Chapter 94: Mainland Grand Slam

~9 min read 1,750 words

If one sentence were needed to describe the explosive popularity of "Love in a Falling Rain," then "the 2001 annual viewership champion across both sides of the strait" would suffice to explain everything.

To a certain extent, this drama can be said to have, together with "My Fair Princess" and "Journey to the West: The Sequel," rotated and monopolized the summer rerun slots in the first few years of the new century.

Zhao Wei, riding high on her momentum, kicked the music world into chaos with the theme song of the same name as the TV series;

Xiangjiang singer Gu Juji even secured his first pension insurance in the hearts of mainland viewers by virtue of "I Really Want to Know."

And if he wanted to minimize the impact he would suffer later, Zhou Yi immediately thought of advertising—

"When will the Coca-Cola commercial be aired?"

Although he had no TV drama in hand, Coca-Cola's marketing channels covering the entire country could help him boost his face recognition.

Especially television commercials.

In this era where television ruled supreme, TV commercials could also attract the attention of many viewers.

The most typical example is Wang Lihong, who would in the future sign an endorsement contract with Wahaha and become famous across the mainland thanks to Wahaha's TV commercials and theme song.

"You are shooting in early April, and it is expected to roll out nationwide across the country by mid-April."

After flipping through the schedule, Qian Jiang gave the answer.

"Then it's not a big problem; 'Love in a Falling Rain' probably won't be broadcast simultaneously on both sides of the strait."

Recalling the time "Love in a Falling Rain" was broadcast on the mainland in his memory, it had already reached September.

In April, he has the nationwide commercial song for Coca-Cola, "Don't Listen to Slow Songs When You're Sad";

His second album is currently tentatively scheduled for release in June, and in July and August, Jackie Chan's "Rush Hour 2" will also gradually be released in various places around the globe.

At that time, relying on the first-mover advantage, the halo of hit songs, and the marketing of the film soundtrack, it might not be impossible to compete with "Love in a Falling Rain."

"That's true, but it's better to be safe than sorry."

Regarding Zhou Yi's unhurried attitude, Qian Jiang obviously wanted to take the initiative: "In late March, there is the 8th China Song Chart, which is also an official chart.

"Most importantly, you can win an award.

"And after you win this award, you will achieve a Grand Slam of newcomer awards on the mainland, and the company can help you hype up this concept in advance."

After writing down the awards Zhou Yi might win one by one on paper with pen and paper, Qian Jiang analyzed: "This can perfectly coordinate with the news of your participation in the Golden Melody Awards.

"If you can also take home the Best Newcomer at the Golden Melody Awards, then you can be said to have achieved a Grand Slam of newcomer awards in the Chinese music scene.

"This is not only a marketing point but can also help elevate your status within the industry."

Speaking, Qian Jiang also showed a pile of various newcomer award names—

Besides some mainland pop song newcomer awards, awards such as the Malaysia XX Award Best Newcomer and the like even blinded Zhou Yi's dog eyes.

The only place where he failed was Singapore, where he lost the Best Newcomer to Sun Yanzi, who was playing on home turf.

Zhou Yi carefully counted, and just the trophies Qian Jiang listed amounted to twenty-three, covering all major award ceremonies in the current East Asian Chinese cultural circle.

Among these, the Chinese Music Chart and the Xiangjiang Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs, which he attended in person, each contributed five trophies; the others were basically collected on his behalf by people sent by Warner.

Under Warner's public relations efforts, he even won several newcomer awards in South Korea and Japan, two countries where hardly anyone had ever heard of them.

"At this China Song Chart in late March, Best Newcomer and Best Album are guaranteed to be at least two awards; my suggestion is that you should attend in person.

"After all, it is an official award, and it is limited to competition among mainland singers. With Sun Nan out of the picture, your chances of winning are also very high."

Speaking, Qian Jiang picked up his pen and wrote the number "25" on the paper, raised his eyes to look at him, and said solemnly: "Up to now, there has been no one in the Chinese music scene who has won 25 trophies within one year of debut.

"Ah Yi, you have a very good chance of becoming the first one in history.

"Regardless of how much water is actually in these 25 trophies, as long as there are heavyweight trophies backing it up, it is an unprecedented achievement."

"I actually have so many trophies?"

You don't know until you count; once you count, you're shocked.

Zhou Yi, who had never noticed the number of his trophies before, carefully examined this report card in front of him, with surprise that was hard to conceal between his eyebrows and eyes.

In the future, could he also show off a bit, like the Fairy Tale King Zheng Yuanjie, who bought several houses specifically to store trophies?

"You think, if it weren't that your debut time was still too short, you would now be a veritable Little Heavenly King."

As Zhou Yi's manager, Qian Jiang also felt somewhat proud by association: "By the way, let me reveal another piece of good news to you.

"A new endorsement has come knocking, offering a price far exceeding that of similar competing products."

"Oh? Who? Which company?"

Compared to worthless trophies, Zhou Yi was more interested in clients who were willing to come and give him money.

"Anta, a shoe brand. The price offered now is 6 million for four years, far exceeding the prices offered by Adidas and Nike."

"?"

Zhou Yi, hearing this number, was stunned for a moment: "Is Anta so rich?"

In his impression, wasn't Anta at the beginning of the millennium being beaten up by Li Ning?

"Have you heard of Kong Linghui? The Ping Pong Prince who topped the singles at last year's Olympics."

Speaking of Kong Linghui, Qian Jiang couldn't help but marvel at the luck of the Anta brand.

"Last year, the Anta boss bet his entire fortune and spent 500,000 to hire Kong Linghui as an endorser.

"As a result, with Kong Linghui's outstanding performance at the Olympics, the Anta brand turned over a new leaf overnight, and wealth came rolling in.

"They not only gave Kong Linghui a new contract but also started preparing to sign other stars to expand their own brand influence.

"Originally, they hadn't noticed you, after all, you are just a singer.

"But someone exposed that when you were at school, you scored 13:0 against the opponent's Chinese Department in a football match..."

"..."

Although he did pay attention to sports and exercise, endorsing a sports brand was not really a problem.

But Qian Jiang's way of putting it... why did it sound so wrong to him?

Amitabha, will the dark history of Peking University Chinese Department football matches start with him—

Hmm? Wait a minute.

No, he didn't kick that 13:0 score alone; what was he feeling guilty about?

Thinking of this, Zhou Yi, who had dragged his former teammates into taking the blame, suddenly felt no psychological pressure.

March 20.

After completing the recording of "Don't Listen to Slow Songs When You're Sad" at Warner Xiangjiang, Zhou Yi returned to the mainland to personally attend the China Music Chart Awards, where he was naturally pursued by reporters with this question.

Thanks to the Chinese national team currently striving for the World Cup under coach Milu, the popularity of football in the country has reached an unprecedented high.

The weak Peking University Chinese Department also made a bit of a name for itself because of this...

"Football is not a one-man sport; I feel my teammates share responsibility for this scoreline.

"Moreover, the football strength of Peking University's Chinese Department is actually quite strong. If you don't believe it, you can ask Lu Gengxu; he should have heard of it."

At the China Music Chart Awards ceremony, facing the reporters' questions, Zhou Yi smiled politely and shifted the topic to Lu Gengxu beside him.

This performance guest, a Tsinghua alumnus, had his seat arranged by the official China Music Chart organizers right next to Zhou Yi, a Peking University alumnus.

Lu Gengxu: "..."

Lu Gengxu, who indeed wanted camera time but never expected to get it in this way, almost lost his expression management.

Behind Zhou Yi, the gazes of artists such as Yu Quan, Xu Wei, Da Da Band, and Huang Qishan occasionally turned toward him.

Everyone knew clearly that as long as this man was present, the biggest winner of the awards could only be him.

Facts proved that this rule was not wrong.

Best Newcomer Award: Zhou Yi;

Top Ten Golden Songs Award: "Flower Field Mistake", Zhou Yi.

Excellent Album Award: "Zhou Yi";