Chapter 206: The Lover of 900 Million Girls

Considering Zhou Yi's consistent ability to produce hit songs, after Warner's announcement, market pre-order interest in Sun Yanzi's new album "Kite" immediately surged significantly—

Just two days later, in the market research reports received by Warner, the projected sales figures for Sun Yanzi's third album "Kite" had already jumped by 300,000 compared to the initial expectations.

This is the explosive power of the Gemini duo uniting.

In terms of buzz, currently in the music scene, only Wang Fei and Xie Tingfeng singing a duet love song together could possibly surpass them.

After all, singers who debuted at the same company one after another like Sun Yanzi and Zhou Yi, and both reached the peak with their very first albums, are so rare that you can't find many pairs even if you scour the entire Chinese music scene or even the world music scene.

Hand in hand through the years of obscurity before their debut, meeting at the peak after just one album.

Under the amplification of many Taiwanese media outlets, the title "Warner Gemini" carried a bit of that self-conscious, destined fate.

Some media even listed the three duet songs Zhou Yi had performed up to now: "Happy Worship," "Have to Love," and "Drifting North."

Two songs with hip-hop elements, one pop.

"According to Zhou Yi's consistent trait of keeping things perfectly balanced, I feel this song 'Summer Blown by the Wind' should be a purely pop-element song.

"The song 'Your Smile' has even more intense rock elements; in terms of rhythm, it surpasses last year's 'Green Light' without fail. Sun Yanzi's interpretation actually surprised me. Following last year's 'Green Light,' this time Zhou Yi has uncovered the possibilities of her diamond timbre when unleashed with rock elements.

"I don't know how Zhou Yi's duet love song will be, but I feel that, judging solely from this song which isn't even the lead single, compared to Li Wen, I am still more looking forward to Sun Yanzi's new album..."

October 9th, evening.

When Tang Zhizhong, one of the hosts of the Channel 【V】 music radio program, was talking extensively about his expectations for the albums of Sun Yanzi and Li Wen, he couldn't help but voice his own opinion.

And standing beside him was a cheerful, sunny-looking big boy, nodding thoughtfully in sync with Tang Zhizhong's Mandarin—

"Will, what about you? As a young person, your sensitivity to music should be stronger than mine, right? Among the singers releasing songs in October, who do you personally favor the most?"

"Huh? Me? I should be okay, but if I really have to say it, I'm actually looking forward to quite a few people."

The man named Will smiled playfully: "Like among female singers, besides Coco and Sun Yanzi, there's also Wang Fei, and among male singers, there's Xie Tingfeng."

"So slick at such a young age, offending no one; Pan Weibo, if you run your programs like this, how am I supposed to mentor you later?" Tang Zhizhong, feigning anger, even directly called out Will's full Chinese name—Pan Weibo.

Wearing the same hip-hop outfit Zhou Yi had worn in his first album, Pan Weibo, who had only just entered the entertainment industry not long ago, immediately wore an expression of "scared": "I didn't say anything, I just mentioned Sister Fei and Tingfeng's albums."

Wang Fei's new album "Wang Fei" will be officially released on October 18th, and Xie Tingfeng's new album "Century Prophecy" will be released on October 30th.

These are dates both parties had confirmed long ago.

In fact, if there were duet songs between the two in their new albums, it would be an absolute kill shot; unfortunately, there aren't any, so now many people's attention is focused on Li Wen, who has been rumored to be involved with Zhou Jielun.

"Your friend seems unable to control himself either; it's been just over a year since he became famous, and there are already three widely spreading rumors."

"One Xu Ruoxuan, one Cai Yilin, and now unexpectedly even Li Wen."

Because she had returned to Taipei to start promoting, Sun Yanzi easily came across the increasingly bizarre rumors circulating there, and that very night she called Zhou Yi to tease him and Zhou Jielun about their "kindred spirits."

Li Wen's star power compared to Zhou Jielun is far too high.

Putting aside other things and talking purely about star power, Li Wen in 2001 could be said to have surpassed all Chinese singers; just the press releases about her performing at the Oscar Awards ceremony, her company didn't know how many times they had recycled and sent out this year.

After all, before her, no Asian singer had ever been able to stand on the Oscar Awards stage to sing.

However, for a pure singer to ultimately use standing on the Oscar Awards stage to perform and sing as a credential to boost their star power, this matter indeed seems somewhat humorous to Zhou Yi.

The Oscars are for film awards; the Grammys are right next door.

"Don't talk as if I'm the only one who knows him; don't you know him too? If you're so eager for gossip, why not call and ask yourself?"

"Then let's forget it; I'm not very interested in this kind of gossip news."

Taipei.

Leaning against the balcony railing, Sun Yanzi stuck out her tongue: "How are your English single results? Today is Tuesday, so the results for last week should be out, right?"

"Does that need saying? Of course, number one on the Zhou Bang; second week O-Bang sales were 270,000 copies, and the single's overall chart ranking rose to number 35."

Hearing this result stated so casually, Zhou Yi made Sun Yanzi instantly widen her eyes: "How much did you say?"

Last week it was just over 50,000, and this second week it skyrocketed to 270,000 copies???

Are you taking a plane?!

"This is why the Japanese music market is called the world's second-largest music market; once a record starts rolling like a snowball here, it's terrifying.

"By the way, due to this excellent result, Zhou Jianhui has officially prepared to arrange for this single to launch in the European and American markets and the Latin American markets."

Speaking of this, a smile immediately formed on the corners of Zhou Yi's mouth: "Soon I'll also be able to claim I've gone international; my star power might not be inferior to Li Wen's; hurry up and thank me for backing you up."

As the first major grain silo for many American singers in Asia, English songs have a quite vast market in Japan. No matter how many copies are sold in the end, the question is simply whether you have gone overseas.

Knowing the Japanese music market was strong, but never expecting that one day someone right beside her would actually seriously conquer the Japanese music market, Sun Yanzi opened her mouth, too shocked to say a word for a long time.

The entire Japanese music scene felt equally shocked.

On Tuesday, October 9th, after the Japanese Oricon updated the new episode of the single overall ranking, sales ranking, and weekly ranking, the Japanese music scene, which had been noisy all last week, instantly fell into silence on this day.

Including the Japanese Warner branch, the entire Japanese music scene never imagined that a Chinese person could actually rise steadily in sales without relying on any IP support, and even with quite a few people opposing it—

This sales growth trend is no longer just a simple weekly number one; it is a momentum completely capable of competing for the O-Bang's annual best single.

The last solo singer whose single momentum sold so fiercely in Japan was Utada Hikaru.

Oh, no, Utada Hikaru's single sales growth when she first debuted was even more outrageous than Zhou Yi's.

And the last new male singer in Japan who was this fierce... there wasn't one.

Groups, however, did exist; the veteran male idol group SMAP under Johnny & Associates had a total single sales volume of 1.62 million copies last year. There is also a member in this group who is quite well-known in China: Kimura Takuya.

"Unbelievable, this is simply a miracle!"

After analyzing all the data, the Japanese Warner team, which had been celebrating wildly for a whole day, immediately called Zhou Jianhui, wanting to arrange for Zhou Yi to come to Japan for further promotion, but unexpectedly received a refusal—

"Zhou Yi's schedule in the domestic market is currently quite full; unfortunately, he is afraid he cannot go to Japan before the New Year."

"Can't you spare a day or two?"

"Unfortunately not."

"... Mr. Zhou, you might not know how popular Zhou Yi Jun is in Japan right now. Many people hate him, but many people also like him; the offline CD sales statistics compiled by the O-Bang explain everything..."

Looking at the sales curve climbing step by step on the report, the Japanese Warner executives, who hadn't encountered such a performance stock in a long time, took turns stepping forward, earnestly trying to persuade Zhou Jianhui to let the person come over.

Zhou Yi's outfit, hairstyle, and even his singing style had spread among a large number of young Japanese people in these two weeks, especially that incredibly catchy MV dance performance.

The fan club affiliated with Zhou Yi expanded rapidly even without him ever showing up!

"Royal Shock! The Purple Star Descends from Heaven, the Japanese Imperial Family Kneels in Submission!"

"Zhou Yi — The Dream Lover of Sixty Million Young Women!"

"Punching Wang Fei, Kicking Deng Lijun, Zhou Yi's New Song Tops the Japanese Charts for Two Weeks in a Row!"

"..."

As the fastest reporter in Hong Kong, on October 10, almost all Hong Kong entertainment newspapers were devoting large sections to reporting Zhou Yi's great achievements in Japan; several major papers even included photos of the scene where Zhou Yi's fan club in Japan was pooling funds to buy his merchandise—

"How much? The dream lover of sixty million young women?"

Mainland China, Warner News Conference.

Seated in the main position, Zhou Yi smiled, adjusted the microphone, and leaned back tactically: "Then I think some of my Hong Kong reporter friends should speak more cautiously; your impoverished imaginations have limited your performance.

"If possible, I think 'The Dream Lover of Nine Hundred Million Young Women' suits me a bit better."

(End of Chapter)