Chapter 102: Liu Yifei Records a Song

July 30, 2002, Mui Music Company in Xiangjiang.

"Mui" stands for "Mei," as this is Mei Yanfang's own music company, handling a series of businesses including record production and distribution, artist management, and singer packaging and promotion.

Established in 1999, this company has successively cultivated well-known singers such as Grasshopper, Hui Zhian, Tan Yaowen, He Yunshi, and Peng Jingci.

In the original timeline, after Mei Yanfang passed away in 2003, she transferred 0.01% of her shares to her manager Wang Minhui in her will, and instructed her to take full charge of company affairs.

As a result, her mother and brother seized power through malicious litigation, ultimately forcing Wang Minhui to relinquish the shares.

Mui Music then fell into the hands of a trust company and faded into obscurity.

Today, Mui Music welcomed the youngest client in the company's history: Liu Yifei.

"Little brother, you really care a lot about this girl, don't you?"

Lu Kuan grinned: "She's my cash cow, after all. I have to make her a star if I want to make money."

Mei Yanfang saw through it but didn't say anything; however, she felt a bit of sympathy for her studio staff at this moment.

Whether it was the recording engineer or the backing vocalists, they were all feeling somewhat helpless toward the little beauty from the mainland in the recording booth...

Oh, little Liu, it’s fine that you’re pretty, but your singing is just...

"Yifei, don't be too rushed in this section. Wait until the tonic triad at the beginning of the song is almost finished before you come in."

"Oh, oh, okay!"

The young girl gritted her teeth, recalling the training she had received from Zhang Yadong over the past half-month, and braced herself to start over from the beginning.

Watching her, Mei Yanfang felt as if she were seeing her younger self; of course, there was no comparison in terms of talent, but the level of effort was the same.

"A-Kuan, these songs of yours are indeed quite suitable for her."

Boss Lu secretly gave a bitter smile; he had exhausted his lifetime of memories searching his mind for scenes from his past life in KTVs.

Aside from the fair skin of legs and trysts in restrooms, he had cobbled together four or five songs with a girlish style for Liu Yifei.

When it came to film and television projects like movies or dramas, he had them firmly in his grasp, but he really wasn't an expert in music; if it wasn't something particularly popular, it was hard for him to recall and replicate it.

This was when a professional record company came into play; he would hum a simple melody to provide a prototype, and only through the processing of professionals could these songs be brought to the world.

This EP contained a total of 5 songs.

"Warm," "Cherry Blossom Grass," "Love Ya Love Ya," "Big Big World," and "The Initial Dream."

They were all warm, healing, and girlish, with "The Initial Dream" also having a positive theme.

The reason an English song was added was mainly to consider the Southeast Asian market.

After all, by using Mei Yanfang's company in Xiangjiang for packaging and distribution, the target audience was not just the mainland; this was also the reason for choosing Mui Music instead of Zhang Yadong's studio.

And Liu Yifei's English level was sufficient to handle it.

After recording for a day, little Liu, whose throat was so dry it felt like it was smoking, sat on the second-floor terrace of Mei Yanfang's house, her hands folded on the coffee table, her chin resting weakly against them.

Small and helpless...

Liu Xiaoli was busy in Beiping preparing gowns for her daughter and wouldn't be able to come to meet up for another two days, and Yang Siwei had to return to the Communication University of China to take final exams, so only Lu Kuan was accompanying her on this trip.

Boss Lu didn't tease her with his sharp tongue again; he sympathized with the young girl's current psychological state.

Recording an album was not at all like what was written in entertainment novels, where one could just copy a few songs and sing them haphazardly to finish.

For a non-professional singer like Liu Yifei, or even a music novice, doing this was extremely strenuous.

We often hear the terms "grassroots actor" or "grassroots singer."

Indeed, there are some naturally gifted actors and singers who can demonstrate excellent professional ability without professional training or formal schooling.

But being a singer is still somewhat harder than being an actor.

Take recording an album, for example; to record an album at a professional record company, a singer must at the very least possess basic music theory knowledge of the twelve-tone equal temperament.

Just as Mei Yanfang was saying to Lu Kuan in the recording studio today, without this professional knowledge, a singer cannot first establish a basic understanding of musical modes.

What is mode recognition?

It means a singer must know how to read a musical score to adjust their own ups and downs, pitch, and cooperate with the band and backing vocals to complete the work.

On a deeper level, she needs an understanding of the emotional interpretation of chords, harmony theory, and the tension of rhythmic types.

Because every chord is endowed with a certain emotional tendency by the composer; for example, a primary chord requires the singer to use sustained notes, soft singing, or gentle vocal processing;

A fourth-degree chord requires explosive power and a sense of strength, coordinated with the band's heavy mixing, to achieve the desired effect and become content that resonates in the ears of the listeners of the album.

Clearly, Liu Yifei, who had entered the field halfway, was already lost in these professional pitfalls and unable to extricate herself.

Even though the songs chosen were relatively simple.

Lu Kuan was also helpless about this; he could provide guidance on acting, but he was even worse at singing than Liu Yifei.

"Stop being so dejected, come take a walk with me."

As the sun set, the luxury residential area where Heng'an Pavilion was located had a high safety factor, so Boss Lu decided to take his little employee out to relax.

Liu Yifei raised her eyelids to glance at him, then reluctantly went down the stairs first.

"Walk on the left, you idiot."

Seeing the dazed little girl head to the right side of the main road as soon as she went out, Lu Kuan quickly pulled her to his left side.

"Oh... I forgot."

The two of them walked forward in silence.

The damp, salty sea breeze blew from the mountainside, and there were very few vehicles or pedestrians passing by, which actually helped dissipate some of Liu Yifei's irritability.

"Little Lu, do you think I'm too stupid? I'm not good at acting, and I'm not good at singing either?"

Boss Lu didn't discourage her: "Are you comparing yourself to Sister Mei, thinking she's good at everything?"

"Yes."

"Actually, you only lack one thing compared to her."

"What?"

"Life experience."

The young man and woman leaned against the railing on the mountainside under the setting sun; the faint afterglow of the sunset shone on Liu Yifei's delicate side profile, and Lu Kuan could even see the fine fuzz on her face.

Only the owner of this pretty face still had her brows tightly locked in worry.

"Life experience?"

Lu Kuan coaxed her patiently: "Sister Mei started performing and singing for money at the age of four, traveling from port to port; her experiences and tempering were perfectly presented on the stage and the big screen."

"How old are you? The road ahead is long, there's no need to be so anxious."

With Liu Xiaoli not by her side, Lu Kuan seemed to give her a strong sense of security, and Liu Yifei poured out her heart.

"Sister Mei's life was very bitter when she was young, and my heart was very bitter when I was young."

"My mom and dad divorced very early. At that time, we were still living in Wuhan. I would throw tantrums and refuse to let my grandmother take care of me, so I would always cling to my mom."

"At that time, she was still dancing. I loved watching her dance 'The Death of the Swan' the most. She would dance on stage, and I would watch from below with my chin propped up."

"It was at that time that I fell in love with performing. Mom gave up dancing for me, and I want to fulfill her wish."

"Later, we moved, went abroad, and I wasn't very happy abroad either; I was always bullied by American kids and couldn't fit in with them."

The young girl turned her head and asked: "Do you think these count as life experience?"

Lu Kuan sighed inwardly; different stages of life have different kinds of suffering.

For the four-year-old Mei Yanfang, being beaten with a wooden stick by her mother and forced to travel to ports to sing for money was, of course, an incredibly painful memory.

But for the ten-year-old Liu Yifei, the divorce of her parents and the disintegration of the little princess's happy family was already a mountain that left her unable to breathe.

(End of chapter)