Chapter 433: Can I Already Look Back on My Life?

The "China Threat Theory," a topic endlessly chewed over in Western media circles, once again sparked a massive public opinion market at the start of the new century; this was one of the reasons why China's journey to join the WTO was so arduous.

After the Asian Financial Crisis, China's overall economy continued to rise against the trend, which made some Western media feel terrified; the "China Threat Theory" once again became rampant, and the attempt to block China's WTO accession failed after lobbying groups led by Microsoft and Time Warner took action.

And Zhou Yi happened to belong to Warner Music, a subsidiary of Time Warner, and was also Chinese.

This gave many American media outlets room to seek attention—on one hand, they subtly accused Time Warner of losing its dignity for the sake of profit and insinuated that Warner Music was acting as a wolf's lackey; on the other hand, they dragged out Zhou Yi's actions after arriving in the US to make him a target.

A clip from an interview program last July, when Zhou Yi came to the US to promote his first English album "Attitude Show," was dug up again by media people good at stirring up trouble by bringing up old scores—

【"... So what do you think of the criticism from the outside world? Many of them even expressed sympathy for you, thinking you would be dissed by Eminem into a mental breakdown."】

"My evaluation is: spare the unnecessary pity and sympathy; a bunch of trash that only barks along with the crowd."

Zhou Yi, with his legs crossed and toes dangling, sat on a red sofa, stroking his chin with his hand, and after a light chuckle, he mercilessly mocked: "They all want to oppose me, but they only cower behind computer screens, tapping on keyboards. If you have the guts, come out the door right now and oppose me.

"Otherwise, they can only watch helplessly as I live a Good Time, holding a hot beauty, whispering 'Baby' in her ear, and listening to her sing 'Yeah' at night."】

This was an interview Zhou Yi gave last year on a pay-TV channel, HBO, under Time Warner; at the time, the arrogance that almost overflowed the screen caused a huge sensation in American public opinion.

Looking back now, Zhou Yi's new single "Enemy" this year is almost an expanded version of these words—

"That is to say, I think his schemes are extremely deep. He had already planned what song to write as a response when he promoted his first English album last year, and laid the groundwork on a TV program.

"This is absolutely not something an arrogant singer would do.

"Such a singer is too dangerous; he is like a poisonous snake from the East, using an arrogant and independent personality as a disguise to attract young Americans of the new generation to follow him, undermining our influence in the cultural field; he will pose a huge threat to the future of the American music industry...

"Spike's true purpose, I think, can be referenced from the article 'Ode to Young China' from the Republic of China era; he even adapted this article into a catchy song, and his wolfish ambition is visible at a glance..."

On the column of the most famous old-life magazine in the US, "Vanity Fair," an analysis of Zhou Yi caused quite an impact across the entire country.

Even in the home court of China, there were still many people who disliked Zhou Yi, let alone in the away game of the US. After a report went down, Eminem's team, which had been beaten for half a month, finally found a new tactic; another voice began to gradually unify in the market—

Elevating Eminem to the status of a hero fighting against the invasion of Chinese singers.

Regardless of the truth of the matter, at least ask yourself if it was a fight— the song "Lose Yourself" is still in the top ten of the Billboard chart, and in the future, it will definitely be the main force blocking Zhou Yi.

As everyone knows, the US side always has some inexplicable filter for street-born heroes, and Eminem happened to be from the streets.

"Eminem is at least a white man who grew up in the black community of Detroit and broke the black monopoly in the hip-hop field. Spike, the template of God's Son, has had a smooth ride without tasting any bitterness, and his family is happy and complete; I don't like it."

"To be honest, Spike pays for the challenge competition; if there's money to be made, I support Spike. Also, what's wrong with a happy family? Do you hate seeing others have good parents?"

"Eminem doesn't just release his own songs; he also discovers new talents for the American music industry. Isn't that 50 Cent, who is quite popular recently, brought out by Eminem single-handedly? It is said that he will release his first album next month.

"What has Spike done? He only eats up our public opinion resources by himself to make money for himself..."

Hawaii, the Mars family.

Seventeen-year-old Bruno Mars looked at the turmoil on the internet, then lowered his head to look at his winning single disc, and fell into deep thought.

To be fair, he didn't have any idol filter for Zhou Yi; he just actually listened to Zhou Yi's music, roughly at the level of a casual fan.

But he couldn't help that he won the prize.

Friends were already willing to pay $500 to buy his spot, but what Bruno was most conflicted about was whether to sell or not—

He had originally planned to go to Los Angeles to pursue his music dream; this winning opportunity was无异于 a pie falling from the sky for him, after all, this was an opportunity to contact Warner Music.

He didn't expect to meet Zhou Yi, this top-tier big shot, to sell his music dream and talent to him, but meeting the person in charge of the Warner event scene would be fine.

What if?

What if he was noticed by Warner?

"Bruno, if I were you, I wouldn't sell; instead, I would perform well in this challenge competition; maybe then you could be signed by Warner?"

The advice of his friend was still vivid in his mind; facing the temptation of a higher bid, after thinking for a full two days, Bruno Mars finally decided to refuse.

Decided, he was going to participate in this challenge competition; he would ask for leave from school and go directly.

Anyway, he was graduating from high school this year; if he could get a chance to enter Warner through this, after graduating from high school, he could go directly to work at Warner and fight for his music dream.

Thinking this way, Bruno Mars, having made up his mind, got up, picked up the telephone at home, and dialed the number along the contact information on the single disc—

"Hello?"

…………………………

"Hello, Mr. Zhou Yi, I am Lang Kun, the channel director of CCTV's program 'Art and Life'."

January 29, afternoon.

After finishing the recording of this year's Spring Festival Gala backup tape, the atmosphere in the entire CCTV studio hall immediately became much more relaxed.

Although the Spring Festival Gala was high-pressure, having a backup tape as a fallback meant that if something unexpected happened, they could switch directly; for the participating guests, this was also a psychological comfort that was better than nothing.

Many stars who were using the Spring Festival Gala to enrich their own networks were chatting in twos and threes, and as the brightest star of the song category in this year's gala, Zhou Yi met a host who currently held an extremely high status at CCTV when the event ended—

Zhu Jun.

One of the major victims of defamation by Weibo essays in the future.

Twenty years of effort lost in an instant; won the lawsuit but no one knew.

This result was nothing short of absurd for someone like Zhu Jun.

After all, in the traditional impression of the Chinese people, a CCTV celebrity of this caliber should actually possess sufficient self-protection abilities; just look at how Brother Jin still lives freely and easily.

One can only say that this person probably really had no backing and couldn't manipulate public opinion, so in the era of mobile internet, a simple essay ruined his reputation.

"Hello, Zhou Yi."

Zhu Jun, who had been waiting for Zhou Yi after the event with the director group of "Art and Life," smiled and extended his hand first: "Nice to meet you, I am Zhu Jun."

As one of the hosts of this year's Spring Festival Gala, Zhu Jun naturally participated in the recording of the backup tape throughout.

"Brother Zhu, Brother Lang."

Zhou Yi, who was somewhat surprised that this person would seek him out, asked after shaking hands: "What are the two of you doing?"

"Is it convenient to chat, Zhou Yi?" Zhu Jun, an old hand in the hosting world, spoke with great propriety, his tone perfectly controlled, making it very comfortable to listen to.

As the sole host of "Art and Life," Zhu Jun, whose influence had soared another step thanks to this program, could basically be considered one of the face figures of CCTV. And the purpose of him bringing the channel director Lang Kun to find Zhou Yi was very simple—

To invite him to do a special feature.

A special feature about a musician.

The theme was equally clear—"Youth Has Its Own Wildness: Zhou Yi."

"Honestly, I was quite surprised when the station gave me this task." Zhu Jun smiled very kindly.

This time, he truly did not lie.

As one of CCTV's flagship programs, "Artistic Life" has consistently ranked at the top in viewership and critical acclaim within CCTV since its launch in 2000. Although there were task-oriented topics, the directing team's freedom in selecting topics remained very high otherwise.

And among those truly task-oriented topics, Zhou Yi was the only celebrity specifically designated to be featured.

How old was he, anyway?

"Hmm? You're only this young and already looking back on your artistic life?"

Ten minutes later, Sun Yanzi, who had been eating snacks on the spot due to hunger, met the returning Zhou Yi. Her cheeks were stuffed full, and upon hearing this, she wore an expression of utter surprise, with crumbs of cake still lingering at the corners of her mouth.

"Cutting corners again, huh? If the outside world calls you CCTV's favored son, I'd say that's even wrong."

Xiao Yaxuan, accustomed to enduring hunger under Yao Qian's strict discipline, was nowhere near as ravenous as Sun Yanzi. Instead, he sat in the makeup room chair, crossed his legs, tilted his head, and teased, "You should be CCTV's godfather."

"Go, go, go! How are you speaking? I'm an artist now. Show some respect, understand? What godfather or not-godfather, how unpleasant."

Zhou Yi, whose words did not match his true feelings, sat down comfortably. In Sun Yanzi's bewildered gaze, he took the last plate of small cakes from her hand and cradled it protectively against his chest: "I never realized I've already reached the point where I can look back on my life…"

No…

That, this, this was for me to eat…

Sun Yanzi, standing nearby, hesitated with words on her lips, especially after seeing Zhou Yi take a loud, crunchy bite.

(End of this chapter)