Chapter 189

"Also, aren't you participating in the China-Korea Song Festival this time? They'll probably send someone specifically to exchange with you. If you're willing to learn Korean, I can arrange for company staff to give you some tutoring."

"Korean is relatively simple, after all."

Given Zhou Yi's well-documented and rigorously tested learning ability, Zhou Jianhui suggested.

Writing both lyrics and music always earns more than composing music alone. Given Zhou Yi's consistent personality, Zhou Jianhui felt he wouldn't mind learning another language to earn an extra buck.

Not to mention, in Zhou Jianhui's view, the Korean language is indeed quite simple. Today is September 21st; there's a little over a month until November. If Zhou Yi learns quickly, simple communication should be no problem by then.

"No need. Am I looking for trouble? Learning Korean?"

Zhou Yi curled his lip and refused without hesitation.

The Korean songs he could recall weren't many anyway, and those that became popular in China already had Chinese translations.

At worst, he could write the Chinese lyrics along with the melody, then let the Koreans translate it themselves, or find someone who knows Korean, pay them, and have it translated into Korean.

He had encountered such people before; Lin Yichen, who filmed the MV for "Those Years" with him, was a legitimate Korean studies university student.

"True, I almost forgot about translators."

Zhou Jianhui slapped his forehead and chuckled self-deprecatingly: "Habitual thinking. In the past, we bought songs and had to fill in the lyrics ourselves, so I subconsciously forgot about this."

In the past, if possible, everyone wanted to take the shortcut of translating directly for use. Some people did try this, but the results were rarely satisfactory.

The unextinguished historical and cultural heritage of the domestic scene created unique characteristics in lyric culture, which gave birth to a batch of excellent lyricists domestically and led to special emphasis on lyrics.

But overseas, it's different.

Lyrics are the biggest distinction between the Mandarin music scene, the Asian music scene, and even the world music scene.

After reviewing the documents, asking Zhou Jianhui about his doubts, and receiving answers, Zhou Yi didn't walk out of his office until around eleven o'clock.

Just as he was about to leave for lunch, he saw more staff members than usual busy at work as he walked out of the office.

At Warner, besides Zhou Jianhui, no one could push Zhou Yi to work, so he hadn't seen such a busy scene in a long time.

"Chen Zeshan signed Na Ying, who is releasing her new album 'I Am Not an Angel' today. The entire company attaches great importance to this, after all, she is the only mainland diva who can sell records in the Hong Kong and Taiwan music scenes."

Qian Jiang, who came to pick Zhou Yi up for CCTV, saw his confusion and explained: "Na Ying's album is releasing today. Sun Yanzi's new album 'Kite' releases on October 22nd."

"Zhang Huimei's release date has been postponed repeatedly because the songs haven't been selected yet. It is currently scheduled after Yanzi, tentatively for the end of November."

"Chen Zeshan's idea is to create a gimmick of 'one day after January,' officially elevating Sun Yanzi to the position of a minor diva. This way, the sales growth periods of their albums won't overlap, avoiding any squeezing of each other's sales, while also creating a linked resonance in the album market."

In a sense, for Sun Yanzi, who has only debuted for a little over a year, this is purely riding on the coattails of the two senior artists who have struggled in the music scene for years, purely eating the dividends.

Hearing that Zhang Huimei's album hadn't been released yet, Zhou Yi immediately fell silent; this matter was purely his doing as the "main culprit."

In fact, due to Chen Zeshan's concept of the Diva Palace, the competition among Warner's female singers this year appears exceptionally fierce to outsiders.

Sun Yanzi's only advantage over the other two is that she relies on Zhou Yi, the top male singer at Warner. The friendship of the twin stars allows her to get good songs from this man.

There are even rumors outside that to concentrate on making songs for Sun Yanzi, Zhou Yi has turned down many jobs. He can't even make time for Na Ying, who is also from the mainland, let alone Zhang Huimei, who is in Taiwan.

Outsiders were initially a bit skeptical about this, but after Na Ying's new album was released today, the industry didn't find Zhou Yi's name in any line of that album...

"Zhou Yi? He's too busy, simply can't spare the time. No way, the schedule is already set."

At the new album launch event, when reporters asked why Zhou Yi wasn't involved in this album, Na Ying didn't seem to care much and laughed heartily.

She wasn't lying; she really thought Zhou Yi was very busy.

After all, first there was that huge incident in Hong Kong, and upon returning to the mainland, he was constantly making songs with Sun Yanzi. It was said they polished it for a long time to produce two songs with lyrics, composition, and arrangement by Zhou Yi, and one with lyrics and arrangement by Zhou Yi, and even filmed an MV.

Moreover, even without that incident, she wouldn't feel comfortable asking Zhou Yi for a song.

After all, when Zhou Yi confronted Chow Yun-fat in Hong Kong, she didn't stand firmly by his side and speak up for him like Sun Yanzi did; instead, she chose to remain silent and pretend she didn't know.

Originally, it was said that Guo Fucheng and Zheng Xiuwen were both asking Zhou Yi for songs, and Zhou Yi's manager had verbally agreed. But after the Chow Yun-fat incident erupted, their silence and refusal to take sides directly caused Zhou Yi's manager to cancel the cooperation.

Na Ying didn't think her status was higher than Guo Fucheng's, so it was better not to invite humiliation upon herself.

"She really believes that?"

Outside the CCTV broadcast hall, Zhou Yi, walking while listening to Qian Jiang explain the Na Ying team's version, couldn't help but smile: "She has quite a bit of self-awareness."

"With your current status and popularity, even Guo Fucheng would want to maintain some dignity and wouldn't say anything about you, after all, he was publicly the number one at Warner before."

"If media asks later why the cooperation was canceled, just push the blame directly onto me. Just say you didn't know anything and that I was the one handling the cooperation."

Qian Jiang looked up at the CCTV broadcast hall at the end of the stairs, and a surge of heroism rose in his heart.

Anyway, Guo Fucheng's focus has already shifted to the film industry, so yielding the position is quite reasonable.

Since he's going to the China-Korea Song Festival, it's time for the Crown Prince to ascend the throne.

He had heard the demo of "Yellow Race," which absolutely fit the current environment of actively promoting entry into the WTO, especially the lyrics "The more turbulent, the braver; as the world changes, let me break through" and "After five thousand years, it's finally my turn to take the stage."

Qian Jiang even suspected that if there were a China-Japan Song Festival in the future, Zhou Yi would likely be invited to sing "Yellow Race" first.

This song is too suitable for such a grand occasion.

And upon entering the rehearsal hall, contrary to Zhou Yi's expectations, he actually saw Tan Jing, with whom he had collaborated on "Drifting North."

"Sister Jing?"

"Zhou Yi?"

Seeing Zhou Yi, Tan Jing was obviously very surprised, but then she thought that singers for the China-Korea Song Festival would be starting rehearsals here today, and immediately understood: "You're here to rehearse for the China-Korea Song Festival?"

"Yes, the earlier we rehearse, the sooner we get results. If the effect isn't good and we get cut, maybe there will still be time and a chance to improve and revive."

Zhou Yi shrugged. It was rare to meet someone familiar in the broadcast hall, so he didn't rush to leave: "Sister Jing, what are you preparing to rehearse?"

"The Spring Festival Gala. I don't know if I'll make it in the end, so I can only do my best to practice."

Thanks to her consistently excellent performance, this year's Spring Festival Gala secured her a solo slot, and Tan Jing was obviously somewhat anxious about it privately.

Zhou Yi, who had a calm mindset about the Spring Festival Gala, comforted her in return.

However, what Zhou Yi didn't notice was that Chen Yulu, the chief director of this year's Spring Festival Gala, had appeared at his rehearsal site at some point, holding a sheet of lyrics with the title "Yellow Race" at the top.

When Zhou Yi personally demonstrated the flute intro of "Yellow Race" to the band on site, Chen Yulu's eyes immediately lit up—

Catchy, good sounding.

Just the flute intro, an instrument full of Chinese style, was enough to amaze Chen Yulu. Combined with the perfectly timed drum beats, a sense of grandeur naturally arose—

"From the waves that crossed five thousand li, or from the walls awaiting reconstruction,

"The yellow left after all history fades, gathers into the sunset dyed upon my body~~"

"The Yellow race, coming to the earth, lifts up a new chest~"

Third watch completed!

Sleep!

(End of this chapter)