Chapter 241: Child of the Era

Pursuing hot topics, the first-tier Hong Kong media were the first to fabricate a host of news, with exaggerated headlines like "The Purple Star Shines in America! The Emperor Arrives in San Francisco!" filling every corner of newsstands;

In the Taiwan entertainment circle, discussions about Zhou Yi were equally endless; Wu Zongxian, looking at his loss-making account, felt nothing but jealousy and envy toward Zhou Jianhui.

If only Zhou Yi were his man too, then he wouldn't have been forced to negotiate with Hello Kitty and sell all company assets, including Jay Chou, to the Hello Kitty Group due to impending bankruptcy.

He was truly short of money now, and in his view, Jay Chou's commercial value was still too low; the capital return he could bring him was always less direct than Hello Kitty giving him a large sum outright.

And only after the transaction was completed did Jay Chou, who found out he and Alpha Company had been sold to the Hello Kitty Group, truly suffer the first betrayal of his career—

A betrayal from his mentor.

Jay Chou, who had stated in a public interview that he was "willing to stand with Brother Xian forever" and "without Wu Zongxian, there would be no Jay Chou," was in very low spirits.

At the same time, this was his first time witnessing the cruelty and true magic of capital, and he realized that just burying his head in making music wouldn't work.

The mainland entertainment circle was a scene of song and dance, except for Zang Tianshuo, who looked deathly pale as he saw the police knocking on his door.

"It seems Zhou Yi really dissuaded Zhou Jianhui; with that stubborn personality of his before, I was truly afraid he might have acted on impulse."

Because she had a good impression of Zhou Yi during the rehearsal program, and because someone at CCTV couldn't find Zhou Yi at the time and had to ask her to act as an intermediary to have a long talk with him, her impression score for this young man went up a huge notch.

Zhou Yi, who was in America and knew nothing about these domestic events, was still using himself like a donkey—

December 31, the last day of 2001.

As the song that truly made Zhou Yi famous in North America, "The Lazy Song" officially surpassed 750,000 copies in domestic US sales, successfully knocking Britney Spears off the Billboard chart to jump to number 29, exceeding Warner Records' preset target;

January 7, total sales reached 870,000 copies, with the Billboard ranking hitting number 13.

January 16, 2002, 950,000 copies in sales, just one step away from a platinum single!

Also on this day, Zhou Yi decisively defeated Destiny's Child to enter the top ten, becoming the first Chinese singer in Billboard history to break into the top ten of the singles chart!

On this day, the entire United States was shaken!!

"Unbelievable! Unbelievable! I can't believe my eyes! What am I seeing?! A Chinese person defeated Britney, defeated Destiny's Child.

"Who will be the next person he defeats? Kylie Minogue? Xia Qila? Or... Alicia Keys?!"

"Jackie Chan once dominated the North American box office last year with 'Rush Hour 2', and Spikezhou, with the song he wrote for 'Rush Hour 2', achieved equally miraculous results!

"This genius singer, who claims he never does trial recordings, has created history on the Billboard chart and will simultaneously create history for Chinese singers—he is about to possess a platinum single with a 1 million copy platinum certification, something no Chinese singer has ever had before!"

"Yi Zhou once released a song called 'The Yellow Race' in his country, which many interpreted as containing metaphors.

"But I feel now that is not the case; the lyrics of 'The Yellow Race' feel to me like him announcing his arrival to the world music scene.

"He is announcing to the entire world music scene that for the past 5,000 years he was not on the field, but now, he has come. He has appeared with his unparalleled abilities!"

A Chinese singer, venturing into the holy land of the American pop music scene for the first time, ended up striking at the heart of the dragon and smashing the holy land to pieces.

If it weren't for Alicia Keys ranking second on the singles chart and the band Lifehouse ranking first saving face, the last underpants of the 2001 American music scene probably wouldn't have been saved.

After all, these top two were solid rookie debuts. In comparison, Zhou Yi, who had already debuted in China, could be considered an old cucumber painted green, hard-acting like a newcomer.

On the chart, those in a similar situation to him should be Colombian singer Xia Qila at number four and Australian singer Kylie Minogue at number seven; both of these two became established in their home countries before venturing into the American music scene.

January 18, when "The Lazy Song" officially knocked on the threshold of 1 million copies in domestic US sales, Zhou Jianhui, the new president of Warner Greater China, personally hosted Zhou Yi's platinum record celebration at Warner Records' headquarters in the US—

"You were wrong on the Conan Show; signing you is the most correct decision I have made in my life, bar none."

Before a sea of cameras, Zhou Jianhui handed the ice pick in his hand along with the platinum single certification certificate to Zhou Yi, beaming with joy: "I wish your album this year can also sweep the American market, A-Yi."

"If you hadn't said that, I would have thought it was still 2001."

Zhou Yi, full of spirit, after chipping away the digital ice sculpture, raised the certificate and trophy in his hand before the cameras—

"The First Person in the History of the Chinese Music Scene! English Single Sells Millions, Conquering the American Music Scene!"

"Zhou Jianhui and Zhou Yi: How the Warner 'Double Zhou' Were Made!"

"Sword Pointing at the World! Warner Headquarters Celebration Announces Imminent Launch of Zhou Yi Single Global Release Plan!"

"..."

Domestic media, constantly monitoring the situation in the US, almost worked overtime to rush out the first batch of fresh news; "Asia Weekly," which had interviewed him before Zhou Yi went abroad, stubbornly waited until now to release the title and partial content of its cover exclusive interview with Zhou Yi—

"Climbing the Road to the Throne: Child of the Era, Zhou Yi"

"Just as American peers have said, Zhou Yi clearly expressed his ambition in the song 'The Yellow Race': his soul waited five thousand years to officially debut at this turn of the century.

"He is an angel, and also a devil.

"Some say his arrogance exceeds his confidence; others love him to the point of being unable to extricate themselves.

"Facing the controversies surrounding him, Zhou Yi has never offered any resistance, calmly accepting everything good and bad..."

January 20, on the day Zhou Yi returned to the country, "Asia Weekly" released it right on time, welcoming the return of the Emperor!

Warner (China) widely issued heroic invitations and set up a grand celebration banquet!

"Damn, you little guy is truly f***ing awesome!"

Jiang Wen, with a cigar in his mouth, couldn't help but swear after receiving the invitation: "When are you going to film that Italian story you mentioned before? I feel the script framework set by Warner according to your ideas isn't quite right, not very fitting for your current status, little brother."

(End of Chapter)