Chapter 5: Lyrics, Composition, and Arrangement Are All Done by Me

Some later-day "fans" who liked to follow the trend of praising Zhou Dong seemed to always like to link the popularity of the R&B style to him, but this was actually incorrect.

In fact, around the millennium on the Treasure Island, the person who truly pushed the R&B style into the mass market was Tao Zhe, which is why Tao Zhe would be called the "Godfather of Mandarin R&B."

In '97, having just transitioned from behind-the-scenes to the front stage as a singer, Tao Zhe, upon releasing his first personal studio album, became an instant sensation; his extremely rhythmic R&B style shook the entire Mandarin music scene.

In December '99, the release of Tao Zhe's second album, "I'm OK," propelled this future God of PPT onto the fast track to godhood in one fell swoop.

In early '00, sales were even leaving everyone else in the dust, with momentum even surpassing the new album "Walking Through 1999" by the God of Singing, Xueyou.

Under these circumstances, as a professional music producer, Li Saisong could naturally see how high the acceptance level of the R&B style was in the current music market.

Plus, Zhou Yi was still very young; if he could also play R&B, they could completely produce an album with the theme of "Young People of the New Era" and even ride this wave of the R&B craze.

After all, the R&B style market wasn't saturated yet; currently, there weren't many people in the Mandarin music scene eating cake on this track.

"I can do the R&B style. As for dancing, although I'm not very proficient, I haven't completely never tried it."

Under this producer's analysis, Zhou Yi, who also saw the business opportunity within, crossed his ten fingers on the table and, with a tone that was humble yet confident, caught Li Saisong's side-eye—

"Really?"

"Of course, and if we want to target the young market, I think hiphop is also a good choice."

Zhou Yi, reborn from the future, knew better than anyone what a chaotic battlefield the Mandarin music scene would be over the next few years; both the relatively slow-paced R&B and the more upbeat hiphop genres went absolutely crazy.

Moreover, most importantly, compared to traditional Cantonese love songs, since the beginning of the millennium, these two styles were obviously more popular with the younger generation.

The most typical example was Pan Weibo, who sang "Happy Worship" and "My Microphone"; his momentum once rivaled Zhou Dong, becoming one of the participants in the chaotic battle of the gods in the Mandarin music scene.

Although several of his representative songs were later exposed as localized versions, but now it was the year 2000; the original songs hadn't even come out yet.

Zhou Yi felt he could snatch them over in advance; this way, he would be the orthodox one!

"Hiphop?" Li Saisong was somewhat surprised.

Didn't Zhou Jianhui say this kid came from the mainland?

He thought this kid would say he played rock; why did he open his mouth with hiphop?

The R&B style has only just started to become popular in the market; is hiphop definitely a market?

"Are you sure? If you want to go in this direction, then the gaze must look towards the RB music scene and over to Europe and America. Judging by Jianhui's high regard for you, he should be able to get some pretty good songs; at that time, we can just rewrite the lyrics."

Watching Zhou Yi nod, Li Saisong stood from the perspective of an album producer, thought for a moment, and then spoke.

Essentially, his words were feeding Zhou Yi a reassurance pill, telling him that although Warner was waning in the domestic market, it was still an international big group at the very least, and the overseas side could still prop itself up.

As for buying songs and rewriting lyrics, it's just making money; there's nothing shameful about it.

Haven't you seen how many people in the golden age of the Hong Kong Island record industry did exactly this?

Moreover, currently, whether in Hong Kong Island or the Treasure Island, among producers skilled in the R&B style, the number of those with some fame could be counted on two hands; let alone hiphop, not to mention the mainland.

This thing, people do play it, but they haven't opened up the market at all.

In the impression of fans in this era, if you want rhythm, want groove, want popularity, then just go straight for dance music, no?

Warner's number one, Guo Tianwang, still wore the title of "Asian Dance King"; the group led by him was the representative of rhythm and dynamism before hiphop elements became popular in the Mandarin music scene.

A typical example was the dynamic divine song "Move It" that Guo Tianwang had just released in April this year.

That was truly something that made anyone who heard it want to shake a bit along.

"What? Buy songs? No need, no need, Brother Li, I can write it myself."

Hearing Li Saisong say this, Zhou Yi waved his hand slightly, indicating he could handle this work himself, speaking lightly: "I can write; lyrics, composition, and arrangement, I can handle it all myself."

"……?"

Li Saisong, whose mind was already thinking about which foreign songs to scour for Zhou Yi's debut album positioning, froze; after a second of regaining his senses, he furrowed his eyebrows slightly and gazed at this child before him: "Lyrics, composition, and arrangement, you can handle it all yourself?"

Judging by the tone, he was obviously somewhat incredulous.

How old was Zhou Yi?

Nineteen, right?

He wasn't even studying at an art academy; could he write this?

"Yes, if time permits, within this month I can try to make a few songs first to record a demo and see; at that time, I'll trouble Brother Li to guide me a bit more."

"This month?"

"Yes."

Zhou Yi nodded, the smile rising at the corner of his mouth focusing entirely on being sunny: "Next month I have to return to school for exams, final exams."

"……Since you are so confident, you can write one song first; just so happens Sun Yanzi's record is finished recording, and I have free time."

Li Saisong, who was almost silenced by that sentence "have to return to school for final exams," swiped his right index finger across the office desk surface, stroked his chin with his left hand, and then spoke.

"Okay, thank you, Brother Li."

After talking with Li Saisong again about some issues regarding musical direction, Zhou Yi checked the time and chose to take his leave.

He still had to move house.

He would have to stay on the Treasure Island for the next month; although he had only simply brought some change of clothes, he still needed time to get to know the roads.

As for what song to "write," he already had a rough concept in his mind.

Tao Zhe used two albums to start a wave of R&B on the Treasure Island; afterwards, he was revered as the "Godfather of Mandarin R&B."

Considering that at this time point in 2000, those original songs hadn't been written by anyone yet, he could directly scoop over Pan Weibo's few localized famous songs to start a wave of hiphop across the two shores and three regions; in the future, wouldn't he also be able to scoop up the title of "Godfather of Mandarin Hiphop"?

Once the first person to eat crab succeeds, the harvest is extremely huge.

After hiphop, he could still do a transformation, then scoop up the title of founding the "New Era Chinese Style"; wouldn't that directly establish a golden body?

Thinking of this, Zhou Yi's heart felt somewhat eager to try, and even his footsteps towards Zhou Jianhui's office quickened.

If the album production was fast, he might even make it to the year-end release; at that time, he might even be able to go head-to-head with the equally greenhorn Sun Yanzi and Zhou Dong at the Golden Melody Awards.