Chapter 458: This Means We Are the First Division

"I believe you don't mean that. Perhaps your English listening is still—"

"No, no, no, that is exactly what I mean. My English is very good."

"..."

Tired. Let it all be destroyed. Whatever.

After trying hard to smooth things over for a couple of lines, seeing that Zhou Yi still wouldn't take the hint and back down, the host, who had felt for the first time that money is hard to earn and shit is hard to swallow, wore an expression as if he had just witnessed Stephen Hawking and a Victoria's Secret model having a silver party; it was an indescribable discomfort.

This money from Warner is burning hot to hold.

The host, whose conscience had not yet been extinguished, was still lamenting his huge red envelope. Below the stage, the rising and falling cheers were enough to demonstrate Zhou Yi's popularity—

"Spike! I love you!"

"You are so arrogant, I like it so much!"

"You guy really hit the spot, damn it!"

"..."

The ceiling of the recording venue was almost blown off by this wave of excited noise.

The American music scene, or rather the American entertainment industry, had not seen a celebrity as consistent in word and deed as Zhou Yi for a long time.

Even Eminem, who is publicly recognized as a bad boy, picks his battles based on the situation.

That group of old-school and new-school veterans from the East and West Coasts, who are full of "real" talk, only shoot their mouths off within their own domain of profanity, going over and over again with lines like "I slept with your girlfriend," "your brother ran off with me," "your mom is really hot," "you can't find your dad," "you're not as rich as me," "I'm proficient in drugs, gambling, and prostitution," and other vulgarities.

The class and style are worlds apart from Zhou Yi's kind of arrogant talk, which contains not a single swear word yet sounds incredibly cool.

"I heard Spike is a top student? It seems the university he attended in China is on the same level as Harvard or Cambridge."

"It's so cool when a scholar acts arrogant!"

"Oh no, the way he said that looks like he's asking for a beating, but why does he look more handsome the more I look? Did I adapt to it?"

"To be honest, Spike's words are indeed too arrogant. It's true he is very talented and very strong, but don't forget this is America, the center of the world music scene. There are huge numbers of candidates for the first, second, and third positions in the world. He is still far behind..."

"Indeed, not to mention 50 Cent, Spike's songs haven't even surpassed Evanescence's single on the Billboard Hot 100 right now..."

Since this was an HBO live broadcast program, after Zhou Yi finished this self-evaluation, the polarization of comments did not decrease; instead, it grew even heavier with the passage of time.

And this new band, Evanescence, which is recognized by the vast majority of music fans, is one of the reasons proving that the American music scene is the first division—

On January 13, 2003, Evanescence, a new rock band under the independent record label Wind-up, ended their EP trial and live performances, and officially released the lead single from their first studio album, "Fallen"—"Bring Me to Life".

At the same time, this song also received a wave of exposure as an insert song for the movie "Daredevil", released by 20th Century Fox in mid-February.

Although "Daredevil", starring Ben Affleck, failed in both reputation and box office, the song "Bring Me to Life" directly broke into the top fifty of the Billboard chart with extremely high quality and kept climbing upward.

As of March 4, the song "Bring Me to Life" had already climbed to eleventh place, firmly occupying the position of the gatekeeper of the Billboard top ten.

A new band, an independent record label that is not one of the Big Five, the emergence of Evanescence is undoubtedly a manifestation of the reserve strength and vitality of the American music scene.

Naturally, after the program aired, this new band with explosive results became evidence used by many in the American public opinion sphere to refute Zhou Yi's arrogant words—both are rock songs; if you can't even beat a new band, then what are you bragging about?

And Curtis James Jackson III, the hip-hop singer brought up by Eminem himself, known by the stage name 50 Cent, was asked this question during an interview on a program, which immediately made him, sitting in the chair, laugh until he bent over—

"Sorry, I'm not saying this to refute anything, but I think Spike had better face reality. This is not China; this is America. He might be a bit... I mean, maybe, you know what I mean."

Currently ranked second on the Billboard Hot 100, with the earliest possibility of officially reaching first place in two weeks, and with total album sales exceeding three million, the black muscular man pointed to the area near his temple, his smile exceptionally brilliant.

Also a newcomer to the music scene who released his first album this year, 50 Cent is far more fierce than his mentor Eminem was when he first debuted. Whether in the album market or the single market, he has dominated from February through March, with a momentum no one can match.

By his side, Eminem, who brought 50 Cent along to promote on the program, sat in a swivel chair, laughing just as exaggeratedly.

His rap bible "Lose Yourself", released at the end of October last year, after twelve consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard chart, has now dropped to the thirties as the heat subsided, but it is still pressing down on top of Zhou Yi's new song.

The members of Evanescence, who had inadvertently become representatives of the American music scene due to their achievements, were all feeling a drum beating in their hearts—

No, don't drag me into your bragging!

………………………………

"The competitive pressure is huge, A-Yi. You have to run around more; you've already made such big claims."

On March 7, Qian Jiang, who had taken Zhou Yi to run around New York radio stations all day yesterday, accompanied him to Los Angeles. Just before arriving at the music festival venue, he pushed the man who was lying on the car seat with his eyes closed to rest: "Work hard for this period. Anyway, the company notified us that your domestic concert tour has been temporarily cancelled due to force majeure factors, so we don't need to rush back."

As time entered March, SARS officially began its period of rapid transmission and outbreak in the country. Even the Imperial Capital saw many people infected, causing a large number of work stoppages. Sun Yanzi, the other living donkey under Warner, thus got the opportunity to lie at home and rest.

Naturally, Zhou Yi's domestic tour, which was originally expected to take place, was also interrupted.

After discussions among Warner's senior management, Zhou Yi's time abroad was extended accordingly, allowing him to better complete tasks such as charting and selling albums.

"Mm, I understand."

Zhou Yi wiped his face, opened his eyes, took a deep breath, and bared his teeth: "Damn, charting in America is really damn tiring."

Although it wasn't the first time, it was obvious that Zhou Yi, who had stayed in the comfortable zone of the domestic market for too long, still had quite a few complaints about this.

But complaints aside, his body was very honest.

Because he had a goal in his heart that he had never told anyone about—five Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles.

To be fair, the quality of the songs in his album is completely capable of achieving the miracle of five Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles in one album.

The last man to achieve five number-one singles in one album was the peak Michael Jackson in 1987.

After that, even Michael Jackson himself could no longer replicate this miracle.

He looked forward to what angle these media outlets could still find to refute after he achieved five number-one singles in one album—

North America is the first division of the world music scene, right? I'll smash your bowls to pieces!

Don't ask. If you ask, I am the number one in the world!

If you have the ability, let the two guys from the Beatles who died come back via Earth Reincarnation!

I'm using cheats!

After adjusting his state, Zhou Yi got out of the car and walked into the backstage of the music festival with the borrowed musicians.

Because he is a solo singer, and live rock performances require musicians to cooperate, Warner found musicians within the company who specialize in accompanying the band Linkin Park, assembled them into a temporary performance band for Zhou Yi to use for live performances.

There was no choice; the music festival does not provide musicians. Even if the festival organizers did provide them, taking a step back, Zhou Yi wouldn't dare to use them.

This thing really is what you pay for is what you get.

Good musicians are scarce in the market; only the wealthy Hua Na family can afford to keep them internally and casually assemble a few idle ones to help. Of course, payment is still required, and this expense must be covered by Zhou Yi's team, since he is the one using them.

As the biggest star of this music festival and the face promoted by the organizers, Zhou Yi is not the main headliner of the entire event, but rather the headliner of the second stage. Among the singers performing before him, the most famous is the Canadian "little witch" Avril, who won nothing at this year's Grammy Awards.

The main headliner of the entire event, however, is the Australian-British dual-nationality "Pea Princess" Kylie Minogue.

After renewing her contract with EMI Records in July 2001 with a signing fee of 35 million pounds, this dual-nationality female singer became the highest-paid female singer in the entire United Kingdom, and the second-highest-paid singer in the British singer lineup, second only to Robbie Williams.

"To be honest, I'm not nervous at all."

Backstage, a circle naturally formed around Zhou Yi as he waited to go on stage—only two big names, Kylie Minogue and Avril, could stand beside him and chat with him.

The remaining singers and bands, with mutual understanding, formed small groups of two or three, and after exchanging contact information, they kept to themselves.

"Not nervous? Really?"

Kylie Minogue, wearing a rather revealing dance outfit, showed off her figure as a sexy diva without hesitation; thanks to her high heels, her long legs looked even more fiery: "Public opinion has almost treated you as an enemy challenging the American music scene."

"Who cares?"

Zhou Yi shrugged, then turned his head to look at Avril: "Do you care?"

"You won three Grammy trophies, while I won none."

Feeling like the one being excluded, Avril didn't really want to deal with this man who had gained an advantage yet acted aggrieved; she held up three fingers and pretended to be indignant: "Are you still asking me now?"

Zhou Yi laughed upon hearing this: "You still haven't gotten over it?"

Avril: "..."

Listen, listen, listen, listen! Is that even human speech?!

What do you mean I haven't gotten over it!

Kylie Minogue, standing nearby, was already laughing with her eyes squinted into a single slit: "Go for it, Spike, I'm looking forward to your performance."

As a singer holding British citizenship, Kylie Minogue had been subjected to sarcastic remarks by American media many times when she previously came to the US, but she endured it all for the sake of sales and image. Now that a very provocative Zhou Yi had finally appeared, she really wanted to see how the American music scene would react.

We are all adults; whether surpassing or matching the Beatles is true or false, everyone knows the truth in their hearts.

……………………

"Hey! Katherine! Over here! Over here!"

Los Angeles, California Plaza in the city center.

Wearing a white T-shirt as a base layer, a black leather jacket over it, paired with blue jeans and white shoes, Katherine Elizabeth Hudson appeared at the music festival venue, holding the complimentary ticket she had found inside a limited-edition deluxe album.

The truly magnificent size of her chest attracted the attention of many others who had also come to attend this music festival; as Katherine, who was about to back out, turned around, she heard the call of her best friend.

Looking closely, she saw that the latter had already found the dedicated channel for verifying complimentary tickets.

"God, Spike actually gave out so many tickets; the entry tickets here are only slightly cheaper than the Coachella Music Festival, but they still cost 45 dollars each, while VIP tickets start at 90 dollars."

"And the ones Spike gave to us are VIP."

Her best friend's astonishment and chatter made Katherine feel equally surprised.

Even if Warner and the organizers have a cooperation, the cost of this position should be borne by Warner—or it might even be that Zhou Yi paid out of his own pocket to subsidize the organizers.

Just one city music festival at California Plaza in Los Angeles is spending this much; looking out over the vast crowd, at least three hundred tickets were given away for free, so what about the music festivals in other places?

Since the album was released, as time passed, accounts on the internet that were showing off their purchase of the limited edition and finding tickets inside have gradually appeared, revealing music festival and music house tickets in cities such as Los Angeles, Houston, Orlando, Miami, and so on.

Moreover, due to the non-name-specific operation, as long as the ticket is verified as genuine, anyone holding it can enter; this undoubtedly also gives die-hard fans who bought the limited deluxe edition but don't want to squeeze into the music festival an opportunity to sell them and recoup their losses—

He really is, I'm crying to death.

Katherine and her best friend's two tickets were obtained by scraping them from the limited deluxe editions bought back by the company.

At first, Katherine actually didn't want to come; she was almost too poor to pay rent, so what the hell was the point of attending a music festival—but it turned out that the music festival tickets were exactly what helped her greatly.

The company bought four sets of limited deluxe editions; her boss, knowing her difficulties, turned a blind eye to her and her best friend taking four tickets, and then she sold two of them...

One for Miami, one for Orlando.

Although doing so was a bit shameful, it must be admitted that the money obtained indeed solved Katherine's immediate crisis.

Feeling guilty, and adhering to the principle of coming to the scene to see her idol in person, Katherine rode her bike with her best friend to California Plaza today to attend this musical feast.

Then, she felt somewhat regretful—

Not regretting coming in, but regretting coming in too early.

As everyone knows, not every Western singer or band is a live performance monster; especially bands, those with cracked voices or off-key singing are everywhere.

If the live atmosphere isn't stirred up, then it becomes a disaster.

Unfortunately, Katherine experienced several singers and bands with cracked voices and off-key singing intermittently, unable to get hyped along with them. Fortunately, the subsequent singers who took the stage were skilled enough to heat up the entire venue—

The little witch Avril's appearance pushed the atmosphere of this music festival to its first climax; her song "Complicated" went wild!

As the headliner of the first stage, Avril performed five songs in a row with extremely perfect execution, but after finishing her performance, she didn't leave immediately; instead, she turned into an audience member—

The young girl in her heart was indeed not entirely convinced.

She wanted to see if this Spike truly had real talent.

At 5:30 PM, when Zhou Yi stepped onto the stage precisely as the host's announcement sounded, the waiting audience on site immediately erupted into thunderous cheers!

"Spike!"

"Spike!"

"Spike!"

"Spike, I love you!"

Among them, the group in the VIP area holding Zhou Yi's complimentary tickets shouted the loudest; many even forgot to keep their handheld DVs balanced, jumping up and down continuously, waving their hands repeatedly at Zhou Yi not far away on stage.

"OK, I heard you, I heard you, I love you too."

Zhou Yi, also wearing a denim jacket, tried to speak several times but was interrupted by the waves of welcome; he couldn't help but smile: "However, I only have one person, and you probably aren't enough to share me."

Just as he was speaking, the band's drummer had already struck up the highly rhythmic drumbeats—"Enemy".

As everyone knows, if you want to stir up the live atmosphere, rock is absolutely the best choice.

Although it is not one of Zhou Yi's main singles, this does not prevent Zhou Yi from using "Enemy" and "Natural" to open the show.

Especially "Natural".

That line "Natural!" almost became a full-crowd sing-along by the end!

During the second chorus, Zhou Yi, who had flung off his denim jacket to reveal his muscular build beneath the T-shirt, pointed the microphone directly at the audience singing in unison below— "Come on! Everybody!"

"And you're standing on the edge face up 'cause you're a

"Natural!"

With top-tier live quality and top-tier vocal timbre, Zhou Yi, sweating profusely from all the movement on stage, finally instinctively grabbed the mineral water already prepared at the side of the stage and poured it over his steaming head!

The hard contours of his pectoral and abdominal muscles, visible beneath the pure white T-shirt against the backdrop of his wet hair, made every man and woman in the venue scream!

Especially the female fans.

"Spike! Spike aaaaaah!!!!"

"Viva La Vida."

Holding the microphone and pointing with one hand toward a section of the crowd, Zhou Yi's lips curled upward: "Everybody, say!"

As the most popular song on Zhou Yi's current album, "Viva La Vida" undoubtedly had the widest reach and topped the Billboard Singles Chart.

The opening chant of this song was enough to create interaction throughout the entire venue—

"Oh oh oh oh~~"

"Oh oh oh oh~~"

Extremely simple syllables, yet filled with a sense of holiness amidst the perfectly synchronized chanting of the entire crowd.

"I used to rule the world (The vast world was once ruled by me)

"Seas would rise when I gave the word (Great waves once surged at my command)

"Now in the morning I sleep alone (Now I sleep alone in the dawn)

"Sweep the streets I used to own (Wandering desolately on the streets I once owned)..."

Singing while walking, bending down to high-five the fans below, Zhou Yi directly triggered a frenzy in the front row!

"Jump!"

"Jump!"

"Jump!"

The highest honor from music festival fans, a cacophony of screams and cheers constantly urging Zhou Yi to leap down from above—

Zhou Yi, who had never tried this kind of stunt before, smiled, actually performed a diving preparation move in full view of everyone, then spread his arms and leaped straight forward into the mad crowd!

"Aaaaaah!!!"

The frantic Catherine screamed, thrust her chest forward, and rushed up to catch him!

(End of this chapter)