Chapter 356: Growth, Starting from the Four Heavenly Kings to Zhou Yi (4k)

Compared to albums generally priced at over 30 RMB on the market, Zhou Yi's "Lianshan" CD, with a nationwide fixed price of 49 RMB, is actually on the expensive side, reaching the top-tier level for domestic singers.

Entering the 21st century, as the older generation of popular Guo Tianwang Li Ming gradually faded from the music scene, his popularity plummeted very quickly, no longer matching his former glory; the new generation of popular Guo Tianwang Xie Tingfeng bravely ventured into the flower garden and was about to enter prison to experience an anal examination, so currently in Hong Kong, only Zhang Xueyou's albums could command this price.

Not every album by Zhang Xueyou could achieve this market level; if the feedback failed to meet expectations, the record company would find various reasons to covertly lower the selling price while publicly claiming it was a return of favor to fans.

Precisely because of this, when this solid battle report was laid out, Zhou Yi's popularity in Hong Kong once again saw a small surge—

After all, the figure of "70% sales share" looked simply too terrifying.

"Crazy Thursday, give me 50. I want to buy a Zhou Yi album, and use the remaining one yuan to buy a bottle of water."

Because adding this modifier was indeed too terrifying, after Warner released this sales report through various traditional media channels, it directly sparked a wave of teasing and trend-following among many Hong Kong celebrities.

Among these, the Yinghuang faction was the most active—

Its current popular artists all grabbed the "Lianshan" album to ride the first wave of heat, and even Chen Yixun, known as Zhou Yi's biggest rival in Hong Kong, was no exception—

"Of course I bought it, how could I not buy it?"

Chen Yixun, who was having a year of great success this year, responded generously when asked while attending a sponsor event and being interviewed.

"Then do you think you can complete the task of defending the challenge?"

"What defending the challenge? That's all media hype. I knew Zhou Yi when we participated in the Chinese Golden Melody Awards together." Chen Yixun, avoiding the question, smiled and changed the subject.

And Arsa, a member of Twins who always presented a sweet girl image, even playfully stated in a "random street interview": "If Ah Yi can achieve these results, my contribution must be counted, because I bought it!"

Her signature sweet girl smile and the faint intimacy in how she addressed him allowed onlookers to smell something different—

As everyone knows, Arsa participated in the filming of Zhou Yi's MV before she officially debuted, making her one of the standard Yi Girls.

The remaining Ah Jiao, Yu Wenle, Chen Guanxi, and other young Hong Kong artists all came out to ride the heat to some extent, while among the older generation of Hong Kong stars, the one who jumped out first to support Zhou Yi was naturally Chen Long—

"You ask if I support Ah Yi? Then I definitely support him. Especially that song 'Mom and Dad'; not exaggerating, I have been looping that single these past few days.

"I even made my son listen to it, letting him learn well from Zhou Yi.

"To speak honestly, I rarely see someone so young have such a profound understanding of our Chinese-style traditional family; sometimes I even think, if only my son were half as excellent as Zhou Yi..."

This martial arts superstar, who went globally famous last year thanks to "Rush Hour 2", has had his days somewhat declining this year; his main C new movie "The Tuxedo" has received many negative reviews since its North American release in mid-September, and the box office is not optimistic.

To save himself, the second location for the global release of this movie was placed in Taiwan, China; the producers even finished negotiating the import arrangements with mainland China, hoping to reverse the downward trend in box office revenue by leveraging Chen Long's status and high popularity within China.

This is also why Chen Long was in Hong Kong at this time; he was simply taking a temporary rest in Hong Kong after finishing his promotion in Taiwan.

And his remarks basically represented the view of Hong Kong people of this age group towards Zhou Yi—

For them, who are the backbone of society, their hearts can no longer be simply touched by a single song like "Fairy Tale". Having struggled in society for many years, their hearts had long cooled; only when hearing songs related to family affection were they most touched—

After all, that was the first harbor many could never return to.

Thus, the song "Mom and Dad" basically became Zhou Yi's second lead single in Hong Kong.

This song was also the fastest-rising in the daily rankings of Hong Kong radio stations; basically, it broke into the top thirty before Zhou Yi even arrived in Hong Kong. During the few days of turmoil since his arrival, the ranking soared straight up, second only to "Fairy Tale" in terms of growth.

Lu Zihua was the middle-aged man who gave Zhou Yi a burst of gold coins because of this one song.

At forty years old this year, he had his own child, his own family and career, and a mother he had brought over to enjoy his blessings; the only thing he lost was the father from his childhood who was always extremely strict with him—

Just three months ago, his father passed away due to a sudden cerebral hemorrhage.

Before the "Lianshan" album, he was indeed not very fond of the singer Zhou Yi, whom his daughter and son liked, thinking he was far inferior to the Hong Kong singers he had chased when he was younger.

His children thought he valued the old over the new; his wife, being more emotional, watched "Fairy Tale" with the children and shed tears one after another;

But he, who had killed fish in the vegetable market for five years in his early years, had a heart as cold as a knife and felt no fluctuation regarding this.

Until the appearance of the song "Mom and Dad".

"I once really wanted to know how many times the same words need to be said

"Those clichés emphasized again and again, only to realize when grown up whether they are needed~

"Rarely initiating a hug, even for pride, a shy smile, stubborn yet low-key

"The fabric worn, the coat I gave, outdated but not thrown away~"

Listening to Zhou Yi's voice coming from the car radio, Lu Zihua, who had unknowingly driven his car back to the old house in Tsim Sha Tsui after work, rolled down the window—

The man pushed a cigarette from the pack into his mouth, gazing at the moss-covered wall at the entrance, while what floated before his eyes were scenes from the past.

Twenty years ago, at twenty years old, with family funds support, after succeeding as an apprentice and earning some money and achieving some results, he directly bought new clothes for his parents. His mother smiled so widely she couldn't close her mouth, praising her good son for being promising; his father simply said some encouraging words, his smile very faint, warning him to avoid arrogance and impetuosity.

At that time, he felt a sense of loss in his heart.

Originally, for so many years, he had forgotten this matter. Until two months ago, when he discovered that the blue Zhongshan suit was still preserved as new among his father's belongings, he, who had not cried at the funeral, knelt alone before the spirit hall and wept until he could not speak.

"It is still the same, too many things taken for granted make people feel it is ordinary

"A house not too small, the room that is warm in winter and cool in summer where my bed is placed~

"Praising this ordinariness, one or two lines cannot finish it; gratitude as heavy as a mountain, sounding unnatural

"Looking back, this is the emotion where saying thank you actually makes one feel indebted~~"

Lu Zihua did not get out of the car; after lowering his head to light the cigarette in his mouth, he rested his bent elbow on the edge of the wide-open car window, his gaze gradually becoming vacant along with the singing.

When young, he didn't study hard, only knowing how to play everywhere. His father's beating and scolding, his mother acting as a peacemaker or joining to form a mixed double-team.

After dropping out of school, he worked as an apprentice for zero wages to learn a skill; when gifts were needed and he couldn't produce them, it was his father, who hated iron for not becoming steel, who made the final decision to support him;

After becoming an adult, his father, whose temples were already slightly gray, had also used excuses to have a serious talk with him at the dinner table, while his mother smiled and chimed in from the side.

"Oh oh~ Mom and Dad gave me not much, not little, enough for me to rush about in this era, enough for me to live

"The recklessness of youth cannot be squandered; they once told me like friends~

"Oh oh~ Mom and Dad always said the anxiety experienced is the happiness of spending youth

"At this time and in this season, I remembered this song~~"

The voice, appearance, and features remain, but the person in memory is gone.

"I'd rather raise a char siu than raise you! You really make me so angry! Come here!"

The neighbors, who had changed many times, obviously still had poor soundproofing; after hearing the noise, Lu Zihua, who was smoking, came to his senses—

Looking up, he saw in the old house next door a half-grown boy with tears on his face running out of the door, while an angry middle-aged man holding a wooden strip taken from a broom chased after him, his face flushed red with anger: "I told you to study hard, and you play truant for me?!"

"I don't want to study! I don't want to go to school!"

"Do you intend to be a laborer selling your strength for the rest of your life?! Come back!"

This familiar scene left Lu Zihua somewhat dazed.

Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Mainland, Macau. Thousands of families with similar experiences are in chaos every day, and only when children leave their parents' wings do they understand what their father's strictness was for in their youth.

There are young men who have just stepped into society and suffered hardships, hiding in rental rooms to wipe away tears while eating meals after receiving living expenses from their parents;

There are people in middle age who fly into a rage when facing their children, only to suddenly recall whether their own parents were like them at that very moment.

There are even the elderly, left only with memories of the past, whose buried parental love is stirred by this song.

"Oh oh~ Mom and Dad gave me not too much, not too little, enough for me to rush about in this era, enough for me to live~"

Hong Kong, Warner Records Zhou Yi Tsim Sha Tsui press conference.

After Zhou Yi finished singing this song with full passion on stage, he looked at the crowd of excited fans below, smiled, and bowed slightly to thank them—

"Zhou Yi! Zhou Yi! Zhou Yi!"

"Zhou Yi, I love you!!!"

"Thank you, I love you too." Zhou Yi, who made a blowing-kiss gesture toward the audience, sparked even more cheers at the scene.

And the sheer number of participants at this press conference forced the Hong Kong police to urgently dispatch additional personnel—

There was no choice; Zhou Yi's popularity was simply too high.

Moreover, Xie Tingfeng had just been officially sentenced by the court yesterday to fourteen days plus a certain duration of community service; now was precisely the time when Xie Tingfeng's fans were prone to losing control.

After the fan riot that occurred following last year's Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards, the Hong Kong police were currently truly afraid of Xie Tingfeng's fans causing trouble.

Just before the press conference began, the police and Warner's security had searched more than a dozen people attempting to sneak in and found small knives, fruit knives, electric batons, and even double-section staffs on them.

Even more unexpectedly, most of this group were fans of the Four Heavenly Kings—

The reason was simply that a soft article that had suddenly become popular made them very unhappy: "Our Growth Is From the Four Heavenly Kings to Zhou Yi."

The central idea of this article was to subtly and overtly belittle the past era of the Four Heavenly Kings, guiding those who grew up listening to the Four Heavenly Kings' songs under the influence of their parents and relatives to start listening to Zhou Yi, and describing this behavior as young people beginning to have independent self-opinions.

This very concretely struck the "independent" psychology and rebellious psychology that this group of new humans longed to realize in their dreams.

On the 19th, under Warner's powerful promotion channels, this soft article directly exploded Zhou Yi's data across the entire Hong Kong, even beginning to radiate outward and affect the Mainland, Taiwan, and Macau.

On the surface, the song "Mom and Dad" sung by Zhou Yi profoundly analyzed the emotional composition of Chinese-style families, influencing fans through the singing, making them understand their parents and understand their families;

In secret, Warner went against this, focusing its marketing on provoking the rebellious psychology in the hearts of young people toward the Four Heavenly Kings, who represented the musical aesthetics of the parental generation, establishing Zhou Yi as the only Heavenly King of the new era in their hearts.

Listening to Zhou Yi meant they had already become "independent," possessing aesthetics different from the parental generation.

Even though many students among these fans still had to ask their parents for money to buy albums.

Warner's marketing stirred up towering heat, directly allowing Zhou Yi alone in Hong Kong to beat the Four Heavenly Kings tied together;

Yet Zhou Yi himself could remain detached, because in the eyes of fans and even passersby who didn't understand the marketing, Zhou Yi, singing "Mom and Dad," was clearly a good singer encouraging fans to be filial and learn to understand their parents—

This could further strengthen the good impression of him personally.

Whenever someone spotted a hint and pointed it out, they would immediately be besieged by fans and even passersby—Zhou Yi hadn't done anything bad at all; with such dark minds, what were your intentions?!

One positive, one negative; a combination punch of marketing from both sides left the major record companies in Hong Kong dizzy and seeing stars.

Guo Fucheng, the original number one at Warner Records, knew that because he had deceived Warner during his contract renewal negotiations, this time he was likely being used by the company as a stepping stone for Zhou Yi, so he was quite sensible and did not make any comments on the matter.

On the 20th, with the powerful boost of the soft article marketing, the song "Mom and Dad" directly surpassed Chen Yixun's "Your Backpack," ranking fifth on the radio weekly chart, becoming the second song from Zhou Yi's album to break into the top five.

Ranking ahead of it were, respectively, first place Chen Yixun's "Tomorrow's Today," second place Lu Qiaoyin's solo Cantonese version "Break Up Kindly," third place "Fairy Tale," and fourth place Liu Hua's "Born to Be Raised by Heaven."

Except for "Fairy Tale" from the same album, the other three songs occupied a first-mover advantage, accumulating a large statistical advantage in listener data.

And after finishing another press conference, Zhou Yi, who immediately started appearing on variety shows without stopping, appeared on a promotional program named "Jade New Line" on the 20th.

Hong Kong's big hot stars, such as Twins, basically all appeared on this program when they had promotional needs.

"Zhou Yi, many people say the song 'Mom and Dad' is adapted from your own personal experiences, especially the content in the MV, which is why it makes people feel immersed; is that true?"

"Part of it is adapted from my own personal experiences, and part of it is not."

"For example?"

"I was never beaten by my parents; from childhood to adulthood, my grades were always in the top three in the whole school; the big yellow dog at the village entrance, which bared its teeth at people every day, would wag its tail and come over to greet me when it saw me."

Sitting on the sofa, Zhou Yi smiled and talked about his childhood: "The only thing that didn't give me face before was the geese my parents raised back in my hometown; once, because I was playing and teasing a goose, I ended up being chased and pecked by it for several hundred meters; that night when I came back, the big goose was gone, and I looked for it for a long time."

"Ah, really? Then weren't you very sad?" Hearing Zhou Yi say he was pecked by a goose for several hundred meters, the host, unable to hold back laughter, asked in surprise.

"Very sad; that night I tearfully finished three big bowls of rice; spicy goose meat is very fragrant."

Host: "????"

(End of this chapter)