Chapter 40: Counterattack

nly the fourth episode, and it has already achieved a 4% viewership rate in its second week of airing. For a cable TV station, this is already a very impressive feat.Even if the subsequent growth weak..."The first week of April 《！》 , red velvet's Joy and Seulgi."

“Both teams were vying for the title of 'First Time Winner'!

In the end,..."

Today's performance by 《！c》EXO was the last one on the show. Although it was a pre-recorded broadcast, they definitely went to the venue to perform live instead of watching the livestream in the waiting room.

The program team pays close attention to popularity and heat when arranging the stage order for artists. Generally, the more popular an artist is, the later they will perform. As for seniority, it's not as important. For example, today both EXO and ISAAC are making their comeback performance on the same stage. ISAAC debuted in 2010 while EXO debuted in 2012, meaning ISAAC has more seniority. However, the program team still arranged for EXO to perform later.

Speaking of which, it's a bit nostalgic. I was just watching the live stream on the monitor in the lounge room and saw Ji Jingyuan from this episode of "!c". This girl group, wax crayon team pop, who became popular in the second half of 2013 thanks to their hit songs "barbarbar" and "Roar," vying for attention at the time, faded away like a meteor after only a few months of short-lived fame. They are now considered a complete flop. Ji Jingyuan hadn't heard their names for a long time.

With so many rookie groups these days, it's impressive that the pop group that debuted 12 years ago is the first to perform today.

Because he had just finished performing, Ji Jingyuan stood with the other members on the far right of the stage, casually listening to C announce the last member.

Anyway, since they're returning this week and aren't participating in the rankings, and to be honest, for members like Ji-seong who are considered "lesser" by many fans, one win is already a lot. They've already achieved a lot and don't seem to be as focused on winning anymore.

"The final score, 8069 to 6212."

"Today's spotlight is on Red Velvet's Cammi!"

A silver ribbon drifted down from the sky. Chi Jingyuan swept his gaze in that direction, and on the c right side, the five members of Lai Debebe who had been a little nervous just now immediately burst into laughter.

This one is still quite meaningful, as it was Red Velvet's first number-one trophy on the music show 《!c》.

After EXO finished their promotions last week, Red Velvet achieved their first ever #1 win on "Inkigayo" on the 29th. This week, they continued their winning streak by taking first place on both "The Show" and "Show Champion" on Tuesday and Wednesday. Including today's win, they have now secured four #1 trophies.

This result is actually quite good for IU and the others considering how harshly they were criticized when they debuted. Back then, "Wolf and Beauty" was a similar success, helping Exo gain some popularity and make waves in the music industry.

There are still three music shows this week, and there aren't any particularly strong competitors in that time slot. If things go smoothly, Red Velvet has a high chance of winning another three first-place trophies, bringing the total number of wins for this comeback to seven.

Next week, there's no need to think about anyone else, it's 100% a battle between EXO and ISSA.

However, this result is really good. Reaching the top six or seven on a singing chart and having decent momentum after entering the inner circle, with nearly 40,000 sales, it's almost enough to step into the level of a first-tier girl group. Both popularity and fame have increased significantly. It can be said that Red Velvet truly transformed its situation through this "Ice Cream Cake" mini album. It is considered the first new girl group from 2014 and 2015 to stand out and have its own name as a female idol group.

"First of all, thank you to Teacher Lee Soo-man, and then thank you to Min Hee Jin director who helped us release the album…"

And our vocal and dance teachers...

Today, when I received the award from Red Velvet, I wasn't as excited as the first time. Joy led the way and they had rehearsed it beforehand. Each member thanked someone with a prepared line before passing the microphone back, thanking everyone from Lee Soo Man to their manager, parents, and fans. Ji-yong smiled wider and wider, but inwardly he was getting increasingly impatient.

As for that, thank you to everyone. Winning first place feels just as good as winning a grand prize.

After the girls finished their speeches, others began to leave the stage from the left. Lay and some of his members turned around and quickly bowed to other idols to express their gratitude. As senior idols from the same company, EXO naturally wanted to congratulate them. Originally, Ji-seong was about to simply nod and smile before leaving, but unexpectedly, Park Chan-yeol and others pulled him over with smiles. Several people formed a loose circle around Lay and his members, clapping non-stop and looking at Seulgi who bowed to Ji-seong, they all laughed happily, their expressions seemed a little bit smug.

Since learning about the possible past story between agency senior members, pool Jinkyung and Pei Zhuhyun, more playful and mischievous members like Park Chan-yeol and Ku Shi-hoon have enjoyed making lighthearted jokes during similar public events like stages.

Last town, when it was time for the final curtain call, Ji Changwook and Park Bo-gum were dragged by fans to hold hands. The whole thing was witnessed by their captain, Kim Jun-myeon, the entire way through. After the concert ended, he scolded a few of the members, telling them not to be so obvious about it because fans have really sharp eyes.

Although many people agreed and said they would be more careful, they still haven't changed their behavior. They still like to stir up trouble.

She is really both mean and kind.

Pei Suzy held the trophy and smiled as she bowed to them. She made eye contact with Ji Kyung-won, blinked lightly, and then without looking any further, naturally continued bowing to the other members. However, from her smile and eyes, it could be seen that she was indeed very happy to have won first place today.

It's a shame...

Chi Jingyuan glanced at Pei Zhuxuan's forehead, where golden strands of hair were messy like weeds. He sighed helplessly in his heart.

She's so ugly, she looked good when she was chatting backstage this morning. But her stage makeup is completely outdone by Kang Se-qi's side braid hairstyle next to her. I really don't know which stylist did her hair for her.

She's still giggling and shaking her fringe, thinking she looks so pretty right now.

After venting his frustrations, Ji Jingyuan didn't linger any longer. Facing Jiang Shibaqi who was laughing gleefully, Sun Seungwan and Kim Yelin along with a few others gave him two thumbs up as congratulations before quickly following the members off the stage. The familiar melody of an encore soon followed behind them.

…………

Because both returning two-person groups showcased their debut stage, today's 《!》 witnessed a significant surge in viewership and attention. Immediately after EXO's performance concluded, numerous comments flooded online. After several hours of anticipation, the number of participating fans and spectators grew exponentially throughout the evening. Many popular threads emerged with high engagement.

Today, both the stage of "Golden Nation" and "Spring Day" satisfied fans. As these two songs are being officially unveiled for the first time on stage with choreographies, the fresh performances attracted many viewers.

The stylish costumes and distinctive melodies of 《Golden Country》 immediately won over fans who had always been dissatisfied with 《Spring Day》.

"This turtleneck sweater is amazing!" (Top comment)

Objectively speaking, if the main song of was changed to "Golden Country," would the current results be better

"I think it's good, I completely can't get into the ballad style songs though. The stage for "Golden Country" is very cool, all black jackets made my heart beat fast, and the lyrics are also great, it feels like a regular B-side track would be a waste."

"It's impossible, with EXO's fan base, no matter what the title track is, even if it's a bad song, it won't fall far behind. It mainly depends on the follow-up stream and listener reception after the initial release. If the title track were changed to "Golden Nation," I wouldn't say anything else, but the afterglow definitely wouldn't be as high as "Spring Day." "

"Aren't you guys misunderstanding "Spring Day" Go and check out the scores given to it by many famous music critics and American music magazines. Both the arrangement and V's performance have received very high praise. Although there are fewer online listens and more criticism now, besides those stupid black fans, it's mainly because of the public's acceptance of boy groups."

To be honest, the current audio source performance is already very good. How many male idol groups' title tracks can directly enter the inner ring upon comeback Even if it's more sentimental, the quality of the title track is definitely beyond expectations. As for "Golden Country," it's not bad either, but objectively speaking, it's at most above average and not particularly outstanding.

“The stage effects for 'Spring Day' are really great, the two backgrounds switching back and forth is very smooth, and the final shot of cherry blossoms falling from the sky really moved me, the visuals were so beautiful. The stage effects for a ballad can be done this well, it just goes to show that EXO is EXO. I've realized that this song is actually quite good-sounding. After watching the stage, I predict that 'Spring Day's sound source reviews have a high chance of experiencing a reversal, and the public opinion should gradually improve...I hope that no matter if it's a ballad or pop, please continue to strive for excellence, members.”

"It's hilarious, hardcore fans don't know if they're dreaming or their brains are broken. K-pop hasn't seen anything like this continuous decline in years. Last year before the drop, there was still a chance. 《Call Baby》 brought back a little bit of momentum, but then things immediately went downhill when it came to 《Spring Day》. It can only be said that hardcore fans were too arrogant these past two years and now they're reaping what they sow."

"Trash s, trash exo, trash "Spring Day", all go to die!"

Most fans are quite satisfied with this initial stage performance. The carefully designed stage by s seems to have achieved a certain effect. It feels like some who were completely indifferent to or even disappointed in "Spring Day" have started to get into the song. Although there are still many hateful negative comments, the previously nearly polarized online reviews seem to be showing signs of shifting.

The next day on "Music Bank," EXO took the same route to work, but this time it wasn't like when they just came back from their "e" comeback and walked around like a runway show with perfectly done makeup. This time, most members wore hats and masks covering their faces so tightly that you couldn't see them clearly. Even Park Chanyeol didn't wear a mask, but his wide-brimmed baseball cap still covered most of his face.

Although so, the enthusiasm of the fans at the scene did not decrease at all. They still surrounded the road tightly, and screams could be heard from far away.

The first week of their comeback was entirely focused on music shows and promotional activities. They appeared on "Music Center" on the 4th and "Inkigayo" on the 5th. All four music show appearances during their first week back were completely booked solid. Apart from interviews and some commercial performances over those few nights, they also participated in two radio programs for promotion.

Although the process and participating programs are not much different from EXO's comeback last month, Ji-seong could clearly feel that the heat for EXO's second comeback this month was significantly less explosive than last month in all aspects. Some corresponding promotions, even traffic, have decreased to a certain extent.

Besides, the fact that x exclusively uses lyrical songs as its main tracks doesn't seem to be well-received by casual listeners. Furthermore, it can be seen that s company has invested less accordingly.

Even if we are optimistic about EXO's comeback and its potential to drive up the stock price, it is impossible to infinitely invest resources into it. At the same time, there are many other groups making a comeback, such as Red Velvet, SJ's two sub-units, and Girls' Generation's Japanese single releases, etc.

Moreover, it's possible that s company itself isn't as optimistic about 《x》 as they are about 《e》. They might think this comeback performance is within expectations and there's no hope for a bigger breakthrough. There aren't higher hopes anymore.

This idea is not wrong, actually.

However, from EXO's official comeback on April 1st to now, after 5 days of four music show appearances and various promotions being aired successively, the first two days were surrounded by various evaluations such as "ordinary," "disappointing," "unpleasant," "overreaching," "I won't listen again after one time," and "just dance honestly like a veteran male idol group." Unexpectedly, in these two days, the trend on music charts has suddenly begun to develop and change in a surprising way.

At 00:00 on April 1st, the audio source of two songs from the special album "x" was released publicly. The title song "Spring Day" reached one million listeners in the first hour, although it achieved an all-kill on the real-time chart by topping the charts immediately, the number of listeners in the first 24 hours was only 387,722, and the listener gender ratio was 25:75.

Of course, this result is already very good for most boy groups.

However, considering EXO's recent comeback and the heat generated alongside their massive fanbase, the first day's 24-hour listening numbers were underwhelming to say the least, falling significantly short of expectations. Judging by this number, it seems that only their fans and a small portion of casual listeners paid attention to their return on the first day. Most casual listeners simply ignored them after seeing that a boy group was singing a ballad.

Deep-seated prejudices are so ingrained that there's no easy solution.

After that, the listens of No. 2 and No. 3 also kept decreasing. Relying on the fans' super strong and persistent chart brushing, although it fell behind the first place in the real-time chart, it still maintained a good ranking. However, the daily chart was somewhat weak, starting from the top five on the first day, and gradually dropping.

Online reviews are not very good either. Excluding the mindless praise and rainbows from fans, most of the negative comments prevail.

According to the boy group's popularity and the current public opinion and reviews, under normal circumstances, the daily listenership of "Spring Day" would decline day by day, and its ranking on the charts would steadily drop or even quickly leave the chart.

However, the situation seemed to change from noon on the 3rd.

I don't know if it was because the singing stage aired, or because the music's reputation changed and spread, or perhaps the Aelis went crazy for 24 hours straight, frantically streaming the song. Since noon on the 3rd, "Spring Day" saw an improvement in its digital sound source rankings, jumping up two places.

While the number of listeners for #3 surprisingly did not decrease and remained parallel to yesterday, starting from day 4, the daily listenership has been growing at an astonishing rate, 250,000, 300,000, 400,000.

By 6 PM today, the listening figures even surpassed those of the first day the song was released. The ranking on the chart also re-entered the inner circle, and surprisingly, the listening numbers even exceeded those of issa's main track , which had a phenomenal sound source performance this time around.

On March 31st, after iss released their album sound source, the title song "onlyyou" directly created a record for female group single-day listening with an astonishing 740,000. By the afternoon of the second day, they achieved 'pak', and the data did not show significant decline, the number of listeners continued to decline daily until several days later, but they still firmly held the first place on both the daily and weekly charts.

On April 5th, "onlyyou" once again achieved two 'paks', winning the first week of April's Melon Chart crown while surpassing 50,000 points in digital sound source settlement.

But despite the astonishing source sound scores, the song's data and listenership numbers are also gradually declining like other songs.

Especially the number of listeners, it dropped too quickly.

However, "Spring Day" unexpectedly started to rise against the trend. The two songs, which originally had a significant difference in streaming performance, strangely saw a decrease in daily listenership, creating a surprising reversal of the situation.

"What's going on Wasn't "Spring Day" supposed to be flying up the charts I haven't looked in two days, how did its ranking go back up"

"Are these fans so obsessed They're practically destroying their own faces! Does the official team not care at all"

"Aixi, I misread it"

When seeing the inner ring reappear with EXO's logo and the name "Spring Day," Black fans who had just been celebrating for two days because XO's comeback title track had a limited audience and achieved mediocre results were stunned. After their initial astonishment, they felt a surge of anxiety and anger.

Isn't it already a foregone conclusion that 《x》's performance was disappointing Isn't it common knowledge that using a ballad as the main track is a death sentence for boy bands Wasn't the victory celebration already held

How suddenly did it become like this

"Issa, come on, give me a little more effort!"

Many black fans have begun to pray sincerely.

And seeing the sound source begin to reverse, the Aly who had already accepted that this 《x》's performance would be lower than 《e》 were instantly overjoyed and began energetically recommending and promoting it on various forums and SNS platforms, wanting to contribute to their idol's achievements. For a time, the internet became lively again.

Although issa took the source chart crown effortlessly in the first week of April, considering that one is trending downward while the other is climbing, the second week's outcome is really uncertain.

Therefore, the outcome of this round is still uncertain.

Just as the enthusiasm of Aelis began to rekindle, ready to shine with her idols, a sudden conflict erupted within EXO's own fandom. They turned against each other.

Peninsula asteroid

First published on the Traditional Chinese Novel Network. If you go out, remember to watch the time, and we'll still have a final run-through of the whole process at the end..."Lee Seung-hwan first greeted Red Velvet's manager and then walked over to pat h...