Kelly excitedly accepted the show's invitation, and the next day, she headed to the venue with her team.

On the way, she scrolled through the news on her phone, pleased with the trending topics her team had bought for her.

Those bought-and-paid-for fans were showering her with praise.

Netizen 1: [Wow, Kelly finally has a chance to prove herself.]

Netizen 2: [Yeah, this is the stage our superstar deserves.]

Netizen 3: [The show finally invited the right person. Kelly is about to become a global icon, a star in her own league.]

Kelly's smile was so wide it practically stretched off her face, but I knew soon she'd be unable to smile at all.

During the rehearsal, Kelly was dismissive.

"Do I really need to rehearse? With all these years of performance experience, Director, I think I'll skip it."

The production team obviously didn't agree, but they carefully explained.

"Ms. Edwards, this is a global live broadcast. There's no room for mistakes, and you'll only have one chance to sing. If you don't rehearse and something goes wrong...

"And Rachel here has been rehearsing seriously."

Kelly cut him off, annoyed.

"You think I'll mess up? That's ridiculous. You've heard me sing before.

"With my talent, I'll blow those foreign singers out of the water. I don't need to rehearse."

The staff member wanted to persuade her further, but I quickly ushered them out.

I couldn't let them convince Kelly to rehearse. If she did, the production team might even replace her at the last minute, and that would ruin everything.

Kelly continued to scroll through her phone, lost in the false adoration of those fake fans.

Ha!

While she was distracted, I sneaked into the studio to watch the other singers rehearse.

Each one was more focused than the last, even the 50-year-old veteran diva.

I remembered how, in my past life, after the show aired, everyone praised her, calling her the guardian of Meriodland's music industry, the last bastion of dignity for Meriodland's music scene.

She single-handedly held her own against several foreign competitors.

I had to admit, I respected her for that. She worked incredibly hard.

But this time, I was here to help her.

Kelly's manager also came to watch the other singers rehearse. Her face turned grim, and she immediately went to Kelly's dressing room.

She tried everything to convince Kelly to watch the rehearsals, but Kelly remained unmoved.

"You're out of your mind. My presence on this show is already a favor to them, and you want me to rehearse?"

She didn't care about her singing at all; her entire focus was on her appearance.

She was obsessed with how revealing her outfit should be and how to dress sexily.

In her own words.

"I want to capture everyone's attention at first glance, so they can't help but vote for me."

What a shallow mindset.

A true singer should be focused on delivering a captivating performance to win over the audience's ears.

But Kelly was only concerned with how she looked, trying to grab their attention.

The show's staff kept reminding her to check out the rehearsals, but she ignored them completely.

In the end, they had no choice but to give up.

When the competition officially began, Kelly remained utterly unfazed.

Everyone around her was sweating with nerves, but she calmly blew on her freshly painted nails.

The first two foreign singers performed flawlessly, as steady as a recording.

Kelly smirked.

"Did you hear that? They say it's a live broadcast with no audio enhancements, but you can clearly tell they're just playing pre-recorded tracks. I wouldn't be surprised if they were lip-syncing."

"Idiot." I cursed her.

"Their steady performance was a result of their skill and hard work during rehearsals.

And her?" I thought.

Ha!

There were seven groups of singers in total, and Kelly was fifth in line. First, two incredibly steady foreign singers performed, followed by some domestic singers.

These were seasoned performers with years of stage experience. They had both the vocal skills and the looks.

Despite this, some minor mistakes occurred, which were inevitable during a live broadcast.

But these errors were within acceptable limits, just minor flaws.

Then, it was Kelly's turn.

She strutted confidently onto the stage, swaying her hips as she made her way to the center.

To be honest, despite the fake publicity over the past two years, she had managed to gain some popularity.

She still had a few die-hard fans and with her good looks and carefully chosen sexy high-slit dress.

The crowd cheered louder for her than for the previous singers.

She was pleased with the response, and I could see the smug satisfaction on her face.

Go ahead, enjoy your moment. In just one minute, that smile will be gone.

As expected, Kelly missed the beat on her very first line.

The music had already moved several beats ahead by the time she picked up the microphone.

And then, disaster struck.

Her voice was dry and raspy like she hadn't had a drop of water in days.

She was utterly offbeat, missing every cue.

She sang loudly, trying to make up for it by striking poses and batting her eyes at the audience.

I saw the crowd staring in shock, their mouths agape, unable to believe that this was Kelly singing.

The show's staff looked panicked as if they wanted to rush onto the stage and drag her off.

The band members were frowning deeply, struggling to match her timing but finding it impossible.

Kelly wasn't even listening to the accompaniment; she was just doing her own thing.

I checked my phone, and sure enough, within a minute of her taking the stage, the trending topics were flooded with her name.

Of course, none of them were good.

"Kelly's singing is terrible, an absolute disgrace."

"Kelly, this is just awful."

"Kelly's a singer? More like a disaster."

"Kelly's off-key."

"Kelly's true colors revealed in live broadcast."

The comments were unanimous, slamming her for embarrassing herself and questioning how a professional singer could be so completely out of tune.