apart.

In the end, even if she managed to nail all these points, Jiang Kui would still run out of breath on the last few words—

Ordinary listeners might not notice.

In fact, to most people, her performance was already perfect.

But as a singer who held herself to high standards, Jiang Kui wouldn’t allow herself to run out of breath on those last few words. That would be a disservice to Teacher Xianyu’s composition. So she spent the better part of the day in the studio, determined to record the song to absolute perfection.

"Let’s continue tomorrow."

By evening, with no satisfactory takes, the engineers suggested calling it a day.

There was no doubt that Jiang Kui could sing "Balloon."

But to deliver a flawless performance would take countless attempts—this was no ordinary song, after all.

"Jiang Kui?"

There was no response. The engineer turned to look at her, only to find her slumped in her chair, tongue sticking out.

"Aba aba aba aba..."

The two engineers burst into laughter.

But they fully understood Jiang Kui's state—this song's opening melody was borderline inhuman.

"I have an idea."

The engineer on the left said, "When we finalize the recording, let’s keep the breath sounds in. It might make the song feel more relatable."

"Won’t that affect the listening experience?"

The engineer on the right was a bit concerned.

There’s a mixing technique in recording studios to reduce or remove breathing sounds. Excessive breath sounds in a song can feel odd and disrupt the emotional flow of the music, so they’re often minimized or even cut out entirely.

"It’ll be fine."

The engineer on the left replied, "The goal of mixing is to make the sound more pleasant, but there’s no strict formula. Many emotional ballads keep the breath sounds for authenticity. If we leave the breaths in 'Balloon,' listeners might better appreciate its unique style."

"That’s true."

Convinced, the engineer on the right smiled and said, "The breaths in 'Balloon' certainly aren’t subtle. The singer has to take a deep breath before the first note, so listeners will probably notice whether they want to or not."

"I’m on board."

Jiang Kui had recovered by this point. Though still a bit dizzy, she was at least coherent enough to talk to the engineers: "Let’s keep the breath sounds. That way, no one can say our studio recordings lack the authenticity of live performances."

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