Chapter 935
The Traffic Tsunami Brought by the AI Divine Song "Jingwei"!
Douyin Headquarters.
Zhang Yizu sat in the conference room with three screens spread out in front of him.
On the left is the audio waveform of "Jingwei" generated by Nuwa, in the middle is the real-time data dashboard of Douyin's backend, and on the right is the promotion schedule of "All or Nothing" sent by Guo Xing.
He rubbed his temples; his third Americano was already empty.
Guo Xing pushed the door open and came in, holding a tablet in his hand, with obvious dark circles under his eyes.
She has been working overtime for several days in a row, but she is surprisingly energetic.
She tapped on the tablet, and a piece of music began to play.
The prelude is a low electronic pulse, like a heartbeat, and then the sound of the flute pierces in without warning, sharp and desolate, like someone shouting in the wilderness.
Zhang Ziyi frowned slightly, not because the sound was unpleasant, but because the sound sent chills down his spine.
"This version..."
He carefully chose his words: "It hurts more...than the previous version."
"Yes, it hurts."
Guo Xing sat down, pushed the tablet aside, and said, "Wa analyzed the emotional curves of all the popular short video background music on the platform over the past two years and found that the music with the highest dissemination efficiency all have one thing in common—creating an 'unfinished emotion' in the chorus. Either it ends abruptly, or a certain note is deliberately not sung to its full extent, making the listener feel itchy, and they can only release it by repeatedly playing it or singing it themselves."
Zhang Ziyi opened the analysis report generated by Wa.
It was a densely packed heat map of emotions, with time on the horizontal axis and emotional intensity on the vertical axis. Different colors represented different emotional types—red for anger, blue for sadness, gold for hope, and purple for repression.
In the chorus, the purple curve representing "repression" rises sharply, then stops abruptly at its highest point, followed by a three-second pause.
"Was that three-second pause intentionally left by Nuwa?" Zhang Yizu asked.
"Correct."
Guo Xing nodded and said, "This is called 'emotional suspension.' When the audience's emotions are pushed to the highest point and suddenly there is no outlet, they will subconsciously want to fill the void themselves. They can either hum along, sing along, or share it with others—no matter which one, it is all about spreading the message."
Zhang Yizu leaned back in his chair, staring at the blank space.
This was the first time he had ever seen someone use AI to break down the psychology of communication in such detail. It wasn't about "this song is so good that it will become popular," but rather "what kind of physiological reaction this blank space will produce in the audience, and what kind of behavior it will trigger."
"Then let's use this version."
He stood up and made a decision: "It will be sent out promptly at eight o'clock tomorrow night."
The next morning, the core members of the Douyin operations team were summoned to the conference room.
The projection screen displays a list of about two hundred accounts with followers ranging from tens of thousands to tens of millions, covering multiple categories such as music, film and television, appearance, comedy, and knowledge.
"This is the first batch of cover song creators we selected."
Zhang Yizu stood in front of the screen, holding a laser pointer: "There are three selection criteria. First, the account must have a high level of interaction with its followers, not the kind built up from fake followers. Second, the average completion rate of videos in the past month must be over 40%. Third, the account must have a history of releasing music-related content, even if it's just lip-syncing."
Someone raised their hand: "Mr. Zhang, what about those top bloggers with tens of millions of followers? Although their prices are high, their influence is also great."
"Don't look for them."
Zhang Byte shook his head and said, "First, top bloggers are too commercialized, and their fans are already immune to their advertising content. Second, their schedules are too full, making it difficult to coordinate with our precise timing. Third, and most importantly—what we need is the 'organic word-of-mouth effect,' not the 'advertising effect.' A mid-tier blogger with a few hundred thousand followers genuinely liking this song will have a much better dissemination effect than a top blogger with tens of millions of followers doing something for money."
He brought up several specific accounts on the screen.
"For example, there's 'Ayouyou,' with 300,000 followers, who mainly sings ancient-style songs. Her fan base and the style of 'Jingwei' are highly similar. There's also 'Fat Guitar,' with 800,000 followers, who specializes in guitar playing and singing lessons, and her fans are extremely loyal. And there's 'Little Horse Singing at the Construction Site,' with 500,000 followers, a migrant worker with a very rough voice, but his songs are incredibly powerful. This kind of contrast is the easiest way to break into the mainstream."
Guo Xing added from the side: "We have already communicated with these bloggers. It's not a blatant advertisement, but an invitation for them to participate in an event called 'National Chorus of Jingwei.' We will provide accompaniment, lyrics, and even recording suggestions, but we will not force them to sing in any particular way. Whether they sing well or poorly is fine; the important thing is authenticity."
"Wa generated customized recording suggestions for each of them."
Zhang opened a document, which was filled with suggestions for different bloggers.
Ayouyou: I suggest lowering the pitch by one level to emphasize the sound of the xiao (vertical flute), and you could try using opera vocals.
Fat Guitar: C major fingering is recommended, and strumming is used in the chorus to increase the rhythm.
Xiao Ma: Just use the original tone, don't deliberately modify your voice, keep the rough feel.
The operations team members looked at each other in bewilderment.
They had never seen such granular operation before.
"Wa ran more than 7,000 simulations last night."
Zhang Yizu's tone was calm, but what he said sent a chill down one's spine: "It analyzed the expected dissemination effect of cover versions with different styles, vocal ranges, and emotional expressions under Douyin's recommendation algorithm. Then, based on each blogger's vocal characteristics and fan preferences, it generated the optimal cover version. What you are seeing now are the one hundred selected versions."
The meeting room was silent for a few seconds.
Then someone whispered, "This is fucking a dimensional attack."
……
At 7:50 PM, Douyin headquarters, content operations center.
On the huge curved screen, real-time data dashboards are displaying dynamic information.
Online user count, video uploads, interaction volume, traffic distribution across various categories—dozens of curves intertwine, resembling a dynamic abstract painting.
Zhang Yizu stood in front of the screen, holding a freshly brewed cup of hot tea.
Guo Xing sat at the workstation next to him, staring at his tablet, which displayed a communication group with the seed bloggers.
Zhou Qing is in charge of monitoring public opinion. In front of her are three screens, which display real-time discussions about "Jingwei" on Weibo, Zhihu, and Xiaohongshu.
"One minute left." Someone was watching the time.
It's exactly eight o'clock.
Ayouyou's account posted a video on time.
In the video, she is wearing a plain-colored Hanfu (traditional Han Chinese clothing) and standing in a recording studio with headphones on her head.
As the intro began, she closed her eyes and then spoke.
Her voice was softer than the original, but in the chorus, she suddenly switched to a Peking opera style, and the line "You and I will talk about the Hall of Mental Cultivation first" was drawn out high and thin, like a silver needle piercing the air.
At the end of the video, she said to the camera, "This is the most difficult song I've recorded this year, and also the best one. The original song is on @GalaxyTheatre, everyone should go listen to it."
Almost at the same time, Fat Guitar released a guitar and vocal version.
He didn't use any professional equipment; he just used his phone's front-facing camera, sitting on his sofa at home, playing an old guitar.
His voice was ordinary, even a little off-key, but it was precisely this awkwardness that caused the comment section to explode.
"Dude, you're singing off-key. I've never heard this song before."
"This is the real voice of an ordinary person! It's a million times better than those voices that are so heavily edited that even their own mothers wouldn't recognize them." "This song is interesting!"
At 8:30, the curve on the data dashboard began to rise sharply.
The number of videos under the hashtag #JingweiCover# skyrocketed from dozens to hundreds, and then to thousands.
Not only seed bloggers, but also a large number of ordinary users have started to spontaneously cover songs.
Some used Peking Opera singing, some used rap, some used dialects, and some even used a suona to play the chorus melody.
On the public opinion screen in front of Zhou Qing, the trending topic "Jingwei cover song" on Weibo has already climbed to seventeenth place and is still rising rapidly.
On Zhihu, a question titled "How would you rate the theme song 'Jingwei' from the movie 'All or Nothing'?" received hundreds of answers within ten minutes.
The most upvoted answer was just one sentence: "The song written by AI made humans cry. What the hell is this cyberpunk?"
On Xiaohongshu, beauty bloggers have started creating "Jingwei-inspired makeup"—not imitating the person, but imitating the emotions in the song.
Dark themes, a sense of rupture, and fragmented beauty—various makeup styles paired with snippets of the chorus from "Jingwei" create a unique visual expression.
At exactly nine o'clock, Zhang Yizi's phone vibrated.
Wa sent a message: "Mr. Zhang, we detected that the spontaneous participation of non-seed bloggers under the topic 'Jingwei Cover Song' has exceeded eight times that of seed bloggers. The fission effect has been triggered, and the total number of views for the topic is expected to exceed 500 million before midnight tonight."
Zhang Yizu put down his phone and looked at the curve on the screen that was still rising.
He recalled what Wang Donglai had said: "The core of publicity and distribution is not to promote how good the movie is, but to promote how important the event is. It's not about telling the audience 'you should watch it,' but about making them feel 'I must watch it.'"
Now, he was beginning to understand what that sentence meant.
By 10 o'clock, Ayouyou's video had already surpassed eight million views.
The comment section was completely flooded with comments.
First time: What the heck, ancient style mixed with electronic music? Second time: It's kind of interesting. Third time: You talk to me about the Hall of Mental Cultivation first!!! (Voice cracks)
"My mom asked me why I was kneeling while using my phone."
"If you don't understand, just ask: Who is the original singer of this song? Why can't I find it on music apps?"
"To the person upstairs, this song was written by AI, and the original singer is also AI. You didn't expect that, did you? We've already been swept up in the music industry by AI."
"Is it reasonable that AI-generated songs give me goosebumps?"
"I recommend everyone watch the trailer for 'All or Nothing' and listen to it along with this song for an amazing effect."
The comments section for the chubby guitarist is completely different.
"Brother, your off-key singing is truly soulful."
"I don't know why, but I feel more when I listen to you sing than when I listen to professional singers. Maybe it's because you express the powerlessness we ordinary people feel."
“My uncle was tricked into going abroad last year and hasn’t come back yet.”
"Hey upstairs, let me give you a hug. My dad was also scammed, and he lost all his life savings."
"I've already ordered tickets for the movie 'All or Nothing,' not for anything else, but for these people who dare to speak the truth."
At 11 o'clock, Zhang Yizi's phone started vibrating wildly.
"Mr. Zhang, the 'Jingwei cover' has already reached the top of the trending topics on Weibo."
"Mr. Zhang, there are content creators on Bilibili making reaction videos about 'Jingwei,' and the number of views has already exceeded 50,000."
"Mr. Zhang, some bloggers on Kuaishou have started covering these songs. It's not something we've promoted; it's all happening on their own!"
"Mr. Zhang, QQ Music and NetEase Cloud Music have both called, asking if we can release the official version of 'Jingwei'."
Guo Xing put down his tablet, rubbed his sore eyes, and said in a slightly hoarse voice, "President Zhang, the website traffic for the Firefly Foundation just surged twentyfold, and the server almost crashed. Lin Xiaoyu said that the helpline has been overwhelmed with calls, many from people who listened to the song and watched the clip."
Zhang Yidu was taken aback: "You called after listening to the song and watching the movie clip?"
"Correct."
Guo Xing pulled up the transcripts of several calls to the helpline. "A young girl said that her mother had recently become obsessed with a 'high-yield investment' and wouldn't listen to any advice. After watching a clip from our movie 'All or Nothing,' she suddenly felt she had to do something more, so she made this call. Another man said that his younger brother had been scammed for three years and he hadn't dared to tell anyone, so he decided to seek help now."
Zhang Yizu fell silent.
Having worked in the internet industry for so many years, he has seen countless viral content, but none of them have ever been able to convert online traffic directly into offline action like "Jingwei".
This is not entertainment; this is awakening.
Meanwhile, music industry professionals were also jolted awake by this song.
Everyone's been talking about AI-generated content, but nobody took it seriously. But after "Jingwei" came out, they couldn't sit still any longer.
Renowned music producer Song Ke immediately posted a long article on Weibo: "Tonight, I was bombarded with posts about a song called 'Jingwei.' I listened to it many times, trying to analyze its arrangement techniques, harmonic progression, and timbre design. The conclusion is that, technically, this song has surpassed the vast majority of human producers. What's even more frightening is its emotional design—that 'suspension' that abruptly ends in the chorus, that 'incompleteness' that makes you want to sing along—it's not a coincidence, but the result of precise calculation. I'm starting to wonder if the essence of music creation can also be deconstructed by algorithms?"
The comment section below exploded.
"Teacher Song, are you scared by AI?"
"As a music student, I'm trembling with fear. What we've studied for over a decade, AI can learn in just a few days?"
"It wasn't a few days; according to Galaxy Technology, it only took a few minutes for Nuwa to create this song."
"A few minutes??? It takes me three months to write a song, and AI can write it in a few minutes???"
But there are also dissenting voices.
Independent musician Zhao Tian said on Weibo: "Technology can imitate form, but it cannot replace real life experience. The reason why 'Jingwei' is so moving is not because AI is so powerful, but because it is based on the real stories of countless victims. AI is just a tool, the real soul is human."
At midnight, Guo Xing retrieved the reservation data for "All or Nothing" at the Galaxy Theater.
"Are you kidding me...?"
She stared at the screen, her voice trembling.
The number of reservations has surged from 500,000 in the afternoon to 1.8 million now.
The curve rises almost vertically.
"Under every cover video of 'Jingwei,' people spontaneously promote the movie."
Zhou Qing pulled up several screenshots of the comments section and said, "It wasn't arranged by us; it was spontaneously done by the users. After listening to the song, they felt they had to do something, so they went to book the movie."
Looking at the vertical reservation curve, Zhang Zuyi suddenly understood why Wang Donglai insisted on making "Jingwei" the main focus of the publicity campaign.
A good song is more effective than a hundred press releases.
Because it can bypass the brain's rational defenses and attack the heart directly. (End of Chapter)