Rising From Betrayal Reborn As The Family Outcast (Alicia Delaney) novel Chapter 43

Chapter 43

From the guy’s expression, anyone could tell he was completely stunned.

Chase smiled and said, “Getting selected is fate. Have you decided which dance MV song you want Ms. Delaney to learn?”

The guy on the other end still looked dazed. “I haven’t thought about it yet.”

Then he immediately turned around and shouted, “Guys, help me out here and give me some ideas!”

From what they could see through the camera, he was clearly in a college dorm room.

Three other guys quickly gathered around him, and the four of them started whispering and debating among themselves.

About a minute later, the young man spoke up, looking a bit sheepish. “My roommate wants Ms. Delaney to learn a song from an obscure music video that just dropped overseas today. It came out half an hour ago.

“He’s a huge fan of that artist, so he watched it the second it came out,” the young man continued. “He says the difficulty level definitely won’t disappoint you guys.

“Plus, half an hour ago, Ms. Delaney was still practicing the previous song, and you all have the footage to prove it. There’s no way she could’ve learned it in advance.”

Then he gave them the song title and the artist’s name.

Viewers watching the livestream immediately searched for the song, and sure enough, they found it had been released just about half an hour ago.

It was by a famous indie artist from overseas.

When they looked into this artist’s other songs, they found a signature style of complex high-low pitch transitions mixed with rapid tempo changes. The artist specialized in super-fast-paced music.

The key issue was that some of the vocal transitions were incredibly difficult. When done well, the song sounded exhilarating and powerful, but when done poorly, it just sounded bizarre and off.

On top of that, the choreography in the music video had tons of moves that changed lightning fast, with a rhythm that was absolutely insane.

The production team quickly located the song and projected it onto the large screen.

After watching the entire music video, the audience had one collective thought: the difficulty level was through the roof.

(Oh my god, they’re really stirring things up. This MV is twice as hard as what the previous guests had to learn]

[This is nightmare mode difficulty.]

That guy’s roommate is so evil for picking this song.]

I feel like if I tried to learn this, it’d take me a week minimum, and I still might not get it.]

[They really know how to create drama)

[But this makes it way more exciting and authentic. It’ll definitely prove there’s no rigging 1

[Exactly. A song that just came out half an hour ago-there’s no way Alicia could’ve learned it ahead of time.l

I think even if it came out a day ago, learning it in advance would be nearly impossible.]

[Now it’s all up to Alicia.]

When the music video finished, Chase turned to Alicia and asked, “So Ms. Delaney, does this song work for you?”

Alicia nodded. “Yeah, it’s fine.” Then she threw the question back at him. “But how much do you want me to learn? Just one section, or the whole thing?”

Chase blinked, caught off guard for a second. Then he grinned and asked, “Can you give me a rough estimate? How long would it take for just one section versus the entire song?”

Alicia thought about it for a moment. “For one section, maybe ten minutes or so. But if you want the whole song, probably forty to fifty minutes, since this one’s a bit harder than the last one.”

As soon as those words left her mouth, someone in the room let out an audible gasp of disbelief, clearly shocked by how little time she needed.

Chase was quick on his feet. “Well, that’s not really my call to make. How about we let the audience decide?”

He turned to face the livestream camera. “Alright everyone, start flooding the comments. Do you want to see one section or the whole song? The production team will go with whatever you guys want.”

He paused, then added, “Just keep in mind, if you want the whole thing, you’re gonna have to wait around forty to fifty minutes.”

Almost immediately, the comments exploded with responses. [WHOLE SONG] [WE CAN WAIT] [FULL VERSION] [DO IT ALL]

Ross quickly relayed the overwhelming response.

Chase laughed and shook his head. “Looks like everyone here loves a good show. Well, you asked for it, so we’re gonna give it to you.”

He looked back at Alicia. “Ms. Delaney, here’s what we’re going to do. You’ll head to the practice room and learn it solo, but we’re going to livestream the whole thing.

“That way, everyone can watch exactly how you learn it, and no one can claim there’s any cheating or rigging going on. I know it’s asking a lot, but would you be okay with that?”

This was intentional on his part.

The whole selling point of this talent show was fairness and transparency-no favoritism, no vote manipulation, everything based purely on the contestants’ skills and popularity through fan voting.

The production team absolutely refused to take the fall for any accusations of rigging.

The group performances and main guest segments had wrapped up, so technically today’s livestream could’ve ended there.

But when Chase realized they could squeeze in another traffic-boosting solo stream with Alicia, he wasn’t about to say no.

He’d have the other trainees and guests fune in and watch along.

Alicia smiled and said. “Sure, no problem”

She headed back to Practice Room Four, where she’d been earlier.

This time, since she was alone, she had the production team cast the music video onto the practice room’s TV screen.

Chase’s voice came through the practice room speakers. “Are you ready to perform?”

Alicia nodded confidently. “I’m ready.”

“Then please come to the performance hall, Ms. Delaney.”

“Okay.” Alicia headed back to the main performance hall.

This time, everyone looked at her differently.

Then Alicia started showing what she’d learned.

Just like before, the original MV played on the screen behind her so everyone could compare.

When the track hit the first lyric, Alicia’s voice came in right on cue.

This time, her voice wasn’t the crystal-clear tone from before but had a low, sultry quality that sounded almost identical to the original singer, even though one was male, and the other was female.

Then she added the choreography, and she instantly synced up with the lead dancer in the video.

Every single move matched the lead dancer on the screen behind her like she’d copied and pasted the whole thing.

Not only were the dance moves identical, but she absolutely nailed the high notes in the chorus, and the way she hit them sent an electric tingle through everyone’s ears.

The people in the studio stared with wide eyes, and the viewers watching had a similar reaction.

When she finished singing and dancing through the entire MV, the whole place went dead silent first, and then applause exploded through the room.

The trainees started whispering among themselves. “That was insane. Ms. Delaney is absolutely insane.”

“She actually learned all of that so fast.”

“And it’s not just that she learned it, but the dance moves looked like an exact copy-paste.”

“Her singing was incredible too. You’d never guess she only practiced for twenty minutes.”

“If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I might think she cheated somehow.”

“The students who voluntarily chose Team 4 before must have had some serious foresight.”

“And now the students who got randomly assigned to Team 4 are so lucky.”

Suddenly, everyone felt envious of the students who’d ended up on Team 4, even the ones on Nicolas’ team.

Alicia’s performance was just too powerful, too explosive.

The trainees sat there stunned, and they couldn’t help but think, ‘If Alicia is weak, then what does that make us?”