Chapter 459: Speak, I Will Guard Everything of Hip-Hop

The entire music festival scene, at the very moment Zhou Yi leaped into the air, instantly reached its normal peak—

Countless hands reached from all directions, and the screams echoing over the entire California plaza were deafening!

Zhou Yi, gripping the microphone tightly, felt as though he had been thrown into an ocean full of coral and reefs; while being constantly pulled by fans, his body was also being pushed forward uncontrollably—inevitably colliding with fans' bodies along the way.

Even with core abilities as strong as Zhou Yi's, he rarely felt his body lose balance at this moment—the cheers ringing in his ears and those excited smiling faces compensated for the poor physical sensation.

Until a black-haired girl, in her excitement, happened to wrap both arms around his head and, in one motion, lifted the hem of his T-shirt and pulled it over his head.

The rough texture of the cheap clothes and the gentle touch intertwined as they came face-to-face, colliding fully with Zhou Yi!

"Ohohohoh!!!" The screams stimulated Zhou Yi's eardrums, making them buzz incessantly.

Those egging him on, those who also wanted to try.

Waves of cheers, one higher than the next, slapped wildly against Zhou Yi's face, hands, arms, and even his thighs through his clothes, truly letting him experience the treatment of a welcome guest in a foreign land.

People holding DV cameras high, jumping and dancing, faithfully recorded all this joy at the music festival, until Zhou Yi returned to the stage with disheveled clothes, panting for breath while still having to keep his emotions high and sing the chorus—

"I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing (Listen to the Jerusalem bells ringing)"

"Roman cavalry choirs are singing (Roman cavalry choirs sing, shaking mountains and seas)"

"Be my mirror, my sword and shield (Be my clear mirror, sharp sword, and shield)"

"My missionaries in a foreign field (My missionaries stand beyond the frontier)~~~"

Perhaps because struggling to get up had consumed too much energy, Zhou Yi, who was panting when he reached this part, clearly lost control of his voice; the high notes got stuck right on the edge between cracking and not cracking. But precisely because this was a sight only seen at music festivals, the audience on site became even more ecstatic!

King Louis XVI of France, a globally famous headless knight.

The character story chosen for this song by Zhou Yi was undoubtedly extremely grounded for Western fans, including Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, and even Greek mythology in the previous song on the album tracklist.

There was none of that obscure, hard-to-understand uniquely Chinese culture found in "Dong Feng Po," "Zai Mei Bian," or even "Susan Shuo" or "Hua Tian Cuo"; there was only full sincerity.

Yes, as Zhou Yi's fans, although a small portion of them did not understand Chinese, they were still willing to spend money to buy Zhou Yi's Chinese albums.

It could be said that Zhou Yi was the door through which they began to learn Chinese.

Therefore, for many of Zhou Yi's fans, the fact that Zhou Yi, a foreigner from the other side of the ocean, could be so familiar with their foreign allusions and was willing to write them all into his songs was, to them, a respect for making money, a respect for them, these foreign fans.

This was far more effective than saying ten thousand "hellos" or "hies."

They even looked forward to Zhou Yi truly cracking his voice.

Even bands as strong as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, and even the Five Divas renowned for their vocal skills at the end of the last century had cracked their voices numerous times at music festivals due to interactions with fans; each had a huge collection of famous scenes.

Unfortunately, until the song finished, Zhou Yi did not fulfill this wish of theirs.

"Phew, are friends in Los Angeles always this enthusiastic?"

Wiping a layer of sweat, Zhou Yi stood before the stage with one hand on his hip; while slightly baring his teeth, he was still panting, and he didn't forget to tease the excited male and female fans below: "Thank you for still being willing to leave me with a set of clothes."

Backstage, Avril and Kylie Minogue, who had stayed specifically because they were unwilling to accept defeat, stood together chatting and watching, giving this song an extremely consistent evaluation—

Absolutely Billboard number-one single level.

If they had to choose the song from Zhou Yi's current album most likely to top the Billboard chart, the two of them would absolutely choose this one, with the song fans jokingly called "Counting Stars" coming second.

When people are compared, one must be thrown away.

As Avril watched, the unwillingness in her heart gradually turned into discouragement.

Perhaps she was not talented enough.

If she could be like Zhou Yi, maybe she could also force the Grammys to compromise. Or even, if she were not a white Canadian, maybe she could also... leverage foreign status to assert herself?

For some reason, Avril, hailed as the punk little witch, suddenly had such an unpunk thought pop into her mind.

But facts proved her prediction was not wrong—

The next day, after Zhou Yi's performance at the Los Angeles music festival, the data for the six songs he sang on site at major radio stations in Los Angeles almost all doubled in index—

This was the power brought by the roadshow.

And Zhou Yi's performance at the music festival also spread rapidly across the entire United States through major newspapers and the internet—

"Chinese Guo Tianwang Shines in Los Angeles!"

"Unrepentant! Spike Dates a Music Festival Female Fan!"

"Chinese Singer Gives Live Lesson: What Has Happened to Our Singers?!"

"Chen Huaxin, hooking up, promiscuous. As far as I know, when Spike first became Arsenal's promotional ambassador in the UK, he had relationships with many young models; those models just took hush money and couldn't speak publicly.

"Even that Premier League goddess, Kelly Brook, was merely one of his many model lovers; Spike didn't even know her hometown, and he only wrote her a song because he met her at Gao Wei, which is simply absurd.

"In the United States, he not only hooked up with Mariah Carey, he also had connections with several models; some people even saw him publicly hugging a female model while out having fun.

"I can't help but ask, what has happened to us? What has happened to our singers?"

March 8, as Zhou Yi's sales and song rankings continued to surge in a violent manner, Michelle Morgan, the editor of the Los Angeles Times who had previously predicted failure, directly lashed out during an interview: "This is America, not China!

"Why can he do whatever he wants? God, this is simply a disgrace to the American music scene!"

Since the original report by the Los Angeles Times had been blatantly proven wrong in just three days, Michelle Morgan somewhat decided to go down one path to the end; instead of admitting her mistake, she shifted the blame onto the singers who had also made harsh remarks during interviews, and onto the American music scene itself—

Summarized into one word: It wasn't my prediction error, but the American music scene is weak and useless.

Ask again?

Ask again, and it's that Spike is messing around with men and women, disrespecting women; such a person should be sent to the crematorium along with Justin Timberlake!

He does not deserve my respect!

Even more surreal was that, due to Michelle Morgan's shameless spirit of boycott, she actually received many invitations to programs, directly becoming their honored guests, with remuneration so abundant her hands went soft; the scheduled fees for two months were more than her salary from the past year...

Fully illustrating what is called "black fame is still fame," and what is called "the audience likes to go to the circus to watch clowns."

Justin Timberlake, who was shot while lying down, looked completely bewildered—

Wait, what do you mean I should also be sent to the crematorium?

Is that polite?

The Disney runaway prince, who was currently preparing his first solo world tour, was obviously very dissatisfied: "I don't understand what she is saying; I think she should apologize to me, because this is an infringement on my personal reputation."

"So, Justin, may I ask if you have any plans to release an album or single recently to go head-to-head with Spike?"

"What? No no no..."

Relying on a major company, Justin Timberlake, who clearly understood the potential of Zhou Yi's album, smiled and shook his head: "The most important thing for me right now is preparing my own tour so I don't disappoint my fans."

Seeing this male idol, whose controversy ranked second only to Zhou Yi, so smoothly dodge the trap, the reporter was clearly unwilling to let it go: "Then what do you think of Michelle saying the American music scene is feeble and inadequate?"

"Is Spike number one? He doesn't seem to be number one yet, does he? How did this Miss Michelle come to such an absurd conclusion?"

Justin chuckled lightly and gave an answer that wasn't really an answer.

You haven't even reached the top yet, and you're cheering so loudly; those who don't know might think you two have some dirty deal behind the scenes, singing in harmony here to hype up the heat.

As for the band Breaking Benjamin, which was pushed forward as the vanguard to ambush Zhou Yi because their songs were explosively popular, they similarly could not avoid the fate of being asked related questions by reporters—

In fact, because they were both branches of rock music, the questions directed at them were even more tricky.

"The ranking on the Billboard Hot 100? We don't value that."

"Our opinion on Spike? We haven't had any contact with him, but I think the music on his album might differ somewhat from what we traditionally consider rock music."

"..."

The band Breaking Benjamin, running around venues to expand the influence of their single "Bring Me to Life," claimed they didn't care about the rankings, yet they ran around even more diligently than half a month ago. Their manager even publicly said some highly controversial things during an interview—

For example: Zhou Yi's pop-rock is fake rock, not rock at all.

In the Western rock circle, there exists a group of fans who like the original, authentic rock from back then; this group finds Zhou Yi's fake rock unspeakably uncomfortable—

You say it's not rock, yet the core element of rock, "attitude," is embodied to the fullest extent;

But if you say it is rock, this is basically just wearing a pop skin, definitionally belonging to fake rock.

This group originally even felt that Breaking Benjamin's single "Bring Me to Life" didn't count as rock, but now, after a comparison, it seems slightly more rock than Zhou Yi's.

It's very uncomfortable.

But soon, they wouldn't have to be uncomfortable anymore—

March 11, the day the new Billboard rankings were announced.

Last week, Breaking Benjamin was guarding the gate outside the top ten on the Billboard chart; their ranking suddenly dropped four places, which is completely incomprehensible for a band in the rising phase of charting—

And Zhou Yi's "Viva La Vida," "Natural," and "Counting Stars" three songs directly surged into the top fifteen of this week, ranking eighth, tenth, and twelfth respectively!

And below "Bring Me to Life," which fell to fifteenth place, Zhou Yi's "We Are Young" and "Apologize" were lying in wait; looking at the data indices, they were neck and neck, basically understandable as being able to overtake at any time...

Zhou Yi, who was in the middle of the Billboard chart last week, after a week of hard work, directly caused his songs' data to skyrocket on major American radio stations, and combined with sales, he fiercely surged to the front of the Billboard chart!

And Breaking Benjamin, which was just last week viewed by many media outlets as the vanguard to ambush Zhou Yi's ranking, fell without any ability to fight back...

Fell...

Last week they were the All-American new stars, the new hope of rock; this week, in the mouths of the media, they directly became cannon fodder. As a new band debuting, Breaking Benjamin also got to experience the cruelty of music industry public opinion.

And Zhou Yi's leapfrog behavior of crossing dozens of rankings in this one week brought him not only positive feedback in sales, but also brought a shock to the North American music scene like "the wolf is coming"!

Warner officially announced in line with this trend the sales of Zhou Yi's new album "Forever Young" over these seven days from March 4 to March 10—

1.46 million copies!

The Billboard 200 albums chart was strongly won for two consecutive weeks, and directly left the second place nearly 400,000 copies behind in sales!

If we count Zhou Yi's sales from March 1 to March 3, Zhou Yi's North American ten-day sales have already broken through 2.3 million copies!

If before it was merely self-amusement among many media outlets, then this time it truly triggered even greater discussion—

Vanity Fair: "Spike, Unstoppable?!"

Entertainment Weekly: "The Glowing Lion's Eye??"

"God, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, it would be hard for me to believe that a Chinese singer could actually break through 2.3 million copies in North American album sales in just ten days; the bonus brought by the Grammy effect is simply too terrifying."

"It's a pity that the singer who benefited from the Grammy effect at this Grammy Awards is not just Norah Jones; there is also Spike. Too many people simply chose to buy the album just to hear what the new album of the first Chinese Grammy Pop Award winner actually sounds like."

"Breaking Benjamin, hailed by the music industry as the strongest new group of the year, was effortlessly surpassed by Spike; the difference in popularity between them is simply too great..."

"The North American music scene is doomed..."

Since Zhou Yi's new album was released at the point when the Grammys ended, all the heat regarding Grammy reports was basically converted into news about his new album.

Norah Jones enjoyed the Grammy effect of global album sales growth in the millions; although Zhou Yi didn't have as many awards as her, he won on having an identity sufficient to spark topic popularity, and similarly got a piece of the pie...

After such self-analysis, some media outlets that felt Zhou Yi's ferocity this week was merely the lingering power of the Grammys turned their gaze to the hip-hop sales leader Eminem and his apprentice 50 Cent.

Hip-hop, rock, pop.

The three best-selling album genres globally over the past few years.

And now, with Breaking Benjamin, one of the representatives of rock, already defeated and clearly showing no hope of overtaking, and the pop faction currently clearly having nothing capable of fighting, they can only pin their hopes on the hip-hop still fighting on the charts—the hip-hop single performed by 50 Cent: "Inda Club."

This week, "Inda Club" still ranked second on the singles chart, but the gap with the first place was already negligible.

It could even be said that if statistics were extended by one more day, perhaps "Inda Club" would be able to reach the top of the Billboard Hot 100.

"I think Curtis taking first place is absolutely no problem." As the leader of hip-hop, Eminem, because he had no album plans for this year, directly started waving flags and cheering for his apprentice: "The final winner will definitely be us."

To be honest, Zhou Yi's single's speed of surging was indeed beyond his expectations.

But now, whether it is public opinion or the chart situation, it is clearly favorable to them; as long as 50 Cent himself secures the singles chart championship one step ahead of Zhou Yi, then they are destined to be winners, even if the victory is not glorious.

50 Cent himself was also full of confidence when accepting interviews.

It was just this last kick at the goal; if he still got overtaken after this, he might as well have been shot dead back then—he was almost shot to meet God before his debut, and it was only with great difficulty that he was saved back to life.

"Eminem is right; this is destined to be the victory of hip-hop music; I will defend everything of hip-hop."

(End of this chapter)