show log: 天赐的声音3, ep 1

[presumenothing]

I almost added a question mark to the title, because my track record for finishing even music-oriented variety shows (and even with Zhou Shen included, but that goes without saying) is, uh. Not too great! But anyway. Here goes…

天赐的声音 aka The Treasured Voice S3: Full episode is here, though no English subs at time of writing. And of course, Zhou Shen's duet performance of Stefanie Sun's 克卜勒! Which translates as Kepler, for those keeping track at home, and therefore fits right in with his various other interstellar-themed collaborations. (See also: 她是黯淡星 with Muma, 星际列车 with Lang Lang & band, 末日飞船 with Tang Hanxiao… no wait I'm supposed to save the Shenshen-rambling for the other post, right)

On the non-Zhou Shen front, I'm peripherally aware of quite a few names on this show, but the only ones whose performances I've specifically heard are Angela, Jike, and Xilinnayi, so this should be interesting!

General liveblog-y thoughts:

• 铿锵玫瑰 duet: I really wanted to like this, because I did generally enjoy Jike and Xilin's respective performances on Singer 2020 and Our Song 2, but… eh, this didn't really do it for me. Something about the strong-and-strong voice combo without enough concessions to the necessities of a duet? Almost makes me feel it would've worked better with either one solo.
• That said, I'm happy to see both Jike and Angela on this show! Both are pretty fun to have around, and I'm enjoying the latter's ribbing of local reaction gif Zhou Shen.
• 后来 duet: The opening vocoder(?) bit was a refreshing take, plus some pretty good harmonies on the second half. (then again, I'm pretty sure it's nigh-impossible to make this song sound bad unless you really screw something up, musically speaking)
• "因为我讨厌上节目" LOL talk about direct.
• I did know 天赐 is considered a music-focused show, but it's nice hearing technical comments again! (…for a given value of "again", since Super Vocal is the only other show I've seen doing this?)
• 光的方向 duet: First time hearing Tang Yi and wow, that voice! Nothing elaborate technically, but definitely a solid performance – I would never have pegged it as her first time on a professional stage. (…on that note, was making such a big deal about Shin's peace sign necessary? It's her first pro performance with her idol, cut them some slack, wow.)
• "站有站相，坐有坐相" *camera cuts to Zhou Shen suddenly sitting up ramrod straight*
• ………and now I feel awful for Tang Yi, damn, those were some unfairly harsh comments. Props to GAI and Shin for speaking up on her behalf.
• "周深……旁边的张韶涵！" please you are gonna give him a heart attack
• 孤勇者 duet: I tend to like Angela's solo work on slower/non-rock songs better (see: 阿刁 and 梦里花 from Singer 2018), but as far as her duets go this was fairly balanced between her voice and Shin's, so plus point for that. Also she looks So Tiny next to him, what is that height. Dude.
• 克卜勒 duet: …look, I'm not gonna pretend I can even be halfway objective about this. Co-producer Shenshen! Harmony line writer Shenshen! THAT HIGH NOTE, HELLO, 天使 is right. And whoever's idea that ending was (ETA: turns out it WAS Shenshen's idea hahahahaha I should've known) – a solid choice. (Also, appreciation for COM'Z because I'm pretty sure they had to bump up a couple keys to match him! Thanks for the service, y'all.)
• 每天爱你多一些 duet: Definitely liked Xilin in this more than the opening one with Jike… but also I am of course biased in favour of Canto songs, and 张学友 no less. Even though I'm pretty sure their pronunciation is not on point XD but I've got no rights to comment on that LOL. Nor am I familiar enough with the original song to know which part was Hu Yanbin's addition, so now I'm curious about that…?
• 问风 duet: Also liked Jike in this duet much more! A good match with GAI's voice and style, though I think the arrangement could've been improved…? Like, more harmony and less unison. I don't actually know what I'm talking about.
• 初恋 duet: Canto song #2! Yay! Liked this more than both Tang Yi's first duet and also 每天爱你多一些 – more musically interesting, I suppose? And this chill-but-not-slow kind of song style has always been up my alley.
• Oh alright so I'm not the only one who felt the 网络歌手 discrimination. Good to know.
• …and yes I already knew he won this episode but YAY SHENSHEN!! \o/
• Tangentially, other performances mentioned on the episode: 你要如何，我们就如何 (volume warning for start of video) aka COM'Z in their more-natural habitat (and key) (reminds me of a Mando version of EggPlantEgg, actually?); 白兰鸽巡游记 by Angela on S1, which is much closer to the type of performances I like from her (also, choir!).

Zhou-Shen-on-the-brain thoughts:

• His intro card lists 大鱼, of course, but also 灯火里的中国 and 悬崖之上, and now I'm tempted to run through his recent-ish show appearances and see if there's any discernible pattern in the songs chosen based on show genre…
• (11:43) "就说实话，我有一点点不习惯我们这个《天赐的声音》…" (Angela: "你现在可以走呀" LOL) and the whole 观众很残忍 bit, aw.
• (13:19) "冷不冷!?" (Angela: "冷！冷死了！")
• (14:01) "也希望我后面唱歌的时候老师们放过我!!" *frantic bowing* (Jike: "深深你懂我的感觉吗！！")
• (18:15) ………………深深你在鬼画符什么啊 XD what is that supposed to BE
• (31:54) [surprised_pikachu.jpg] (Angela: "干嘛得意什么呀？" ZS: "开心～" sunshine!!)
• (42:30) This entire bit, omg, I am simultaneously dying of laughter and secondhand embarrassment. In all fairness, Angela, he's been known to misremember even his own song titles before, let him live XD
• (55:43) Backstage song arrangement time! I don't see a problem here, that sounds good to me…
• (1:03:31) "听完之后只想少说话，保护一下嗓子" yeah, good luck with that :P
• (1:04:00) "谦虚一点啊！！！" (tfw 甩锅 backfires LOL)
• (1:17:24) 太吓人了, says the literal Spiders Georg of vocal technique himself…