Chapter 498: Heated Discussion Across the Internet

Chapter 498: Chapter 498: Heated Discussion Across the Internet

With the scores tallied, the host held the final ranking list and formally announced the Top 4 finalists of this season of The Voice in front of everyone.

The four contestants—Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, Christopher Ocean, and Stephanie Germanotta—successively stepped onto their exclusive advancement stage, firmly securing their qualification to sprint for the annual grand champion.

At the moment when the Top 4 list was officially announced, the audience erupted into thunderous applause and continuous cheers.

The four talented contestants, with vastly different styles and each possessing their own unique strengths, successfully broke through.

They happened to represent four completely different musical styles—dynamic pop, retro ballad, niche R&B, and avant-garde art rock.

These four complementary styles, each with its own charm, fully maxed out the suspense of the upcoming grand finals, leaving no one able to pre-judge where the final championship would land.

Although the eight contestants who stopped at the Top 12 felt some regret, they all calmly accepted the result.

Along the way, they grew from amateur newcomers into singers capable of standing on a professional stage, gaining stage experience, a fan base, industry attention, and precious growth experiences.

Even though they were regretfully eliminated, quite a few of them had already caught the eye of multiple small talent agencies in the industry, earning their admission ticket into the music scene.

Everyone took to the stage to hug the mentors and the Top 4 contestants. The atmosphere at the venue was warm and healing, devoid of the resentment of leaving, filled only with all-out passion and mutual blessings.

The four mentors stepped onto the stage one by one to summarize the entire semifinal process, while also sending messages to the Top 4 contestants, encouraging them to break through themselves and bloom fully on the top-tier stage of the grand finals, bringing out their best state to interpret their own musical attitude.

Looking at Stephanie who advanced under her team, Britney’s eyes were filled with gratification and expectation. In private, she softly exhorted her to calm her mindset and not be nervous; no matter what the final outcome was, she just needed to enjoy the stage to the fullest, as the company had long paved the subsequent development path for her.

Finally, the host announced that the grand finals would be held half a month later at Radio City Music Hall in New York. By then, 4,000 audience members would come to watch, and the grand champion would also be voted out by these 4,000 audience members. Please let the final Top 4 get ready, and stay tuned.

Irene quietly watched the four shining young people on the stage. These four top-tier singers who would sweep the Grammy and rule the European and American music scenes in the future had all gathered on the variety show stage she built, and had all fallen into her cultural entertainment layout.

With Stephanie signed in advance, Bruno Mars and Katy Perry pending negotiation, and Christopher Ocean valued by Kanye, no matter who ultimately took home the annual championship, the biggest winner would always be this show, and the brand-new music label built together by her and Britney.

The semifinal recording successfully concluded, and the audience orderly exited the venue. The staff began working through the night to review stage materials, edit the final cuts, and coordinate the grand finals process, while the massive registration system for 4,000 audience members officially entered the registration phase.

As soon as the official social media accounts and official website homepage of The Voice simultaneously announced the news of the grand finals audience recruitment, it instantly detonated the young circles across the United States, triggering heated discussions across the entire internet.

There was no preliminary warm-up or momentum-building, and even the publicity was pitifully sparse. Yet, a simple announcement leveraged the attention of tens of millions of netizens.

This season’s annual grand finals officially landed at the Radio City Music Hall in New York, opening up 4,000 free public audience seats across the entire internet. With zero ticket fees and zero threshold premium, all viewing quotas were entirely generated through pure random draws by the system, open and transparent throughout, giving every ordinary netizen an equal opportunity to sign up and participate.

Placed in the North American variety show market of 2005, this kind of operation could be called a subversive pioneering feat.

At that time, the live seats for all award ceremonies, variety galas, and talent show finals were almost monopolized by brand sponsors, media, industry insiders, and internal connections. Ordinary audiences could only watch from behind the screen, and if they wanted to visit the top-tier live scene in person, they could only scramble for scarce scalper tickets at high prices or pull strings.

Under Irene’s leadership, The Voice completely shattered industry circle barriers, taking out the golden viewing seats of New York’s landmark-level performance venue and opening them up for free to the public, instantly igniting the dream-chasing passion of countless ordinary people.

The moment the news spread, five local hardcore fans in New York almost simultaneously swiped onto the official announcement push notification.

They were a squad of good friends who had known each other for many years and had great tacit understanding. With complementary personalities and shared interests, they had been paying attention ever since the show started preparing. Even before the show was broadcast on TV, as long as news appeared on the internet, they would follow it immediately. Some of them were even accidentally chosen to go to Disney Studio to watch the second and third stage PKs live.

Therefore, they could be considered to have witnessed the entire journey of this variety show, making them the most veteran core old-school fans across the entire internet.

These five people each had their own characteristics and different life trajectories, yet they were closely bound together by a common passion.

Leia, the backbone of the squad, was 22 years old and a fresh graduate majoring in media at New York University. She was calm, meticulous, steady, and reliable in her actions.

All official event registrations, rule interpretations, and information verification were always her sole responsibility. This time’s grand finals recruitment announcement was also captured by her at the first instance and synchronized to everyone.

Lively, unrestrained, enthusiastic, and outgoing Michelle was 20 years old, a sophomore student in school, and a die-hard fan of Britney through and through.

Her mobile phone album and social media homepage were filled with Britney’s stage clips, and she could name all the contestants under her name like she owned family valuables. Whether it was the other party’s competition resume, track style, or stage highlights, she knew them by heart and was enthusiastic about following every backstage dynamic.

Gentle, quiet, and delicate-minded Ella was 21 years old and a freelance illustrator.

With flexible and free time, she was a mutual fan of Britney and Irene, closely following the dynamics every single time the two appeared together.

Cheerful, straightforward, and relaxed-minded Zoe was 20 years old and a part-time office worker at a coffee shop. With extremely strong stress-resistance capabilities, whenever the squad fell into anxiety and apprehension, she was always the one to actively adjust the atmosphere and soothe everyone’s emotions.

The youngest, Hailey, was 19 years old and a freshman at an art academy. With a shy, introverted personality and prone to extreme nervousness, she had almost never won any welfare awards from childhood to adulthood. With mediocre luck, she tended to fret over gains and losses when encountering things, making her the least confident of the five.

The five met years ago at an offline gathering of local fans in New York, hitting it off immediately to form an exclusive group chat. Sharing show previews, stage clips, and idol-chasing daily life every day, they had long become close friends who could talk about anything.

To them, Irene and Britney were not only idols, but also their goals to learn from and the most burning spiritual sustenance in ordinary life.

On the afternoon when the official announcement pop-up appeared, Leia took a screenshot and forwarded it to the chat group at the first instance, sending several messages in a row, instantly waking up everyone who was slacking off drawing, attending class, or working.