Chapter 328: The First Shot of the Internal Struggle at Warner

"In this drizzling, splashing, swirling rain, can we still embrace each other tightly as before~"

"On this day when all sweet madness has long faded, can we still embrace in the rain as we did yesterday~"

Inside the recording studio, Wang Feng was still singing with abandon; his abundant emotion paired with his rock-filled voice created an excellent listening experience.

The lyrics, which he had already memorized to perfection, spilled from his mouth one word after another; Wang Feng, immersed in the song's emotion, slowly opened his eyes—

Outside the window, the appearance of Zhou Yi, this true god, instantly tightened Wang Feng's heart; the emotional progression he had been building for most of the song suddenly fractured, and the atmosphere was utterly destroyed in an instant.

"Sorry, sorry, my apologies."

Wang Feng, who never expected Zhou Yi to appear here, hurriedly apologized.

"It's fine, you sang well, continue."

Standing behind Sun Yanzi, Zhou Yi smiled and made an OK gesture at him, showing no aggressive pressure whatsoever.

With Zhou Yi "supervising the battle," in the time that followed, Wang Feng, who immediately became fully alert, forced himself into the best studio state since the creation of "In the Rain."

There was no way around it; a man's name casts a shadow.

In the past, Zhou Yi's two Chinese albums plus one EP failed to subdue the entire Chinese music scene, but now, with a single English album that conquered the globe, he had made all domestic opponents scatter in panic.

Originally, when Zhou Jianhui sent Sun Yanzi over, he didn't feel much pressure, but Zhou Yi's arrival was beyond his expectations.

Now everyone knew his supreme status within Warner Records; if Zhou Yi showed even a hint of disapproval for this album, his manager's attempt to apply for a large promotional budget from above would undoubtedly be a fool's dream.

"This album is titled 'Love is a Happy Bullet'; the thematic concept is love, and all 11 songs inside were written and composed by Wang Feng himself. At the same time, he is also the producer of his own album."

Seeing that Zhou Yi was listening quite intently, Sun Yanzi casually handed him the materials beside her.

As one of the rare creative talents in the mainland music scene around the millennium, when Warner signed Wang Feng, they also gave him immense freedom.

"Your 'Lianshan' is tentatively scheduled for release on October 1st, my album is set for November 1st, and his album is tentatively scheduled for December 10th, to avoid a clash where you and I steal the spotlight."

As the top-selling male and female singers at Warner Records currently, in the months when Zhou Yi and Sun Yanzi release their albums, it is impossible for any other Warner singer to release an album.

September: A-Mei; October: Zhou Yi; November: Sun Yanzi; December: Wang Feng and Na Ying.

Basically, they have covered the last four months of the year; the ambitious Warner Records is determined to make a mighty name in the second half of '02, with the diva A-Mei, on whom the company pins its hopes, leading the charge.

Except for Zhou Yi, who was still filming his MV and thus undisturbed, other singers under Warner, including Sun Yanzi, had promoted information related to A-Mei's album in their interviews, both explicitly and implicitly.

"The idea is quite good."

After glancing at the album track information, Zhou Yi's tone carried a hint of amusement.

With A-Mei's upcoming album failure, Warner's famous "Harem of Divas" is about to crumble.

Sun Yanzi, having caught the change in Zhou Yi's expression, instinctively blinked, but she forcibly restrained the desire to ask for details right there.

"Brother Yi."

Although he was born in '71, a full ten years older than Zhou Yi, the "Brother" Wang Feng called out after leaving the recording studio came out exceptionally naturally.

The nickname "Ah Yi" was not something he could call him yet, let alone his full name "Zhou Yi"; currently, only Sun Yanzi in the entire company often addresses Zhou Yi by his name.

"You sang well; this song should be a hit. I wish your new album great success."

Wang Feng's face lit up with joy: "Thank you, Brother Yi."

Although it seemed Zhou Yi had come to find Sun Yanzi and seeing him record was just an accident, one had to admit that receiving Zhou Yi's encouragement was more effective than any reassurance pill.

"Keep it up."

Regarding this rare all-around creative genius from the mainland music scene, putting aside any prejudice, Zhou Yi generally quite liked some of his songs.

Everyone's private life is a mess; the big brother doesn't mock the second brother.

In terms of professional ability, the statement "the man who chiseled open half the mainstream commercial market with rock" was truly not boasting; the rock album "Love is a Happy Bullet" can basically be said to mark the beginning of Wang Feng's personal commercial value peak.

"Zhou Yi has high hopes for him?"

More than ten minutes later, in the president's office.

Sun Yanzi, coming to report to Zhou Jianhui, specifically mentioned Zhou Yi's evaluation of Wang Feng's song "In the Rain"—that it would be a hit—which immediately drew Zhou Jianhui's attention, prompting him to hurriedly ask for more details.

"You could say so; I heard him say before that the only mainland new-generation creative male singers he currently has high hopes for are Hu Yanbin and Wang Feng."

Having completed her task, Sun Yanzi shrugged, then cheerfully chose to take her leave: "If there's nothing else, I'll head out first; Zhou Yi is waiting for me to discuss the MV matters."

"Mm."

Zhou Jianhui, clearly somewhat distracted, waved his hand; Sun Yanzi immediately vanished like a flash, moving as fast as a rabbit running freely.

"Hu Yanbin, a person from Busheng Music..."

For someone capable of receiving Zhou Yi's praise, Zhou Jianhui felt that if he didn't see it, he must be blind.

Facts prove that Ah Yi has always been successful, never failing.

"Song Ke..."

Closing his eyes, Zhou Jianhui rubbed his brow, muttering the name of the founder of Wheat Music, who had been acquired by Warner in the past.

Whether it was due to inheriting Warner's traditional skills or not, Song Ke's recent restless little schemes were noticed by Xu Xiaofeng, the current person in charge of Warner Wheat, and his flirtations with Taihe Media were all reported up to Zhou Jianhui.

It was very clear that he was no longer content to develop only under the Warner banner.

More critically, according to the mole he had planted at Rock Records, Rock Records' Deputy General Manager and a generation-defining music big shot, Li Zongsheng, had also been chatting quite well with this Song Ke, and the mainland genius music producer Zhang Yadong had recently been getting very close to Song Ke as well.

It was very clear that Song Ke was planning to use the accumulated connections and channels to reopen a "Little Warner."

The key point was that among Warner's mainland artists currently, aside from Zhou Yi, who could be considered his direct subordinate, everyone else might leave along with Song Ke.

This inevitably reminded Zhou Jianhui of Warner Records' painful history of being tricked in Taiwan in the past—

Spending a huge sum to acquire the local Taiwanese record company Ufo Records, only to be tricked; most of its singers jumped ship or didn't renew contracts, leaving the Warner that entered Taiwan with an empty shell supported only by Guo Fucheng and Zheng Xiuwen.

He, Zhou Jianhui, was personally invited by Warner to serve as the general manager of Warner Ufo Records, which had not yet been renamed Warner (China), under such chaotic and difficult circumstances; he had witnessed this history firsthand and remembered it vividly.

He would absolutely not allow such a thing to happen again during his tenure.

"Wang Feng can be pursued; Pu Shu will definitely follow Song Ke, so there's no need to worry about him..."

Zhou Jianhui, ticking off the names of the company's mainland artists one by one, thought for a moment, and then added one more after Zhou Yi's name: Hu Yanbin.

Since Zhou Yi has such high hopes, then we can try to dig into the foundation.

Of course, the most important thing was still the contract with Zhou Yi.

"Zhou Yi signed a 4-year deal with Warner, which means his contract is about to expire in June 2004. I think we can give it a try—Warner hasn't been too peaceful internally lately."

Almost at the same time, giants like Sony and EMI all caught wind of the new round of internal strife at Warner; once the thought of poaching took root in their minds, it spread like vines.

There were still four months until 2003, so by that reckoning, the time until Zhou Yi's contract expires wasn't that long either—two years was nothing to a record company.

Moreover, for a superstar of Zhou Yi's caliber, contract negotiations alone could take months, half a year, or even a full year.

Whether it was Warner wanting to re-sign him or other companies wanting to poach him, everyone had to show enough sincerity to move him.

Fully aware of all this, Sun Yanzi had no intention of using Gemini's name to hold Zhou Yi hostage; instead, she acted as if she knew nothing and continued getting along with him as usual, joining the set to cameo in the "Cheers" MV, playing the role of Zhou Yi's girlfriend.

"Is this the wedding dress custom-made for me?"

After a brief cameo in "Cheers" as the girlfriend who helped Zhou Yi home before wrapping up, Sun Yanzi's gaze was immediately drawn to another sight on set, a look of pleasant surprise crossing her face—

Two pure-white wedding dresses.

(End of chapter)