Chapter 537: The Grave-Digger of the Western Record Era?

"He was the favorite, and also the abandoned; he was pursued, and also exiled."

If one sentence were needed to describe most people's first impression of this song, it would undoubtedly be this remark, which has nothing whatsoever to do with the song's atmosphere—taken from a special segment of CCTV5's "World Football" program at its peak in 2007: "The Shadow of Beckham."

Relying on its peak-level copywriting and the emotional tone of the commentary narration, the song "Because of You," serving as the BGM, became famous in one battle; this song also managed to break out of the circle in China for the first time, thereby completing the final missing piece on the global explosion map of this song—China.

Although Kelly Clarkson herself did not reap much of the dividends from the Chinese market.

After all, when this song exploded, China's music market had already been completely conquered by internet piracy; audiences mostly just listened to the songs without recognizing the Western singers. Unfortunately, Kelly Clarkson fell into this category of being unrecognized; the song became a hit, yet she gained not a shred of popularity domestically and didn't get a single sponsor's endorsement.

But Watching Xiao Yaxuan didn't have this worry.

She herself is currently in the top tier of popularity among female singers in Greater China; domestic audiences are already very familiar with her, so she won't lose this market.

As for how popular she can become abroad, that can only depend on how much effort EMI is willing to spend to promote her.

With his masterpiece preceding this, and this song bearing his name, if the trial run proves effective, then at the very least, during the cycle of the next two English albums, Watching Xiao Yaxuan will be able to receive resource pushes from EMI.

It's just that this time might be a bit long.

"However, you have no foundation in the United States, nor do you have any tailwind you can ride to help make a name for yourself."

"According to Western traditions, if you want to release an EP, you must at least spend one to two years running around venues, both offline and online, in the United States to build your reputation. In other words, your popularity domestically in the future might decline due to your long absence from the public eye; you need to be mentally prepared for this."

Even with his recommendation, it could only help Watching Xiao Yaxuan skip some preliminary promotional steps and give her a starting promotional topic.

Like Tao Zhe; since he went to the United States to run venues, he has basically been silent domestically, and not many reporters were even willing to bring up the news of "Black Orange" receiving unfair treatment at the Golden Melody Awards.

"I understand this; it's just a destiny of hard work, what else can be done?"

Watching Xiao Yaxuan propped her feet on the man's thighs, swaying left and right; hearing this, she couldn't help but sigh to the heavens, but the moment she thought of Zhou Yi's history of making his fortune in the West, she couldn't help but glance at him: "Looking back now, your venture into the West back then was truly a stroke of incredible luck."

"You wouldn't actually be some Purple Star, would you? I don't believe in Feng Shui, but you're making me almost believe it."

Under any normal process, even if Zhou Yi were a genius wanting to break into the American market, he would have to honestly run the offline circuits to promote his songs; yet he, on the other hand—

He happened to catch the peak Hollywood masterpiece of Jackie Chan, "Rush Hour 2." This was a film that almost squeezed into the top ten global box office that year; its prestige and reach were maxed out, saving Zhou Yi a lot of effort in promoting his songs and laying the foundation for his first batch of fans;

In 2002, he directly inserted himself into the conflict between the South Korean and Japanese football associations during the World Cup; as a singer from a third-party country, he reaped the benefits, made a grand appearance at the closing ceremony, and let the entire world know that the hit World Cup song was performed by him, becoming globally famous.

After this, Zhou Yi's fame abroad and the popularity of his songs could be matched up; immediately following the World Cup closing ceremony, the English version naturally received huge attention, becoming an overnight sensation on the World Cup's aftershocks, saving much time running offline venues.

Sometimes it really isn't surprising that the Hong Kong media's slogan "Purple Star Descends from Heaven" is so catchy; Zhou Yi's ride on that tailwind was perfectly timed, well-located, and harmonious.

"You think I believe in Feng Shui? Feudal superstition must be avoided—Hiss!" Zhou Yi rolled his eyes at her, but his body involuntarily shivered; then he lowered his gaze and glanced at the woman's mischievous feet.

A wicked smile rose on Watching Xiao Yaxuan's lips: "Who said before that the left eye jumping means wealth?"

"That was then; this is now."

Zhou Yi, who had slumped onto the sofa, tilted his head and rested it on the sofa cushion, humming and groaning continuously.

"Yes, yes, you're amazing, and everything you say is right."

Watching Xiao Yaxuan chuckled lightly: "Let them worry about the schedule themselves; I don't care. It's highly likely we'll rush to release the Chinese album first, then head to the US at the end of the year to start running venues."

This year she also has a Chinese album, which is the product born from the divergence of musical concepts between her and the company—"Falling in Love with Love."

The reason is nothing else; it is simply that this album has quite a few advertising songs, basically making it an overly commercialized album; essentially, it's no different from the greatest hits collections of the older generation of male and female superstars, just using Watching Xiao Yaxuan's fame to make money.

Of course, on the surface, Watching Xiao Yaxuan's album looks a bit better, after all, it does have new songs.

Of course, as an overly commercial album, the lead singles of this album "Falling in Love with Love" are the two songs Zhou Yi gave after Yao Qian came to request songs—"Compromise" and "Rewind."

Among these, "Rewind" is the primary lead single.

These two songs are also the tracks that back up the album "Falling in Love with Love," replacing the two songs "Unworthy" and "Magic," for which Lin Xi wrote the lyrics to express love reaching its end—from love to compromise, to finally seeing that love cannot return.

These two songs, no matter how you look at them, are far superior to the songs with that idiot Lin Xi's lyrics.

"But you said this song 'Because of You' is written based on my personal experience; what does that mean? Writing about the relationship problems between you and me?"

Because of the song of the same name in Zhou Yi's first album, Watching Xiao Yaxuan subconsciously associated it with the R&B love songs currently popular in the foreign market.

In fact, the R&B love songs hyped by many domestic ballad obsessives in later generations actually carried the reputation of "R&B Ballads" abroad—wide coverage, overflowing with lovey-dovey themes.

They didn't miss a single one of the defects they should have.

It's just that they couldn't hear those trashy R&B songs entering China;

The ones that could enter China, become popular, and be recommended by various singers would only be the gems left after the waves sifted through the sand.

"No, it's the broadest category of pop."

Zhou Yi shook his head and briefly described the MV and the intended meaning of the song to Watching Xiao Yaxuan—

At the beginning of the MV, the female protagonist and her husband argue and throw things at home. Then, the husband, overwhelmed with anger, picks up an old family photo they took together, preparing to smash it—just then, time freezes.

The argument with her husband suddenly makes the female protagonist recall her childhood experiences.

Thus, the scene shifts to the past, as if time travel occurred; the female protagonist travels back to the time when her parents frequently argued fiercely due to their discord, and she encounters herself as a little girl back then.

The young self, holding a doll in her arms, crouches alone in a corner, shivering, listening to her parents arguing, fighting, and throwing things outside the door, silently sobbing, with tears dripping onto the floor, wetting her little feet.

Only about five or six years old, she had no warmth of family, no care from parents; there was only endless coldness and darkness.

Then, the scene returns to reality—the female protagonist suddenly wakes from her reverie; she stands dazed, staring at her husband, seeing the picture frame in his hand.

Then, as if realizing something, she actively takes the family photo that was almost smashed from her husband's hand; turning her head, she happens to see her daughter hiding behind the door peeking out, and the frozen time returns to normal at this moment.

Thinking the wife was coming to fight the husband, he was instead surprised to find her looking at the photo in the frame, tears streaming down her face; she walked over to the child and embraced her, crying and saying sorry;

Finally, the female protagonist and her husband, having calmed down and resolved their conflict, reconcile in the presence of their daughter, and the family is able to restore harmony.

"I will not make the same mistakes that you did"

"I will not let myself cause my heart so much misery"

"I will not break the way you did, you fell so hard..."

I will not repeat your mistakes; I will not let my heart be filled with pain;

I will not suffer as you did.

I have already tasted all the suffering; I absolutely cannot sink deeper...

All of this is because of you, only because of you—because of you.

Combined with the MV's plot, this is a girl who lost the warmth of family in childhood, expressing her past after growing up, and sighing for the self who was neglected by her parents back then...

Watching Xiao Yaxuan, who had been playful before, had stopped all her "provocations" at some point, sitting on the sofa and staring blankly at the man explaining the gist of the lyrics to her, silent for a long time.

"I won't make the same mistake again."

These were words she had spoken yesterday, yet now Zhou Yi had written them into a song, and they fit so perfectly.

When she was five years old, her parents, who had quarreled constantly, finally chose to divorce.

Her mother, who had to struggle outside the home to support the family, had no time to care for her, so her childhood was basically spent under the strict management of her grandmother.

Just as Zhou Yi described—

her heart had been filled with pain and suffering since she was a child.

The quarrels, fights, and even the smashing of things between her parents were things she would occasionally dream about as nightmares even now.

That was the insecurity unique to what her childhood brought her; because of it, she lost her longing for marriage, even developing a fear of it.

And all of this was simply because of her stupid father who went to America to pursue his dreams and freedom—

"because... because of you..."

After a long silence, Watching Xiao Yaxuan, who had finally come back to her senses, had lips that trembled slightly; her outstanding empathy as a singer and her abundant emotions made her resonate with the picture Zhou Yi described almost instantly—

or rather, Zhou Yi had recreated her childhood experiences.

Feeling the most unspeakable part of her heart forcibly unlocked by Zhou Yi with a key, Watching Xiao Yaxuan's tears swirled in her eyes.

She sniffed hard twice, blinked constantly, and raised her head, trying to prevent tears from sliding down the corners of her eyes, but in the end, it was futile—

When the dammed-up tears slid down both sides of her face, leaving two obvious marks, Watching Xiao Yaxuan bit her lip, grabbed the pillow in her hand, and threw it at Zhou Yi, who had stopped speaking at some point!

"Wang Ba, Wang Ba, Wang Ba..."

Watching Xiao Yaxuan, who had pressed herself directly onto Zhou Yi and cursed wildly, showed a side she had never revealed to outsiders, not even in front of her own mother or younger brother; yet the cursing voice grew weaker and weaker, while the pauses in her crying grew longer and longer...

"Couldn't you just write love songs? Why did you have to write this kind of song to make me cry? Do I look good when I cry? Don't you know why I hid in Japan? I told you long ago, my makeup is ruined, you Wang Ba..."

Weak cursing coexisted with uncontrollable sobbing; by the end, Watching Xiao Yaxuan seemed to have lost all the strength in her body, curling up directly on the man, resting her head on his chest and sobbing, her tears soaking his floral shirt.

Zhou Yi, letting Watching Xiao Yaxuan pour out all the words and complaints she had been holding in her heart with nowhere to express them for these days, held her shoulders, rested his chin on her forehead, and gently patted her back.

"Since your dad publicly accepted an interview saying you should thank him, then use this song to thank him properly."

When the storm had passed, Zhou Yi, looking down slightly at the woman in his arms, smiled and said under her gaze: "I'm not afraid of criticism; no one at Warner can control me."

"..."

Since her father's shameless statement exploded, Zhou Yi was the only one who had said this to her.

Everyone else, including her mother and teacher Yao Qian, had advised her to consider the big picture and not ruin her singer image due to a moment of impulse.

So, she fled from Virgin, fled from Taiwan.

"You dead scumbag." As their eyes met, Watching Xiao Yaxuan first "viciously" dropped a question, and before Zhou Yi could open his mouth, she threw her head back and rushed up—

blocking his mouth with action.

Facts proved that even with the air conditioning on, Tokyo in early August was indeed still a bit hot.

When the lazy Watching Xiao Yaxuan, after Zhou Yi's critical hit, briefly lost the skill of "quickly recovering HP," she could only lie on the bed, drawing circles on the man's chest with her fingers—

"Clearly, you made me busy to death for at least the next few years, but why do I just not want to curse you?"

Zhou Yi, having taken a sip of water, tightened the bottle cap and, hearing this, couldn't help but smile and say: "Actually, if you don't want to be so busy, you can try another method, only this method isn't very traditional."

"What do you mean?" Watching Xiao Yaxuan, lazily resting on his chest and listening to his heartbeat, spoke softly.

"Have you heard of the online singer model?"

"Ding Xiang Hua? Your dead ex-girlfriend?"

Zhou Yi couldn't help but pinch the soft flesh at her waist: "Speak properly."

"Sss, it hurts."

"Serves you right."

Zhou Yi pouted, then voiced his idea: "Right now, over in Europe and America, there isn't just a traditional channel; there is also an internet channel with lightning-fast spread—Apple Music Store.

"Apple's internet model determines that once a song catches fire, its spread speed will far exceed traditional record channels.

"And right now, everyone stationed on Apple are veteran singers who already have a record foundation; their songs are already well-known in Europe and America. Apple Music Store lacks a new singer who walks out from their platform.

"Do you understand what I mean?"

As the person who personally launched the Europe and America internet music model, Zhou Yi felt that if he launched Watching Xiao Yaxuan in this way again, he would most likely be called the gravedigger of the European and American record industry by those traditional old hands soon.

(End of this chapter)