Chapter 92: The Nameless Ones

When Zhou Ran received the request to write a song for Huang the Master Chef, an outline of a song had already formed in his mind. In his view, it fit the film’s needs very well: uplifting, spirited, and full of energy.

Zhou Ran was the sort of person who acted at once. After agreeing to Huang the Master Chef, he headed straight to the studio to record. By rights, the studio should already have been closed at eight or nine in the evening, but our Brother Ran carried such stature that a single phone call was enough to have the owner open the door. The main reason, of course, was that the owner was one of Zhou Ran’s fans.

"Nameless Nobody? This is your new song?" The studio owner was a little surprised when he saw the new song Zhou Ran had brought out, because it was something Zhou Ran had never sung before.

"Yeah, that’s right. I just wrote it today." Zhou Ran nodded at the owner’s question.

Nameless Nobody was the theme song of a television drama from his previous life, and in that world it had been fairly popular. So Zhou Ran thought of it immediately.

The song’s composer had also risen to fame through it, and the comment section under it in a certain cloud music player could only be described as a masterpiece. It was truly a place where everyone seemed to be an inspirational youth. When Zhou Ran had looked at it before, even he had been a little stunned; it might as well have been a traditional feature of that music player.

After greeting the owner, Zhou Ran went straight into the booth and began recording, because it was already close to ten at night and the sky was completely dark. He intended to move quickly and finish the song before midnight.

As the intro began, Zhou Ran started singing in the studio. In fact, he had two versions to choose from: one by the original singer, and one by the lyricist. After some thought, Zhou Ran ultimately chose the lyricist’s version, because he felt the emotions in that rendition were expressed more truthfully and uniquely. After all, as the original creator, those feelings would naturally be more deeply woven into the performance.

"Damn, Boss is singing so well today! So intense!" Listening from the side, the studio owner felt himself almost sinking into the performance. It was just too thrilling. This kind of top-tier VIP treatment, with his idol singing right in front of him, and for him alone to hear the very first public recording, completely maxed out the sense of privilege.

The moment Zhou Ran began to sing, he felt that this song was no ordinary one. It had a flavor somewhat like that of Chasing Dream, Young Heart, yet it was also unlike it. It carried a one-of-a-kind Zhou Ran quality.

What surprised him even more was that Zhou Ran was original again and again and again. This man was truly terrifying. Since his debut, Zhou Ran had never sung anyone else’s song. He was really going to take all the wool for himself and leave not a single strand for anyone else.

Online, quite a few people were still betting on how many original songs Zhou Ran could keep up. Some believed his next song would no longer be original; others thought he would remain original forever. Everyone had their own opinions.

As Zhou Ran’s singing continued, he entered the chorus directly. While singing, he completely immersed himself in it. He imagined himself as a drummer who trained hard but received no recognition, then, after relentless effort, finally found an opportunity, seized it firmly at the decisive moment, and rose to fame in one stroke. Zhou Ran succeeded in singing out that feeling.

Listening as well, the studio owner fully felt the emotion Zhou Ran wanted to convey through the song. Though he often listened to songs from Zhou Ran’s albums, this was the first time hearing him live, and the two experiences were entirely different. The shock and immersion brought by a live performance were something no digital version could ever provide.

Zhou Ran’s recording session went quite smoothly that day. In just about an hour and a half, he was already done, which counted as finishing early. Normally, recording a single song would take at least three or four hours.

After all, recording and live singing are two completely different things. In the studio, one still has to modify the finished track and adjust it until it reaches its most perfect state.

Live singing, on the other hand, is just about singing it through. Whether it sounds good or not becomes immediately apparent, while the studio can use technical methods to refine and correct it.

That was why many internet-famous singers sounded decent in online videos, but fell apart on stage: in live performance, there is no recording engineer to polish the vocals for them. They can rely only on their own ability.

After finishing the recording, Zhou Ran listened to the final result and felt that it sounded pretty good. Being able to record so quickly actually owed quite a bit to the film he was currently acting in.

Because the emotions of the male lead he was portraying were actually very similar to the feeling this song wanted to express, Zhou Ran found it much easier to convey those emotions while singing.

After the recording, Zhou Ran had originally intended to pay the studio owner, but the man absolutely refused to take any money. He said that being the first person to hear Zhou Ran sing a new song was already worth it, and taking money would make it improper. In the end, Zhou Ran could only leave the owner an autographed photo before departing.

In Zhou Ran’s view, he had completely come out ahead in this exchange, because his signed photo didn’t seem all that useful to him. If he wanted, he could sign as many as anyone liked.

What Zhou Ran did not know was that after he left the studio, the owner was overjoyed, because he had obtained Zhou Ran’s personal autograph. One must know that on the market, a signed photo from Zhou Ran already fetched at least four digits, and even then it was the kind of item that existed more as a rarity than something with a real market. Other people wanted to buy one, but there was nowhere to buy it from.

And he had gotten his simply by recording a little over an hour of music for Zhou Ran. That could only be described as an enormous windfall. On top of that, he had been the very first to hear the recording of Zhou Ran’s new song. That kind of treatment was not something ordinary people could ever have. He could brag about this to his friends for the rest of his life.