Chapter 474: Future Iconic Scene

Chapter 474: Chapter 474: Future Iconic Scene

Irene tilted her body as she flipped through the trainee resumes one by one, harboring a secret anticipation known only to herself.

She clearly remembered that the female singer who would stir up huge waves in the future music scene, becoming globally famous for her highly controversial and avant-garde grotesque fashion styling and her unique personal charm blending music, visual arts, and performance tension, was currently participating in this season of The Voice.

After all, she had read through every trainee’s name, and she still remembered her idol’s name.

But when Irene was observing the trainees backstage just now, she found that several girls were of similar age and height, with somewhat similar facial shapes and figures, falling respectively under the three different team names of Kanye, Bonnie, and Britney herself.

Without iconic makeup and styling, without the blessing of stage lighting, relying solely on one-inch ID photos and bare faces glanced at roughly, even as a "past-life fan" who had long been familiar with each other’s brilliant lives, Irene was completely unable to accurately identify them, secretly sighing that she was truly not a qualified fan.

Britney was still talking endlessly about the little episodes of the trainees within her team.

When she reached the most exciting blind audition recording segment, her description became increasingly detailed.

As the stage scenes, outfits, and singing formats were pieced together bit by bit, Irene’s heart skipped a beat.

Unsurprisingly, the person she had been searching for all along should be in Britney’s team.

Britney vividly restored the scene where the whole audience was shocked at that time:

"You did not see with your own eyes how shocking it was the day she took the stage. Everyone else went on stage meticulously dressed, wearing pretty dresses and matching eye-catching accessories.

Only she was particularly simple, wearing a clean pure-white basic T-shirt with a pair of jeans, bare-faced, without any stage packaging. She walked alone to the center of the stage and quietly sat in front of the black grand piano prepared by the production team.

The audience’s lights shone only on her alone and the piano keys, and the accompaniment relied entirely on the piano solo, carrying a complete 1-minute stage entirely with her own voice and playing."

"It was an original work completely written and composed by herself. The musical style integrated the core of 1980s classic rock, the thick and full chest voice singing in the middle section was impeccably steady, and the consecutively rising high-note explosive power in the latter half soared straight into the sky.

The transitions between strong and weak, as well as emotional progression, were all handled with extreme dramatic tension, and every note carried a power that struck straight into people’s hearts."

Britney was still full of admiration when talking about this segment:

"I pressed the turn button almost immediately after she finished singing the first chorus, thinking I had it in the bag.

Never did I expect that the other three mentors, Steve, Kanye, and Bonnie, would all press their buttons consecutively as the song progressed, and the four red revolving chairs turned completely in unison.

She was also the first contestant among hundreds of auditionees in our entire round to get all four mentors to turn around. At that time, all the staff backstage in the studio went wild."

In Irene’s mind, that impactful iconic scene was instantly restored.

She even anticipated in advance how huge of a trending craze this blind audition clip would trigger on the internet after the main show was edited and broadcast.

Countless viewers would frantically screen-swipe for this pure yet formidable musical talent and loop-play it repeatedly, and future fans would also repeatedly archaeologically dig into this video because of their idol’s initial debut.

Suppressing the ripples in her heart, she looked at the proud-looking Britney and smiled as she threw out the question in her mind:

"Four top mentors fighting for her at the same time, the competitive pressure can be imagined. What on earth did you use to steadily snatch this talented trainee under your team’s command from the hands of the other three senior music industry veterans?"

Mentioning this wonderful snatching battle, Britney raised her chin, a shrewd and smug smile flashing in the depths of her eyes.

She gently shook the trainee file in her hand, her tone carrying a little bit of showing off:

"What else could it rely on? Of course, it is unique personal charm. And the most important point is that this little girl herself is my loyal fan, grew up listening to my songs, and had long quietly buried the wish to cooperate and study with me in her heart.

When the four mentors took turns lobbying and throwing out various cultivation resources, she did not hesitate too much and finally firmly chose to join my team, saying she hoped you could help her polish pop stages and refine original arrangements, which can be considered getting her wish fulfilled."

Irene recalled, seemingly remembering that her idol had once said she was a fan of Britney and had even written songs for Britney, and she smiled and accepted Britney’s explanation.

After all the variety show recording and film/television cooperation negotiation matters in New York were settled, Irene ended her days of running around on the East Coast itinerary and boarded a private flight to fly straight back to Los Angeles.

The evening breeze in Los Angeles was always relaxed and gentle, the sunlight was transparent and passionate, and even the air was wrapped in a unique freedom and vitality.

This was the home ground where her career took root, the starting point where her countless projects took root and sprouted, and the city that made her body and mind most secure.

Taking a brief rest for two days to shed the fatigue of days of business travel, she attended the Los Angeles premiere of Universal Pictures’ annual blockbuster special effects film Van Helsing as promised.

It had been a full two years since this project was preemptively "snatched" away from her hands by Universal Pictures back then.

Two years was neither long nor short, but in these past two years, her own work had been so much that she almost forgot why she had deliberately dug this huge pit for Universal back then.

Back then, after she actively attracted attention, she went with the flow, watching Universal Pictures spiritedly intercept the project, fully believing they had found a treasure, little knowing they had long stepped into an industry trap.

Two years later, this ill-fated, bumpy, and continuously bad-mouthed special-effects blockbuster by the industry finally arrived belatedly, officially landing in theaters to start its premiere.

Looking back at the entire production process of these two years, the preparation and filming journey of the entire Van Helsing could be called Hollywood’s most tortuous, disheveled, and most criticized negative case of the year.

From beginning to end, not a single step went smoothly, and the whole process was filled with controversy, tug-of-war, compromise, and overturning, almost becoming a laughingstock across Hollywood’s Big Six circles.

Back then, Universal wholeheartedly wanted to create a brand new magical monster universe benchmarked against Pirates of the Caribbean, attempting to break out in one fell swoop by relying on large-scale production, strong special effects, and an all-star cast to refresh the annual box office record.

But after taking over, difficult problems came one after another, and all previously unexpected hidden dangers broke out centrally.

First was the downgrade of the core production team.

Industrial Light & Magic, the top-tier first-line special effects team in the industry that was originally finalized, possessing mature magical blockbuster production experience, precise visual aesthetics, and high-efficiency capabilities, had already signed contracts for Irene’s Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3 in advance, so they could only send the company’s internal second-line production team to assist in shooting.

But how could Universal accept such a downgrade?

They directly and unilaterally rejected Industrial Light & Magic’s proposal, and later found other special effects companies, only to terminate contracts entirely due to multiple reasons such as salary budget disagreements, cooperation clause tug-of-wars, and schedule conflicts.

Under haste, Universal was completely unable to quickly connect with top-tier teams of the same standard, and could only settle for second best, signing second- and third-line special effects teams with mediocre industry reputation, lacking experience, and only adept at small- and medium-budget productions.