HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 397 [397] Work Plan for the Second Half of the Year and the First Half of Next Year: Full-Scale Work Intensity
Impossible, absolutely impossible!
Zhou Jielun banished the thought from her mind.

A few days ago, he took his grandmother to an awards ceremony full of confidence, but the judges made him lose badly and didn't even give him a trophy, which made him very embarrassed.

Actually, his grandmother didn't say anything, but he was a person who cared a lot about his reputation, and he felt ashamed.

Upon returning, he was determined to create an album that surpassed "Fantasy" to show the judges and those who said he had lost his touch.

He completed more than half of the songs on this album, and he was very confident in them, believing that each one was of extremely high quality.

This year he is confident that he can go head-to-head with anyone, and he is not afraid of Qi Yuan even if Qi Yuan comes.

Thinking of Qi Yuan, Chou Chieh Lun was quite curious about the quality of Qi Yuan's new album.

A person's energy is limited. Qi Yuan produced an English album at the beginning of the year and is going to release a Chinese album at the end of the year. With such a workload, can the quality of the Chinese album be guaranteed?

Unlike other singers in the industry who panic at the sight of Qi Yuan, Jay Chou hopes that Qi Yuan will release an album every year.

He felt that it was only meaningful to defeat the strongest opponent and win the grand prize.

With Qi Yuan gone, his winning the grand prize doesn't mean much.

……

In the days that followed, Qi Yuan kept recording new songs.

He first recorded "Happy" and handed it over to New Line Cinema.

The director, producer, Jackie Chan, and the person in charge of the music listened to the song together and unanimously agreed to use it as the theme song for the movie.

Hikaru Utada, far away in Japan, suffers another blow.

She complained to her manager, who is also her father, "How could he do this? He can just write a song casually and call it a day? I've been polishing it for so long."

Sometimes, Utada Hikaru is really speechless.

Before Qi Yuan came into her view, she was always considered the most talented musician in Asia, according to all the media.

Ever since Qi Yuan appeared, she felt that she was no longer a genius.

Utada Hikaru's manager comforted her, saying, "He is him, and we are us. He just got ahead of you in entering the American music scene."

He was always overshadowed by you when he was developing his career in Asia. But once you enter the American music scene, you won't be worse than him; you'll only be better.

This isn't just the manager's opinion; everyone in the Japanese music industry thinks this way.

Previously, Qi Yuan could only be considered the second most talented musician in Asia, ranking below Utada Hikaru. If Qi Yuan could succeed, why couldn't Utada Hikaru succeed?

Our Japanese music scene will soon produce someone comparable to Sakamoto Kyu, no, someone who surpasses Sakamoto Kyu.

The American music scene today is much more open than it was in Sakamoto Kyu's time. Utada Hikaru grew up in the United States and understands American pop music better, giving her an advantage over Qi Yuan.

……

Qi Yuan had no idea what Utada Hikaru and the Japanese were thinking.

He was extremely busy recording his new song.

Zhang Yingmou also contacted him and confirmed the start date for "Hero": August 11th in Dunhuang City, Gansu Province.

Qi Yuan has experience in filming action scenes, and Zhang Yingmou knew that Qi Yuan was very busy, so he did not let Qi Yuan participate in martial arts training.

In the future, whenever the crew goes to a new location to film, they will prioritize shooting Qi Yuan's scenes.

Zhang Yingmou himself said that Qi Yuan only needed to give him three months.

Qi Yuan and Zhang Hao discussed and planned out their work arrangements for the second half of the year and into next year.

Before joining the film crew, Qi Yuan needed to finish filming all twelve songs and music videos for her fifth Chinese album. By the time Qi Yuan finished filming, around November or December, all the post-production work for the album would be completed, and the stock would be almost ready, allowing Qi Yuan to seamlessly transition to releasing the new album.

After releasing his Chinese album, Qi Yuan will immediately begin working on his second English album, aiming to complete it around the time of next year's Grammy Awards, or at the latest, within a month after the Grammys.

He's trying to ride the coattails of the Grammys.

He has all the right timing, location, and people; let's see if he gets an award at next year's Grammys.

Having won the award, and with the immense exposure from the Grammy, his second English album is sure to sell like hotcakes.

If the Grammys really go crazy and refuse to perform or even use public relations to refuse to award him, it doesn't matter. It would confirm the Grammys' shady dealings against Asian artists, and his album sales would still explode.

In short, regardless of the Grammys' choice, Qi Yuan's second English album will receive tremendous exposure.

……

May 25th was an incredibly lively day.

On this day, Warner Music spent tens of millions of NT dollars to hold a huge celebration banquet for Qi Yuan, and most of the Chinese music scene came to show their support.

Chou Chieh-lun, who arrived at the scene immediately, was incredibly envious.

Both being heads of record companies, Wu Zhongxian should really learn from Zhou Jianhui.

Look at them, how generous they are! They spent ten million NT dollars on a celebration banquet for Qi Yuan.

Then look at Wu Zhongxian, he's incredibly stingy.

Before Jay Chou debuted, Wu Zhongxian made grand promises, claiming that if Jay Chou's album sold 300,000 copies, he would give Jay Chou a sports car.

Later, Jay Chou's first, second, and third albums all sold very well, with each album selling well over 300,000 copies.

Wu Zhongxian changed his mind and only lent his sports car to Zhou Jielun for a month to enjoy it.

Wu Zhongxian's breach of trust left a small knot in Zhou Jielun's heart.

However, this did not affect Zhou Jielun's trust in Wu Zhongxian. In Zhou Jielun's view, although Wu Zhongxian had lied to him once, it was understandable, as he knew that Wu Zhongxian's current financial situation was not very good.

What truly caused the breakdown in the relationship between Chou Chieh-lun and Wu Chung-hsien was the incident that occurred next year.

"Ah Yuan, you're really awesome. Your English album sells over eight million copies a month."

Zhou Jielun has changed a lot. He's not as naive as he was a year or two ago. His eyes are full of longing when he looks at Qi Yuan.

He envied Qi Yuan's English album for being able to open up the market in Europe and America, and he also envied Qi Yuan's music for being recognized by European and American audiences and media.

Tao Ze and Wang Lihong, who had just arrived, were the same. Both of them had worked in the United States, and they understood better than Jay Chou how difficult it was for Chinese people to make it in the American music scene.

Qi Yuan, despite holding Chinese citizenship, carved out a successful path for himself there; that's truly impressive!
When Tao Wang arrived, he found Zhou Jielun asking Qi Yuan for tips on learning English.

Qi Yuan joked, "Didn't Cheng Long set a good example for you? If you want to learn English, you don't need to ask me for advice. Just learn from your older brother's experience, which is better than anything else."

Tao Ze immediately smiled. He hadn't misjudged Qi Yuan; this kid was indeed a kindred spirit to him.

No wonder Qi Yuan hooked up with a Hollywood newcomer as soon as she went to America; it turns out it was to learn English, right?

Qi Yuan wasn't fooling Zhou Jielun; this really is one of the ways Cheng Long learns foreign languages.

To learn English, Jackie Chan found an American girlfriend to live with, providing him with truly hands-on, mouth-to-mouth, one-on-one instruction.

To learn Korean, Cheng Long found a South Korean girlfriend and had her teach him one-on-one.

Qi Yuandu suspected that Professor Chen Qingquan's method of learning foreign languages ​​was learned from Cheng Long.

(End of this chapter)