Huayu: Starting from Fahrenheit

Chapter 327 The Rise and Fall of Wang Jie

To be honest, people in the industry really avoid Wang Jie like the plague.

"I'll let him go this time for your sake, but this is a one-time exception."

When Wu Zhuo approached Jackie Chan to discuss arranging for Wang Jie to perform, Jackie Chan spoke with a solemn expression.

"This is a charity performance. We said at the beginning that all aspiring artists are welcome."

"Perhaps people in the industry don't like him, but we have to abide by the rules we've agreed on."

Wu Zhuo glanced at Wang Jie and then spoke to Jackie Chan.

"I know, but I have to warn you, you'd better not have too much contact with him. It will only do you harm, not benefit."

Jackie Chan patted Wu Zhuo on the shoulder.

Upon hearing this, Wu Zhuo glanced at Wang Jie not far away again, feeling somewhat wistful.

Logically speaking, given Wang Jie's status in the Chinese music scene back then, his presence at this event today would suggest that he's somewhat past his prime.

It shouldn't be ignored.

But the fact is, after Wang Jie appeared backstage, only a few people greeted him.

The others simply pretended not to see him.

Now, Jackie Chan has even personally reminded Wu Zhuo not to have too much contact with him.

This shows how unpopular Wang Jie was in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Wang Jie took the stage.

He is very well-known in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

As soon as he stepped onto the stage, the audience erupted in cheers upon seeing him.

While listening to Wang Jie sing "Unromantic Crime" on stage, Wu Zhuo and Jackie Chan chatted about Wang Jie from the audience.

Jackie Chan is fairly familiar with Wang Jie's situation.

After hearing his explanation, Wu Zhuo finally understood why Wang Jie was disliked.

If we say that Dao Lang is a singer in this new era who is not accepted by the mainstream industry.

So, Wang Jie is the Dao Lang of the previous era.

They are like products abandoned by the times, unacceptable to the mainstream.

There are many reasons why Dao Lang was ostracized.

One reason his songs resonate with the lower-tier market is that they are popular, but that's not the main reason.

There are many singers across the country who make music for the lower-tier market, but many of them are actually accepted by the mainstream. They may be discriminated against, but they will not be excluded.

The main reason why Dao Lang was ostracized was actually because he broke market rules.

At a time when all singers are fighting piracy and emphasizing genuine products.

Dao Lang chose to stand against everyone else and partnered with pirates to release his songs through their channels.

From an outsider's perspective, there's nothing wrong with finding a channel to release a song.

But for all legitimate singers, this is something that cannot be tolerated.

Everyone is actively fighting piracy and increasing sales and revenue from legitimate products.

Dao Lang went against the grain and collaborated with piracy, using his highly popular albums to further expand the already rampant piracy channels.

This has led to a significant reduction in the income of all legitimate singers.

From an industry perspective, this is like flipping the table; this is like smashing someone's rice bowl.

It was precisely this act of sabotaging his livelihood that made him an unacceptable figure to all mainland singers.

A person wants to be at odds with an entire industry.

To be honest, that's absolutely impossible.

Even if Wu Zhuo is incredibly arrogant now, he wouldn't dare to do such a thing.

And Wang Jie.

His situation is actually more complicated than Dao Lang's, but ultimately he also offended the market.

Many people say that Wang Jie was ostracized because he was too successful.

But what we learned from Wu Zhuochenglong is that the reasons are not entirely true.

There are many reasons why Wang Jie was ostracized by singers from Hong Kong and Taiwan.

First, Wang Jie has a withdrawn personality; he has almost no real friends, and not even any fake friends.

He never hides his opinions on anything, whether good or bad, he just says it out loud. A prime example is when the Four Heavenly Kings were born.

Regardless of whether the Four Heavenly Kings were targeting him, any normal singer would at least put on an act.

But he didn't do that. After he returned to Hong Kong from making movies abroad, he saw the Four Heavenly Kings formed and his influence was being eroded by them.

He went straight for the trash, saying that Hong Kong people couldn't handle the game and were afraid of him, this playboy, which is why they formed the Four Heavenly Kings.

Even more audacious, he directly called himself Shakyamuni, placing himself above the Four Heavenly Kings and belittling them to nothing.

Honestly, from Wu Zhuo's perspective, he had to admire this guy's recklessness.

Wu Zhuo himself currently tops the sales charts in the Chinese music scene; the sales of a single album by artists like Jay Chou don't even reach half of his global sales.

Under these circumstances, Wu Zhuo dared not call himself the number one in the music industry, nor did he dare to arrogantly think that he could be above Jay Chou and others.

Wang Jie, on the other hand, dared to do that. In his eyes, everyone else was trash; he was incredibly arrogant.

His initial arrogance made him disliked by the Hong Kong market, which then abandoned him because the Four Heavenly Kings were unstoppable.

Therefore, Wang Jie, who could obtain almost no resources in Hong Kong, had no choice but to return to Taiwan.

Then, the second thing that affected his career and offended market capital occurred.

Around 93, Wang Jie had already been squeezed out of the Hong Kong market by the Four Heavenly Kings.

But he remains the uncrowned king of Taiwan.

This guy pulled another crazy stunt.

He simply disappeared while still under contract with UFO Records.

She disappeared without promoting her finished album, and went to Canada to date and have children.

This behavior directly offended UFO, who had once promoted him and regarded him as the company's top leader.

The UFO wanted nothing more than to kill him.

In a fit of anger, UFO distributed all of its market share to other singers in the company, such as Nicky Wu and Jimmy Lin.

That's not all. UFO Records also used its resources to secure the Mandarin record agency for Andy Lau. It was this resource, along with the movies, that enabled Andy Lau to win the top spot in the Taiwan Top Ten Idols poll for five consecutive years.

After the division of resources, Wang Jie's career declined sharply. Even though he released classic songs such as "Annie" and "Hero's Tears" during this period, it could not prevent his fall from grace in the music scene.

As we all know, the market is fickle, and without the help of resources, even if Wang Jie was once very popular, his career will not recover.

Once the audience had a new object of their admiration, he naturally had to step aside until he could no longer cause any trouble in the industry.

This incident has dealt a huge blow to Wang Jie's career.

No company would want to believe someone who has breached their contract and disappeared.

Therefore, even though Wang Jie still had a market at this time, no company wanted him after UFO Records' contract with him ended.

Until 1999, when Emperor Entertainment Group was established in Hong Kong, it needed a singer who could take on the responsibility.

Yang Cheng set his sights on Wang Jie, who could only work as a radio DJ in Canada.

The two sides hit it off immediately, and Wang Jie returned to Hong Kong from Canada to join Emperor Entertainment Group.

His first album with Royal Entertainment, "Sad 1999", became a nationwide hit, making him popular again.

However, this time he met his match.

That same year, Nicholas Tse also began to make a strong showing at Royal Entertainment.

The song "Thank You for Your Love 1999" attracted market attention.

Nicholas Tse is like Dave Wang back then. With just a guitar and his rebellious style, he quickly became a sensation across the country, squeezing out Dave Wang's space to survive and becoming the number one singer at Emperor Entertainment Group.

I came here to be number one, but you're telling me I'm number two?

Wang Jie and Nicholas Tse have officially begun their battle for the top spot at Emperor Entertainment Group.

The animosity between the two sides runs deep.

Finally, the story ends with Wang Jie revealing that someone poisoned his voice.

Whether Wang Jie's voice was damaged as a result is unknown to Jackie Chan.

They might know, but didn't say anything.

However, Wang Jie's remarks led Huangying to completely abandon him.

This also made no company in Hong Kong or Taiwan dare to hire him again.

Even at today's public event, not a single celebrity who had previously greeted him was present.

(End of this chapter)