Chapter 448: The Oppressive Pressure from the East Asian King of Grinding

The wooden beads were smooth to the touch, lacking the rough newness of something fresh from the factory.

Precisely because of this, when he received them, Zhou Yi had clearly hesitated—for a child like Sun Yanzi, raised in a Chaoshan family, it was hard to say whether this string of prayer beads might have been obtained for her by an elder in her family more than ten years ago.

And indeed, that was exactly the case—

In Sun Yanzi's words, which carried a hint of nostalgia, the one who gave her this string of beads was her grandmother.

"You're giving me something with such commemorative meaning?"

"I haven't worn it in a long time. I feel that you need it more than I do now."

Sun Yanzi playfully raised both hands in a gesture of cheering: "May the Lord bless you and take that damn Grammy in America!"

"..."

"What's wrong? You don't really lack confidence, do you? That won't do. Come, learn from me: hold your head high, stand tall, and be more confident."

Seeing that the man remained motionless for a long time, Sun Yanzi turned back in surprise.

After a moment of silence, Zhou Yi, lowering his gaze to glance at the bracelet, chuckled softly: "Take that damn Grammy?"

"Yes, take that damn Grammy. Charge!"

Clenching her small fist, Sun Yanzi, who was practically banging gongs and beating drums, was so confident that anyone unaware might think she was also going to conquer the Grammys.

Although she had been selected alongside Zhou Yi for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals thanks to "Good Time," news from the United States indicated that this singing category award held little possibility of winning.

She herself was not the type who enjoyed chasing red carpets; there was no need to rush up and stick her face in the faces of those Western singers, especially since she had no Western filter.

Having grown up in Singapore, she knew all too well what the Western music scene was like; with that kind of time, she might as well sleep well at home or go out for a stroll with Cheng Hao and do some shopping. At the very least, life in China felt more familiar to her.

"Charge, charge, charge!"

Sun Yanzi, who felt the advantage was hers, had obviously cast aside the contents of the guarantee she had signed; after all, in a situation she considered a sure win, she couldn't imagine any way to lose.

"Since things have come to this, let's eat first."

Downstairs, Cheng Hao, who had specially cooked a luxurious lunch to see Zhou Yi off, called.

There is an old saying: to conquer a man's heart, you must first conquer his stomach—but after all these days, Cheng Hao wasn't sure if she had conquered Zhou Yi's stomach; at the very least, she had certainly conquered Sun Yanzi's stomach.

Whenever both were at home, Sun Yanzi would have loved to have all three meals solved at Cheng Hao's place, returning to her own home only to sleep; she was incredibly gluttonous.

"Oh, by the way, Cheng Hao, is there anything you'd like me to bring for your parents? Like some local specialties from the domestic market?" Zhou Yi, completely unaware that he was heading to an awards ceremony, asked this question during the meal, nearly causing Cheng Hao's brain to crash.

"You still have time to find my parents?"

"Don't say that; I'm not under house arrest..."

In the restaurant, Sun Yanzi, hugging a large bowl and burying her head to eat, had her cheeks stuffed full, with a few grains of crystal-clear white rice still clinging to the corners of her mouth...

……………………………………

"Expedition to the Grammys! The First Person in the History of the Chinese Music Scene!"

"Superstar! The Heavenly King Descends upon Europe and America!"

"The Little Emperor Leads the Army Personally! The Western Heavenly Kings Spew Three Pints of Blood!"

"..."

Early the next morning, as Zhou Yi and Qian Jiang, leading the team members, officially flew from the Imperial Capital to New York, media reporters from both sides of the strait and the three regions of the domestic area all brought out their reports—the accompanying images were all photos of Zhou Yi appearing at the airport wearing sunglasses.

As the only surviving seedling of the entire village, Zhou Yi's trip to the United States this time garnered maximum attention both domestically and internationally.

CCTV, daring not to gamble on whether Zhou Yi would actually win, and fearing that sending a team would place Zhou Yi in an untenable position, did not dispatch a special reporter to conduct one-on-one follow-up filming throughout the journey.

However, correspondingly, they did recall several reporters who were still on vacation, assigning them filming tasks under the guise of going to New York for inspection and study—not making a big fuss, but proceeding quietly.

Other media outlets had no such reservations; television reporters led by Phoenix Television launched a mass expedition to New York, while in the realm of online media, due to Zhou Yi signing an exclusive deal with Sohu, only Sohu News was able to dispatch a reporter to follow the Grammys throughout the event.

The topic asked most frequently of various musicians and entertainment industry figures in the country was undoubtedly their views on Zhou Yi's Grammy expedition—

Although they vaguely sensed this might be someone playing the game of "praising to kill," prematurely raising domestic public expectations for Zhou Yi to win, Warner had not yet discovered who the mastermind behind it was this time.

Or rather, there were too many masterminds behind it.

They entangled themselves for this single common goal, muddying the waters to such an extent that even the current Warner could not figure it out.

And abroad, especially in the United States, regarding Zhou Yi's arrival, the heat was equally maxed out—

However, compared to the domestic scene's uniform expectation for Zhou Yi, American media, besides various analyses of Zhou Yi, also mixed in quite a bit of apprehension and doubt toward him—

The reason was nothing else; simply because the day before Zhou Yi departed for New York, Warner Records (USA) officially announced that Zhou Yi's second personal all-English studio album, "Forever Young," would be officially released on March 1st at 10:08 AM.

Still produced and led by Zhou Yi himself as the album producer, with lyrics, composition, arrangement, and vocals all handled by him.

Fast!

It was simply too fast!

As everyone knows, for big-name singer-songwriters in the Western music scene, producing an album quickly usually takes two years, while slowly it might take several years to produce the next one; Western music fans have always been accustomed to this unwritten rule.

But now, Zhou Yi's arrival has broken this unwritten rule—

"Spike's previous all-English studio album, 'The Attitude Show,' was released on July 1, 2002, at 10:08 AM; that is to say, the time between his second all-English studio album and the first release was merely eight months.

"Unbelievable; I even want to say it's incomprehensible.

"What good album can he produce in such a short time? I hold a pessimistic attitude toward this; I even believe this is likely the result of Warner Records' shortsightedness.

"You must know that Time Warner is currently facing huge financial pressure, so forcing Warner Records to produce results early is not an impossible thing."

On a certain entertainment news program on the FOX television network, owned by 20th Century Fox in the United States, a guest invited to sharply critique the singers selected for this year's Grammys expressed his disappointment toward Warner Records and Zhou Yi through exaggerated body movements.

"Eight months; during this period, one must also exclude the time he spent recording and promoting for the Chinese album, as well as the time for the traditional Chinese Spring Festival. That is to say, Spike's actual creative time will, at most, at most, at most, not exceed four months.

"I find it hard to understand.

"Are Chinese people so short of money? Does he want to ruin his album's reputation? God, I have never seen a creator output two high-quality albums consecutively in such a short time.

"What he should be doing now is attending the Grammy Awards ceremony, then going home to properly polish his new album, avoiding being mocked by Eminem and his fans."

On an entertainment program on the CBS television network, owned by Columbia Broadcasting System in the United States, which was also a Grammy-themed interview and analysis program, the invited music critic similarly had no confidence in Zhou Yi's new album released in such a short time.

One stone stirs a thousand waves.

The moment Warner officially announced the release date of Zhou Yi's new album, the shock was not limited to the media world, but also the music industry.

For this group, especially the creators, the thought that sprang to mind most at this moment was—Motherfucker!

In the more mature record industries of Europe and America, Zhou Yi's English album from last year has still been growing in global sales up to now; this is also why many singers can feast for years on a single album.

Most of them had long grown accustomed to releasing an album every two or three years, and in between, they could extract a few of the hottest singles from the original album and sell them again as single discs, still making a fortune.

According to industry estimates for Zhou Yi's album "Attitude Show," at least five more singles could be extracted from this album to sell as single discs, enough to sustain the heat for another three or four years.

But now...

Is this the traditional skill of the East Asian cultural sphere?!

Having always heard that Chinese people are diligent, model workers who can endure hardship, Westerners from the entire East Asian cultural sphere influenced by China were greatly shocked by the constant involution.

No, buddy, what are you after?

You won't extract single discs to sell from such a red-hot single?

Leaving aside other things, if "Baby," "Yeah," and "GoodTime" were extracted and sold as singles, each single disc could at least sell three to four million copies globally; just these three combined would conservatively estimate a single sales figure in the tens of millions.

Isn't making money while lying down sweet?

You insist on releasing a new album?

Are you sick?

(End of this chapter)