By the second day, the video posted on all of Iris Long's social media accounts already accumulated a combined total of more than 10 million views. And the amount was still climbing every hour.
A big part of this was because her name was repeatedly mentioned alongside a superstar like Jin Chonglin.
Not mentioning Jin Chonglin's massive army of fans, there were also a lot of bored netizens who only wanted to discuss something exciting. The rumoured love triangle between Iris Long, Jin Chonglin and Fan Luo definitely counted as an exciting topic.
Adding to the rumour of Iris Long's secret pregnancy with Jin Chonglin as the father of their love child, it was a recipe for a potential scandal. Something that these bored netizens were always eager to sink their bloodthirsty fangs on.
There was less than two weeks remaining until Iris Long's comeback album "Rebirth" would be released.
JJ's record label and Bright Summit Entertainment Company heavily promoted her upcoming comeback album online, on TV and radio commercials, newspapers and public advertisements.
This hinted to everyone the confidence JJ and Bright Summit had for Iris Long. People were baffled but also curious as to why.
Was Iris Long really talented to garner this kind of excellent treatment from these bigshots?
Wasn't she only a second-rate teen pop idol who was just lucky to have viral songs?
What poison did she feed JJ and Bright Summit to sign someone like her under their companies?
Even though she was already popular before her abrupt retirement, her previous record label and talent management company never promoted her as hard as this.
She managed to enjoy decent fame before because many of her songs were catchy and went viral. However, her songs were like shooting stars. They would shine brilliantly for a short period of time before disappearing amidst the sea of other brighter stars.
JJ's record label released previews of some of her music videos online. Iris and Bright Summit actively shared them to their own respective online followers.
These previews topped the search and view rankings in various websites. After people watched them, they were shocked by Iris' drastic change in style.
"Wow. Is this even Iris Long? She looks completely different from before. I'm not saying that her face changed or anything like that. Her face looks the same as before but looks…different. Am I even making sense? Do people understand what I'm trying to say?"
"Poster above. Yes, we know what you mean."
"Oh my God. It's just a preview but I already cried watching 'Phantom of Your Love'."
"The credits say that Iris Long is also the composer of these songs. Are you kidding me? Does she even know how to compose songs?"
"Poster above. Answer: ghost composer."
"The song 'Black Star' gave me goosebumps! I can't wait to hear the whole song!"
"What sorcery is this? This is not Iris Long! I don't believe it. It must be an impostor!"
"I didn't know that Iris Long could play the piano."
"What playing the piano? It must be a camera trick or CG. Who'll believe that she can play the piano? If she really can, she would've bragged about it and showed it off for everyone to see a long time ago. Why wait until now?"
The reactions were mixed. Many of the fans of her previous musical style of dance pop didn't know how to feel about this drastic change.
A few of them were dismayed, accusing Iris Long of being a traitor, even becoming her anti-fans.
Some of them were very excited and thought that this style suited her voice better.
The majority were neutral, withholding their verdicts until the album was officially released.
An announcement was posted on all of Iris Long's social media accounts. She would be performing on "MusicFest Tonight" this coming Friday, a week before the official release of her album "Rebirth".
"MusicFest Tonight" was a popular concert TV program aired live every Friday night from 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM, where singers, bands, idol groups, and musicians perform in front of a large audience.
The previous Iris Long was a frequent guest performer in this program because many of her songs were quite popular that time. It would be more than two years since she performed on this stage.
"MusicFest Tonight" would mark her official comeback performance since her disappearance and abrupt retirement two years ago.
Many were looking forward to this coming Friday's "MusicFest Tonight" episode for different reasons.
Her haters couldn't wait for her to mess up her comeback performance, humiliate herself, and become a laughingstock.
It was a fact, however, that people were curious about Iris Long. She disappeared for so long after all.
How would she perform?
Was the hype surrounding her upcoming comeback album "Rebirth" worth it?
Was she really changing her musical style?
Would this change in style be successful?
What really happened to her during her absence?
All sorts of questions popped into people's minds. They were hoping that Iris Long would provide them with answers this coming Friday.
