Chapter 257: Are the Gemini Going Their Separate Ways?

Huang Liling, English name A-Lin.

Golden Melody Award-winning song queen, nicknamed "Born Songstress," and the possessor of a rare top-tier contralto voice in the Chinese music scene.

Compared with Elva Hsiao, who likewise possesses a top-tier contralto voice, Huang Liling's greatest advantage is that she lacks top-tier dance talent, which allows her to focus fully on exploring her potential in the mid-range.

"Heartbreak Is No Crime" and "Give Me a Reason to Forget" can probably be counted as the two earliest Huang Liling songs to catch on in the mainland pop market.

Especially "Give Me a Reason to Forget."

As for "Pirates," aside from the fact that the song's theme and style are both striking and a perfect fit for the green-toned Elva Hsiao concept, another plus is that next year Pirates of the Caribbean is going to hit theaters.

When this song was first released by Cai Yilin in '04, plenty of people questioned and mocked her for riding the hype, since whether it was the MV content, the theme, or the promotion, it was basically clinging to the globally huge 2003 hit Pirates of the Caribbean to piggyback off its popularity.

That is also one of the reasons why, even though this song was clearly the lead single of Cai Yilin's '04 album and got plenty of buzz, she rarely performed it in public afterward.

Giving it to Elva Hsiao now means no such headache—after all, Pirates of the Caribbean hasn't even started filming yet, only greenlit; by the time they officially begin shooting, Elva Hsiao's "Pirates" will already be out.

And when Pirates of the Caribbean goes on to be a global smash next year, Elva Hsiao and he might even get praised together for it.

"Prague Square" was purely an idea that came to him from a freeze-frame shot filmed on a square.

"Alright, if that's the case, I'll give the teacher a call and let him know he doesn't need to keep collecting songs."

Although Zhou Yi hadn't written them yet, trusting him, Elva Hsiao glanced at the time, called her assistant, and told her to get in touch with the domestic company.

Teacher Yao Qian had already locked in five songs, plus one she wrote herself—lyrics and music—made six; add Zhou Yi's four and that's ten straight, an entire album done in one go.

"Only now do I really understand how terrifying it is on the album-making front to have an all-in-one like you who can handle everything yourself." Elva Hsiao, who had just started trying to write her own songs, couldn't help feeling a touch of envy.

The next morning, Hong Kong, Lin Xi's home.

When Lin Xi, who was eating breakfast, picked up a call from Viking's Yao Qian, he assumed Yao Qian was calling to negotiate the price—

But as it turned out, Yao Qian really was calling to negotiate a price—just not the price for Elva Hsiao's use of the songs, but the price for another female singer under Viking, Jiang Meiqi.

This turn of events caught Lin Xi somewhat off guard.

Wasn't the original song invitation for Elva Hsiao? How come she doesn't want them anymore?

Jiang Meiqi, while not exactly unknown in the Taiwanese music scene, could at best be described as having nothing to do with being popular.

The price for writing songs for her certainly couldn't compare to Elva Hsiao's.

"Mainly because this kid Elva is being rather willful—she's run off abroad to play now and no matter how I call I can't get her back. On top of that, Meiqi is also prepping an album, so I figured I'd rein her in a bit and help Meiqi make an album first."

To cover for Elva Hsiao, Yao Qian took the stance of an elder and openly admitted his own failure to discipline, saying he planned to rein in Elva Hsiao, who felt her wings had already hardened.

Lin Xi: "……"

As one of the top-tier lyricists who fought his way out of the Chinese music scene at the end of the last century, how could he not hear that this was Elva Hsiao's tactful way of refusing the songs the company had invited for her?

It's just that Lin Xi's standing in the lyricist world had risen now; back in the last century, the songs would have been sent straight back.

"OK, of course, no problem."

Ever since his status had risen with the tide, Lin Xi, who had rarely encountered the situation of being invited to write and then having the songs returned, wore an unsettled expression, though his tone was quite affable.

When others weren't satisfied with his lyrics, at most they'd discuss revisions with him—worst case, he'd revise a few more times before they were accepted.

Elva Hsiao was the first to reject them outright without even asking for a revision.

If she didn't want them that badly, why did she spend the time to invite him to write songs in the first place?

Because Elva Hsiao was also a top-tier singer at the moment, and when he wrote those three songs, he had put considerable thought into them.

"Need you even ask? She's got Zhou Yi, that top-tier genius, backing her now. Those three songs of yours getting returned was probably because Zhou Yi looked them over and told Elva Hsiao to send them back.

"Don't forget, Zhou Yi has a track record of meddling with album selections for the female artists he's close with.

"Look at Sun Yanzi's 'Remember' on last year's album Kite—Zhou Yi picked it out of his song library, and directly kicked out the other candidates originally slated for the Kite album."

While having afternoon tea with friends and bringing this up, Lin Xi's grumbling drew some playful teasing: "Looks like maybe none of your three songs met Zhou Yi's standards."

Yao Qian was Elva Hsiao's teacher, so Zhou Yi didn't kick out a single one of his—meaning the only one who took the hit was Lin Xi, who had nothing to do with any of it.

"But this Zhou Yi is interesting—is he planning to keep things even? He made three for Sun Yanzi, and now he's making three for Elva Hsiao too?"

"Who knows. I'd love to see what songs Zhou Yi swapped in for Elva Hsiao, and compare them then." Lin Xi wouldn't say he was truly displeased—after all, Zhou Yi's track record spoke for itself—but the competitive fire in his heart was still lit.

In other respects he admitted he couldn't compete, but when it came to lyric-writing, he still had the confidence.

Thanks to Hong Kong's highly developed paparazzi industry, within about two days, the news that "three songs written by Lin Xi were suspected to have been sent back by Zhou Yi" reached the ears of several Hong Kong paparazzi reporters—

From there, the news quickly made its way onto the tabloids on every street corner and swiftly sparked a wave of discussion.

"For real? Isn't Zhou Yi out of the country collecting an award? How is he still remotely controlling Elva Hsiao's song selection?"

"Seems like Elva Hsiao also went to that award ceremony—maybe the two of them were lying in a hotel bed kicking out Lin Xi's songs."

"Wait, what about Sun Yanzi? Did these two sneak abroad behind our Yanzi's back to have a fling?"

Unlike the mainland market, where they were thoroughly defeated by the Gemini fans, thanks to Elva Hsiao's massive popularity from consecutive Hong Kong Coliseum shows, in Hong Kong the CP fans of Zhou Yi and Elva Hsiao could basically go toe-to-toe with the Gemini fans, just like in Taiwan.

After all, she was the woman rumored to be with him even before Zhou Yi had debuted.

After Sun Yanzi had the upper hand at the end of last year, Elva Hsiao's fans had temporarily not dared to show their faces; now, upon seeing this news, they popped up one after another—

"Doesn't this mean Zhou Yi is also going to produce three songs for Elva?!"

Elva Hsiao's fans went wild with joy.

At this moment, even some of Elva Hsiao's fans who weren't used to Zhou Yi chose to stay silent.

No matter how wild he gets, at least here in the Chinese music scene, the name Zhou Yi represents gold content.

Deng Shiying, who had become a minor leader of the Gemini fans in Hong Kong since the end of last year's charity celebrity football match, was so furious her gums itched—she even went online to furiously argue with people, hurling insults like "so high" and "diu ni lao mu"…

Her gritted-teeth expression showed no regard for the fact that she herself might one day enter the singer circle; her keyboard clattered away.

Originally, Zhou Yi was already commanding extremely high attention domestically because he was going abroad to collect an award; once this news spread, young listeners across the strait and the three places also mostly began to grow curious about what songs Zhou Yi would write for Elva Hsiao.

So much so that when Cai Yilin held a press conference with Sony officials and announced that from today she would officially jump ship to Sony Music, the news was completely drowned in the massive wave of discussion about Zhou Yi.

Sony, feeling hard done by, spent even more money buying a huge batch of press releases to play the sympathy card for Cai Yilin, denouncing her former label's unfairness and Sony's own righteousness—only to have the news market once again thrown into upheaval by a joint announcement from Sina and Warner—

On March 4, 2002, Sina officially announced that Warner (China) artist Sun Yanzi would become its official spokesperson, with an endorsement fee of 16 million, on a three-year contract.

This time, it shocked a large number of Gemini fans who had been sitting comfortably on the fence.

As everyone knows, the three major portal websites have essentially been fighting each other to the death for traffic, especially under the current internet winter.

After Sohu signed Zhou Yi with a sky-high contract of 40 million, Sina, which was forced to retreat due to funding issues and is Sohu's old rival, actually turned around and signed Sun Yanzi?!

Coupled with the news of Zhou Yi and Elva Hsiao traveling abroad together and Zhou Yi kicking Lin Xi's three songs out for Elva Hsiao, doesn't it feel like the Warner twins are on the verge of splitting up?!

What is going on?!

Where is Chen Zeshan?! How are you acting as an agent?! Give an explanation!

Where is Sun Yanzi?! Don't just loaf around at home! Your family is about to be stolen by a shameless fox spirit!

At this very moment, Sun Yanzi was at her home in Singapore, slicing a honeydew melon, taking a huge bite with a grunt, lying on the sofa with a satisfied expression, patting her belly and swinging her toes while watching variety shows and laughing foolishly.

Her parents and sisters and brothers were at work or at school as they should be; only she was at home. In Zhou Yi's words, it was absolutely awesome.

(End of this chapter)