Chapter 590: Finding Another Path

"Dear listeners, I'm your substitute DJ; I'd like to invite you to chat with me about this world.

"All day long, work repeats weary scenes, numbing your senses~

"Listen up, dear.

"Just now I heard that hatred must be resolved through reason,

"Yet insults and bullets are flying everywhere over there~"

With an extremely forward-looking arrangement, highly rhythmic drumbeats, and an inventive use of hip-hop elements, a song dedicated to world peace was thus born.

Fully displaying his profound foundation in Western pop music, Wang Lihong played with exceptional nonchalance in this track, "You and Me," narrating the world from his own perspective in a gentle, storytelling manner.

If the audience were all connoisseurs, then even those who disliked this song the most would have to hold their noses and admit its power; unfortunately, so-called musicality is merely a consensus on aesthetic taste within the industry, nothing more.

Having listened to less than half, Zhou Yi reached out and turned off the radio; Li Bingbin, who sat resting in a rocking chair on the film set and felt no affinity for this song whatsoever, noticed his action and couldn't help but feel slightly surprised: "You're not going to listen anymore?"

After all, he's a hugely popular male singer who wrote "The One"; did Zhou Yi pronounce a death sentence on his new song without even finishing it?

"Too highbrow for mass appeal; its market performance won't be explosive, so there's no need to pay it any attention."

Rising from his chair and stretching lazily, Zhou Yi twisted his neck, drawing out a long sound from his mouth.

Qian Jiang, who had dragged him along to listen to the radio broadcast, was stunned—was Wang Lihong's song... really that bad?

"This song is good, but it has no market; Wang Lihong choosing it as the lead single for radio clearly shows he's been overconfident," Zhou Yi said, feeding his manager a reassurance pill.

In fact, looking across Wang Lihong's entire career discography, in terms of quality alone, "Unbelievable" belongs in a class fighting for first place while securing at least second.

This was a work he reflected upon and conceived after painful introspection following his setbacks in the Japanese market; in a certain sense, it was an album honed and precipitated through suffering.

Spanning hip-hop, pop, jazz, R&B, and other genres, every type of song on this album was executed to the extreme—to such an extreme that even the future Wang Lihong could never again produce work surpassing this album's level of craftsmanship.

This album also marked Wang Lihong's official entry into the ranks of the three carriages pulling the Mandarin pop scene in the new century.

The only regret was—

Jay Chou's "Ye Hui Mei" had the massive hit "Sunny Day";

David Tao Zhe's "Black Willow Orange" had the massive hit "Melody";

Yet Wang Lihong's "Unbelievable" lacked a single massive hit to anchor it.

Had "The One" been included on "Unbelievable," this album would have had no shortcomings whatsoever.

Qian Jiang pondered thoughtfully: "Sony has always been promoting him; can't they force it through by throwing resources at it? According to company news, pre-orders in Taiwan on the first day already exceeded 100,000 copies; his popularity is very high."

Judging solely by sales data, this "Unbelievable" album could still pose a certain threat to Zhou Yi's dominance in the Greater China region.

In 2003, single-day pre-orders of 100,000 albums in the Taiwan region already qualified as top-tier status; even if Zhou Yi announced pre-orders for a new album now, Qian Jiang estimated that the maximum one-day pre-order volume in the Taiwan region would only be around 200,000.

That was the limit of limits.

"It's just traffic; his popularity might at most push this album's sales into the year-end Top Ten Best-Selling Albums chart, but only at the very bottom."

Zhou Yi shook his head.

To speak plainly, if this "Unbelievable" album hadn't been released by Wang Lihong, without backing from Sony's powerful promotion and distribution channels, it would likely have flopped into oblivion.

Reputation visible only to industry insiders and fans cannot drive sales.

Prestige is prestige; sales are sales.

It was after this album that Wang Lihong realized this point; in every album following "Unbelievable," he deliberately included several market-oriented songs carefully crafted by himself, thereby evolving into a Mandarin Pop King.

Li Bingbin, who wasn't very knowledgeable about the music scene, clicked her tongue in some disbelief hearing Zhou Yi speak so decisively: "For real? Didn't you say it had no market? How can it still enter the year-end Top Ten best-sellers list? The album hasn't even been released yet, has it?"

Even if only at the very bottom, that still placed it among the elite.

"You don't understand; true professionals must dare to make judgments."

Zhou Yi leisurely flipped through the new endorsement deals Qian Jiang had negotiated for him after arriving in the United States, humming a little tune—

The sincerely motivated Apple Board of Directors had approved a three-year laptop contract worth five million dollars annually, totaling fifteen million dollars over three years, just to secure Zhou Yi as the endorser for the 15-inch PowerBook G4.

Also endorsing the PowerBook G4 laptop, Zhou Yi's offer was far higher than that of his compatriot, the "Little Giant" Yao Ming, who could only secure about 1.3 million dollars annually from Apple for his endorsement fee.

Of course, as an adjunct to the endorsement, filming commercials was naturally indispensable.

Since Zhou Yi did not reside in the United States, his first laptop commercial began filming only after he returned to the US having completed all the A-side music videos.

"Sigh, a life of hard labor; even during the National Day holiday, I have to work."

Li Bingbin: "..."

She suddenly felt an urge to strangle this man; this was truly being blessed yet unaware of one's fortune.

"Being blessed yet unaware of one's fortune?"

"Yes, being blessed yet unaware of one's fortune."

October 2nd, Taiwan, live on-site at the "Voice of Taipei" song promotion program.

Bringing his new album "Unbelievable" as a guest, Wang Lihong, when asked by the host why he had chosen "You and Me" as the lead single for radio release, offered his explanation—

"Society is developing too quickly nowadays, and contradictions are multiplying; as I said, sometimes many conflicts are merely accumulated friction from trivial matters, which is completely unnecessary.

"I used to live in the United States, and I saw the news; many places in this world are actually in turmoil, at war, with conflicts intensifying..."

Speaking extensively on the program about his creative philosophy, Wang Lihong was obviously very excited; he genuinely believed this album would achieve excellent results and was sincerely sharing what he considered superb music with his fans.

However, when the host asked whether he felt his album's sales could surpass those of Jay Chou and David Tao Zhe, who had already released albums, as well as Zhou Yi, who had not yet released one, the excitement on his face immediately faded—

"Actually, I think it's quite meaningless that outsiders frequently compare us like this; we are all Chinese singers creating Mandarin music, so we aren't really opponents who need to fight each other to the death.

"We are actually friends, friends, you know?"

Wearing a plaid shirt and jeans, Wang Lihong subconsciously twirled his hand, using the gesture to emphasize his tone as he stressed: "I believe that for true Mandarin singers, our opponents are actually those foreign singers, such as the currently very popular Korean Wave."

In the domestic market of 2003, relying on its unparalleled production of idol dramas, the Korean Wave directly knocked open the door, frequently appearing on television sets in thousands of households, becoming an indispensable mainstream force on the screen.

Taiwan suffered from the onslaught of the Korean Wave even earlier than the mainland, with Korean songs repeatedly squeezing the already shrinking market for Mandarin singers.

Approaching the matter from this angle was actually the strategy Sony had formulated for Wang Lihong.

Since they couldn't beat Zhou Yi either domestically or internationally, they would change the battlefield—directly targeting the Koreans entering the domestic market, with the main battlefield set in China.

I might not be able to beat you in Korea, but this is China—on the Chinese market, I can hang you up and beat you senseless!

That way, Wang Lihong can also cash in on the so-called dividend of national pride, though the effect isn't as strong as Zhou Yi's, and it lets him sidestep direct competition with Zhou Yi.

Though he himself still harbored the dream of taking down Zhou Yi.

Don't say it's unrealistic—a person still needs to have dreams, especially for a creative musician like him.