I Became an All-round Artist

The following week, the box office numbers for The Dance of Fish and Dragons continued to climb, showing promising growth. Meanwhile, The Big Fish, the film’s theme song, was gaining more and more popularity, winning the hearts of an ever-growing audience.

As a key institution in the arts, Qinzhou Academy of Arts naturally took notice of this song right away. The campus forums and various student groups across different departments were buzzing with discussions about it.

The students from the vocal department, in particular, were especially excited this time: "Did you see that? Excellent singing is just as crucial to a song's success!"

Qinzhou Academy is an arts school, where the environment leans heavily towards professionalism. As a result, the importance of composition has always been held in higher regard than singing. After the previous hit Life Like Summer Flowers, over half the students on campus were shouting things like—

"Composers lead the way!"

"Composer for the win!"

"Even a dog in the recording studio could become famous!"

What about our senior, Sun Yaohuo—doesn't he deserve some respect?

The vocal students were so furious reading these posts that they were trembling with anger, breaking into a cold sweat in the middle of summer, with icy hands and feet. The composition students had grown far too arrogant.

When would the vocal department finally rise up?

They didn't expect that their chance for a comeback would come so soon!

This time, The Big Fish, another work by Xianyu, wasn’t just any song that anyone could sing. Jiang Kui’s voice undoubtedly elevated the song, and because of this, the vocal students at Qinzhou Academy were fired up!

But the composition students, accustomed to their superiority, weren’t about to let the vocal department get the upper hand.

Soon, posts emerged rebutting the vocal department:

“Do you even know what ‘officially commissioned’ means?”

“Do you understand just how brilliant the hook of this song is?”

“Do you realize how rare it is to create a melody that fits perfectly with a movie’s plot?”

“Do you know that for a top composer, creating an impression song is a restrictive task, like dancing in chains? Yet Xianyu managed to write such a perfect song within these constraints. It’s an outstanding achievement!”

Some composition students practically staked their pride on it, pouring their university-level knowledge into deep technical analyses of just how masterful the composition of The Big Fish really was:

“The verse section of The Big Fish primarily uses stepwise motion, with occasional leaps. The first phrase uses continuous stepwise motion, creating a strong sense of momentum. The stepwise progression spans an entire octave, and the verse section follows a pentatonic scale—simple yet not simplistic. Brilliant!”

The vocal department gradually lost ground, while the composition department’s discussions grew even more heated.

“What I find most impressive is the rich variety of melodic development techniques used in this song, including strict repetition, varied repetition, extension, and even anaphora and sequence.”

“Exactly. In the climax of the song, there’s a high proportion of large intervals, like mi-sol-do-si-mi, mi-re-do-la-do, re-mi-la, and most of these large intervals are prepared with contrary motion.”

“Singing is done from a prepared score, but think about how much brainpower it took the composer to come up with all this?”

“The 4th, 10th, and 16th measures all use the same melodic fragment. The chorus also employs strict repetition, which is why it sounds so beautiful. And when it comes to the harmony, this song is simply beyond words—divine.”

The vocal department was thoroughly defeated.

Fortunately, the composition students were only trying to defend their beloved “song father’s” honor. After their analysis spree, they didn’t entirely dismiss the contribution of the singing: “Of course, Jiang Kui’s singing was excellent. To use a gaming analogy, if last time Sun Yaohuo won by riding on the composer’s coattails, then this time Jiang Kui was the one who initiated the team fight. She made a great play, but the victory was still thanks to the composer’s explosive output.”

“If you ask me, the lyrics also played a crucial role in the success of this song!”

Qinzhou Academy isn’t just home to vocal and composition majors; it also offers programs in lyric writing, a reflection of Qinzhou’s rich musical heritage.

With the composition and vocal students already at each other’s throats, it was only a matter of time before the lyric writing students jumped in.

One lyric writing student posted: “Afraid you’ll fly too far away, afraid you’ll leave me behind, yet afraid you’ll never leave at all—don’t you find these lines incredibly powerful? In just one sentence, the lyrics capture the subtle emotions between the White Dragon and the little girl, perfectly matching the tone of the animated film, while also resonating with countless parents who hope their children will soar, yet can’t bear to see them leave.”

“Poetry in motion!”

Another lyric writing student added: “The imagery required for an impression song is fully realized in these lyrics, with rich and moving details. It transitions from grand scenes to delicate emotions, filled with the cultural aesthetic of our Blue Star traditions.”

With the music departments so engrossed, even the arrangement department couldn’t help but join in: “The lyrics, melody, and singing are all excellent, but don’t overlook the importance of the arrangement in this song. The combination of instruments and drums, without overshadowing the ethereal vocals, even matching the singer’s breath with the instruments, is simply seamless.”

In the arrangement department, there’s a saying: Arrangers are like makeup artists, responsible for dressing up a song beautifully. A top-notch arranger can transform even an unremarkable song into something stunning.

But...

Both on Earth and on Blue Star, arrangers have always been considered less significant than composers and singers. Someone once asked the master arranger Zhong Xingming when arrangers would finally get the recognition they deserve, and his reply was, “It depends on our own efforts.”

The underlying bitterness was palpable.

But after all the analysis and debate, a non-music student who had been watching the drama finally couldn’t help but chime in: “But after all your discussions, except for the singing, the lyrics, composition, and arrangement of this song were all done by Xianyu.”

Music students collectively: “...”

And with that, all arguments instantly vanished. The focus shifted to Xianyu himself: “This new ‘song father’ is something else. It’s one thing to write both the lyrics and the music, but he’s also taken on the arrangement for both songs he’s released so far. Talk about a powerhouse!”

“He’s on track to becoming a top composer!”

“Give it a few more years, and Xianyu will definitely be a major player!”

“Do you even need to say that?”

A composition student sighed: “After finishing the exam on Life Like Summer Flowers, I started to resist Xianyu, but the moment his new song dropped, I couldn’t help but become a fan again.”

“Same here.”

“I’m different from you guys. Last time, when everyone was raving about Xianyu, I was worried he might just be a one-hit-wonder. After all, anyone can have a burst of inspiration. But with this new release, The Big Fish, he’s proven that his talent is the real deal.”

“What else would you expect from Qinzhou, the land of music?”

“The Qinzhou music scene is full of talent!”

And so, this sense of superiority grew from a departmental pride in the composition department to a broader, Qinzhou-wide pride. No matter the major, everyone felt like they were once again on top of the world.