While the singers of Qinzhou shiver at the mere mention of February, for music fans, it is a month full of anticipation, as it always brings some fantastic new songs. Especially now, during the winter break, students have plenty of time on their hands. So, on the night when January transitions into February, music-loving night owls collectively emerge.

The traffic on major music platforms in Qinzhou is exceptionally high this evening, and the newly released songs that have been promoted are receiving impressive listenership.

After browsing through the promotional list, someone in a small circle exclaimed, “Jiang Kui has released a song too! It’s being promoted on Dami Music’s banner!”

“Who is Jiang Kui?”

“The one who sang ‘Big Fish.’”

“Oh, oh, that girl’s voice is really beautiful!”

“What’s the song called? I’ll give it a listen.”

“It’s called ‘Balloon.’”

“‘Called Balloon’?”

“You’re using a joke from eighty years ago.”

“…”

Mentioning Jiang Kui might not ring a bell for many, but when “Big Fish” is brought up, everyone remembers. This song is quite popular among the younger crowd. Just for the sake of “Big Fish,” many are willing to give Jiang Kui’s new song a listen.

Upon playing “Balloon,” many listeners were surprised to hear a distinct deep breath in the intro, unembellished and unprocessed.

“That’s too deliberate, isn’t it?”

This was the initial reaction of many. People weren’t against the breathy sound; they just felt the singer’s exaggerated breathing was unnecessary for a song.

However, before they could stop the playback, the next segment of the performance left countless headphone-wearing listeners dumbfounded: “Black, white, red, yellow, purple, green, blue, gray, yours, mine, his, hers, big, small, round, flat, good, bad, beautiful, ugly, new, old, all kinds of styles, all kinds of colors for you to choose…”

What on earth?

In that instant, many felt breathless and instinctively took a deep breath along with the singer.

“Hiss.”

The singer took another deep breath, this time with a rich variation in melody, accompanied by a fast-paced piano background, mimicking the rhythm of drumbeats: “Fly high, the farther the better, cut the string and it dies, short-lived, happy is good, like it is good, nothing big, getting smaller and smaller, almost dead but still proud.”

What on earth!

Many were stunned.

The voice in their headphones became more adept: “If you don’t want to say it, then don’t say it. I don’t want to hear it, don’t want to hear it again, just treat all promises like balloons and let them go, I don’t care, won’t care, let them go, let them go.”

With the end of the main verse, many felt a sense of relief. No one thought the initial deep breath was deliberate anymore; this song was clearly designed to challenge the singer’s lung capacity!

“Poor singer…”

In a small music group, someone suddenly said this as the song entered a soothing section: “The balloon floats into the clouds, floats into the wind, ends its life; the balloon floats into love, floats into the heart, slowly dying.”

“Poor singer, count me in!”

“Is this song showing off skills?”

“No, it’s purely showing off lung capacity.”

“Hey, I suggest you all try singing it once…”

“Hahaha, after the first verse, my brain was severely deprived of oxygen. No, no, I need to take a break.”

“I can’t sing it either.”

“Ran out of breath by the end.”

“…”

At this point, a group member jokingly said, “According to experts, anyone who can’t sing the first line of ‘Balloon’ in one breath is weak.”

A bunch of people quickly retracted their messages.

“I can do it!”

“I can too!”

“No problem!”

Everyone suddenly felt capable again. Many even sent suicidal test recordings, attempting to sing the first verse of the song. And without exception, everyone started with a deep breath.

In terms of melody, the song is quite catchy, and with a casual listen, one can barely sing it. However, ninety percent of the recordings turned into a disaster towards the end, making listeners wonder if the person might faint from lack of oxygen.

“Laughing to death.”

“After hearing you all sing, I really want to call an ambulance for you.”

“It feels like I can do it when listening, but actually singing it, I might just pass out. Lowering the key might give me a chance.”

“Okay, I really can’t do it.”

“These days, to be a singer, you first need to learn how to hold your breath, right?”

“…”

The group discussion was particularly lively, and soon the song’s comment section followed suit: “This song can take down all fake karaoke kings!”

“This song can only be sung at noon because sooner or later, you’ll run out of breath.”

“I’m a broadcasting teacher, and I think I can give my students a good lesson tomorrow.”

“I want to learn this song and show off at karaoke when school starts!”

“Without a lung capacity of four or five thousand, don’t even think about learning this song.”

“No, you need lungs from the neck down to sing it.”

“This song should be called ‘Hypoxia,’ right?”

“I think it should be called ‘Out of Breath.’”

“Goodness, the first line almost took me away, and after singing it, I felt lifeless.”

“…”

The focus was no longer on how the song was. Everyone was discussing the difficulty of singing it and their feelings after attempting it. Some say that listening to music is about emotions. This song, however, turned listeners into participants.

And when the next day arrived, Old Zhou and Zhao Jue entered the company, almost simultaneously opened the February new song chart, and were stunned to find “Balloon” ranked eighth!

Why is February known as the group of death? Just look at the lineup of singers from various companies in February, and it’s clear. The chart has twelve first-line singers, including two kings and one queen!

Yet, on this star-studded chart, Jiang Kui, a semi-newcomer, managed to rank seventh with “Balloon”!

“My God…”

The two were dumbfounded: “What’s going on?”

Jiang Kui’s one breath essentially knocked out how many first-liners? Yes, “Balloon” is of decent quality, but the singers in February are all tough competitors. This result is too exaggerated, isn’t it?

Just then, Old Zhou heard someone in the department shout, “Look! Xian Yu’s new song is trending!”

Old Zhou quickly opened the Tribe. The Tribe is a social media and network platform based on user relationship information sharing and dissemination, and it’s the most popular social platform in Qinzhou. Only topics with extremely high popularity can make it to the trending list!

But at this moment, Old Zhou saw a topic related to “Balloon” at the tenth spot on the trending list, the last position on the topic list:

#BalloonChallenge#

Clicking on the topic revealed a plethora of short video shares, with many users, including some music streamers, attempting to sing the new song “Balloon” as a challenge.

Some handled it with ease.

Some sang until they were out of breath.

But without exception, all Tribe users who participated in this challenge gained considerable popularity, and fans were highly enthusiastic about the challenge.

“What are you waiting for!”

At this moment, in the artist department, Zhao Jue almost shouted at the agents under her: “Get your artists to participate in the Tribe’s ‘Balloon’ challenge immediately!”