Chapter 114: The Most Real Man in Chinese Pop Music

He could see it coming, but the lawsuit had already begun, the process had already reached this point, and under Zhou Yi's refusal to back down, this was destined to be a long, drawn-out battle.

No one would willingly let Zhou Yi casually slap the label of "criminal" onto them without gaining any benefit.

This concerns their careers and money.

"Fuck! That Qian Jiang should be thrown into the sea to feed fish! Zhou Jianhui is also a genius—this kind of marketing stunt actually got approved? Doesn't he fear Zhou Yi might actually have problems?!"

The editor of Next Weekly, who had just entered the Taiwan market, hadn't even warmed his seat when he encountered this catastrophe, and couldn't help cursing in his newly renovated office.

As the undisputed giant nuisance of the Hong Kong entertainment market, Next Weekly officially began preparing to enter the Taiwan market in May this year, and first rode the wave by spreading rumors about Zhou Yi.

Its sister publication, The Apple Daily, exaggerated Zhou Yi's supposed background even further, crafting stories with vivid, believable details.

Founder Li Zhiying had even prepared for Zhou Yi to sue him, aiming to leverage Zhou Yi's unique identity and explosive fame to instantly boost Next Weekly and Apple Daily's recognition in Taiwan and score a smashing opening.

But now things had turned out differently—the lawsuit had indeed begun, but the unfortunate part was that Next Weekly was not the only media outlet sued; it was merely one of dozens.

The anticipated boost in visibility never came; instead, Zhou Yi used the combined reputation of thirty-seven Taiwan media outlets as a stepping stone to promote his new album, "Jiangnan."

This is intolerable!

"Find me the contact details of everyone around him—even his rumored lovers. Forget the other fake news; I refuse to believe all of Zhou Yi's romantic rumors are fabricated!"

"No matter how much money it costs, I want real, authentic dirt on Zhou Yi!"

Almost simultaneously, thirty-seven newspapers and media outlets—including Next Weekly and Apple Daily—made the same decision.

There's no smoke without fire; if so many rumors about Zhou Yi exist, at least a few must be true—they refused to believe they couldn't dig up even a few cases of him abandoning lovers.

"So far, we've sued thirty-seven media outlets in Taiwan, fourteen in Xiangjiang, and twelve on the mainland."

May 31, 2001, Beijing, China, Warner Music China Building, Zhou Yi's rest room.

Qian Jiang reported, his tone slightly excited: "The entire three regions are shocked by our actions, especially Taiwan. Before you, no one had sued media outlets, but they all did it one by one, and never on such a massive scale."

"You are the first singer in the domestic entertainment industry to sue so many media outlets at once—this is truly pioneering, and your current discussion level even surpasses when you swept through the Taiwan music scene last year."

"Most importantly, because you chose to fight hard and refused to settle, all the rumors that once clung to you have collapsed in the public's mind on their own."

"Your actions made people feel you had unshakable confidence, which indirectly proved those news stories were completely baseless."

"Also, among young people, because of your firm, unyielding stance against every media outlet spreading lies, your popularity has exploded."

This "one man against the world" drama perfectly struck the G-spot of countless middle-schoolers who dream of being heroes and young people eager to challenge authority.

Put bluntly, given Zhou Yi's current momentum among the younger generation, if he dropped dead on the day his second album "Jiangnan" was released, he'd be instantly enshrined as a god and never come down.

Especially in Taiwan.

As the place that first pressured Zhou Yi and treated him unfairly, Taiwan's Zhou Yi fans were already dissatisfied. Now, seeing him stand firm against lying media, their admiration for their idol deepened even further.

The idols you fans support are all spineless—look at our Zhou Yi—he's a hard-boned man who fears no power and never bows!

No wonder he's the first person in Chinese pop hip-hop—he's all about authenticity, he plays for real!

When the idol stands firm, the fans feel honored.

Even the fans of his rival Xie Tingfeng, no matter how stubborn their mouths, had to admit: Zhou Yi is not the type who says one thing and does another.

He's truly real.

When trouble comes, he doesn't hide—he steps up!

"Given this level of heat, if we can achieve a decent conversion rate, your second album might have an extremely terrifying first-week sales figure."

As the first singer in the domestic entertainment industry to play this way, Zhou Yi is currently receiving enormous attention.

Broadly speaking, what he's doing now is challenging the long-standing, tacitly accepted rules of this industry—if he succeeds, he might completely reform the entertainment industry's atmosphere.

Provided he doesn't crash and burn, and no irredeemable black material is uncovered.

"How are Xie Tingfeng's new album sales going?"

After hearing the report, Zhou Yi, thinking of his only sales rival in Asia this year, unusually asked about the release status of the Hong Kong tianwang's new album.

There was no choice—this year, Xie Tingfeng was at the peak of his life: his popularity was off the charts, his music album "Jade Butterfly" was a massive critical and commercial success, and in October he had another Mandarin album, "Century Prophecy," also hitting big.

His rock-themed album "Jade Butterfly" alone had over a dozen versions, sold overseas, and led far ahead of other singers of the same era.

Although none of its songs reached the same level of widespread popularity as his career-defining hit "Thank You for Loving Me 1999," the sales were undeniably strong.

Historically, it was precisely these two albums' sales that allowed him to defeat numerous Japanese and Korean singers and win the Asia Region's highest sales award at the World Music Awards next year—truly crowned Asia's tianwang.

How should one describe the value of this award?

Put it this way: this year's winner was Japanese queen Hamasaki Ayumi; the 2000 winner was Japan's strongest monster, Utada Hikaru.

"His album 'Jade Butterfly' was released on May 23 and broke double platinum in Xiangjiang within three days, reaching 100,000 sales. Exactly one week later, total sales on the mainland have surpassed 400,000."

When discussing Zhou Yi's biggest current album sales rival, Qian Jiang's expression turned solemn: "His 'Jade Butterfly' is selling extremely well in Cantonese-speaking regions, and has received both critical acclaim and commercial success."

"Not bad."

Hearing these numbers, Zhou Yi wasn't surprised—he had done everything he could, had already made a strong impression in Taiwan, the biggest market, and now the final sales conversion was up to fate.

In fact, it wasn't just Warner.

After Xie Tingfeng's new album had been out for a week, numerous media outlets, upon seeing its sales figures, shifted their focus to Zhou Yi, who was still embroiled in the lawsuit storm.

As the only young singer last year who could match Xie Tingfeng in both popularity and sales, Zhou Yi's new album performance was their top priority.

Especially Emperor Entertainment.

Zhou Yi's album performance was crucial to their ambition of reviving the glory of the "Tan-Zhang rivalry."

Now, Xie Tingfeng had delivered his first report card of the year.

Because of Xie Tingfeng's staggering results, Warner urgently halted Zhou Yi's personal rest period and accelerated his promotional tours across the mainland and Xiangjiang, dashing Zhou Yi's hope to visit the "Pink Lady" drama set during this window.

June 5, 2001, a song titled "Jiangnan" was submitted to radio stations across the mainland, Xiangjiang, and Taiwan.

June 6, amid a storm of noise, Zhou Yi's second solo album, "Jiangnan," officially launched!

PS: Some data was indeed vague, but I checked this one multiple times—based on grammar and reviewing official award ceremony videos and related reports, it should be the Asia Region award.

In 1999, the highest Asian sales were Utada Hikaru, so she won the 2000 award;

In 2000, the highest Asian sales were Hamasaki Ayumi, so she won the 2001 award.

In 2001, Xie had the highest sales, so at the 2002 awards ceremony, he was the one who accepted the award.

…………………………

PS2: I stayed up late last night and couldn't hold on, so I'll go to bed early today to adjust these days' unearthly update schedule.

Starting tomorrow, I'll resume updates around 9:30.

Tomorrow will still be four chapters, all released together at 9:30.

(End of this chapter)