HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 390 [390] We, your subjects, are ready to fight to the death! Why has Your Majesty surrendered first!

Qi Yuan rested in Taiwan for one night and flew to Taiwan early the next morning.

The nominees for the Golden Melody Awards were announced in late March.

Chi Yuan received a total of 11 nominations, breaking her personal record for nominations and also setting a new record for the most nominations since the Golden Melody Awards were established.

Such achievements are the envy of all singers in the Taiwanese music scene.

First class on an airplane.

Zhang Hao sighed, "Alpha's Jay Chou only got five nominations, which is a significant drop compared to the previous album 'Fantasy.' Your friend might be on a downward spiral."

Qi Yuan thought it was quite normal; the overall quality of "Octave Space" was really not as good as "Fantasy".

Fantasy has a bunch of great songs such as "Love Before BC", "Can't Open My Mouth", "Sorry", "Sheng Hai 1943", "Quiet", "William's Castle", and the super hit song "Nunchucks".

This album is packed with hit songs; there isn't a single one that's just there to fill space.

"Octave Space" would definitely be a masterpiece for other singers.

Jay Chou released "Fantasy" on her own, and "Octave," as an album that follows "Fantasy," is definitely not quite as good.

The only songs on this album that can be considered hits are "Peninsula Iron Box" and "Back to the Past," while "Code" is far less popular.

Qi Yuan remembers that in her previous life, the judges of the Golden Melody Awards did not award any trophies to "Octave".

Their reasoning was that "Octave" was merely replicating the success of "Fantasy," and that its quality was inferior to "Fantasy," lacking any new innovation.

The notion that he had run out of creative talent also began with this album.

Qi Yuan shook his head and said, "Brother Hao, don't underestimate Jielun. I think if he takes it seriously, he can continue to release good albums."

He knew that Jay Chou's career hadn't declined yet, and that she would release several more amazing albums in the future.

After talking about Jay Chou, Zhang Hao also mentioned F4, who recently became popular in Taiwan because of "Meteor Garden".

"TV dramas really make people successful. Those four people have no acting skills and no singing skills. They are just lucky."

Zhang Hao is an insider in the industry, and he has many channels to obtain information.

After F4 became popular, their company was already collecting songs and preparing to release an album in a few months.

Chai Zhiping personally called Zhang Hao, wanting to spend a lot of money to ask Qi Yuan to help write a song for F4.

After listening to a demo of F4 singing, Zhang Hao, who was their manager, felt confident, as if he could do it too.

Considering that F4 are mostly self-taught singers who haven't formally studied singing and acting, and may have only recently started learning to sing, it's normal that their skill level is quite average.

While listening to Zhang Hao's introduction of the recent situation in the Taiwanese entertainment industry, Qi Yuan closed her eyes to rest.

F4 is really popular this year; becoming popular is truly a mysterious thing.

F4 was an absolute miracle in the Chinese entertainment industry in 2001.

A TV series starring four newcomers with no acting skills broke viewership records in several Southeast Asian countries.

In August, the four members, whose singing skills were mediocre, released their first album, "Meteor Rain." The album was of average quality, with only one catchy pop song, "Meteor Rain," but that didn't stop it from becoming a huge hit, selling 200,000 copies in a week.

F4's various posters, photos, clothing, and other merchandise sold like hotcakes.

In 02-03, F4, who had been in the industry for a year, launched a world tour, which consisted of 19 shows, with an average audience of 3 people per show.

She has also become a spokesperson for major brands such as Pepsi and Head & Shoulders.

These achievements are all genuine.

Honestly, if Qi Yuan hadn't succeeded in the US market and hadn't had the overwhelming advantage of domestic artists, he wouldn't have dared to say that his popularity in 01 could have easily surpassed F4.

However, F4's peak was too short-lived, and they quickly began to decline.

Their examples perfectly illustrate that while good luck can lead to meteoric success, it is also essential to possess real talent to maintain long-term popularity.

……

A few hours later, Yan Chengxu, a member of F4 who was traveling with Chai Zhiping to promote their products in Taiwan, sneezed. For some reason, he had a very bad feeling.

That evening, Yan Chengxu and the other three members learned what had happened: Qi Yuan had come to Taiwan.

From April until now, they have no rivals in Taiwan, and the four of them have dominated all the news headlines.

From the moment Qi Yuan set foot on this land, everything changed.

During this period, they felt that so-called divas, movie stars, and award winners were nothing special, and they could never beat them to the front page.

Qi Yuan's arrival taught them a lesson, showing them just how powerful the pressure of a global superstar can be.

……

The next day.

May 5th was the day of the 5th Taiwan Golden Melody Awards, and the second day after Qi Yuan arrived in Taiwan.

All the main characters in Taiwanese entertainment news have changed to Qi Yuan.

International superstar Qi Yuan arrives in Taiwan, causing a traffic jam at the airport due to hundreds of reporters!

[X Weekly: On the night of his arrival in Taipei, Chi Yuan arranged to play poker at his hotel with Taiwanese TV host Lin Chih-ling, and the superstar apparently lost everything!]

[Eleven Golden Melody Award nominations, breaking all previous records!]

……

A series of reports related to Qi Yuan drove F4 off the pages of entertainment news.

This is the first time since F4 became famous that they have experienced not being able to grab headlines.

They did a big publicity campaign yesterday, but not many media outlets are reporting on them today.

Chai Zhiping shook her head and smiled wryly: "He's a global superstar, how can you compare? With him here, we can forget about grabbing any headlines for a while. Let's go to Hong Kong for publicity."

"Meteor Garden" premiered in Hong Kong yesterday, and the ratings were phenomenal. After touring Hong Kong, he'll be back to record an album; he won't be staying in Taiwan for many more days.

F4 are all young and ambitious people. They became famous overnight, so it's inevitable that they are a bit arrogant.

They were resentful, but having just become famous, they dared not disobey Chai Zhiping.

They vowed that once they arrived in Hong Kong, they would do everything in their power to promote the city.

They can't surpass Qi Yuan in looks, strength, or talent, but when it comes to popularity, the four of them together don't believe they can lose to Qi Yuan.

F4's fans are very combative. Seeing that their idols' limelight was stolen by Qi Yuan, they all went online to attack Qi Yuan.

"Didn't he go to try his luck in the American music scene? Why is he back? Did he not make it in America?"

Many of F4's fans are students, quite young, and speak without restraint.

Their opening remarks immediately drew backlash from Qi Yuan's fans and casual observers.

Not everyone likes melodramatic and ridiculous idol dramas like "Meteor Garden".

Especially those men who have entered the workforce, they've been fed up with this show and F4 lately, and they've been feeling really unhappy for a while now.

They just don't dare to speak out, because if they do, they'll be attacked by F4 fans.

Now that Qi Yuan's fans have started a group attack, they immediately went on the offensive.

"You're trying to make fun of us, huh? When did F4 ever get to compare with Qi Yuan? How many records has he sold in the US? He's already making money off Americans. Let your idols become famous outside of Taiwan first."

Just as F4 fans were preparing to retaliate, a bombshell announcement completely shattered their mental defenses.

Their idol actually ran away, and even carried a plane to Hong Kong overnight.

Fans were heartbroken: 'We were ready to fight to the death, why did Your Majesty surrender first?'

(End of this chapter)