The opening of China Entertainment Group gave Jay Chou a head-on confrontation

Chapter 842 A Blind Monk Flies Over

To be fair, Zhou Yi's words left himself with a big handle.

At least that's what CNN sees.

At this point, no one would doubt Zhou Yi's ability. Although many people hoped to see Zhou Yi defeated, no media dared to say that his sales would plummet.

Moreover, once the pre-sale figures of several major European countries are released, there is no need to lie about the sales volume.

Unless the reputation of Zhou Yi’s new album plummets after its release, leading to a collapse in sales.

"Ok, let's get back to your new album, Spike."

The host Kurt Wilson adjusted his thoughts and brought the topic back when it was about to go off topic: "The first hit song of your new album, "Monster", has the same name as the album and has been sent to major local radio stations for promotion.

“Can you tell us more about this song?”

"A rock song." Zhou Yi answered briefly.

Old Kurt suddenly perked up: "Rock? Are you sure? Do you mean that you are returning to the rock field with this album?"

After graduating from a second major in English, Zhou Yi's exploration of rock music has received recognized positive reviews.

Just when many people thought that he would take advantage of the victory and continue rocking in the third album, Zhou Yi chose to give up and took another new direction -

Although the new technology used in his third album has caused polarized reviews in the world music scene, it is undeniable that autotune technology is now being accepted by more and more singers. No matter how many people oppose it, it is like a trend that has been ignited and cannot be stopped.

It really fits the title of the third special volume of Zhouyi - that is the voice from the future.

But, for someone of Kurt's age, he still likes rock and roll.

It has nothing to do with anything else, it’s just my preference for the rock genre.

Moreover, due to the influence of the times, rock music has always been at the top of the pop music contempt chain.

Although rock music is now popular.

“From my perspective, this album “Monster” can only be regarded as an album with more rock elements, rather than a rock album through and through.”

Zhou Yi smiled very frankly: "There is one thing I must admit, I may not be able to write a rock album like "Forever Young" that has no objections."

"If you can still write "Forever Young", then I think you should be dissected." It can be seen that old Kurt really likes Zhou Yi's past English major, and he smiles when he talks about it.

"However, if I were to choose, I would probably prefer the concept of the album Monster. In fact, in my opinion, although the album Monster is not a rock album, its core concept can be said to be closer to the so-called original rock."

Zhou Yi snapped his fingers twice, his knuckles crackling: "It's more authentic than "Forever Young"."

?

?

?

As soon as these words came out, not only the host Old Kurt, but even the staff on the scene couldn't help but shudder -

More authentic rock?

Wait a moment……

"I think a lot of people have seen the news that I invited David Bowie to this album."

Zhou Yi smiled very "shyly": "David's generation of rock singers is indeed my inspiration for songs, I will not deny that, so there is a song in this album that pays tribute to David's era."

"..."

The David Bowie era?

What? You're going to write the Berlin Trilogy too?

This is not auspicious.

Although David Bowie's Berlin Trilogy elevated his status in the music industry, its commercial performance did not quite live up to his reputation as a rock chameleon.

Old Kurt really wanted to ask this, but considering that he was still at work, he gave up the idea and instead talked about the album's title single, "Monster," which had already been sent to the radio station.

"How should I put it? This is a rock song that I am very satisfied with. It can also be regarded as a response to those media people who have been tirelessly slandering me. After all, they have always called me a monster, right?"

When talking about the almost hysterical coverage by the American media, Zhou Yi's smile was exceptionally innocent.

If we really want to classify the song "Monster", its base is actually more towards gospel rock, which is also related to the fact that Skillet is essentially a gospel rock band.

The melody of the whole song is extremely wild, and the anxious drum beats can release the excitement accumulated in everyone's heart to the maximum extent - coupled with the singer shouting "I am a monster" at the top of his lungs, it gives people a feeling of anxiety and despair.

However, if you listen carefully to all the arrangements, you can clearly feel the progression of emotions struggling towards the sun in despair.

No. 2009 single on the US Billboard chart, No. 40 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, No. on the US online radio's best rock single, No. on the UK Rock and Metal chart -

In terms of performance alone, this song is incompatible with the niche category of gospel rock.

Moreover, unlike ordinary gospel rock, this song does not have any elements such as God, Jesus, church, and prayer. As a result, in the era of mobile Internet, this song has become a special song for editing and burning BGM after it was introduced to China.

On Bilibili, this song was ruined by the empty ear version - this directly led to the empty ear version of "A blind monk flies here" becoming a synonym for this song in China.

In addition to its performance, another reason why Zhou Yi chose "Monster" as his first hit was because of Backstreet Boys.

If he remembered correctly, the new album of Backstreet Boys had actually deviated from the track of Teen Pop. They added a lot of rock elements to the new album that was about to be released.

With two members already married, the Backstreet Boys no longer want to be an idol boy band singing Teen pop songs and selling their looks as they did in the past.

They are eager to gain more honors and hope to complete their transformation with this album.

Teen pop can help them achieve success, but it cannot satisfy their spirit. After the short-lived happiness, all that is left is emptiness.

This is determined by the nature of Teen pop.

Teenagers, night parties, clubs...these are the things they no longer want to sing about that helped them reach the top.

They wanted to sing songs that had substance and meaning.

I wanted to sing about relationships, I wanted to sing about marriage, I wanted to sing about the experience of being a man rather than a boy.

So they chose to add a lot of rock music to the new album. They even abandoned synthetic electronic instruments in this album and chose a lot of real instruments, in order to express their growth as much as possible.

But this is precisely the key to the failure of Backstreet Boys' album.

The global sales of over two million albums would be enough to buy champagne for a whole year for ordinary singers, but for Backstreet, which once dominated the market, this sales volume can only be described as a complete flop.

So much so that Backstreet fans can only use rock and roll and connotation to save their reputation.

Plus, the album sales of more than two million copies can indeed make a lot of money, and Backstreet's reputation gradually improved. After all, there was no rock band that could be compared with it at the same time.

But now it’s different. The lead single “Monster” directly hits the vital point of Backstreet——

They are all rock, but Zhou Yi's is the less popular gospel rock, which is a 360-degree all-round gag without any blind spots.

.............................................

"Spike is totally changing the concept and making the new album more like authentic rock just because it's a new album."

"The rock music of David Bowie's era is dead. That was the golden age of rock music that was born out of the collision of different eras. The political and ideological trends swept the world. How could it be born again now?"

“Is it possible that rock ‘n’ roll has more than just a political definition?”

"It's impossible. If you look at the rock stars of the golden age, which one didn't rely on political attributes to conquer the world?"

"..."

As expected, after the CNN interview was broadcast, it received some expected complaints. Some people believed that Spike was engaging in "false propaganda" purely to gild his new album and used the David Bowie gimmick.

Of course, this is just the crowd that sticks to the bottom line of political rock.

Most viewers can only understand one thing:

Spike is crazy! He claims that his sales in one day can beat those of the Backstreet Boys in six days!
Eminem is getting cocky after winning, right?
When Back Street dominated the sales charts, Eminem was still failing!

"90% of the championship trophy is still there, why doesn't Spike go up to heaven?!"

"No more talking. I'm going to buy the new Backstreet Boys album now to see how salty it is."

"Spike's new album hasn't been released yet, but the advance single has been sent to the radio station. I want to take a look to see what's going on. He's so confident."

"..."

Host Kurt Wilson, who always keeps an eye on the reputation of the new show, smiled with relief when he saw these controversies.

To be honest, as an old rock fan, he also thought that Spike was just bluffing.

It’s not that I think Spike can’t write songs from that era, but I think there’s absolutely no need for him to write songs from that era.

What was the situation back then?
The United States and the Soviet Union, the twin superpowers of human civilization, were spreading their ideas around the world. Various political and ideological trends emerged one after another, and the golden age of rock and roll was born.

What now?
The United States is now undoubtedly the most powerful country on earth, with no challengers. The Gulf War was a wake-up call for the whole world.

Under such circumstances, Spike, who could make a lot of money in the United States, had no need to write rock songs that were directly aimed at the United States.

Even though the United States' current international image has indeed plummeted due to its forceful launching of the Iraq War.

You have to know that he is a foreigner, a Chinese, and comes from a country with a completely different ideology from that of the United States.

Writing this kind of song is extremely sensitive.

Even if Spike wanted to write it, the people at Warner Records would most likely try to dissuade him.

If you really can't stop yourself from writing, just write it in Chinese and sing it in China. Why bother with the fragrant US dollar?

With this in mind, Old Kurt unpacked the Backstreet Boys' new album "Never Gone" that his assistant had bought.

Since Backstreet Boys promoted rock music, he became interested and asked his assistant to buy him the first Backstreet Boys CD in his life.

But after just listening to the first two songs, Old Kurt's brows were already furrowed -

If it’s neither rock nor roll, can it still be called rock?

Not to mention the ideological and connotational aspects, the arrangement alone is not up to standard.

It is not the case that you can call it rock music just because you use a lot of recorded instruments and compose a light rock song. Not to mention lyrical rock, even the definition of pop rock is not that broad.

It still has a Teen pop flavor.

It is obvious that Backstreet Boys' transformation is doomed to fail.

Rock veteran Kurt made a direct professional judgment, and shook his head after listening to all 12 songs in the album -

The more he listened, the more he could hear the crudeness of the production.

This is a work that should not have been released this year.

According to gossip, the record company asked Backstreet Boys to release this album last year, but it was delayed. Maybe this year Backstreet Boys couldn't handle the company's demands?

After putting the CD in place, Kurt turned on the music radio station and was about to order Zhou Yi's new song when he heard the passionate voice of the radio DJ -

"Okay, then the next song is "Monster", the first hit song of Spike's new album. God, I can guarantee that this is definitely the most exciting rock song I have heard this year. I can guarantee you..."

After experiencing the disappointment of Backstreet CD, Old Kurt's expectations for Zhou Yi's new song instinctively dropped. But when the passionate prelude sounded, he couldn't help but shudder -

"The secret side of me, I never let you see"

"I keep it caged but I can't control it"

A very standard rock starter -

For old Kurt, who had just experienced the teen pop rock of the Backstreet Boys, this was like hearing heavenly music!
As Spike's roar progressed, Old Kurt figured out something else - gospel rock?
Spike knows this?
Although it is based on gospel rock, the whole song unexpectedly breaks away from the framework and limitations of gospel rock.

He is simply a genius!
"No, that's not right, this is definitely not the first single from the album!"

After listening to the whole thing, Old Kurt's neck was still savoring the lingering rhythm, moving it constantly, and at the same time, he didn't forget to continue playing the song -

The rhythm of this song is so strong.

At the same time, because of the constant emphasis on "Monster" in the lyrics, Old Kurt subconsciously thought of the title of this album -

"I gotta lose control, Here's something radical
“I must confess that I feel like a monster!”

out of control?

Becoming a violent monster?

Did Spike get angry because of the overwhelming accusations from the media some time ago?
“I, I feel like a monster!

“I, I feel like a monster!

“I, I feel like a monster!”

(End of this chapter)