Huayu: Starting from the top talent show

Chapter 269: The Next Step: Domination of Asia-Pacific
《Alex Shen Juan, a 20-year-old talented artist with colorful musicality, a pop superstar of the new era》

[Handsome looks, beautiful singing voice, fashionable outfits, high-end melodies, talented arranging, proud honors, a king's resume, memories of youth, a dreamy legend, a flamboyant personality, endless scandals, criticisms from the world, pride of fans, self-breakthrough, the favor of God, this is Alex Shen Juan.

A star who is far more glamorous and beautiful than any other singer of his generation, and a singer who shoulders far more responsibilities than any other superstar of his generation.

(Photo: Shen Juan's flash light photo)

Over the past year, Alex has quickly become a hot topic among young people around the world and has become another global idol of the current era.

(Photo: Shen Juan BMA holding up the trophy)

Alex is a singer-songwriter who can independently write lyrics, compose music and arrange music. He is only 20 years old (his birthday is May 5, which is said to mean "I love you" in Chinese) and has been in the music industry for less than two years. With his masterpiece "If I Can't Have You", he has created theme songs and promotional songs for many major film, television, and game IPs, and has made a name for himself and successfully entered the world music scene.

Who is Alex?
(Photo: The ending of the moth flying into the fire in the encore stage of Produce 101's finals "Event Horizon")

He started participating in various idol talent shows in 2015 and came into the public eye through South Korea's "Produce 101". He then withdrew from the competition and returned to his country to participate in a hip-hop competition show, winning the annual championship and quickly building popularity.

He then entered North America, the center of pop music, with a high level of fan traffic. With "Underrated", which is very likely to become the world's best-selling album this year, he became an overnight sensation and became a new-era American teenage idol.

(Photo: Screenshot of Shen Juan's special performance at Times Square in New York, which was praised by fans as a "worship for all")

Shen Juan's first Japanese EP "You Are All I See" was released on October 10 and has become an indispensable topic of discussion among Japanese teenagers since its release. The style is varied and each song is very flavorful.

(Photo: Shen Juan's personal Japanese EP cover)

Although it may not seem particularly catchy at first listen, you will get the feeling after listening to it a few more times. Most of the singles in this album are obviously different from the pre-made hit singles on the market. They are melodies that can only be captured by listeners with a certain level of musical aesthetic ability.

"Pretender" is just the opposite. It is very catchy at first listen. Whether it is the guitar, piano or vocals, it gives people an extremely amazing and pleasant feeling.

It can be said that this album "You Are All I See" perfectly balances market popularity and musicality, and truly embraces the appreciation of all aesthetic groups.

And considering that he has achieved such amazing results at the age of 20, it is hard not to look forward to how high Shen Juan will develop next.

So I saw some Japanese netizens online saying that he is the second Mizu? The Chinese version of Mizu? Or like the Chinese netizens said, the second Jay Chou?

No, I think he'll go his own way.

In a sense, Shen Juan has even surpassed his predecessors in some aspects and angles. 】

Press releases like this were marketed in Japan and even in neighboring South Korea, and soon attracted a large group of passers-by and netizens who usually don't pay much attention to the entertainment industry, who either watched or discussed the event.

Not all reviews are positive though.

After all, for the vast majority of passers-by, these media are using a foreign singer who they consider to be "unknown" to touch upon their idol.

It's really hard not to feel disgusted with Shen Juan.

But no matter what, the popularity of Shen Juan and this Japanese EP has been successfully expanded.

This also directly led to the fact that all aspects of the data and word-of-mouth reviews of "You Are All I See" on the first day of its release could not be better, especially among young people, as if it was going to become a "god with one album" in Japan.

Of course, the subsequent itinerary still needs to be carried out according to plan.

He cannot be complacent because of short-term success. He still has a lot of work to do before he can achieve true success and become a top-tier player.

October 10th, Day 26 at Sakurajima.

At 9 a.m., he accepted an exclusive interview with the media contacted by Universal Neon Branch, and talked for a while in front of the camera, describing the creative ideas of "You Are All I See" and his mental journey during this period.

At 11 a.m., they met at a cafe with the "failed singer" Rila Kita, whom they recognized from the unplugged concert last night, and the frustrated Ayase, whom they contacted through someone online. They served as a bridge with enough weight to get the record company Universal to propose to them the idea of forming a "novel-music-ification" group.

Although the two were somewhat puzzled and did not know what kind of plan this was, this was after all an invitation from Shen Juan and Huanqiu personally, and they happened to be in an extremely confused low period in their lives, so they agreed without much hesitation.

Thus, the top music group YOASOBI came into being, which became popular in Japan with "Run Towards the Night" before and became popular all over the mainland with "Idol" after.

In fact, whether it is the band KingGnu that he got to know through the ANA advertising song before, or the band YOASOBI that he is in contact with now, they are all investments in the future by Shen Juan.

Very understandable.

After all, he is not an artist from this country, and it is impossible for him to stay in this country to carry out activities continuously.

That is why he needs to leave his "legend" in the Japanese music scene, so that he can continue to gain traffic and popularity during the time when he is not in the Japanese world.

Just like Bieber, the group of young singers who became popular later on all had some kind of friendship with him to some extent, so that they could delay the flop trend as much as possible and maintain their status.

(Ranking of Japanese song streaming media from 18 to 22)

At 2 pm, she accepted an exclusive interview with the Japanese version of "VOGUE" magazine and answered some questions about fashion trends, fashion attitudes and fashion temperament.

When Shen Juan came to Neon this time, he also had to take time out to shoot the closing cover of the December issue of the Japanese version of "VOGUE".

There is no other way. This is how busy an international superstar is as the global spokesperson for four luxury brands: LV, Tiffany, YSL and Jaeger-LeCoultre.

At 4 pm, she participated in the pre-recording of the stage of the decades-old Asahi Taiwanese music program "MUSIC STATION" and sang the EP's title song "Pretender".

At a glance, the audience sitting in the studio were all young girls, and most of them were Alovers who came for him.

So after the performance, Shen Juan took the time to interact with them before leaving the stage.

Even though he is no longer an idol, he is still a fan-favorite with many straight-shot videos watched by millions of fans.

At 8 o'clock in the evening, I returned to MS's recording venue and participated in MS's live broadcast. Through this opportunity, I got to know many Japanese musicians and also helped many Japanese musicians get to know me.

Although Shen Juan did not plan to build up too many connections here, under the current international situation, it is impossible for Chinese people to become the mainstream in Japan, at least not the mainstream in the open. But if he could leave a deep and memorable impression in front of this group of people, it would surely be of great help in shaping his style and improving his image.

After all, everyone gossips. When these people talk about Shen Juan with their friends in private, they will casually praise him for his good looks and his stable performance.
His fame will spread like this.

And on Day 4 of our visit to Sakurajima.

Shen Juan used the afternoon to complete the recording of Fuji TV's music program "Music Fair" and NTV's flagship indoor variety show "Chatting 007".

It is worth mentioning that his "Pretender" can be heard in many places in Tokyo today.

At the same time, LV's latest global advertising campaign also made its official debut in Tokyo. Fans spontaneously raised funds to buy a large LED screen for Shen Juan in the downtown area, and a personal promotional video released on the Tokyo subway also began to be played in a loop.

Shen Juan's popularity and fame in Japan is skyrocketing at an extremely alarming rate. Not only does he seem to be competing with K-pop, but he is also showing a tendency to break out of the circle. Many middle-aged office workers have learned that a globally popular Chinese singer is bravely venturing into JPOP.

This has caused many American media outlets that have been paying close attention to the changes in the global music industry and the "new king of streaming media" Shen Juan to use the headline "Alex Fever has spread to Japan" in their news reports to the North American public. Day 4 at 7pm.

Shen Juan had just finished dinner with his team and filmed a vlog of the meal, and was on his way to a book signing event.

Although the work these days has been extremely hard and busy, everyone is very excited at this moment.

Because Shen Juan really became a big hit in Neon this time.

It's not the kind of superficial "explosion" brought about by the international celebrity persona, but a real explosion that broke through the circle after he broke into the Japanese music market and his music works and he himself thoroughly entered the public eye!

Not to mention anything else, just while they were having dinner on the way to the transition today, they had already listened to "Pretender" and "Subtitle" more than ten times in different places.

This is real money and fame!

In the country, they had never seen such a scene.

There are very few stores in China that are willing to play music, and even fewer that are willing to play Shen Juan’s English songs.

So it is obvious that the sales data of this EP will definitely not be bad. Things like topping the Japanese Billboard and the most important Oricon will definitely be no problem.

Shen Juan is of course very happy with such outstanding results and the good development prospects that are visible to the naked eye.

He also showed great confidence.

But he certainly doesn't really have an inflated ego.

He still understood the principle of "despise strategically and pay attention tactically". There are too many artists in this world who started off well but ended up failing because of over-expansion.

So what he is actually thinking about now is how to further increase his popularity in Japan?
How can we seize more market share in the neighboring Kpop field, achieve a true landing in Incheon, and resist the cold and successfully counterattack the Korean Wave in our home country?

And how to infinitely expand its popularity in Southeast Asia and truly dominate the Asia-Pacific?

With such thoughts and visions for the future, Shen Juan and his team members arrived at the signing event venue.

The fans who had been waiting here for a long time also checked their tickets one by one and started chatting with like-minded people around them.

"I heard that Shen Juansang is even more handsome than the pictures on the Internet!"

"It's true! My sister has seen him in person, and she said the same thing, that he has great skin and a small face."

"Did you come here specially from South Korea as well?"

"Yeah, yeah, I went to Amazon and bought ten albums. I didn't expect to win the spot. Hahaha!"

“Pretender sounds really good!”

“Subtitle and the dancers are great too!”

"Did you get the dancer too?"

“That part in the middle is so touching!”

"I didn't expect Alex to be able to write Japanese songs so well. Normally, Japanese songs written by foreigners would have a strange taste, but Alex is different. He really understands JPOP seriously. He is an excellent singer who really knows what fans want to hear!"

"I will be his fan forever!"

"Of course I'll be a fan of such a high-quality idol for life! Those idols from J-family are nothing compared to Alex, they are not even on the same level."

And when Shen Juan appeared on the stage on time at eight o'clock in the evening to meet everyone, the fans' screams and shouts and various whispers reached their peak.

It didn't look terrible in the light, it was even more stunning.

Countless fans who attended the autograph session left their thoughts on social media after the event:
[At the book signing event, His Highness Shen Juan was as sincere and enthusiastic as ever. It was just that the lights in the venue seemed a little dim, but it still couldn't block His Highness's superstar radiance! ]

【He is the source of warmth in winter for me. 】

[“There is no need to rush every day, no need to be full of sparks, no need to try to be someone else. The only thing we need to do is to be ourselves.” - Alex Shen Juan]

【Life-Tiredness=0】

[He has not yet reached his golden age. He will have countless peak moments in his future life. ]

As many Alovers say online:
This glittering figure smiling and waving at them on the stage may leave an indelible impression in the hearts of these fans forever.

The Tired Emperor arrives at Sakurajima on Day 6.

Various marketing and publicity have never stopped, and the popularity of the Japanese EP "You Are All I See" continues to ferment, causing many people to start paying attention to the English album "Underrated" released by Shen Juan half a year ago.

Amid this star-chasing craze, Shen Juan’s fan popularity and online voice have also been further enhanced.

Regardless of what will happen in the future, at least for now he can definitely be compared with the top popular young actors in Japan.

And all it takes is a hit Japanese EP and less than a week of public activity time.

Singers in the streaming media era do have it much easier.

Of course, the workload is not small at all.

In addition to the basic promotional work, there was also the cover shoot for the Japanese version of "VOGUE" in the fashion business field and the endorsement advertising shoot for PlayUp contact lenses.

In addition, he was invited by NTV to make a guest appearance in the TV series "I'm the Big Brother", as well as various media interviews and fan meet-and-greet events.

Although Shen Juan has not been an idol for many years, his work experience during this period is very similar to the high-intensity comeback period of those idol groups that cannot stop at all.

Fortunately, it is all over now.

Shen Juan, who has been given a short vacation, has already embarked on a trip to visit the crew of "The War of Archimedes".

Two Japanese friends he had known before, Masaki Suda and Minami Hamabe, are currently filming in the same crew.

So Shen Juan thought that maybe he could go over and play with them, since he was free tonight anyway.

　Because I had a lot of things to do over the weekend and had a social event in the evening, today's chapter has 4k words. It just so happens that the previous few days were all 7k+, so I guess this can fill the gap today.
　　Then I would like to thank Qunqing OvO, Huguo Guandu, Chise Shurahei, and Qiao Jianfan for their rewards! Thank you to all the bosses for your recommendation tickets, monthly tickets, and subscription support!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)