Huayu: Starting from the top talent show

Chapter 408 The King of Pop in 2019
It was late at night when the dinner party ended.

Bae Joo-hyun and Minatozaki Sana are both legitimate idols.

Since it was our first meeting, there was naturally no friendly match.

Eat a batch, raise a batch; eat a batch, raise a batch.
This cycle repeats itself, and that's the law of the fishpond.

Depleting resources beyond capacity is not in line with the strategy of sustainable development.

Shen Juan has specialized in psychology and biology and has always had a very reasonable plan for the future of the fishpond.

Naturally, one would not let momentary physical desires and petty gains delay greater interests in the future.

Of course, Lisa wanted to have a one-on-one match with Shen Juan.

After hearing that Kim Jisoo had successfully entered Shen Juan's "fish pond" (a metaphor for a group of admirers), she was incredibly envious! She just wanted to join in.

Unfortunately, Shen Juan didn't give Towns a chance.

After all, as the number one draft pick, the chosen one, the face of the league, the strongest player in the league, and the most popular star among young people, even if he were to team up with a super team, he would have to find a star with strength or potential. Teaming up with a notoriously soft player like Towns to compete for the championship would only be a waste of time and effort.

So, on the roadside in front of passersby, under their surprised gazes and the cameras of their phones, Shen Juan waved goodbye to Sana Minatozaki, Lisa Bae Joo-hyun, and the other two, implying that there was no inappropriate relationship between them, and then got into the car that was already parked on the side of the road and left the place where the crowd had gathered.

Despite the large number of people in South Korea seeking entertainment from Shen Juan, including numerous pimps like Lee Seung-ri who all claimed they could make him feel comfortable, show him the unique culture of the Great Han Kingdom, and offer him a selection of concubines at his beck and call, Shen Juan made no move to change locations to begin the second half of the affair.

After all, he was still very sensible.

Knowing that you'll get nowhere by associating with these scum who walk the line of the law and cross the line from time to time, you'll never get a good outcome.

The "Old Six Twins" are a cautionary tale for him.

A lure and a ladybug, both are extraordinary beings!

Although he, like Chris, prefers young, ordinary girls, he will not cross that line.

So they went straight back to their hotel and played cards with Kwon Eunbi and Nancy, who had accepted the team competition invitation.

You can still trust acquaintances!
Nothing happened that night, only airplanes and bombs.

Amidst the ripples of meat, eggs, scallions, and chicken and the enticing aroma, Shen Juan arrived at his last day in South Korea.

There are no formal work assignments scheduled for today.

I took some time during the day to meet with Min Hee-jin, the head of Starlink's South Korean branch, and we talked about the trainee recruitment situation.

Incidentally, under her guidance, we visited a newly built eight-story detached building in Gangnam District, which cost 20 billion won.

It's not particularly grand, but it's definitely sufficient, on par with other companies like SM and JYP's buildings.

Although Shen Juan makes money quickly, it doesn't mean he would blindly invest in a project that doesn't show any immediate profit potential.

Furthermore, he plans to open a branch in Japan in the near future, which will not only sign and train new generation singers and gravure models, but also wait for Johnny's Entertainment to collapse so that he can take in Hirano Sho and others who have left Johnny's.

Therefore, there is no need to concentrate all resources in South Korea.

(A while ago, a college student with the stage name Vaundy asked to join Starlink with his independently produced single "Tokyo Flash Scene". He said he was a loyal fan of Shen Juan and listened to every song repeatedly. Shen Juan knew that he was a talent, so he planned to sign him to the Starlink label.)
After leaving the South Korean branch, I met up with my old buddies whom I hadn't seen in a long time and we strolled around Myeongdong for a while.

Just like how his elder brother taught GD, he once again shared some experiences on being an artist and being a person with them.

Lee Do-hyun's career is getting better and better. After filming "Sweet Home" next year, his popularity will rise to another level, and he will start to star in major male lead dramas, including the Netflix hit "Dark Glory" co-starring with Song Hye-kyo.

All I can say is that Hanwha has struck gold.

Du Hua's life wasn't meant to end; she always seems to have a lucky streak.

As for Zhang Hao, he continues to repeat his monotonous trainee life, striving for his dream of debuting.

So Shen Juan took a group photo and posted it on his Instagram account, where an ad was worth nearly a million US dollars.

Let's just consider it a way to drive traffic to them.

After all, local bullies you've personally cultivated are always more trustworthy than those you've deliberately befriended.

If Shen Juan was once like a miser hoarding a mountain of gold, treating traffic and popularity as his private property, wanting to pocket every bit of exposure and attention, unwilling to share a single cent with anyone, and not allowing others to touch even a fraction of it.

Now, in order to become a phenomenal superstar and an icon of the times, his ambition and drive have long since broken through the narrow shackles of self. He has begun to actively transform into a source of light, allowing his own popularity to spread in all directions, branching out like a towering tree.

Then, using his influence as a spark, he ignited more possibilities along the Starlink trajectory, weaving a dazzling star network centered on him on the map of East Asian entertainment.

I had dinner with IU.

They briefly exchanged their interests and hobbies, initially establishing a friendship. Then, just like yesterday, they posted a group photo on Instagram, attracting netizens to watch and discuss.

Many South Koreans say this is a cross-dimensional meeting between South Korea's number one female solo artist and the world's number one male singer.

Although it feels a bit like IU is being patted on the back, how can the number one in South Korea be compared to the number one in the world?

But Shen Juan didn't care.

After all, sometimes others try to ride on your coattails.
For him, it's actually a good thing.

Like now.

At least many South Korean netizens have already recognized him as the undisputed "world's number one male singer," haven't they?

Making a deal with the devil.

The devil will never suffer a loss.

Then, in order to gain favor with JYP, one of the three major studios in South Korea, she initially established a friendship with Park Jin-young, paving the way for Starlink's future stable development in South Korea. After bidding a reluctant farewell to IU, she made a cameo appearance in the music video for Park Jin-young and Rain's new song "Switch to me" for half an hour.

Yes, the role that Psy played was replaced.

To summarize the plot:
Rain and JYP were fighting over a woman, and Alex won.

What if we consider this woman as representing the US market that Rain and JYP had tried countless times to penetrate but failed to enter?

That would be even more interesting.

It can only be said that the US market is like a sacred place that is both unattainable and longed for by many South Korean artists.

Shen Juan, a Chinese singer who successfully made it in the US, became an object of their envy, jealousy, longing, and admiration.

(This song was originally scheduled to be released at the end of 20, but JYP was inspired by Shen Juan's sudden emergence and wrote the song a year earlier and invited Rain to collaborate.)

On the morning of December 6th, the trip to South Korea came to a successful conclusion.

Shen Juan boarded a plane back to China, bound for Beijing.

Overall, the journey back to South Korea, "a return to the place where dreams once burned brightly," was relatively easy and smooth.

Not only did it achieve the expected results, but through the Leviathan Era tour and the multi-dimensional marketing strategy of the "national sweetheart" persona, it successfully dominated the top forums on Korean websites. This greatly benefited his fan base in South Korea, his popularity across age groups, and his social influence.

The most direct result is that he successfully broke into the top ten of Gallup's list of iconic individuals this year.

The so-called Gallup poll in South Korea is actually very similar to the Nikkei Entertainment Ranking in Japan.

However, the ranking system considers more factors when evaluating artists, including popularity and support rates, as well as fame. Therefore, it can include established artists with high fame but not necessarily many fans, as well as "controversial and famous" artists.

The top ten in this year's Gallup poll for idols are: BTS's Jimin, IU, BTS's Jungkook, BTS's Taehyung, Shen Juan, TWICE's Nayeon, Red Velvet's Joo-hyun, Girls' Generation's Tae-yeon, BLACKPINK's Jennie, and MAMAMOO's Hwasa.

Actually, another singer also made it into the top ten.

The rankings from highest to lowest are as follows:
The top five vote-getters with a 25% share of the vote were BTS, Song Ga-in, Jang Yoon-jung, IU, Hong Jin-young, TWICE, Paul Kim, Red Velvet, Shen Juan, and Kim Yuna.

However, because the singer rankings consider South Koreans of all ages, and Shen Juan's image among middle-aged South Koreans isn't very good (due to nationality and gender bias), and older people don't recognize him, his ranking isn't as high as the idol individual rankings, which only consider votes from young people aged 15-29. BTS' popularity in South Korea remains unparalleled.

EXO, who were once very popular in China and were neck and neck with the cheering boys, have completely faded into the dust of time.

BLACKPINK, who are doing very well overseas, have surprisingly low approval ratings among the South Korean public.

Perhaps it's because there are too many foreigners whose styles aren't appealing, and they haven't even beaten the half-dead Red Velvet yet.

Shen Juan managed to rank fifth on the idol list.
South Korean Alovers are actually quite satisfied.

After all, it's already quite an exaggeration that a foreign singer who doesn't usually perform in South Korea and doesn't sing many Korean songs can be compared to these top idols and national singers.

This is similar to how Taylor Swift, who doesn't sing Chinese songs, suppressed Lin Junjie and Xue Zhiqian, who sing Chinese songs, in a Weibo poll.

Although it's impossible for such a thing to happen, if it did, it would be an eye-opening event!
At this moment, Shen Juan undoubtedly shocked many netizens who saw the news, leaving them speechless.

It's important to understand that status is one thing, and popularity is another.

Popularity is one thing, but popularity is another.

These three are completely different concepts!

If an artist possesses all three of the above qualities, then he is undoubtedly a superstar.

Of course, Shen Juan didn't care about this ranking. Why would a world number one man care about the popularity ranking of a small country?
What's the point of being popular and famous in South Korea?
Is it possible to help him get hundreds of millions of dollars or something?

From a global perspective, who the hell cares about a top star who reigns supreme in South Korea, the Chinese entertainment industry, and Southeast Asia?

In any case, due to the low rate of English proficiency, apart from the United States, any other country can provide very little help to artists in their globalization. Therefore, if you want to achieve the best in the entertainment industry, you can't just look at things from the perspective of a single country or region, as that would make you narrow-minded.

In fact, he is paying attention to another list.

A more authoritative, more important, and more widely followed list that can directly provide definitive conclusions on certain matters.

This is what the world's leading man should be focusing on!

As the year draws to a close, many platforms and websites, like Gallup polls, have released their annual lists.

Billboard, which is of utmost interest to music fans, is no exception.

On the 6th (China time), they released the year-end rankings of various lists. As expected, Shen Juan's name dominated the list. After being brought back to China, it was used by many self-media marketing accounts, sweeping up traffic on various platforms and attracting the attention and discussion of countless fans and passersby.

Nian Beast: [Billboard Releases 2019 Singles Chart! Will it be the King of Pop in the 21st Century?]

This blogger cut the long image of the annual top 100 into many parts and posted the images of five songs at a time.

1. Blinding Lights by Alex Shen
2. Old Town Road, Lil Nas X Featuring Alex Shen
3. Sunflower, Alex Shen & Post Malone
4. Circles, Alex Shen
5. Mood, Alex Shen & Lil Nas X
6. Without Me, Halsey
7. Levitating, Alex Shen
8. Senorita, Alex Shen & Ariana Grande
9. Bad Guy, Billie Eilish
10. Wow, Post Malone
The top five account for five out of ten, and the top ten account for seven out of ten.

This year, apart from Shen Juan, even the most popular singers like Marlon, Billie Eilish, and Ariana Grande combined cannot compete with Shen Juan alone.

Aside from "Fxxking crazy," "Brother Juan (Master Juan) is awesome," and "My Juan is great," there's nothing more to say.

(Original Timeline's 2019 TOP 10)

In addition, there were "Adore You," "Ghost," and "Intentions" in the 10-20 range; "Watermelon Sugars," "10000 Hours," and "Eastside" (a collaboration released last year) in the 20-30 range; "Holy" and "ME!" in the 40-50 range; "Cruel Summer" (Valentine's Day EP) in the 70-80 range; "Dancing With A Stranger" (a song from the first album) in the 80-90 range; and "Come Around Me" and "Hold On" in the 90-100 range.

In the same year, 19 of their singles entered the annual chart TOP100!

Ten of them are from the Top 20!
All 14 songs by Leviathan made the charts.

To write a new chapter in history!
So without a doubt, "Leviathan" won the album of the year with a landslide victory in the data.

Shen Juan himself was crowned the top earner on both the Billboard annual artist and singer charts for the first time.

(The top ten artists of the year are Shen Juan, Malone, Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, Mozart, Drake, The Cockroach, Ed Sheeran, Lina Chase, and Taylor Swift. The top ten highest-earning singers are Shen Juan, The Rolling Stones, Ariana Grande, Elton John, the Jonas Brothers, Queen, Malone, P!nk, and KISS.)

The people pinned beneath them were all very famous singers.

With these weighty authoritative honors and exaggerated achievements, it is no exaggeration for Alovers to say that Shen Juan has slaughtered the North American music scene this year, completed the initial dominance of the European and American pop music market, and become the "world's number one male" or even the leading pop superstar of our time.

His second English album, "Leviathan," not only broke countless long-standing records that were considered impossible to break, achieving historic sales figures that were difficult to reach even in the download era ten years ago, but also became a benchmark album for pop music after it entered the streaming era!
Meanwhile, the Leviathan Era tour, which officially launched in China in July of this year, has become a phenomenon and a global phenomenon in the countries where it is held, and has achieved a box office of 700 million US dollars. It is also moving toward an unprecedented total box office of one billion US dollars.

Moreover, he is the first public figure in history to be included in both Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world and the 100 most influential people of the next generation. This means that he is not only an opinion representative and pioneering leader of Generation Z, but also one of the most important global figures in this era who symbolize social influence.

Even in terms of income, his earnings as a pure entertainer are unparalleled, leading the Forbes Global Celebrity List.

So no matter what changes may occur in the future, at least this year, there will be no more controversy about who is the world's number one male.

From a purely performance standpoint, Shen Juan has surpassed Mars, The Bonsai, Bieber, Ed Sheeran, and Drake, among others, to become the male singer with the most outstanding commercial achievements and overall abilities in this era.

With endorsements and recognition from numerous well-known music review magazines, authoritative mainstream awards, and big-name singers, "Leviathan" has become one of the greatest albums of the 21st century, leaving a significant mark on the history of popular music.

With such explosive news, fans and casual observers from all over the world naturally jumped in to discuss it.

[Wow! Is this for real?! 19 chart-topping singles in a year?! Sweeping the top five, occupying seven of the top ten! All fourteen songs from his second album charted! Has this turned the Billboard year-end chart into a personal achievement showcase?! Please forgive me for comparing you to Bieber before, Alex, take me with you! The Leviathan era, please never end!]

[Leviathan not only topped the charts by a landslide, but also swept the Artist of the Year and highest-grossing charts, with its tour box office nearing a billion dollars. Is this even humanly possible? Billboard should just establish an "Alex Era" and designate 2019 as the "Alex Year" in pop music history.]

[The extent to which the Western music scene collectively handed microphones to Shen Juan-sama is beyond comprehension! Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, and Marlon Brando all had to wait in line behind him, while Draco Taylor struggled to even crack the top ten. This is not only of extraordinary significance to the entire Asian region, but also a great encouragement to all people of color worldwide!]

[The internet is full of praise for Alex Shen, calling him "the youngest legend." His second album sold over ten million copies in physical sales and over ten billion in streaming sales. Even the Rolling Stones, who have been popular for so long, are now just a backdrop on his money-making charts. He truly has no shortcomings in sales, streaming, tours, awards, or star power—he's the undisputed number one man in the world!]

I think "Leviathan" is the Mona Lisa of 21st-century pop music. Every song is a chart killer, from the retro feel of "Blinding Lights" to the atmospheric aesthetics of "Cruel Summer." Shen Juan has essentially built his own Great Wall within his music!

[Are there no more phenomenal albums in the streaming era? Alex silences all doubters with "Leviathan"! With sales soaring, chart-topping streaming, and all 14 songs making the year-end singles chart, this is what you call a groundbreaking album! Putting aside the filter of time, I even think it's greater than Michael Jackson's "Thriller"!]

From Shanghai to New York, every city on tour has become a must-visit spot. In the US, passersby sing "Blind Light," and in Japan, they hum "Pretender." That's the influence of a world-class pop star! We suggest the UN award Shen Juan a Global Cultural Ambassador medal! The Leviathan Era tour will never end!

[Located in Peru, currently an Aloverian. Even my mom keeps asking after watching the news, "When is that Chinese singer who's won so many first places coming to Peru for a concert?" Alex has evolved from a pop star into a national phenomenon, hasn't he? I suggest he be included in the 21st-century pop music history textbook.]

What the hell is going on this year? Other singers are climbing the year-end charts like they're squeezing onto a subway, but Shen Juan is like he's booked out a VIP theater. The top five seats are all his, he can pick any seat in the top ten, and the remaining seats are reserved for his collaborations. I suggest Billboard Hot 100 should just be renamed Alex Hot 100.

[People used to say that someone was a once-in-a-decade talent, but now I realize Shen Juan is a once-in-a-century talent! His singles topped the charts, he was named Artist of the Year, ranked highest in earnings, had the best album of the year, dominated tour sales, and was recognized by Vogue as a global fashion icon—he's got it all! This is the true Emperor of Pop!]

When the records "Leviathan" broke on Billboard were listed on Wikipedia, we finally realized that we weren't just following a star, but witnessing the rise of a musical dynasty belonging to Alex.

[A Rolling Stone editor just tweeted that "Alex Shen has redefined the dominance of pop music in the entertainment industry," and Ariana Grande retweeted his year-end chart results on Instagram with the caption "The king is here, Alex never stops." Seeing Alex Shen's phenomenal success in the North American music scene is truly something special!]

From facing suppression while working in South Korea to now having the whole world go crazy for him, Shen Juan has truly etched the phrase "defying fate" into his DNA. Seeing Korean fans say "the world's number one male singer deserves it," this old mother of mine couldn't hold back her tears. My love for him will never change!

Michael Jackson was the king of pop, the king of commercialization, and a pioneer in the pop industry. He showed future generations how to become superstars, how to sell high-selling records, how to make great music videos, and how to combine singing and dancing in performances. But in the streaming era, his miracles can no longer be replicated. I always thought so, until Alex Shen appeared. God damn it! From relinquishing exclusive rights to his record label to the Leviathan era tour, which broke records in both cost and ticket prices, I won't compare him to MJ because the era and industry model are completely different. But honestly, he feels like a new-era MJ—both are incredibly talented, both became new industry pioneers and superstar benchmarks. Alex Shen is the music industry!

Today is absolutely a crucial day for Shen Juan and all the Alovers who support and like him.

The release of Billboard's year-end rankings, the world's most authoritative music chart, not only demonstrated Shen Juan's supreme dominance in the global pop music scene this year through the most intuitive and undisputed numerical results, but also completely killed the competition among fans for the title of the world's number one male singer.

This year is also a crucial year for Shen Juan and all the Alovers who support and like him.

Because through his albums, his works, his tours, his attitude, his stage, the words he said to his fans, and everything else, Shen Juan has left an indelible mark on the history of pop music, laying the foundation for further progress in the future.

So, as many fans and casual observers have said, whether Shen Juan becomes the "Michael Jackson of the streaming era" in the 21st century or another "Asian Justin Bieber" who rises rapidly like a rocket and falls at the speed of a meteorite, he has already forged his own path in this era.

Outsiders have no right to interfere with his future choices.

Because every step he takes on the planned path of his life will be a completely new chapter in history.

Because as he moves forward at his own pace, every page he turns will be a beautiful chapter in his life.

　Billboard's year-end charts are very important, as they directly confirm an artist's annual performance and industry standing, which is why I wrote a bit more in the comments.
　　Thank you all for your votes, monthly passes, and subscriptions!

　　Thank you Xiaoqiang for the 500-point reward!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)