Chapter 1652: Call of the Spotlight (Part V)
Chapter 1652: Call of the Spotlight (Part V)
Hearing that the longest winning streak of a daily defending champion in the singing competition so far was eight days piqued Iris Long’s interest. What did it take for someone, especially an amateur singing with no previous professional experience, to win against all challengers for a full eight days straight?
As a guest judge for a day, she had already witnessed the raw talent and great potential of two out of three contestants so far. It was a pity that the second contestant failed to move forward, but for a cut-throat singing competition like this, only one could move forward. No ties allowed.
Also, if there were new contestants every single day, then that would be quite a pool of talent in this country. Iris couldn’t help but feel impressed.
Finally, the program director announced the end of commercials. They had one minute to get back to their positions. Everyone moved, including Jin Liwei, who reluctantly left the judges’ panel but not before giving his beloved wife a quick peck on the cheek.
The audience reacted, "Oooooooooh~"
The Black Stars, who had been paying attention to their Boss Iris from the beginning, gave a stronger reaction. They squealed, "Kyaaaaaaaaah!!!"
Witnessing yet another sweet interaction between their goddess and her husband made them once again clutch their chests, feeling like their hearts were going to burst out from all the sweetness.
Even the hosts who noticed the situation couldn’t stop themselves from snickering. The cloying sweetness that this married couple brought to the studio was even better than what the guest love teams invited to the show had. Most of the time, the
were only pretending to be sweet with each other, even though they weren’t romantically involved in real life. The devoted fans of these love teams always went crazy for them.The hosts thought that a real-life happy couple like Iris Long and Liam Jin were a million, no, a billion times better than those fake love teams. Even some of the younger hosts became popular because of their managements’ assigned love teams. Some love teams became real, but almost all of them didn’t end up with a happy ever after.
Back to the present, Master Beauty and the other veteran hosts were introducing the daily final showdown between the new challenger and the defending champion.
At the judges’ table, Iris and her fellow judges resumed their serious demeanour. They stopped chit-chatting among themselves and paid attention.
Although this was an entertainment program, many contestants came to sing in order for them to have a chance to fight for their dreams. Many came from poor families. Joining "Call of the Spotlight" was their ticket to a better life.
Nobody needed to tell Iris what to do. She already decided to judge in earnest from the get-go. She didn’t want to be the reason why someone deserving would fail to get the chance to fight for a better life, just because she felt too lazy to judge properly. So far, she observed that both her fellow judges, Albert Alcala and Dina Bendita, also took their judging roles seriously.
Master Beauty finally introduced the defending daily champion.
Iris saw that the defending champion was quite a pretty woman. She looked at the information sheet in front of her and found out that the defending champion was in her late twenties, only a few years older than her. She was now growing curious about what kind of voice could become a six-day defending champion. If she won again today, then she would have triumphed for seven days. Another win and she would have matched the current record of an eight-day winning streak.
"Good appearance, right?" Dina whispered while leaning towards her.
Iris nodded.
"I’m keeping an eye on her. Win or lose today, I’ve already decided to personally mentor her. With just a little bit of training and a makeover, she could achieve something in the music industry. If she’s able to take better care of her appearance and image, maybe she could also venture into acting. We’ll see."
"Good eye," Iris said.
Although she hadn’t heard the defending champion sing yet, she could still see star quality in someone. The defending champion’s star quality was still weak, but if packaged well, she might really just succeed in showbiz, especially with a Filipino icon like Dina Bendita supporting her.
"Now I’m more curious about why you like her so much," Iris added.
Dina gave her a mysterious smile. "You’ll see."
After Master Beauty and the other hosts finished chatting with the defending champion, they announced that the new challenger would sing first. The defending champion stepped back.
"Good luck!" Master Beauty gave the new challenger a big thumbs up. It seemed that she liked the poor farmer better than the defending champion.
The new challenger, the poor farmer who came from the extremely rural mountains, faced the audience. He was trembling a little. The audience cheered for him, hoping to give him a boost of confidence. Even the defending champion’s supporters, who were carrying printed banners, couldn’t help but cheer for the opponent. The new challenger was just someone who was easy to sympathize with, especially with such a sad background.
As soon as the music started, however, something changed in the new challenger’s eyes. It was like a fire had been lit.
Iris noticed it immediately. She sat up straighter.
The new challenger no longer trembled. He started to sing with all his might.
Once again, he sang another Enrique Valdez song. Unlike the song he sang in the previous round, this song wasn’t as well-known worldwide. It was one of the band’s earliest songs before Enrique Valdez and his band became famous.
It was a heartfelt rock ballad that didn’t require many tricky techniques, but it did have quite a lot of high notes. Since Filipinos loved love songs, it became an enduring hit in the Philippines even after so many years.
With his slightly raspy yet still clean-sounding voice, the new challenger serenaded everyone in the studio.