Chapter 524: Genius Is Merely the Threshold to See Him

"As for this year's Golden Melody Awards, personally, I find it rather boring. Because Zhou Yi's arrival carries a certain sense of dimensional strike; his popularity is simply too high. Do you understand what I mean?"

August 1st, on a local Taiwanese music program.

Professor Lai, known as a music expert, while appearing on the program and being interviewed by the host, mentioned Zhou Yi and shook his head repeatedly: "Although his singing currently still has some flaws, his vocal talent is enough to make the audience overlook them."

"However, comparatively, the production level of his albums is number one in the current era. It's just like the evaluation over in America; his album aesthetics lead this era by at least five years."

"I think everyone can see this from the MVs. Zhou Yi's most outstanding aesthetics are concentrated in his various MV concepts. In comparison, other singers' MVs look like childish advertisements."

"We often talk about audio-visual art, audio-visual art. Actually, as part of audio-visual art, the pop album MV is often the vehicle the author uses to express the song's ideas. It's just that many people in the industry, for the sake of quick results, often choose to ignore this."

"Our industry has been destroyed by short-sighted profit-seeking for a long time. Many people, including the former Four Heavenly Kings, have forgotten how an MV, as part of a song, should actually be made. They release three or four albums a year with no mind to polish the details."

"But Zhou Yi is not like that."

"Even though his work is busy, he still maintains a unified expression in his MVs. This is the point I admire most about him."

This professor from the music department, having just sung praises for Zhou Yi on the program, then turned to criticize Warner's behavior in registering him for the Golden Melody Awards: "But, to be honest, just as I said, Zhou Yi's battlefield now should be on the international stage, at the Grammys, the Brit Awards, and other world-class awards."

"The Golden Melody Awards are, after all, still a regional award for the Chinese-speaking world. His gaze should not remain fixed on Chinese awards..."

If they give it, then many domestic singers won't get the encouragement of a trophy;

If they don't give it, with Zhou Yi's terrifyingly exploded popularity after a trip abroad, the Golden Melody Awards officials could be torn to shreds.

So, in the eyes of many stakeholders, Zhou Yi directly withdrawing from the Golden Melody Awards ceremony would be the best solution, just like the Tan-Zhang rivalry in Hong Kong back then.

But Warner was being particularly unreasonable; not only did they refuse to withdraw, they even built momentum for Zhou Yi's participation in the Golden Melody Awards, continuing to apply public opinion pressure on the organizing committee, which was somewhat lacking in martial ethics.

With the prestige of the Golden Melody Awards rising, successfully ranking among the most prestigious award ceremonies in the country, naturally more people set their sights on this piece of fat meat.

So many people still hope to rely on the Golden Melody Awards to get gilded.

Not to mention winning the award; at the very least, securing a wave of Golden Melody Award nominations would elevate one's status, driving up prices for commercial performances, guest appearances, and endorsement deals—this year's Golden Melody Awards is exactly like that.

Besides Zhou Yi, Jay Chou, and Chen Yixun, a few individuals who relied on personal connections to squeeze in and pad their nomination counts were visibly added.

And this was squeezed in even while Zhou Yi alone monopolized 14 nominations.

This is real, tangible stakeholder interest.

"This Professor Lai, who keeps putting high hats on you on the program, was brought out by those stakeholders. Damn, what a bunch of bastards."

Noticing the shift in public opinion, Qian Jiang couldn't hold back his curse; a bunch of bastards were starting to play outside tricks.

"Ah Yi, let me give you a heads-up first. You absolutely must not say anything about not competing in the future or shifting your focus abroad or the like."

Fearing Zhou Yi might be provoked by this goading tactic, Qian Jiang advised solemnly: "To mix it up in the entertainment circle, you must compete! Those who don't compete have no need to be in this circle. I'm putting my words here; this is the truth."

Even if you let Lo Ta-yu and Li Zongsheng debut in this era, the two of them would still have to fight on various award ceremonies.

This is a method of accumulating status in the music industry and also the necessary path to build one's credentials.

The Tan-Zhang rivalry back then was so fierce that even fans truly fought until dogs' brains were out. Why did Tan and Zhang never stand out to declare their withdrawal and non-competition at that time?

Not only did they not declare non-competition, they competed even more vigorously.

It was because their credentials had not yet been sufficiently built up.

Once their credentials were sufficiently established, the two, having achieved fame and fortune, staged a well-orchestrated show of withdrawing from the award ceremonies under the arrangement of their respective managers.

Zhou Yi has only been debuted for a little over three years, counting everything. Before he has even won a few rounds of trophies, they are asking him to withdraw from domestic award ceremonies. In Qian Jiang's view, this is somewhat like Sima Zhao's intentions being known to everyone on the street.

The uncertainty of foreign awards is too great. As a Chinese person, Zhou Yi naturally has a disadvantage in winning awards. How is it possible not to ruthlessly harvest several rounds of domestic trophies while his prestige is at its peak?

What if he doesn't win many foreign trophies later, and the domestic awards are awkwardly stuck here because he said he was withdrawing, making it embarrassing to go back and participate again, resulting in Zhou Yi's hall of honors looking empty? Wouldn't that be a crime?

As a professional manager, Qian Jiang will not allow such a situation to occur.

He wants both trophies and sales; neither is dispensable.

"You just arrange it."

Zhou Yi, who had absolutely no interest in people putting high hats on him, naturally would not go against his manager. On the contrary, he was quite curious about how Qian Jiang would do it—

"First, the simplest thing is that we cannot fall into the trap of self-proof."

"If you fall into the vortex of having to explain why you are not withdrawing from the award ceremony, then we have fallen into their trap."

Qian Jiang sneered: "Since they want to put high hats on you, then let's just play big. Isn't there something called 'Zhou Yi Select' on the internet now? Let's use it."

Because Zhou Yi's scandals were indeed a bit numerous, and not limited to the domestic sphere; he still rode foreign beauties abroad without fail. Some busybodies actually compiled a list on the forums, dubbing it 'Zhou Yi Select'.

Any woman who could be properly photographed in the same frame as Zhou Yi with a scandal would be included.

Because the list had too much entertainment value, this list, which spread from Tianya Forum, was reported by various entertainment media over time, thereby allowing the concept of 'Zhou Yi Select' to take deep root in people's hearts.

"Use the concept of 'Zhou Yi Select' directly in this year's Golden Melody Awards to shape you into a true Demon King image. Only this time, what you are selecting is no longer women, but singers."

The first man in the history of the Golden Melody Awards and even Chinese pop music to rule domestic awards in the guise of a Demon King. What Xie Tingfeng and Jay Chou are, that's all past tense. They are merely stumbling blocks on Zhou Yi's path to growth.

When Zhou Yi has finished growing over the course of three years, a truly genuine Demon King will arrive in the Chinese music industry.

And the so-called Golden Melody list is merely a set of challengers fixed every year.

This way, it arbitrarily demotes older-generation singers, including Zhang Xueyou, to the status of juniors, directly using the currently rising credibility of the Golden Melody Awards to endorse Zhou Yi's unparalleled dominance—

What 'Double Zhou' or not, that was the past; this is the present.

Sacred separation.

"The only problem with doing this is that we currently lack a signature statement that can sufficiently ignite public focus, preferably one that can mobilize the fans."

Qian Jiang briefly outlined his concept: "But there's no rush. After all, the award ceremony doesn't start until tomorrow night. Let's see the award situation first. If you win a lot, then we follow this line of thought to avoid them continuing to morally kidnap you afterwards. I'll go back and ponder what direction to promote you in."

"Ah Yi, do you have any ideas?"

If the Golden Melody Awards cause trouble and don't give Zhou Yi too many awards, then Qian Jiang will have to start questioning their credibility. That's easy to handle—first drag out those connected relatives to sacrifice as a warning, then pull Tao Zhe out to serve as a positive example.

"Ideas? 'Demon King' is too cliché. The story of the Brave Knight slaying the Dragon has been seen by the masses too many times. Let's change the flavor."

Zhou Yi tapped the table with his right index finger, thinking of that sentence which had not yet appeared—

"Genius is merely the threshold to see him."

(End of Chapter)