Chapter 262: I Am the Producer

"Wavin' Flag" exists in three versions in the strict sense.

The first was created by Kenyan-Canadian singer K'naan, who had his hometown of Somalia on his mind; it is the second lead single included in his personal album "Troubadour," released on February 24, 2009.

The second version is relatively niche; it is a charity song with rewritten lyrics performed by a team of Canadian artists called "Haitian Young Artists," released on March 12, 2010, with all proceeds donated to Haiti, which suffered an earthquake in January 2010.

The third version, released on April 30, 2010, is the World Cup version known worldwide, led by a team headed by Bruno Mars, who would later be known as the "Grammy's favorite son."

With the global channel bombardment of Coca-Cola and the record label, the song went viral worldwide a month before the World Cup started, and was once jokingly called the official theme song of the 2010 South Africa World Cup by domestic listeners.

If it weren't for the fact that the quality and popularity of the theme song "Waka Waka" sung by Xia Qila were indeed hard enough on a global scale, the limelight might have been snatched away by K'naan.

For Zhou Yi, the purpose of making this song was to "replace it."

The 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup did not have a trump card like Xia Qila in the hands of the South Africa World Cup organizing committee—

There were three official theme songs in total; apart from the pure music "Anthem" (Football Anthem) created by Greek artist Vangelis, which stirred up some waves, the other two had little presence in terms of public popularity or artistic evaluation.

It was the kind where if you didn't look carefully, you basically wouldn't even know who the singer, the creator, or even the song title was.

With no competitors to split the audience, "Wavin' Flag" would undoubtedly soak up all the World Cup heat.

"The city theme you set has received responses from many city tourism bureaus; they all expressed willingness to coordinate various parties to help us complete the MV recording of this song."

With "Jiangnan" as a precedent, and now with this opportunity to shine brightly, the cities naturally raised both hands and feet to express their approval.

Especially in cities with a strong football atmosphere like Dalian, their enthusiasm for contacting Warner was incredible; they were just short of making three phone calls a day to ask how Qian Jiang was living.

"The shots of the four cities Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen will definitely be more, after all, the bustling areas of the cities are indeed relatively more developed."

"Considering the time and length limitations of the MV, we still have to make good choices in the allocation of the remaining cities, after all, the main focus is still to use football to reflect a positive and upward spirit."

As Zhou Yi's manager, Qian Jiang had actually been a bit of a headache recently.

With Zhou Yi returning in glory, he was either on the phone or on his way to answer the phone every day.

There were even quite a few stars willing to participate in Zhou Yi's MV, such as Zhang Ziyi, who was also under Coca-Cola.

Regarding appearing on the international stage, Zhang Ziyi has always been unremitting.

"Hong Kong and Macau are also contacting filming locations; now we are just waiting for the material from Taiwan."

Although Zhou Yi himself was not allowed to go to Taiwan for filming, this did not stump Warner; Sun Yanzi was unimpeded in Taiwan.

Not to mention that on March 23, she was holding the first show of her "Start" tour at the Taipei Municipal Stadium; at such a time, wouldn't it be normal for a huge filming team to follow her around filming in Taiwan?

With the World Cup here, wouldn't it also be normal for Warner and Coca-Cola to organize a few football activities in Taiwan to ride the heat?

As one of the twin stars, with Zhou Yi not present, wouldn't it be flawless for Sun Yanzi to lead?

Sun Yanzi, who made a brief cameo appearance without singing in "The Lazy Song," will appear again as a "pure passerby" in the Taiwan footage of "Wavin' Flag," welcoming the World Cup with the extras.

"Luckily it was me, otherwise your MV with national footage would be missing a piece."

March 15, Warner Building in the Imperial Capital, conference room.

Sun Yanzi, who had returned to the Imperial Capital amidst a clamor from the outside world, stood behind a chair, smiling, and leaned sideways with her elbow bent, resting on the shoulder of the seated Zhou Yi to take credit for herself.

"Is it possible that without you, there would be others? Like Elva Hsiao, like Angela Chang, or even Wen Lan." Zhou Yi, spitting out grape skin, shook the first draft of the song he had written from memory, not buying it at all: "Liu Genghong and Zhou Jielun would work too; I am the person who saved their lives."

"Lin Yichen and Wang Xinling could also work; since they starred in my MV, they have been doing very well in the Taiwanese advertising industry and occasionally send text messages to thank me."

"Lalala, yes yes yes, you are right, you have extensive connections."

Speechless, Sun Yanzi stuck out her tongue and made a face at him.

"The key now is the recording of those Chinese instruments you requested; your requirements are very high. I asked several friends, and the people they know cannot make their schedules for the moment."

As this single concerned a global rollout, to satisfy Zhou Yi's meticulous requirements for instruments in the song, Zhou Jianhui personally reached out to many old friends, but unfortunately, their schedules clashed.

After Zhou Yi removed the African instrument features of the original song, they were filled in with other instruments of similar timbre and effect; the most rhythmic drum beats were replaced with equally passionate Chinese drums.

However, there were very few people who could meet Zhou Yi's requirements while retaining the characteristics of Chinese instruments; his arrangement concept's demands on musicians were indeed a bit high.

"That's fine; I have candidates. Just contact Wang Xiaojing."

Zhou Yi was not worried about this at all.

In terms of using Chinese instruments to play pop music, the Women's Twelve Music Forum under Wang Xiaojing's command is currently number one in the music scene, even though they are not yet famous.

It just so happened that the tacit deal he had made with Wang Xiaojing included a condition to give the Women's Twelve Music Forum a boost; at least he had gotten them a connection.

"There is another problem."

After writing "Women's Twelve Music Forum" in his notebook and closing the pen cap, Qian Jiang's expression immediately became serious: "Ah Yi, you rejected the script written by Jiang Wen; Jiang Wen is probably already at the company looking for you."

Since Zhou Yi had returned to the country last night, he had naturally seen the script and storyboard concepts that Jiang Wen had produced under the name of Ning Hao—

How to put it? Although he had been very restrained, there was still an uncontained flavor of Jiang Wen that made Zhou Yi put a cross on it.

After all, this was an album led by him, and the protagonist was not Jiang Wen.

Moreover, the reason he gave Jiang Wen was very simple: it didn't have the flavor he required and didn't meet his psychological expectations.

This reason was very abstract, but coincidentally, Jiang Wen was also an abstract person in this regard—

"Brother Zhou Yi, I won't say much nonsense; if you want me to change it, you must at least give me a normal reason, right?"

At 10:37 AM, Jiang Wen, who had arrived at Warner low-key, rolled up his sleeves, pushed open the door, and walked into the conference room; under the gaze of Qian Jiang and others, he went straight to Zhou Yi: "I think this script is already perfect."

"No, no, no, it's not enough. As the producer, I have the right to demand perfection; I believe you, Brother Jiang, having been a director, should understand this."

Zhou Yi smiled slightly, brought out his identity as producer, and did not yield an inch, almost choking Jiang Wen.

Feeling that he had probably met his match, Jiang Wen unscrewed the cap of a bottle of mineral water, took a drink, and then began his "war of words" with Zhou Yi in the conference room—

"I think this is already perfect, whether it is the alienation of people by the environment or the impact of family on people, or even the final segment paying tribute to The Godfather."

"No, no, no, what we in this industry most taboo is 'I think'; I think you, Brother Jiang, should understand this in your heart."

"Brother Zhou Yi, isn't what you are doing a bit unreasonable? Aren't you busy with the arrangement of that English song right now?"

"That is very simple for me; it doesn't require wasting too much time. Moreover, don't change the subject; I am the album producer, and I must be responsible for my own album."

"I think these four scripts are already perfect."

"I am the producer."

"I think your concept has already been perfectly realized."

"I am the producer."

"You..."

"I am the producer."

"..."

(End of this chapter)