Chapter 415: Narcissism

Just as others were still @-ing Luo Quan on Weibo and Twitter to request interaction, Director Shi Cun, President Zhou, and Seifert had already contacted her by phone at the very first opportunity.

If it were a normal album release for Luo Quan, these three wouldn't be so anxious. The main point was that this was a trilingual album, capable of catering to China, Japan, and the United States, so there were no more reservations—it had to be secured immediately.

The final result had no suspense: Penguin would handle the domestic market, Sony would handle Japan, and Universal would handle the United States, all at the usual price points.

Spending two days, Luo Quan finalized the album title and simultaneously finished recording the first song.

"Album 'Beauty', first English lead single, launching globally tonight at eight."

This was the first post. Luo Quan immediately followed up with a second post detailing her inner journey:

"A few days ago, the list of the world's most beautiful faces was released. I, my good sisters, and several artists from my company all achieved quite good results, and many people are cheering for their beauty."

"There are singers both at home and abroad who have specifically composed music and written lyrics for them, praising their beauty."

"What surprises me is that I, this number one, didn't receive a single song from anyone, which makes me feel quite unbalanced inside."

"Since no one is praising me, I might as well write a song to praise myself. The lead singles in all three languages for this album are all on the same theme."

The second post came out and immediately attracted the attention and teasing of friends and family. The first to reply was Wen Xia:

"No way, Luo Luo, are you starting to get jealous of me already?"

Leon: "Sister, if you want others to praise you for being beautiful, just tell me. I'll rap about your beauty."

Seifert: "East Coast thinker's rap... are you trying to criticize your sister with rap?"

Yun Jingxiao: "I've written a lot of lyrics recently, how about I send you one?"

Amuro Yu: "Songs that even your girlfriend can't stand, is it really okay to sing them to Luo Quan?"

………………

Luo Quan didn't expect that this group of friends could create such good variety show effects, turning a perfectly normal post's comment section into a sketch comedy scene.

Fans arrived and began to laugh and heckle.

But come to think of it, it was indeed very strange. In the past, whenever the world's most beautiful women became famous, there would always be some music scene prodigal son writing songs for them to express their love.

On one hand, Western culture is open, and they have always been bolder in this regard.

On the other hand, who doesn't like a beautiful woman? Writing a song for the world's most beautiful woman could be considered a romantic tale.

However, since Luo Quan became famous, she had received countless praises, but not a single person had written a song for her.

She didn't know if it was because she never collaborated with others. Reasonably speaking, she felt her interpersonal relationships were quite good.

It could also be that she was too beautiful, and others were too embarrassed to write songs to praise her.

Hmm, that must be the only explanation.

But it didn't matter; if no one praised her, she would just praise herself.

She wanted these three songs to be branded with her mark; as long as they were sung in the future, everyone would know these songs were sung for her.

Time reached 8:30 PM, and the first lead single from the new album, "You are beautiful," went online.

A song title that felt gentle just by looking at it, and its opening soft guitar sound made people want to smile as soon as they heard it.

This smile had no special meaning; it was purely because of enjoyment, because of feeling the beauty, a true expression of genuine emotion.

The song title was beautiful, and the lyrics and Luo Quan's singing were even more beautiful.

Luo Quan, from the perspective of a boy, depicted a beautiful girl for the listeners, a story that was slightly sad:

I have a wonderful life

I have a deep love

Because I once faced that angel

I am deeply convinced of this

…………………………

(You are beautiful) You are so beautiful

(You are beautiful) You are so beautiful

You are so beautiful

Making me unable to resist

I once saw your face in the crowded crowd

I will become at a loss

Because I will never be able to be with you

……………………

The song wasn't long, only a little over three minutes, and the arrangement was simple, but the song sung out was just that good. It could be said to be finding the extraordinary in the ordinary.

Compared to Luo Quan's gorgeous arrangements in the past, the arrangement of "You are beautiful" was truly simple, but the fans who heard it were deeply captivated by it at the first moment and then began to loop it infinitely.

Half an hour after the song went online, the playback volume at home and abroad broke through 20 million, and the single sales volume also reached the astonishing figure of 4 million.

Fans in the community were already boiling over, immediately leaving comments online:

"This song is simply foul-level good; how can it be this good?"

"Those two lines of 'You are beautiful' are the essence of this song. Luo Quan's vocal runs make my heart melt."

"The song is movingly good, but what moves me even more is that it reminds me of a girl I passed by on the street a year ago."

"Before this, I never believed in so-called love at first sight, but the appearance of that girl made me start to believe in love."

"It's a pity that at that time I didn't have the courage to go up and ask for her contact information. This is the thing I regret most. This missed opportunity, perhaps there will be no chance to meet again in the future."

"Everyone has regrets to some extent. Just like what is sung in the song, after the beautiful fantasy, one must eventually return to reality."

………………

Without a doubt, this song resonated greatly in the hearts of fans. The brilliance of the comment section was comparable to Yiyun at twelve o'clock, where one could find a hundred desolate and sad love stories inside.

Whether they were true or false didn't matter anymore; at least this song had already created an atmosphere, an atmosphere that allowed fans to open their hearts and establish emotional communication with the song and other fans.

Simply put, it was empathy, and this was the prerequisite for a song to become a classic.

The first song of the new album got off to a flying start. Not only were sales on major music apps gratifying, but offline record orders from major companies also increased several times overnight.

Both commercially and in terms of reputation, it achieved huge success. Now, the internet was once again flooded with Luo Quan's name and "You are beautiful."

Not long after the song was released, Luo Quan posted:

"The second lead single of the album, 'Imperial Consort,' will be online at the same time tomorrow. There will also be exclusive photos online at that time, so please look forward to it."

This "exclusive photo" was very spiritual; generally, this term would be used in conjunction with private photos.

There was no need to say how explosive private photos could be.

Of course, Luo Quan definitely wouldn't take photos that were on the edge, but it wasn't just edge-pushing photos that could provide benefits. With Luo Quan's appearance, any photo she took was enough for everyone to have infinite reverie.

And in imagination, was there anything that couldn't be done?

Although everyone was mentally prepared, when Luo Quan's exclusive photos went online the next day, it still exceeded everyone's expectations.

The photos were released a step ahead of the song. In the photos, Luo Quan was wearing a set of ancient Chinese costumes, with heavy and charming makeup.

As a Chinese person, Luo Quan held the title of the world's most beautiful face, but had a white person's face, which had always been a point of regret for Chinese fans.

Two completely different races would always have relatively large exclusion in the characteristic clothing of their respective cultures.

It wasn't that Luo Quan hadn't worn ancient costumes before; the clothes were all of the simpler and more ethereal type. Although fans all said it was beautiful, the effect was indeed quite good.

But when she looked at it herself, it was fine for a glance or two, but after looking for a long time, she would still feel a sense of incongruity.

Beauty and incongruity didn't conflict. Some people, because of the incongruity with the clothing, would look bad when wearing it.

Luo Quan's appearance was enough to suppress these defects, but this didn't mean that the Hanfu she wore before was really suitable for her.

But this time, the incongruity that had troubled her for a long time finally disappeared.

The Hanfu she chose this time was a set of dark red Imperial Consort robes; the characteristic was that it was grand and gorgeous.

In order to weaken the facial features, Luo Quan specifically wore very gorgeous makeup this time, but this makeup was quite consistent with the characteristics of the Imperial Consort robes, which could be said to complement each other.

Luo Quan, who finished looking at the final effect, finally felt relieved. The incongruity she worried about most didn't exist at all this time. This was the best she had ever looked in ancient costumes.

The pictures were released first. Foreign countries were still appreciating this beauty from the East, while the domestic side had already exploded.

Because there was no cultural barrier, domestic fans instantly got the beauty point of Luo Quan's Hanfu.

And the launch of the song "Imperial Consort" made this beauty appear even more three-dimensional.

The "Imperial Consort" Luo Quan sang here was not the intense rock version of the original, but a softer ancient-style version, and the voice was quite charming.

(For the specific version, you can search for "Imperial Consort Jay Chou" on Bilibili; the first one is it.)

When she first started recording the song, because of a lack of experience in this area, Luo Quan tried several times and felt it didn't have that flavor.

The kind of voice she wanted was the kind squeezed out from the nasal cavity, the kind of singing that was like moaning and like enchanting.

Even though she was gifted and had invincible singing skills, she had almost never produced a similar voice. The moaning when she sang "Gee" actually had no technical content, and it didn't particularly match the vocal line needed here.

In short, Luo Quan tried many times in the recording studio, called out many times in various ways, but the recording couldn't satisfy her.

There was no other way; Luo Quan could only search for the binding cards of various singers in the mall, intending to hold a Buddha's foot temporarily.

Finally, she found the vocal line that satisfied her among domestic singers.

The name of this female singer was Huang Ling. When she first heard this voice, Luo Quan was shocked. Could someone's singing really be this charming?

But no matter what, this vocal line was what she was looking for; it was simply perfect, couldn't be more perfect.

After redeeming the celebrity binding card, Luo Quan immediately recorded the song and then released it.

Because it was a Chinese song, it didn't attract as much attention abroad as it did yesterday after it was released, and there were many fewer people listening to the song at the first opportunity.

This was definitely a big loss for foreign fans.

And domestically, the sensation caused by this song far exceeded yesterday's.

On one hand, it was a Chinese song, and there was still cultural confidence in this regard.

On the other hand, the singing method Luo Quan used in this "Imperial Consort" could be said to be a big girl getting on a bridal sedan chair—the first time.

And the song and the photos Luo Quan released before really made the whole thing look too cinematic.

"

The swaying red wine glass, lips like stained with fresh blood

That unusual beauty, an unforgivable sin

Whoever follows loyally can at best be a guard

Stepping on roses underfoot, returning a kiss as comfort

Pitiful

Like restless music, teaching people how to sleep

Unknown perfume, suffocating ghost

Sharp high heels, making so many hearts break

Scimitar-like eyebrows, defending your secret garden"

Just this chorus alone was enough to make the listener imagine a million-word ancient romance novel.

And it was a very rare female-strong, multi-male lead novel, and the female lead was a female emperor persona.

Needless to say, the singing method and voice Luo Quan specifically changed for this song. After domestic fans finished listening, they directly climaxed on the spot. Regardless of gender, they all expressed their feelings after falling into it in the comment section:

"This voice is too top-tier. I know this is shameful, but I still want to say it made me listen until I was hard."

"Poor me, the record of bitter abstinence for 108 days, finally broke the precept today."

"Sisters, group up to marry Empress Luo, press 1!"

"Luo Quan's voice is too good, it made me, a girl, fascinated and head over heels."

"Pure passerby, first time hearing such a good and charming voice, regret not discovering it sooner."

"A ten-year fan of Luo Quan just wants to say, actually this is the first time we've heard this voice in this song. She didn't sing like this before. (Laughing and crying)"

"This shows that Luo Quan has improved. I just like this kind of voice. (Funny)"

"May I ask who doesn't like Luo Quan singing with this voice? I'm wearing headphones and turning on pure vocals now, and it feels like she's singing in my ear. (Dog head)"

"The experience is comparable to ASMR, right?"

"Good guy, I, TM, directly good guy."

"I report, many people here are driving!"

………………

From the comment section, one could see how excited the fans were about Luo Quan's new singing style.

And this time, it wasn't just male fans who were excited; even Weibo, which disliked Luo Quan the most, was filled with praise this time.

It was probably because this "Imperial Consort" really hit the G-spot of the vast majority of girls, allowing them to generate a sense of substitution from the world depicted in the lyrics.

In fact, many of the ancient romance novels popular in the early years were of this type, and they were also the YY novels that girls liked to read the most.

In fact, boys are about the same in this regard. Except for those who are satisfied with reality, who doesn't like YY?

After all, YY is the source of all art and happiness.

Luo Quan's song satisfied the wishes of these girls. The only fly in the ointment was that this song was too short; in other words, the story was too short, and they hadn't YY-ed enough.

But no matter what, this song had already gained huge popularity in China, which was inseparable from Luo Quan's change in singing method and her stunning ancient costume appearance.

And at the same time, foreign listeners also began to attach importance to this Chinese song amidst huge recommendations, and they all turned back to buy it, wanting to hear what Luo Quan's so-called subversive interpretation was like. ===== CHAPTER 416 =====