Chapter 103: Firing the First Shot

"Are you all ready?" Yun Jingxiao gripped his guitar tightly, a microphone stand erected before him.

"Everything is set!" Miss Luo Quan held a bass, making an 'OK' gesture.

A little further away, a friend Yun Jingxiao had called from the photography club also gave a thumbs-up, signaling they could begin.

They had practiced these two songs for nearly a week. Aside from attending classes, they spent almost all their spare time practicing, and even at night when they went home to sleep, the melodies echoed in their heads the moment they closed their eyes.

"For the song 'Numb', let's aim for a one-take!" Yun Jingxiao made the demand, which also sounded like an encouragement to everyone. The eyes of the band members all became focused.

Yun Jingxiao waved his arm and gave the electric guitar a forceful strum; the music began.

The entire band was like a sophisticated machine, and the band members were the parts within it. As they operated, the whole machine surged forward.

The impassioned, surging music instantly resounded through the activity room, followed immediately by Yun Jingxiao's singing, which seemed to use every ounce of his strength. Whenever he opened his mouth, the electric guitar sound would disappear due to distraction, but the other members would vigorously dance with their instruments, keeping the content of the entire song rich and passionate.

Especially Ma Er, who was like a completely different person once he picked up the drumsticks. As soon as the music started, his head wouldn't stop shaking; he was as excited as if he'd been injected with a dose of adrenaline, unable to stop!

This was the state a rock musician should have! This was the atmosphere a rock song should have!

The members of the Lovemusic band, with 200% dedication and dozens of hours of hard practice, catalyzed by talent far exceeding that of ordinary people, performed this song to the limit of what they could reach!

Although it was only a little over three minutes long, the members of the Lovemusic band were soaked in sweat after finishing. Everyone was panting heavily; none of them had expected that a single song could consume so much of their physical strength.

Yun Jingxiao was very curious: how did those rock bands that held concerts, singing for hours at a time, manage to keep going?

"How did the filming go?" Shen Gu Lingyin asked the cameraman with great anticipation.

"Very good." The cameraman had been enduring his own trembling body while filming; it had been truly exhausting.

"Everyone, take a rest. Get ready to record the second song!" Yun Jingxiao roared, his breath still full.

……………………

That afternoon, Miss Luo Quan uploaded the two completed songs to YouTube. Because the photography and recording equipment were separate, plus the synthesis of some post-production sound effects, it took a bit more time.

The two songs were titled "Numb" and "Radioactive".

As for why she uploaded them to YouTube, it was of course because she wanted the band to take an international route. Both songs were entirely in English, and the style was a very popular pop-rock genre in Europe and America. It wouldn't be difficult for them to become popular; staying in the small pond of Japan was truly a waste of talent.

Of course, Miss Luo Quan would certainly not say this out loud. If others knew, it would easily affect her humble and gentle image. Being arrogant in Europe and America might be an expression of personality, but in Asia, it was a completely derogatory term.

However, Miss Luo Quan's confidence was indeed not unfounded. Less than six hours after the two songs were uploaded, they had over three million views!

The initial views were basically attracted by Miss Luo Quan's fame, but Miss Luo Quan was only responsible for the lyrics and composition for these songs, and she only made a cameo appearance in the singing part. Originally, the fans were a bit disappointed, but after listening to them, they had nothing to say except admiration.

One could only say that she lived up to being Miss Luo Quan; as long as there was a work, it was definitely a masterpiece!

After Miss Luo Quan's fans contributed the most basic views and heat, the two songs quickly rushed onto YouTube's new song charts, entering the field of vision of more people.

YouTube users had always been mostly from Europe, America, and Latin America. Broadly speaking, it was roughly equivalent to the Western world. Very few Chinese people used YouTube; it was mostly played by people in Japan and South Korea.

And Asian songs were generally not popular on YouTube; they had never been mainstream.

South Korea was a bit better. At least in recent years, boy bands and girl groups had gradually gained a market in the United States, occasionally contributing a few hit songs that caused imitation and covers worldwide. In terms of cultural output to the West, South Korea's K-POP had always been a mainstay.

But Japanese music, which was clearly a notch higher, could only dominate within Asia, and as for China, let alone that; once it left the country, basically not many people could recognize it.

But this time, these two rock songs from a Japanese band had conquered European and American listeners. The positive rating reached a staggering 98%, and the two songs topped YouTube's new song chart for the day one after another!

"Numb" was a fast-paced rock song with an explosive melody, requiring the lead singer to have extremely strong atmosphere-driving power. The more manic the performance, the happier the listeners would be.

Yun Jingxiao achieved this perfectly. If his raspy voice were used to sing Japanese love songs, it would be like Zhu Bajie trying to get married; anyone would be scared out of their wits.

But used to sing impassioned rock songs, it could only be described as a match made in heaven.

His wide-range voice could maintain the quality of the singing while shouting at the top of his lungs, without any worry about cracking. And his incredibly high lung capacity was enough to support him in using roars and screams to set the atmosphere for the song with ease.

This was a task that usually required two or three people in a band to complete, but Yun Jingxiao did it all by himself!

He was born to sing rock!

This was the conclusion Miss Luo Quan reached after thinking about it all night when she first met Yun Jingxiao. Yun Jingxiao's vocal function was too outstanding. It wasn't that one had to be as melodious as an oriole to have a good voice; being able to perfectly fit the style of the song one was singing—that was a good voice!

And the skyrocketing view count on YouTube was the world's recognition of him. Moreover, in the West, which had countless rock bands, this kind of recognition was even more precious. The comment section was almost entirely English messages:

"It's too crazy. This is the first time this year I've heard such a high-quality rock song."

"It's hard to imagine this is a live recording. His voice is just too passionate."

"It's simply like a demon from hell. His screaming makes my scalp tingle."

"The guitar playing is also very good. The technique can be called first-class!"

"Has no one noticed the others in the band? That drummer also has such a great feel."

"The lyrics have a lot of attitude. I just love this kind of profound reflection!"

"It's hard to believe that a Japanese band can also sing such good English songs!"

The second song, "Radioactive", had a completely different style from "Numb". The former was impassioned, while the atmosphere of this song was psychedelic and mysterious, and one could barely hear the sound of the electric guitar. The most brilliant part was the dynamic drum beat.

Throughout the whole song, Ma Er's arms basically never stopped, knocking left and right like a machine. But it was precisely because of this rigor that Miss Luo Quan directly abandoned the idea of post-production drum synthesis for this song.

The rhythm Ma Er knocked out was almost as if it had been set in advance; it was precise to a maddening degree. The cameraman was also very knowledgeable and frequently gave him shots in the video.

But even so, Yun Jingxiao's singing remained incredibly powerful.

If "Numb" was roaring and screaming, then "Radioactive" was suffocating passion. Both were straining their throats, but Yun Jingxiao performed them in two completely different styles.

And compared to "Numb", this song had more power—the kind of power that made one's soul resonate with it.

The views and positive rating of this song quickly surpassed "Numb", and the listeners' evaluation of him was also significantly higher:

"Welcome to the new era. This is the new era belonging to Lovemusic!"

"A very hard rock song. I heard blood and redemption!"

"The arrangement and electronic production are too great. I heard the taste of dystopia and post-disasterism. Do you guys have this feeling?"

"This is a song worth savoring. It might not be very stunning at first listen, but once you're addicted, you can't stop!"

"A genius producer, a genius singer, a genius band!"

"Every beat from this drummer is like knocking on my heart. Mom, I think I'm in love."

"If they could change into some stylish outfits, they would definitely become popular all over the world!"

Two songs, explosive word-of-mouth, explosive views. As of the early morning, the cumulative view count had already exceeded ten million, and the potential was far more than just this.

Becoming popular on YouTube was just the first step. Only after landing on the Billboard charts would their ascent to the sky begin.

Lovemusic's first shot could be considered completely fired, and the effect even exceeded expectations. At least Miss Luo Quan hadn't expected them to become popular so quickly.

If it weren't for the fact that she herself was a huge source of traffic, and anything that had to do with her would receive extra attention, these two songs really wouldn't have become popular so quickly.

Miss Luo Quan's fans gave it a considerable amount of heat, and also let more people see him. After the attention increased, under the guarantee of high quality, it was no surprise that they became popular.

As the saying goes, one does not sing until one sings, but when one sings, one startles everyone. Yun Jingxiao's roar directly roared himself and the band onto the hot search.

He and the band were on separately. The search terms were "Yun Jingxiao" and "Lovemusic Band", and the discussion volume for both exceeded 100,000.

The comment section on YouTube was occupied by Europeans and Americans, while Twitter in the Japanese region was basically all Japanese. Everyone was curious about how this unknown band suddenly became popular on YouTube. Except for Miss Luo Quan, the other four people in this band were all amateurs who hadn't debuted yet.

The key was that their musical level wasn't low. Lead singer Yun Jingxiao's guitar playing even reached a professional level, and his singing skills shocked everyone.

As netizens dug deeper and deeper, the information about these few people in the band gradually surfaced.

They were all top students from the University of Tokyo, and they came from one club, which was the Philharmonic Club. Everyone had a fairly good musical level, and under the matchmaking of Miss Luo Quan and team leader Yun Jingxiao, they finally formed this band named Lovemusic! ===== CHAPTER 104 =====