Chapter 472: The Vibrant Vitality of a Flourishing Chinese Music Scene

"Run with the wind toward freedom, chasing the power of tears and lightning~"

"Limitless charm, loving beauty has no end, pursuing the realm of perfection; if one doesn't love beauty, heaven and earth will destroy them~"

"At first, I only watched you, pretending it was accidental while my heart drifted over, secretly happy that you didn't notice me hiding in the corner~"

"Freeze that time, freeze the day we first met, freeze the love..."

"Ten years ago, I didn't know you, you didn't belong to me, we were still the same..."

"If it could matter, I would choose Li Bai..."

The doorway of the street-side hair salon, flashing with three-colored lights, was half-open; the sparse foot traffic caused the boss, sitting at the entrance wearing a mask and having nothing to do, to show a trace of worry in his eyes.

The entrances of the neighboring small shop and the audio-video store were equally deserted; shadows on the street hurried past, even the vegetable market had lost its usual clamor, leaving only various pop songs from the speakers stirring the eardrums of every passerby.

Just two days ago, several schools in the Imperial Capital officially announced the suspension of classes.

Students who didn't have to attend school were naturally very happy, and correspondingly, the entertainment industry saw a huge surge in attention.

Relying on the idea of picking up opportunities, domestic singers who released albums in March and April managed to eat into this time gap. Including Huang Zheng, Yu Quan, Cai Yilin, the new artist Lin Junjie from Hai Die, and Chen Yixun from Hong Kong, all their albums achieved success.

Even under the shadow of SARS, these singers still held offline signing sessions, meet-and-greets, and similar events.

Among them, Chen Yixun from Hong Kong was the most prominent.

One song, "Ten Years," directly boosted his fame from the Cantonese-speaking regions to the entire country; second was Huang Zheng and Yu Quan's positive and uplifting "Run."

Cai Yilin's new album "Watch Me Change Seventy-Two Ways," flying the banner of the "Double J Romance," also gained fame among mainland students; Hai Die's new artist Lin Junjie also stood out in this period with absolutely no competitiveness, and "Music Traveler" delivered a satisfactory answer sheet with its excellent quality—

Although both of them were scolded by many Zhou Yi fans for riding on Zhou Yi's coattails.

"Double J Romance" maliciously colliding with the Warner Twins, Lin Junjie hyping that he was promoted by Zhou Yi, and other such rumors emerged endlessly.

Especially at this moment when Zhou Yi was dominating in the United States, the various news items every day and every week greatly satisfied this group of arrogant fans, and consequently, they were very unhappy with these two who started colliding with Zhou Yi after entering the mainland market.

One hand cannot clap, so Jay Chou, who was still filming a new song MV abroad, was also dragged in to be criticized, simply because he was also a member of the "Double J Romance."

Of course, due to the results Zhou Yi had achieved in the European and American music scenes, these singers who recently emerged were naturally also asked if they had thoughts of venturing into Europe and America—one after another, no one could escape.

"This mainly depends on the company's arrangements; if possible, going out to take a look isn't a bad thing."

Chen Yixun, who was promoting his brand new Mandarin album "Black · White · Gray," was honest, but the smile he used to mask his envy looked somewhat forced: "You all know, not every singer can be like Zhou Yi, writing a pile of Mandarin songs while also writing a pile of English songs."

"So, is the company helping you collect English songs?"

"My manager does have this plan, but we haven't started collecting songs yet."

As a pure singer, Chen Yixun, who broke into the viewing field of audiences in most mainland regions with the Mandarin hit "Ten Years" (a re-lyricized classic), tasted the flavor of being popular in the mainland for the first time; the Mandarin songs led by "Ten Years" were simply going all out.

Singing a few dozen or even a hundred times a week didn't make him feel tired; instead, he was full of enthusiasm, fearing that if he didn't sing now, he wouldn't have the chance to sing later.

"Then, what are your thoughts on Wang Lihong's current venture into the Japanese music scene?"

The reporter, obviously unwilling to let Chen Yixun off the hook, continued to press.

April 23, 2003, which is tomorrow, Wang Lihong, the top star of Sony Music's Greater China region, will officially release his first album for entering the Japanese music scene in Japan—"The Only One"; the album's first lead single is the Japanese version of his Chinese hit "The Only One."

Since then, Wang Lihong has become the second young-generation singer to officially enter a foreign music scene after Zhou Yi.

And precisely because Zhou Yi set a high standard, Sony's promotion of Wang Lihong in Japan this time is also finding ways to ride the coattails—

News releases such as "After Zhou Yi, a major Asian artist entering Japan!" and "After Zhou Yi, the Asian male artist Japanese people most want to see!" are being issued endlessly.

The number of appearances Wang Lihong secured in Japan was so many that his jaw went soft—

Starting from February and continuing until now, a full thirty-plus appearances can be called a dense bombardment; it is said that Sony has prepared about 50 to 70 appearances for him in total, covering various radio stations and programs in rotation.

Taiwan has also started hyping news about a "New Generation Light of Chinese People" or similar topics.

"Thoughts? What thoughts? I wish him success."

Na Ying, who was also participating in an event in Hong Kong, was asked this question due to her status as a senior and a member of Warner Records, and she blurted out a blessing.

"Then, may I ask if the company has arranged plans for you to enter the European, American, or Japanese music scenes?"

As a member of the Warner Empress Palace, Na Ying, whose last album did not flop like Zhang Huimei's, is currently considered by the Hong Kong media to be the one more likely to enter foreign markets.

"Me? Forget it, I can't even communicate in English." Na Ying herself was amused by the reporter: "You asking me is no better than asking Wang Fei."

Even asking about Zhang Huimei would have been fine; anyway, as far as she knew, Zhang Huimei indeed had this idea.

Zhou Yi's existence raised the appetites of many people, including Wang Lihong himself.

Putting aside the poor student Jay Chou who is still struggling to learn English, Tao Zhe, who just released the album "Black Ding" last year, is rumored not to release a brand new studio album this year, but rather a greatest hits collection, to leave himself time to create an English album.

"There is indeed this plan currently; you all know my English is still okay, right?"

Tao Zhe, having no choice but to be pursued by paparazzi, finally nodded helplessly and admitted: "If nothing unexpected happens, my English album might meet fans and friends next July? Or perhaps even earlier?"

Among the major singer-songwriters, only Jay Chou is currently abroad where reporters cannot find him; otherwise, he would also not escape being chased and asked about the progress of his English album.

And those closely related to Zhou Yi were being harassed continuously—

Sun Yanzi, whose workload had been significantly reduced due to SARS, was almost drowned in this April where news was flying everywhere; she was barely dragged out of bed by Chen Ze Shan begging and pleading, came to Hong Kong for an online promotion, and was also caught by reporters who seized the opportunity to ask questions related to Zhou Yi.

"Oh, I really don't know."

Facing the long guns and short cannons, Sun Yanzi sighed sincerely, then immediately put on a business-like fake smile: "And I don't feel that urgent about releasing an English album; if possible, I actually want to rest more."

Realizing she had spoken her true feelings, Sun Yanzi in front of the camera shrank her head like a child who accidentally said the wrong thing, stuck out her tongue, and made up for it: "Mainly, I want to recharge myself and learn a bit more."

"Then, what do you think about the rumors circulating in the US about Zhou Yi this time? Has he told you whether he is really in a relationship?"

"That is definitely fake." Sun Yanzi grinned, debunking the rumor with full force: "He is not in a relationship; you guys better not write nonsense, or be careful he will sue you again when he returns."

Reporter: "..."

Damn, why are you also poking the hornet's nest!

Facing this woman who was obviously not as easy to fool and extract words from as in the early millennium, the reporter's eyebrows twitched slightly and he opened his mouth again to press: "Then, may I ask if you will watch the 'Late Show with David Letterman' program on time? Zhou Yi is the guest of the new episode."

Sun Yanzi shook her head like a rattle drum, speaking with such unrighteous confidence: "I won't watch; I have a lot of work and don't have time to watch his program in the US for now."

"Late Show with David Letterman," originally titled "Late Show with David Letterman" in English, is the "Late Night Show with David Letterman," a flagship late-night program under the US Columbia Broadcasting System.

A late-night talk show popular across the US; after Asia Television in Hong Kong bought the rights, this program became the only US late-night talk show currently broadcast in Hong Kong. Zhou Yi will appear on this program for promotion, and it will air on the evening of April 25 US time.

Because of this matter, Asia Television has almost gone crazy with promotion; basically, as long as Hong Kong citizens watch Asia Television, advertisements for this episode of Zhou Yi will definitely appear.

Previously, when watching Zhou Yi's variety shows abroad, people could only read newspapers or browse webpages; suddenly producing a proper video version was incredibly friendly to the long-hungry passersby, fans, and even rival anti-fans back home.

"What about 'The Pink Ladies'? It's said you're now living in the same residential compound as the actors from 'The Pink Ladies'..."

'The Pink Ladies', scheduled to air on the mainland on April 30, was also an extremely eye-catching presence for Hong Kong media, after all, this drama was Zhou Yi's first and possibly only small-screen television drama in his entire career.

After mainland TV stations began promoting 'The Pink Ladies', the song 'Li Bai' flared up again, having conquered Taiwanese ears with its extremely catchy melody, it now came to conquer mainland music fans once more.

And the Taiwanese media, which had already been crushed by 'The Pink Ladies' earlier, took advantage of this wave of heat to speak freely; among them, 'China Times', one of Taiwan's four major newspapers, even publicly produced a special entertainment issue for Zhou Yi.

It must be known that before this, 'China Times' only carried entertainment news when published on Saturdays, just that one day a week.

'Zhou Yi Leads, The Chinese Music Scene's Y Generation Sees a Massive Explosion!' —

"Wang Lihong is advancing into the Japanese music scene, Tao Zhe is writing an English album, and Jay Chou is still learning English. In the future, there will be Elva, Sun Yanzi, Chen Yixun, Jolin Tsai, and the comeback of Xie Tingfeng, and so on.

"Under Zhou Yi's leadership, the new generation of the Chinese music scene is incomparable to the past, seemingly catching up with Western developed countries,

"I am very fortunate to be able to witness this scene of vigorous vitality and all things competing to emerge in the Chinese music scene..."

The article's author was clearly very optimistic, so optimistic that the new generation of the Chinese music scene could immediately surpass the UK and US and give the little Japanese a good beating.

Backed by Sony, Wang Lihong's entry into the Japanese music scene clearly had ample resources, and switching between Chinese and English was without any obstacle;

Tao Zhe had just proven last year with 'Black Ding' that his talent had not faded, and his future was equally promising.

Although Jay Chou's English isn't good, his pure talent is high enough, and so on...

To sum it up in one sentence:

"The advantage is with us!"

Of course, there were rational media outlets that felt Zhou Yi achieving this result didn't mean others could, but they were all drowned out by the fans' frenzied atmosphere, not a trace visible.

If Zhou Yi can do it, our idols can too!

On the 23rd, Wang Lihong's first album for his entry into Japan was officially released, full of confidence.

And it was on that very same day that Zhou Yi also arrived at the official recording set of 'The Late Show with David Letterman'.

Right at the opening, the single 'We Are Young' from Zhou Yi's most thematic album played as background music in the venue, directly causing a burst of shouting.

Because we are young, we fear nothing!

"Ladies and gentlemen, let us welcome, Spike Zhou!"

The male host David Letterman, with only two temples graying, extended his hand to Zhou Yi, who had been waiting early at the backstage doorframe, with a voice full of energy, matching the tune of 'We Are Young'.

Amidst the cheers of the entire audience, Zhou Yi stepped out from the door, timing his steps perfectly; as he took the stage, he spread his arms, constantly moving around the stage, as if thanking the fans below for their endless support —

"Spike!"

"Spike!"

"Spike!"

The continuous cheering did not stop even after Zhou Yi returned to his seat and sat down properly; it even interrupted the host several times who wanted to deliver the opening remarks.

"Well, the audience is simply... too enthusiastic."

After taking his seat, Zhou Yi crossed his legs and feigned helplessness, shrugging his shoulders to express his innocence.

"I hope you understand one thing, Spike, that continuous applause just now actually included a part belonging to me."

As an old white man, David Letterman was naturally a master of controlling the stage; while laughing to liven the atmosphere, he casually expanded the topic: "Even though your current album's global sales have already broken 14 million — oh sorry, is it the incredibly exaggerated number of 14 million, right?"

Zhou Yi nodded with a smile: "Yes, honestly, I was indeed a bit surprised."

"Forgive my presumption, Spike, how long did it actually take to achieve these sales results? Do you think there is any possibility of falsification in these sales figures?"

"Of course not."

Zhou Yi, whose integrity was such that he feared no shadow, sat on the red sofa and tilted his body slightly to make his crossed legs more comfortable: "I just sold more than my competitors; if anyone is jealous, why not try selling albums in Asia?

"The Pacific Ocean isn't covered; is it hard to swim across?"

(End of this chapter)