Tokyo: My obsession with China led me to become the king of Japanese entertainment.

Chapter 311 A Painful Realization (Seeking Monthly Tickets!)

"Grammys?! You're really aiming for that award?" Hideo Kojima exclaimed in surprise.

Although he's not a musician, he knows exactly what the Grammys mean.

Putting aside everything else, no one in the entire Japanese pop music industry, or even in most of Asia's pop music industry, has ever been able to get a Grammy nomination.

Although since the beginning of the year, when Jun Sakurada's APT became a global sensation and caused a huge stir in Europe and America, some fans have been asking whether such a level of popularity is enough to warrant a Grammy nomination.

But at that time, almost no one really thought that "APT" deserved a Grammy nomination.

After all, the creator himself said that this was just an experiment in communication studies, a catchy song tailored to the communication logic of short video platforms, with no artistic or musical merit whatsoever.

Add to that the inherent disadvantages of Asians, and it seems like an impossible task no matter how you look at it.

As for Jun Sakurada himself, he never mentioned or performed the song "APT" again after that.

Even during the period when "APT" topped the music charts in many countries.

JYP and TWICE are doing a lot of promotion, but due to the pandemic, their promotions haven't reached Japan.

Besides—what's the point of talking to Japanese people about something like the Grammys?

In short, few people in Japan believe that Jun Sakurada really intends to compete for a Grammy with "APT".

Hideo Kojima hadn't considered this possibility until today, when Jun Sakurada himself confirmed it.

"It wasn't me who was impacted, it was JYP. They were very interested in getting Nayeon the first nomination in K-pop history, and I just benefited from it."

Jun Sakurada shrugged: "I originally thought there was no hope, but JYP has more tricks up their sleeves than I imagined."

This wasn't just Jun Sakurada being modest or being a Versailles type; for a long time, he genuinely didn't think he could compete for a Grammy.

It was only after the bet with Monkey Head that he belatedly realized he had oversimplified things.

Unlike the original "APT" which aimed directly for the four major categories and had the ambition to be the best of the year, JYP, without the endorsement of Mars, has set a more pragmatic goal for this year's album: a nomination for the more reliable Best Pop Duo/duo Performance. In Jun Sakurada's view, if APT wanted to get close to the Grammys, they had to break through the ranks of superstars like Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga and snag a nomination.

But it wasn't until JYP gave an explanation that he realized the accounts weren't settled that way, and that JYP wasn't as arrogant as he thought.

Around 2020, the Grammy Awards were already leaning towards racial and cultural diversity, and coincidentally, that year saw the entire...

K-pop is going all in on the Western market, showing a do-or-die attitude as they venture into Europe and America.

Especially after Jun Sakurada revealed the creative formula for the short video pop songs that later flooded K-pop, countless groups followed suit and released similar songs, trying to impact Western audiences through online channels.

Against this backdrop, it can be said that the 2020 Grammys reserved a less prominent, but still mainstream, spot for Asia.

So essentially, APT's competitors were never those Western superstars, but rather a host of K-pop peers.

Among them, the only one that can rival APT is BTS and their Dynamite.

Even at this point, Jun Sakurada still didn't believe that his alliance with TWICE could secure a victory.

After all, anyone who knows even a little about K-pop knows just how outrageous BTS's international success was. It's said that their agency, Big Hit Entertainment (later renamed Hybe), was backed by American capital.

But it wasn't until he studied it carefully in this lifetime that he realized he seemed to have misunderstood some of the cause-and-effect relationships.

It wasn't "because Hybe had American capital backing it up that it created the BTS phenomenon," but rather "because Hybe spared no expense in making BTS a K-pop phenomenon in the US," which attracted American capital investment.

Until BTS went public at the end of 2020, there was hardly any American capital in their asset composition. It wasn't until 21 that American capital began to enter the market in large numbers.

In other words, Jun Sakurada just happened to release a song at a crucial juncture when BTS was looking for their father.

So the question is, will they win?

Lao Shi said, "We will win."

Is Dynamite popular? It's incredibly popular.

The first K-pop song to top the Billboard charts was incredibly impressive in terms of data. On its first day of release, the music video garnered 13 million views, even more impressive than "APT".

But—just like LeBron James' 411 Project, which looks exaggerated from the data, but the actual gameplay reveals something is wrong, BTS's data is also highly inflated, no, it's not just inflated, it's outright fabricated.

By issuing more than a dozen different versions of the business law, they bypassed the purchase restriction mechanism of the B-list selection.

They set up "BTS Chart-Rating Funds" around the world to crowdfund and effortlessly climb to the top of the charts.

In the United States alone, Dynamite's 80,000 paid downloads were achieved by a mere two thousand people, each paying to download it thirty times.

Spotify's viewership figures were even more outrageous, with 13 million views on the first day. Nearly half of those views were ultimately removed from the official statistics due to "suspected inflated numbers."

This is already proven. Even if we take into account those unproven chart manipulation activities, if Dynamite's final overall score is at least one-third of the data, then they are considered to have some morals and bottom line.

An important piece of evidence is the perception of radio audiences, which is virtually impossible to fake.

Top-ranked singles on the Billboard charts typically garner hundreds of millions of radio plays.

Dynamite, on the other hand, barely broke 10 million, not even reaching 12 million, which shows just how exaggerated the inflation was.

Moreover, these ranking manipulation behaviors were not a case of being exposed and punished years later, but rather events that were already exposed and confirmed at the time, and caused huge controversy.

Platforms like Spotify removed millions of BTS streams that were suspected of being inflated or faked every day.

The Billboard charts were forced to change their rules due to BTS's outrageous chart manipulation, but this still couldn't stop K-pop artists from following suit and inflating their numbers.

Without boosting, "Dynamite" might still be one of the best-performing singles in K-pop's globalization process, but it would never have reached the level of debuting at number one.

In contrast, while "APT" was also controversial, even its creator disliked it, and despite being a purely catchy pop song, its phenomenal global popularity and the countless listeners on every street corner are undeniable facts.

JYP may also have some inflation, but it's definitely much more restrained than Hybe, and the ratio can be controlled to within 10%.

Therefore, at this point in time, before Hybe has received full support from Western capital, APT, even without Mars's support, can still gain a certain advantage over Dynamite.

As for the specifics of the game, that's not something Jun Sakurada is concerned with.

In any case, the Grammys are less valuable to him than a Golden Joystick nomination for Best Independent Game; let whoever wants it take it.

"Amazing, amazing! This could be considered a breakthrough for Jpop." Hideo Kojima praised cautiously, unsure if the song could even be considered Jpop.

However, his joy was short-lived; he suddenly sensed something was amiss: "Wait a minute, isn't it great news that you have a chance to be nominated?"

"Why does your teacher seem a little unhappy?"

He pointed to the listless monkey next to him, who was chugging soda like it was beer, causing him to burp incessantly, and looked puzzled.

"It's probably—the feeling of faith collapsing." Jun Sakurada shook his head gently.

"Actually, the teacher is much better now. Once this hurdle is overcome, she should be able to think more positively."

"After all—music isn't like our gaming industry. There are genuinely many people over there who consider Europe and America to be sacred places."

Jun Sakurada didn't say much, but with just one sentence, he made Hideo Kojima understand what the monkey was worried about.

As one of the industries with the most frequent exchanges with Europe and America, gaming has always been one of Japan's strongest strengths.

Unlike Japanese music, which is "second only to the United States, but don't ask how much worse," Japanese games are truly at the top of the world. No other country can claim that its games completely surpass all Japanese companies.

Therefore, Japanese game industry professionals are far from being subservient to Europe and America. They may admire a specific European or American game developer or IP, but they would never worship Europe and America as an abstract whole, thinking that they are a level above themselves.

However, this may not be the case for other industries.

Hideo Kojima wasn't particularly interested in neon rock, but he wasn't completely ignorant of it either.

He knew that Taka and ONEOKROCK were among the most successful Japanese bands to break into the US, and that they had been working on this path for almost ten years.

Having already made it to the US, it would be a lie to say he doesn't want a Grammy.

Over time, dreams and obsessions intertwine, naturally forming a filter.

But what exactly is the Grammy that Jun Sakurada is talking about?

There's capital maneuvering, data fabrication, communication strategy, ranking techniques, and quota allocation under strict political considerations —

It simply lacks music and art itself.

Of course, not all Grammy awards or all their content is so disgusting; there is an artistic aspect and a pursuit of excellence.

However, since Jun Sakurada's Grammy channel was K-pop, which is the group of people who take the most shortcuts, care the least about the music itself, and are the most opportunistic, what he could share with his teacher, Monkey Head, was naturally the least respectable part of the Grammys.

Being bombarded with such information and having your perceptions shattered is undoubtedly incredibly painful.

"I'm actually fine."

"Xiaorun, you've talked to me about these things quite a bit these past few months, and I've pretty much digested them all."

"But today is the day of the final decision, so my feelings are a bit complicated. And I didn't even drink, did I?"

A hoarse voice sounded, and Monkey Head downed another bottle of Sprite, then stood up unsteadily, looking as if he really was drunk.

Jun Sakurada used the Grammys to provoke Taka because he hoped Taka would come to his senses and stop obsessing over beauty, not to break him down and destroy his dreams.

Therefore, he definitely wouldn't hold back, but rather gradually share JYP's strategy and progress in their pursuit of the Grammys with his teacher, allowing him to gradually accept it.

That's why it's no longer important for Jun Sakurada whether or not he gets a Grammy nomination.

After all—whether it's the catchy pop song "APT" or the big hit "Dynamite," whoever gets it will have a significant impact on Monkey Head.

Even in Sakurada Jun's previous life, without Sakurada Jun as his disciple to challenge him, the single "Dynamite" still had a significant impact on Monkey Head.

Monkey Head, who hadn't touched his idol career since leaving Johnny's, not only led his teammates to perform a cover of Dynamite with his long-dormant dance skills, but also changed the title of his next album to "Luxury Disease," which is consistent with his debut album, and started to move back towards rock.

With Sakurada Jun constantly stimulating him in this life, the monkey's cognitive abilities will only improve even faster.

So the monkey's mind can indeed be considered calm now, but—boiling a frog in lukewarm water is also a painful process.

"You didn't drink because I wasn't prepared; otherwise, who knows how much you could drink?"

Sakurada Jun quickly hid the prepared ice cream, fearing that he would have to sing "Mori Takahiro-sensei, I still remember you" in a couple of days.

The monkey smiled and didn't refute, but simply walked up to Hideo Kojima: "Mr. Kojima? I've heard so much about you, please excuse my humble appearance."

Hideo Kojima shook hands with him, glanced at the monkey head, and smiled slightly: "It seems that Mori-kun has figured things out."

Compared to Hideo Kojima, who is almost 60, the monkey, who is 25 years younger than him, can only be considered a younger brother.

Compared to Jun Sakurada, who was blinded by his own involvement, Hideo Kojima immediately noticed the look of relief in Takahiro Moriuchi's eyes.

He knew that this man had basically moved on, and his current drunken spree was less a sign of confusion and more a farewell.

He said goodbye to some things he was determined to give up.

"Yeah, after going around in circles, I realized that I was the one who was wrong." Taka laughed self-deprecatingly.

"If I insist on using my own music and my own understanding of rock to try and win a Grammy, then Xiao Run definitely won't stop me much."

"But I didn't. I gave up Japanese, gave up J-Rock, and even considered giving up rock music altogether, all to cater to the American market and to sell better there."

"But how laughable are my so-called pandering compared to Xiaorun's approach, which has thoroughly studied the rules of the European and American markets, the streaming short video market, and even the Grammy Award standards?"

"Even if I could win a Grammy with music like this, what would be the point?"

Did the monkey not understand these principles a year ago? Actually, not entirely.

But he has already chosen this path, and turning back would come at too high a price, be too difficult, and be too painful to bear. He must convince himself that he is on the right track.

It wasn't until Jun Sakurada, in a way that could be described as dragging him back to face reality, that he had no choice but to muster the courage to confront it.

But when you actually make up your mind, it doesn't seem to be that painful.

"Xiao Run, get us some beer, ice cold."

"—Can I say I wasn't prepared today?"

"I've already told you, I've thought it through!"

"----knew."

Second update, meow! I'll try to finish the third update before 11:30 PM, meow! So, it's the last day, please give me some monthly tickets, meow! Thanks for the monthly tickets, meow!

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