Ji Ying’s “Thorn Bird” was an extremely difficult song with a very high range, massive vocal runs in the high sections where slight inattention could cause off-key singing or voice cracking.
Even Ji Ying herself, in her few full live mic performances of “Thorn Bird,” had only one perfect execution—the remaining times had various flaws.
That Fang Yinnian dared sing this song earned Ji Ying’s admiration for his courage.
She called the arrangement teacher to adapt her “Thorn Bird” into a male harmony version, having FTM and Chen Mian intensively practice harmonies.
Flying and regular guests only had two days of practice time. During these two days everyone practiced from morning to night until Chen Mian’s slightly hoarse vocal tone finally perfectly merged into FTM’s harmonies.
Soon came the weekend team battle.
This week’s flying guest lineup was powerful, with the other two mentors’ teams also adding exceptionally skilled vocalists.
The round-robin matches were truly gods fighting—constantly producing heart-stopping scores like 50:51.
Third round: Ji Ying team vs Yang Dahong team.
Whenever facing Yang Dahong’s team, Ji Ying’s team easily lost. Netizens considered this natural counterplay—Ji Ying preferred selecting ballads while Yang Dahong especially loved choosing show-off high note songs.
Competition stages were live-scored. As long as high notes were successfully executed, live judges would think you were amazing.
Conversely, even if gentle melodies had high completion rates, some judges with average musical appreciation couldn’t distinguish quality.
This episode, Ji Ying finally boldly increased difficulty for them.
Host: “Please welcome Ji Ying team’s FTM, collaborating with flying guest Chen Mian to perform ‘Thorn Bird’!”
After hearing the host’s announcement, the live stream immediately exploded.
“Holy crap, they’re singing Thorn Bird?!”
“Can they reach such difficult notes?”
“Probably lowered at least 2 keys”
“After three straight losses they’re panicking and randomly trying things”
“Ji Ying says: Can’t keep losing face, must go all-in”
“Even Sister Ying occasionally crashes on this song—waiting for today’s major crash~”
With a 15-second intro, onlookers waited to watch the show.
The harmony version had Fang Yinnian as main vocalist, Chen Mian as secondary vocalist, with other four teammates providing harmonies.
Chen Mian’s range wasn’t as high as Fang Yinnian’s, but he sang steadily and could support Yinnian, with the highest explosive parts solo’d by Fang Yinnian.
In the main verses, Fang Yinnian and Chen Mian coordinated seamlessly.
Finally came the chorus high range.
Chen Mian first delivered an extremely stable high note.
Immediately after, Fang Yinnian instantly rose three degrees above his high note, pushing the song’s climax to its peak in one breath—
Fang Yinnian smiled and spread his arms, his clear voice shooting toward the clouds like an arrow, the extreme penetrating power making audiences’ scalps tingle!
“I am that bird flying toward the sky”
“Spreading wings to freely break through clouds”
“Wind howling, clouds burning”
“Even if the road ahead is long, I fear no distance”
Live stream audiences were stunned.
“Holy crap! Fang Yinnian can hit such high notes?”
“Who just said they definitely lowered keys? This part wasn’t lowered—straight female key, right?”
“His high notes can compare with Teacher Ji Ying…”
“Fang Yinnian is awesome plus!”
Fang Yinnian perfectly completed this high note section, his voice round and full without any flaws.
But ahead was a 10-second high note run—the song’s greatest difficulty.
Teammates softly backed him up, using harmonies to lift him toward even greater heights.
Fang Yinnian paused, then began the finale with the music.
A single word’s high note sustained for 10 seconds with constant runs and changes—the live judges felt absolutely exhilarated.
So satisfying to listen to!
When Fang Yinnian finished, his palms were sweating.
His voice was fully opened—only the ending remained. Fang Yinnian and Chen Mian smiled at each other and alternated the conclusion.
Chen Mian: “I am that bird soaring high”
Fang Yinnian: “Every journey is my treasure”
Teammates harmonizing together: “Every challenge is my glory”
Fang Yinnian: “My glory”
His gentle, clear voice gave the entire song a perfect ending.
As accompaniment ended, Fang Yinnian stood on stage drenched in sweat.
Singing such difficult songs also required stamina—no easier than dancing. Fortunately, he’d completed it.
No mistakes whatsoever, and excellent coordination with Brother Mian.
Plus his teammates, who willingly served as supporting leaves today, becoming his best harmony accompaniment on stage.
After 2 seconds of silence, enthusiastic applause finally erupted.
Live stream audiences were already flooding the screen with “awesome.”
The host was also excited: “Thank you so much to FTM and Chen Mian for bringing us the male harmony version of ‘Thorn Bird’!”
“Next, please welcome Yang Dahong team guests to perform.”
Yang Dahong’s team also had male guests today, similarly adapting a difficult song, though they used roaring, screaming vocals that seemed very painful to sing.
It didn’t sound as natural as Fang Yinnian’s high notes.
Host: “Both guest groups have finished competing. Now for voting. Those supporting Ji Ying team raise blue signs, those supporting Yang Dahong team raise red signs.”
“Please have the first row judges vote!”
Fang Yinnian nervously looked toward the judging panel.
8 blue, 2 red!
Live stream audiences were frantically celebrating.
“This is stable, right?”
“Thorn Bird was sung amazingly”
“Same high-difficulty show-off song, but Thorn Bird was clearly better”
Host: “Please have the second row judges vote!”
The second row quickly raised their team signs.
8 blue, 2 red!
The third row surprised Fang Yinnian even more—all 10 votes blue!
Following rows also clearly favored Ji Ying team over Yang Dahong team, with the big screen score gap constantly widening.
Final tally: 81:20, such a huge margin.
They won!
Fang Yinnian excitedly turned to hug Chen Mian: “Brother Mian, we won!”
Chen Mian smiled and patted his shoulder: “Yinnian, you’re really amazing.”
Host: “Congratulations to Ji Ying team for victory!”
Yang Dahong graciously gave Ji Ying a thumbs up.
Teacher Ji Ying couldn’t have been prouder.
She hadn’t understood FTM before, thinking they were just an idol boy group singing pop music, so she kept selecting simple songs, resulting in three straight losses.
She never expected this idol group to have a dark horse like Fang Yinnian with such an extreme vocal range!
Sheng Yao Media was really something—with Fang Yinnian’s abilities he could totally develop solo. Why form a boy group? Such a waste of talent!
Fortunately, he perfectly executed today’s song, finally letting the public see this pearl.
That evening, after official Weibo released stage videos, FTM and Chen Mian’s collaboration “Thorn Bird” became the highest-played track.
The hashtag #Thorn Bird# was discussed into trending by netizens.
On Bilibili’s official “Sounds of Nature Season 5” stage compilation, “Thorn Bird” quickly surpassed 10 million plays!
Viewers clicking in listened several times with tingling scalps.
“This can definitely make season top ten, right?”
“I personally think this is Sounds of Nature’s best stage so far”
“Fang Yinnian is such a dark horse—actually singing female key”
Meanwhile, entertainment forum groups opened a “Sounds of Nature
Live Thread” with thousands of replies, becoming the week’s HOT topic.
“FTM finally achieved their first victory!”
“Fang Yinnian is amazing, suspect lip-syncing level”
“Sounds of Nature can’t possibly lip-sync, right?”
“Fang Yinnian’s high notes are so impressive, could rank top five in Chinese music”
“Not many male singers can sing this high”
“Other singers singing high notes have [pain mask] expressions, but Fang Yinnian looked so relaxed”
“Definitely post-production audio editing!”
“I don’t believe he sang this well live”
“Don’t you know ‘Sounds of Nature’ is also called crazy auto-tune?”
“Just show effects—auto-tuned until even his mother couldn’t recognize it”
The thread erupted into fan-hater wars, getting very heated.
Some questioned Fang Yinnian lip-syncing to recordings, others questioned whether he was really that strong live or if it was post-production audio effects.
Since “Sounds of Nature” was pre-recorded rather than live broadcast, the production team could indeed do post-production audio editing. But “Thorn Bird” wasn’t edited—they had performed perfectly live.
Online controversy wasn’t bad for the production team.
Variety shows needed discussion and buzz. Netizens writing essays to argue with each other proved this song’s stage had truly gone viral.
It even attracted a group collaboration of Bilibili UP creators.
Some UP creators analyzed Fang Yinnian’s pitch, discovering through comparison that his high vocal range matched veteran singer Luo Hua.
Netizens got excited.
“Will domestic entertainment’s new generation finally have an amazing male singer?”
“Betting on fyn—a destined star descending!”
“Key is he’s only 20—protect his voice and his future is limitless”
“Starting today, I’m stanning this potential stock”
After “Sounds of Nature” Episode 5 aired, through massive UP creator and music blogger recommendations and public opinion fermentation, Fang Yinnian’s popularity exploded.
His Weibo followers were first to break 10 million!
Xu Baichuan was stunned by this follower growth rate—this was comparable to a summer blockbuster drama’s influence!
Teammates were also very happy for Fang Yinnian.
Fang Yinnian saw many supportive and encouraging comments, but also some inflammatory remarks.
“fyn should go solo quickly, don’t let teammates drag you down”
“Staying with a boy group you can only sing simple pop songs—going solo lets you freely hit high notes and sing harder songs”
“Four teammates just there to fill space?”
“Serving as stage decoration”
“FTM’s team spirit is fyn leading four little brothers?”
“Sounds of Nature stage is basically fyn’s solo show”
“Sheng Yao’s prince with four bodyguards—is there a problem?”
“The company wants to promote him”
Fang Yinnian: “…”
These malicious comments belittling his teammates made him very uncomfortable.
(advanced chapters available on kofi)
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