Chapter 209: Zhou Yi Takes Full Responsibility

"Interesting. Are the veteran singers collectively rejuvenating?"

Zhou Yi, holding the documents with an apple in his mouth, easily let his gaze fall upon several names—

"If This Doesn't Count as Love": Composed by Wu Bai, lyrics by Li Zhuoxiong;

"Is There a Song That Makes You Think of Me": Composed by Zhou Chuanxiong, lyrics by Li Zongsheng and Li Zhuoxiong.

Wu Bai and Zhou Chuanxiong naturally need no introduction; everyone understands Li Zongsheng's status.

Even Li Zhuoxiong was one of Taiwan's top lyricists at the end of the last century; his first representative lyric work after entering the new century was Mo Wenwei's "Midsummer Fruit".

Add the two singers, one named Jacky Cheung and the other Andy Lau.

In 2001, already in the 21st century, the veteran singers whom Zhou Yi had routed last year returned with renewed vigor, forming a rare scene of "old versus new confrontation" in the top ten of various music charts.

After Zhou Yi's English new song "The Lazy Song" was officially released domestically, it only held the number one spot in Hong Kong for a brief week, then slid down the charts, barely clinging to the position of the top ten gatekeeper; now in Taiwan and the mainland, it ranks only in the top thirty.

What established Zhou Yi's territory domestically were the "old songs" from his second album "Jiangnan" and the songs from the "Graduation" EP.

This data made Zhou Yi feel somewhat at a loss.

Although he had mentally prepared himself, the disadvantage of this English single charting domestically still exceeded his expectations. The only thing worth being gratified about was that although "The Lazy Song" couldn't match the ranking of the songs in his Chinese album, the sales data was unexpectedly good—

Over 80,000 in Taiwan for one week, 70,000 in Hong Kong, over 40,000 in the mainland, and over 20,000 in Macau.

Adding these places together, the first week also totaled over 230,000.

Considering this was merely an English single, selling this number domestically in one week was already quite excellent.

"However, the downward trend of the English single is still too obvious; the domestic market is ultimately the realm of Chinese songs."

Qian Jiang, who had been following up on the sales of "The Lazy Song," held the freshly released sales curve showing a massive drop after the initial week's sales stimulation and sighed helplessly.

Judging from this curve, the fact that this English single could sell over 230,000 domestically now was entirely due to the popularity boost Zhou Yi enjoyed domestically.

This was the purest fan purchasing power; if anyone else had released it, it would likely have flopped on the very first day.

"Over 230,000 is enough; I initially thought we wouldn't even sell 200,000."

Compared to Qian Jiang, who was insatiable like a snake trying to swallow an elephant, Zhou Yi was clearly much more content, while also criticizing Qian Jiang's ungrateful mindset.

The general environment is right here; he wasn't Ricky Martin, who entered thousands of households thanks to the World Cup.

In fact, the only thing Ricky Martin was known for by the general public domestically was "The Cup of Life", which spread globally thanks to the World Cup. Even more than 80% of people probably didn't know the song's title, only humming along with "gogogo oh lei oh lei oh lei".

"That's true. Oh, by the way, there's another matter; the Spring Festival Gala director group has officially sent you an invitation."

Qian Jiang, who was even more accustomed to Zhou Yi's past slaughter-like achievements than Zhou Yi himself, slapped his forehead to clear his mind, then reiterated the news from the Spring Festival Gala director group: "However, it's not yet determined whether you will perform a solo or a duet; I will do my best to communicate with them next."

The peak of the 2001 Spring Festival Gala was still present; regardless of how big a star a singer was, they weren't guaranteed a solo performance on stage; it all depended on the final arrangements, and some singers couldn't even decide what song to sing when they went on stage.

In comparison, at the very least, this year's Spring Festival Gala director group's arrangement for Zhou Yi was considerate enough—

"The director group's current intention is to tentatively have you perform 'Yellow Race', which you are about to sing at the China-Korea Song Festival, though other singers might join to sing together."

Qian Jiang, knowing Zhou Yi's temper, gave him a heads-up in advance: "However, in the end, it might not even be this song; it's quite possible to change songs after two rounds of Spring Festival Gala rehearsals.

"As far as I know, the Spring Festival Gala director group has also sent an invitation to Sun Yanzi. She definitely won't have solo performance rights; I don't know how the Spring Festival Gala director group will arrange it at that time.

"If they ask you to sing a duet, I will do my best to fight for you to sing a duet with Sun Yanzi; anyway, your 'Twin Stars' reputation is loud and clear outside."

"... Alright, I know."

Hearing this, Zhou Yi frowned, then relaxed.

If a duet was absolutely necessary, then singing a duet with Sun Yanzi was undoubtedly the best, since they were familiar.

However, him singing a duet with Sun Yanzi of "Yellow Race" on the Spring Festival Gala?

This scene felt strange no matter how one thought about it, and Sun Yanzi's vocal line wasn't suitable for singing "Yellow Race".

"Additionally, your song 'Your Smile', which you wrote lyrics and composed, briefly topped the weekly chart in Taiwan, but was quickly pulled down by Li Wen's "Opera Warrior"; this Jay Chou really has some skills.

"Later, Andy Lau and Jacky Cheung also held on tightly; Wang Fei surprisingly fell behind quickly, but her album's sales in Japan were actually quite good."

Since it was released on the 18th, Thursday, the Japanese Oricon chart, which updates once a week, had not yet compiled sales statistics for Wang Fei's personal self-titled album, but EMI Records itself issued good news to the outside world—expecting over 20,000 copies in the first week.

Although this result couldn't compare to Zhou Yi's over 50,000 in Japan during the first week, EMI Records still had an excuse: after all, Zhou Yi released a single, so the price was definitely cheaper than an album.

"Wang Fei's album was willful; the ability to sell copies relied purely on a large fan base; it's normal that the songs can't chart; previously, when she was willful, she at least knew to include a song like 'Laughing and Forgetting' to open up market popularity."

Seeing the string of analysis, Zhou Yi threw the documents back to Qian Jiang; he was too lazy to look at this stuff: "What about Yanzi?"

If Wang Fei's record ranking was poor, there was only one reason: she pursued so-called artistry too much, failing to grasp the balance; he had no need to learn this lesson.

"'Your Smile' is actually okay; it just surpassed "Double Stick" and "Lover Not Yet" yesterday to top the radio chart, but was overtaken by "Opera Warrior" today."

In this battle for the music industry where Sun Yanzi ascended to the throne of the Empress, Wang Fei, who always stood above the clouds, began to fall behind on the 20th, with only one song from her album remaining within the top fifteen.

Even in her stronghold of Hong Kong, in just two days, only one song remained in the top ten.

Wang Fei, whom Hong Kong media considered capable of defending the glory of the veteran Empress, instead became the first to fall behind in the October battlefield; although record sales were currently quite good, anyone with eyes could see that the album had only been released for two days, and the high sales trend was basically achieved by relying on her past reputation.

"Falling in love harms people! Xie Tingfeng must take responsibility!!"

"It's all Xie Tingfeng's fault! Look at Li Wen; she found Jay Chou to date and write songs; "Opera Warrior" and "Your Smile" are fighting to a standstill. Everyone is falling in love, so what trash did you, Xie Tingfeng, write for Wang Fei!"

"Exactly, exactly, look at the "Your Smile" that Zhou Yi wrote for Sun Yanzi. Everyone is falling in love, so why is the "Confusion" you, Xie Tingfeng, wrote the worst?!"

"Wait a minute, when did Li Wen and Jay Chou start dating? How come I don't know? I see the Twin Stars' rumors every day; I'm clear on that."

"..."

Wang Fei's fans, who were thoroughly crushed in the song rankings, couldn't hold their faces and began using magnifying glasses to find the culprit—

Xie Tingfeng, who wrote a song for Wang Fei in this self-titled album, was directly dragged out to be whipped posthumously.

Originally, many of Wang Fei's fans were very unhappy with this pretty boy, feeling that Xie Tingfeng was living off a soft rice; now, with the comparison of Li Wen and Jay Chou, and Zhou Yi and Sun Yanzi, the poor performance of the Wang Fei and Xie Tingfeng combination was somewhat conspicuous.

You are both men; you need to stand up! What kind of trash did you write for "Confusion"!

Because of the inherent high topic sensitivity, Xie Tingfeng, who had recently had a slight conflict with Wang Fei, was dragged into a public opinion vortex extremely unfavorable to him, making him even more irritable.

"Wang Fei should break up with Xie Tingfeng; he really can't do it."

"Wang Fei is clearly worthy of better."

"Wang Fei..."

Because the new album lacked any songs with high viral potential, some of Wang Fei's fans, known for their obsessive behavior, after an initial period of adjustment, quickly unified and turned their guns on Nicholas Tse.

They then began spreading rumors such as "Wang Fei and Nicholas Tse have had conflicts for a long time; Nicholas Tse's excessive playfulness made Wang Fei dissatisfied, and the two have already broken up."

Even more extreme individuals brought up old news previously reported by Hong Kong media—Zhou Yi, Happy Camp, and Wang Fei.

A slight combination produced a freshly baked news article: "Nicholas Tse and Wang Fei's Love Shattered! Wang Fei Disdains Nicholas Tse, Zhou Yi Takes Full Responsibility!"

"..."

Damn it!

On the 22nd, the day of Sun Yanzi's release, Zhou Yi, sitting in the van, saw Qian Jiang hand him a newspaper with a strange expression, and he almost cursed aloud.

Shouldn't this be Zhang Baizhi's job?!

PS: Confused, it seems this one wasn't scheduled to go out...

Oh no, I had a visual slip and set it for tomorrow at 23:59; I was wondering why I didn't see an update, I thought Qidian was lagging...

(End of Chapter)