Chapter 181: Dreaming Back to the Golden Age of the Chinese Music Scene

Li Wen, who returned to the Chinese market after making her mark in Europe and America only to find her own home nearly stolen from, released "True Lover You & Me" last year to safeguard her status and market share, though sales fell short of expectations.

To boost her influence, she had indeed considered asking Zhou Yi for a song.

However, the "breakup" between Chen Zeshan and Cai Yilin had caused such a stir that Sony, taking it at face value, personally intervened to muddy the waters, attempting to drag Zhou Yi down as well, forcing Chen Zeshan to declare that Warner would never collaborate with Cai Yilin again.

As a top-tier artist signed to Sony Music, approaching Zhou Yi, the Crown Prince of Warner who had nearly been dragged into the controversy, at the very moment the company had just offended Warner, was somewhat of a tall order.

After all, Zhou Yi's controversial personality was right there, making her and her team somewhat hesitant, so they chose the more low-key talent, Jay Chou.

Therefore, she never expected to appear in the middle of this debate between the two.

When her team informed her of the matter, Li Wen was somewhat amused and helpless: "There is no need for us to respond to this; we can just pretend we don't know. It's just the extreme fans on both sides arguing; it won't cause a huge storm."

To put it bluntly, Jay Chou's public fanbase and Zhou Yi's public fanbase are currently not on the same level. If it blew up, Zhou Yi, with his larger fanbase, would completely crush Jay Chou.

"It seems not appearing in Taiwan for a long time has indeed taken a toll."

Zhou Yi, picking his teeth with his tongue, pressed his lips together, casually closed the page, and his indifferent demeanor showed not a trace of nervousness.

"Jay Chou's popularity was already high last year, and this year it seems to be on fire again. How about it, aren't you even a little worried?" Sun Yanzi, who really wanted to see Zhou Yi nervous, asked with a smile.

"My opponents this year are F4, thank you."

"They aren't singers."

Sun Yanzi pouted: "It's all thanks to that drama. Moreover, it is said that 'Meteor Garden' achieved extremely high ratings after airing in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand, sparking massive discussion in the Philippines, Japan, and even South Korea."

F4, who had been suppressed in Hong Kong, are now showing signs of going global, which no one expected; Chai Zhiping, who originally thought she might as well try her luck, is now daily taking F4 out for offline meet-and-greets to sell albums.

As a Singaporean, she even heard her family talk about this drama; her younger sister watched it with great interest and previously asked her if she knew F4, wanting to get an autographed photo from them.

This is a very terrifying situation.

The last Chinese drama to become a hit in Singapore was "My Fair Princess".

"There is truly no way around this; if we can compete, we compete; if not, we let it go."

Zhou Yi was very open-minded about it.

Rather than worrying about "Meteor Garden", he might as well pay more attention to "Love in a Fallen City".

September 19.

Accompanied by the introduction of Qiong Yao's new drama, "Love in a Fallen City", which began airing on CCTV-8 on September 3, directly brought the protagonist Gu Juji a windfall of wealth in the mainland.

The album "Deeply in Love", which included the song "I Really Want to", sold increasingly well in the mainland as the drama aired, causing Gu Juji's popularity and sales to explode simultaneously.

After climbing for over ten days, Gu Juji, boosted by the TV drama, broke into the top ten of the Mainland Music Wind Chart, and his radio request rate remained so high that he squeezed into the top five.

The two albums by the female lead, Zhao Wei, "Love in a Fallen City" and "The Last Breakup", sold quantities that were unimaginable, single-handedly helping Little Swallow dethrone Zhang Ziyi as the Public Opinion King.

Gu Juji, who had once lost to Zhou Yi in the Taiwan music scene, returned to the battlefield this time to compete directly with Zhou Yi thanks to the mainland introduction of "Love in a Fallen City".

Plus Liu Ruoying, Ren Xianqi, Liang Jingru, Wang Lihong, Zhou Chuanxiong, Jacky Cheung, Guo Fucheng, and Xie Tingfeng, facing the strong encirclement of singers from Hong Kong and Taiwan, mainland acts like the Yu Quan duo, Pu Shu, Xu Wei, and Wang Feng were directly squeezed out of the charts.

On the Music Wind Chart rankings, only Han Hong and Zhou Yi, both from the mainland, remained in the top ten; Zhou Yi was first, and Han Hong was tenth, one at the head and one at the tail.

On the Song Request Ranking of the China International Radio Station, a subsidiary of CCTV, the top ten consisted of only one name from the mainland, Zhou Yi, hanging high at the top.

On the Baidu MP3 song search volume, Zhou Yi, ranked first, was fighting a close battle with Zhou Chuanxiong's "Dusk"...

The entire second half of 2001 in the Chinese music scene, after entering September, seemed as if someone had suddenly pressed the fast-forward button; Taiwanese singers exploded one after another. With Cantonese as a natural moat in Hong Kong, the mainland market, like the Taiwan market, had turned into a chaotic mess.

"In terms of male singers, the older generation of musicians led by Ren Xianqi, Harlem Yu, Wakin Chau, and Zhang Yu are still shining, and the lingering heat of the Four Heavenly Kings has not faded;

"Tao Zhe, Jay Chou, and Wang Lihong are showing their sharp edges, while the two popular kings, Zhou Yi and Xie Tingfeng, are at the height of their power.

"In terms of female singers, the previous generation of divas including Wang Fei, Sandy Lam, A-Mei, Na Ying, Chen Huilin, and Miriam Yeung hold the center of the battlefield, while new forces in the music scene like S. H. E, Twins, Dai Peini, and Angela Chang have successively set the market on fire;

"And there are Sun Yanzi and Elva Hsiao, who have turned half the sky red."

On September 20, 2001, the latest issue of the mainland magazine "Contemporary Music Scene", with the editor-in-chief personally stepping up, wrote an article titled "The Golden Age of the Chinese Music Scene", which triggered a massive circulation among readers—

And the cover of this issue was a close-up of the two popular kings, Zhou Yi and Xie Tingfeng, standing on opposite sides of the Chu River and Han Border.

"From the Tan-Zhang rivalry in Hong Kong to the Four Heavenly Kings, from the Asian Little Whirlwind Lin Zhiying to the Heavenly King Slayer Wakin Chau, from the King of Sad Songs Zhang Yu to the valiant hero Ren Xianqi. This time, Zhou Yi has made up for the regrets and shortcomings of the mainland music scene, becoming the leading figure of the Chinese music scene in the new century..."

An article full of genuine emotion and infectious power, combined with Zhou Yi's current sales of over 2.3 million, quickly sparked a wave of widespread discussion across the two shores and three regions.

"Hong Kong has Xie Tingfeng, the mainland has Zhou Yi, but who is there in the younger generation of the Taiwan music scene? Wang Lihong? He is American; Dai Peini is Malaysian; Sun Yanzi is Singaporean."

"I choose Jay Chou; he debuted in the same year as Zhou Yi. In the Taiwan album market, only Zhou Yi and Sun Yanzi can surpass him with their first album, and his second album is currently on fire."

"I disagree; Jay Chou is popular, but his limitations are too great; with that enunciation in his singing, I don't know what he is singing without reading the lyrics. Zhou Yi, at least in his slow songs, lets me understand, so I think it should be F4."

"Agreed, I also vote for F4 in Taiwan; their album was released two months later than Zhou Yi's, but now the sales are almost catching up, and I can understand the singing."

"I think it should be Tao Zhe."

"Isn't Tao Zhe from Hong Kong?"

"..."

Just as music lovers were preparing to start citing examples to argue their cases, Sony Music announced F4's total Asian sales to date: 1.06 million copies.

The music fans in Taiwan, who love to pit people against each other, instantly fell silent.

"Dreaming Back to the Golden Age of the Chinese Music Scene! Zhou Yi, Xie Tingfeng, and F4 All Break One Million in Record Sales!"

(End of Chapter)