Chapter 195: Tsinghua Has Also Arrived

Regarding Warner's provocation, the entire upper management of EMI Records nearly gritted their back teeth, wishing they could rush to the Warner (Japan) building on the spot, grab those old bastards, and engage in a samurai duel.

After a "Hikaru vs. Ayumi War" that shook the entire Japanese music scene, Hikaru Utada, having defeated Ayumi Hamasaki, could be said to be EMI Records' trump card.

Although the so-called Hikaru vs. Ayumi War was mostly hype, at least the other party that actually fought was Ayumi Hamasaki.

You, Zhou Yi, what rotten fish and shrimp are you? The total sales of your two albums plus one EP combined are still less than the total sales of Hikaru Utada's first album.

Does this qualify as a rival?

Warner is truly shameless!

Ah, pfft!

Disgusting!

At the end of this September, the Japanese music scene, which had been silent for several months after the Hikaru vs. Ayumi War, suddenly became lively again due to Zhou Yi's sudden emergence—

How could Hikaru Utada's fans tolerate this humiliation? After defeating Ayumi Hamasaki, they had even declared themselves the number one diva in Japan.

Zhou Yi, who had just entered the Japanese music scene, did not have a solid fan base; under the assault of Hikaru Utada's fan club at its peak, the tiny handful of true fans he had could not even make a sound.

It was just strange that when they thought people who liked Zhou Yi's songs were about to be bullied, they discovered that Americans could be seen gathering on street corners all over the place singing this song "The Lazy Song"...

Whether they were Americans coming for tourism, or Americans coming for business, or Americans at work, or even the US military stationed in Japan.

Especially the American soldiers.

Unlike Japanese singers who had fierce disputes in the Japanese music scene in the past, Zhou Yi, a newcomer, won the strong love of more US military soldiers with this English song.

Do you think Hikaru Utada's fans would dare to bully US military soldiers?

The US military stationed in Japan is a slippery slope that cannot be touched; although EMI's upper management would have loved to slice these big-headed soldiers to pieces, they could only remain silent on the surface.

In areas where US military bases are located, such as Okinawa, and even in areas they could radiate influence to, "The Lazy Song" actually became the region where Zhou Yi could gather his first batch of fixed fans, thanks to the deterrence of the US military stationed in Japan.

Especially in Okinawa.

The contradiction between the Okinawa region and the Ribenzheng Prefecture could be described as having a long history; Hikaru Utada's fans were not as powerful here as in other places.

As an Okinawan, Arakaki Yui had personally witnessed Zhou Yi go from being unknown to starting to explode in popularity these days; the lazy melody was almost on single-loop repeat in her ears every day—

Yes, her sister had become a fan of Zhou Yi's songs, recently practicing Zhou Yi's song at home every day, even dragging other family members to imitate Zhou Yi's MV, and even copying Sun Yanzi's fresh look in the MV to give her a short haircut—

Saying that she looked very sweet when she smiled, and was very suitable to run for the middle and primary school student model recruitment by "Nicola" magazine.

"Can changing a hairstyle lead to success? Why do I feel it's not very reliable..."

On the way home after the interview, Arakaki Yui, touching the tips of her hair, couldn't help but sigh.

Although she admitted that the woman named Sun Yanzi's look was indeed very fresh.

Arakaki Yui, who had failed to enter the art school three times, had already lost a lot of confidence in herself.

If she could succeed this time, she would buy a few discs of Zhou Yi's CDs when she got home, place them by her bedside to worship them, and change her luck.

Thinking of this, her hand instinctively reached for the handbag hanging on her left arm. Inside were the albums she bought in Tokyo, reportedly Zhou Yi's autographed albums, which had circulated over from China.

Her sister wanted them, and she happened to be going to Tokyo for an interview, so she bought them back on her behalf.

She also listened to them, but not a single song inside was something she could understand; she wasn't really into it.

After returning to Okinawa, Arakaki Yui could clearly feel that some shops were playing "The Lazy Song" more often than before; even the music club in her school had many people forming groups to perform Zhou Yi's magical MV dance.

And because of her short hairstyle, she was directly pulled over by a friend who was short of people to make up the numbers—

"Arakaki? You changed your hairstyle? This short hair is nice, it's just about the same as that girl in the Zhou Yi MV we are rehearsing."

"Yui, how did your interview go?"

"..."

"Not very well."

The Imperial Capital, Warner Maidian Building.

Zhou Yi, who had finally finished filming all the content for Su Mang's "Harper's Bazaar" first issue, threw himself into the soft sofa of his exclusive lounge.

Sun Yanzi, who had been waiting for him there early on, looked up and saw the man's half-dead appearance, and immediately burst out laughing: "Did the designer grope you? I heard many fashion designers are gay; people like you should be very popular with them."

"Get lost, you're listed as the object the gay community most wants to date, and you want to drag me down with you?"

Zhou Yi, who had never thought that shooting a magazine could be so tiring for posing, raised his right middle finger at her without even looking up.

Because of her short hairstyle being too cool, Sun Yanzi was very popular among the Taiwanese lesbian community not long ago, and was even listed in the list of female stars the community most wanted to date.

If it weren't for the rumors of a romance with Zhou Yi surfacing, there would surely be news reports claiming she might be a lesbian.

From this perspective, he thought Sun Yanzi should kowtow to him.

"Hehe."

Unbothered, Sun Yanzi swung her legs crossed, grinned, and handed a finished album to him: "Here, my album, you can listen to it when you get back and see how it is."

"Put it there, I'm quite busy recently, I'll listen when I have time."

Zhou Yi weakly pointed at the coffee table.

"You didn't go to Japan for promotion, so how can you be this tired?"

"Nonsense, I still have promotion in the mainland, especially since a new opponent has emerged recently."

Zhou Yi's tone was somewhat depressed.

Since entering September, his challengers in the mainland had come one after another, like a war of attrition with your mom—

First Wang Lihong, then Jay Chou, and recently Shuimu Nianhua emerged.

On September 26, Lu Gengxu and Li Jian, both graduates of Tsinghua, formed the Shuimu Nianhua group and officially debuted, releasing the group's first album "All My Life Has You".

Because both of them were graduates of Tsinghua, the management company and media almost immediately pulled out Zhou Yi, a graduate of Peking University, the moment "All My Life Has You" was released.

Peking University produces a Zhou Yi; Tsinghua produces a Lu Gengxu and a Li Jian.

And they are all talented scholars.

All the songs in Shuimu Nianhua's album were written jointly by Lu Gengxu and Li Jian.

(End of chapter)