Chapter 27: He Opened a New World for Mandarin Music

"You really got lucky."

After spending a week together, Sun Yanzi, who had grown somewhat familiar with him, immediately threw a cushion at him; she couldn't stand to see that man's smug expression.

Zhang Shaohan, standing nearby, was overjoyed, with no other thoughts besides being happy for Zhou Yi.

This was a program where even the four Heavenly Kings of Hong Kong had to schedule their appearances just to get on.

"Jealous, jealous. Look at that jealous face of yours, Sun Yanzi."

Grabbing the cushion that had landed on his face, Zhou Yi could still smell a hint of shampoo fragrance on it; he glanced sideways at the woman wearing monitoring headphones around her neck: "Don't be jealous. Learn from me, be helpful, and maybe you'll have such an opportunity in the future."

"Better lock your doors and windows tight at night, Zhou Yi." Sun Yanzi, rubbing her hands together, saw his provocative look and immediately felt an itch to fight.

"Men and women should not touch; you are about to debut, and you still want to enter my house at night? What do you want?" Zhou Yi scoffed indifferently: "I warn you, I'm used to sleeping without clothes."

Since Warner had arranged accommodation for both of them, the distance between their places wasn't far, which was why Zhou Yi had previously met Sun Yanzi, who was also having dinner, while he went out for dinner.

"But, Brother Yi, which single do you plan to release in October?" Regarding Zhou Yi's debut, Zhang Shaohan couldn't help but become curious.

Should they release the lead single "Happy Worship" directly?

Or "Must Love"?

"Release a single? Release what single? By October, even if my album production is as difficult as ever, it will be finished; then I'll take the album directly to the program."

The production time for an album is usually indefinite.

Generally speaking, if the singer personally handles everything from start to finish with great care, the album production time is usually longer; this rule applies even to Zhou Yi without exception.

One can see this by looking at the timing and speed of album releases by Zhou, Wang, and Tao.

The reason Tao Zhe was the first to fall behind among the three charioteers, with album production times getting longer each time, was mainly due to the exhaustion of his creative energy.

Even though Zhou Yi had a cheat code, he still had to spend effort arranging the music from his memory and then spend time making the MV. This wasn't the future ringtone era where an MV could just pass with a Flash animation hanging on it.

"Rest assured, Teacher Sun, considering you are at least my teacher, if you need it then, I can take you to the program together."

Zhou Yi, who clearly knew this woman would be the first to launch a new wave in the Mandarin music scene in June, made the promise with malicious fun.

Sun Yanzi immediately rolled her eyes at him, commenting on this behavior of making empty promises: "Shaohan, see? This is a man who makes promises recklessly with his mouth."

Zhang Shaohan, still a complete nobody, dared not interject on this topic and could only pretend to be foolish and smile, knowing nothing when asked.

"Don't sow discord, don't damage my majestic and towering image in Shaohan's heart." Zhou Yi indifferently brushed off invisible dust from his fingernails.

Sun Yanzi couldn't hold back her laughter: "Except for your height and appearance, which can be associated with this idiom, you don't fit in any other way."

"Your behavior, speaking severely, is sowing discord between the cooperative friendship of Warner Records and Fomao Records, Senior Sister Sun."

"Why not add Virgin Records? Aren't you going to find your rumored girlfriend today?" After a light chuckle, a hint of playfulness climbed onto Sun Yanzi's eyebrows and eyes as she watched him with interest.

Although Virgin Records, Warner Records, and Alpha Records had quickly refuted the rumors and provided evidence, the so-called "two women fighting for one husband" explosive news, which was enough to attract public attention, was extinguished in the cradle before it could spread, failing to stir up huge waves.

But this didn't stop Sun Yanzi from teasing him with this matter.

Moreover, if these two really guest-starred in each other's albums, this rumor would definitely be brought up again then, making it difficult to refute.

"You underestimate me a bit; the morning is for recording songs, and the afternoon is for dance practice."

Pointing to the sheet music with the arrangement completed, which was placed not far from the monitoring console, Zhou Yi shrugged: "Shaohan, it's time to work."

"After we finish recording our duet 'Happy Worship' and 'Must Love', you can go back first; no need to run back and forth every day. I'll notify you when the MV recording starts."

Sun Yanzi, with a smile still on her face, shrugged noncommittally and then put on her headphones.

Helping Zhou Yi record songs was the easiest work she had done since she started contacting music in her life; this man had completely done everything he could do, truly leaving no money for others to earn.

Combined with his height and appearance, he was undoubtedly the top-tier all-in-one machine of the Mandarin music scene.

Didn't you see that the company's ace producer Li Saisong hadn't come recently? It was because there was absolutely no space for him to exert himself here; a bored Sun Yanzi, just waiting to debut, giving a little help was enough for Zhou Yi to handle everything in the recording studio.

Surprised by Zhou Yi's terrifying production ability, Sun Yanzi silently reflected in her heart; as the complete arrangement played out, Zhou Yi's highly recognizable voice immediately came through her headphones—

"Those who have forgotten their names, please follow me; now let us worship happiness~

"Those who have put down their burdens, please follow me; spread it out to build an era of happiness~"

The beginning was an extremely catchy melody, followed by the rap singing style that amazed Sun Yanzi—unlike the machine-gun rapping in the underground hip-hop market where you couldn't even hear the words clearly, Zhou Yi's singing style was uniquely clear.

"To which era does happiness belong, the 70s, 80s, 90s, or the Y generation~

"Open the history textbook; even if you look carefully, you won't find the answer, and you can't memorize it well either.

"Relax, let me tell you

"What kind of wind blows in what kind of era, I hold my microphone..."

Zhang Shaohan's voice, fitting in at the right moment, precisely inserted itself; the clear tone, under mutual contrast, directly created the layering in Zhou Yi's voice during the rap.

At this moment, even though Sun Yanzi had studied music for many years in Singapore before, she couldn't help but be moved in her heart. Her head unconsciously swayed with the rhythm, and her index finger tapped on the table.

This was a musical style that had never appeared on the mainstream stage of the Mandarin music scene before the year 2000.

Sun Yanzi didn't know what evaluation this song would receive after its release in the future, but for her, at this very moment, she only felt that this man was doing something very crazy, but also very cool—

He subverted the existing musical styles of the Mandarin music scene, innovatively introduced the hiphop elements that were extremely popular in the Western music scene at the time, and perfectly integrated them into Mandarin pop music.

Unlike the so-called hip-hop experimental album named "Someone" recorded in 1993 by mainland musicians Tutu, Xie Dong, and Yin Xiangjie together, that album was purely half-baked; compared to hip-hop, it was more like Shuailai Bao, and it simply couldn't take root in the domestic mainstream music market.

But this one was different.

Whether it was composition, arrangement, or the rhythm and tone of the rap, Zhou Yi achieved perfection.

After spending a week, Sun Yanzi finally heard the complete arrangement and the whole song; she stared blankly at Zhou Yi through the transparent glass—

Dappled light scattered on him, weaving a hazy veil.

At this moment, she seemed to see a Wang Zuo faintly appearing behind this man.

He opened up a new world for Mandarin music.