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

Chapter 911 Others' Concert, His Press Conference
"Oh no!"

"Unbelievable, this is simply a miracle!"

"I hereby declare that Coca-Cola will forever be dishwater! Pepsi is the true god among gods!"

"Bullshit! Pepsi is forever toilet cleaner! Coca-Cola is forever the god!"

Unsurprisingly, the Coca-Cola and Pepsi fans, these two long-time rivals, are at it again. However, compared to the past, the Coca-Cola fans now clearly have the upper hand—

Is your Pepsi Star Strategy effective?

What's the point?
Even if they were all bundled together, they wouldn't be enough for Zhou Yi to fight alone!

Even if he were to move up to the level of top endorsers, Michael Jackson's reputation would have been ruined by now, and he would have been terminated from his contract long ago.

And the Book of Changes? It's at its zenith!
Coca-Cola's gamble: A tragedy for the American beverage giant.

Beware of Malicious Competition: Coca-Cola is Breaking Industry Rules!

The Legendary Effect: Coca-Cola's Stock Price Rises Immediately!

A Breakthrough in Global Beverage History: Spike's Story

Pepsi's dream shattered, Coca-Cola emerges as the biggest winner!

"..."

As the only lifetime endorsement contract in the history of the global beverage industry, Coca-Cola's official announcement can be described as an indiscriminate blow to all entertainment figures across continents including America, Europe, and Asia.

They had never seen a fast-moving consumer goods brand reach the level of a lifetime endorsement before, especially since Coca-Cola is not a Chinese company and therefore does not have the so-called local advantage.

Perhaps if Michael Jackson hadn't had that accident, he might have had a chance to win a lifetime contract with Pepsi, but the reality is there are no "what ifs".

"I have to say this is absolutely insane, but—who cares, to hell with civilization, Coca-Cola is number one!"

"Since it's a lifetime contract, Coca-Cola, please design a separate package for Spike. Thank you."

"I don't understand what Pepsi is doing!"

"The Book of Changes is awesome!"

"A lifetime endorsement? That's amazing! They can make money for a lifetime!"

"Is he the first celebrity in China to get a lifetime endorsement?"

Domestic fans of the I Ching celebrated with great fanfare, while anti-fans made sarcastic and cynical remarks, and many bystanders shared in the shock.

After all, this is the first Chinese celebrity to officially and publicly win a lifetime endorsement contract with a major international brand, a unique achievement in the industry.

Of course, the haters were still not convinced.

In an attempt to undermine the uniqueness of the I Ching, they even brought in Cheng Long, whom they originally disliked—

"Chenglong is the first celebrity in China to have a lifetime endorsement! What a bunch of idiots!"

"Did you guys eat Chenglong's lifetime endorsement deal with Mitsubishi Motors? You brain-dead fans of Zhou Yi!"

Thanks to Chenglong's fame, his "lifetime endorsement of Mitsubishi" still has a considerable audience in China, which immediately diminishes the only valuable aspect of the I Ching.

The Zhouyi fans, who were feeling proud, couldn't stand this, but initially didn't know how to respond, until two days later—

Full of energy and initiative, they uncovered the truth and immediately transformed into science gurus, showering their idol with praise from every angle. To emphasize this precious uniqueness, they even took a jab at Cheng Long—

"Chenglong's so-called lifetime endorsement of Mitsubishi Motors is actually a complete fabrication. Mitsubishi Motors has never officially announced that it has signed a lifetime contract with Chenglong. They have just been cooperating for a long time. It's all just rumors."

"Moreover, Chenglong's cooperation with Mitsubishi Motors is mainly focused on film sponsorship. Mitsubishi only provides vehicle sponsorship for his many films and has not formed a formal contract of lifelong endorsement."

Therefore, the claim that Cheng Long was a lifelong Mitsubishi ambassador was actually an exaggerated statement by Hong Kong media at the time.

"Cheng Long has driven Mitsubishi cars in public on multiple occasions, but this association is more of a personal preference than a commercial endorsement, and there is no direct economic ties between the two parties due to the endorsement..."

Thanks to the era of print media, newspaper archives were often preserved. Fans who were fiercely dedicated to the I Ching even went so far as to expose Chenglong's lifelong Mitsubishi background, creating a PowerPoint presentation and stamping a bright red "fake" seal on the so-called Mitsubishi Chenglong news newspaper.

Justified and convincing.

The idols you have will influence the fans you have; they all love to create PowerPoint presentations and lists.

While celebrities in the entertainment industry were privately utterly astonished, they maintained composure on the surface, unlike in fan wars where they took a clear stand. When asked about the matter, they merely offered their congratulations from a neutral perspective.

Zhou Yi has secured a lifetime contract with Coca-Cola, but they haven't yet.

After all, the spokespeople for the two cola companies often change. Sometimes you might be on Pepsi's contract one day and Coca-Cola's the next. This is a common occurrence in the entertainment industry.

Meanwhile, PepsiCo executives, who had been eager to sign Zhou Yi, could only sigh during a meeting, until a clever little devil—

"Could we sign celebrities who have good relationships with Spike? Like Sun Yanzi from the Asia-Pacific region, or Scarlett Johansson from Europe and America. They have good relationships with Spike, so they can get more exposure from him and we can market them as a counter-reaction to Spike..."

If you can't beat them, can't you at least try to take advantage of them?

There's no rule that says freeloading is a crime, right?

If you're so capable, Coca-Cola should sign them all!

what?
You're saying Sun Yanzi has a Sprite endorsement?
No problem, I'll give you double the price with Pepsi!
Double!
"real or fake?"

"Of course it's true, I'm not lying to you. Sister Shan told me that Pepsi did indeed contact us..."

On the other end of the phone, Sun Yanzi, who never expected that she could still reap such benefits in 2006, laughed out loud: "My previous contract renewal with Sprite was 800 million RMB for four years, and they directly doubled it."

"What did Sprite say?" Zhou Yi also started to join in the gossip.

"They matched my offer, what else could I say? They even promised to increase the channels and funding for my promotional efforts in Europe and America this year. Honestly, I really don't want to switch jobs; Pepsi has too many advertising campaigns..."

Sun Yanzi, who plans to first gain exposure in Europe and America with her English cover album "Start Collection," and then release her first solo English EP "Stefanie Song," seems to be leaning more towards Sprite, her long-time collaborator.

The main reason is that Pepsi benefits from its star-studded strategy, resulting in a very dispersed advertising resource across Europe, America, and Asia. Unless you're a top-tier global brand, the promotion you receive will inevitably be less than Coca-Cola, which has relatively fewer celebrity endorsements.

Especially at a time when she was about to venture into Europe and America.

Sprite's willingness to increase its advertising resources is undoubtedly most beneficial to her.

Most importantly, being under the same Coca-Cola umbrella will be more advantageous for her in the US market, making it easier to conduct various collaborations.

When will your first English cover album be released?

"The release date in Europe and America is after the Golden Melody Awards ceremony."

The 17th Taiwan Golden Melody Awards ceremony was held on the evening of June 10, 2006. As the last Golden Melody Awards ceremony of the year, Sun Yanzi naturally did not miss it.

Not only her, but according to current rumors, Hsiao Ya-hsuan, who has been in the industry for many years, has finally submitted her application for the Golden Melody Awards after Yao Chien withdrew from the judging panel. Her album last year, which included the three musical personas of "Dancing Diva," "The Great Artist," and "Play," was extremely successful in both market response and critical acclaim.

However, she became a strong contender for the Golden Melody Award for Best Female Vocalist on her very first selection.

"Jaylen is also eager to snatch one of your trophies this year..."

Even before the Golden Melody Awards nominations are announced, Jay Chou still has high expectations for this year's awards, given the excellent market performance of his album "Beethoven in November" last year. Although the album's song "Surrounded by Enemies" was once shrouded in plagiarism allegations, Zhou Yi managed to deflect the question by referring to it as "popular science sampling."

"Then please wish him good luck for me."

I wonder if Jay Chou will be disappointed when he actually sees the list, and then write that long-overdue, insulting version of "Grandma".

The 17th Golden Melody Awards marked the beginning of Jay Chou's complete falling out with the awards. In his memory, not only did Jay Chou himself receive no nominations this year, but only Fang Wenshan, the lyricist of "Hair Like Snow," and Hong Jingyao, the arranger of "Blue Storm," received nominations for his entire album.

It was arguably the most disastrous performance of his career.

It was after this year's awards that Jay Chou preferred attending mainland film festivals, which had nothing to do with him, to the Golden Melody Awards, and publicly stated in an interview that "the Golden Melody Awards is just a game."

But now he's already snatched up "Hair Like Snow," and he's also handed over the improved version of "Fearless" from "Blue Storm" to Li Lianjie for the promotion of the movie "Fearless"...

I wonder how many nominations he'll get this time.

Zhou Yi, who had drifted off to sleep lost in thought, was awakened by Qian Jiang early the next morning and took a car to participate in the rehearsal for Shakira's concert.

Of course, it is strictly confidential.

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

"Strict secrecy my ass! Who doesn't know Spike will be at Shakira's concert? All the major newspapers have been reporting on it for so long, and neither Warner, Sony, nor either of the artists themselves have come forward to deny it. It's a done deal!"

March 12, 2006, was Arbor Day, a Sunday in the United States.

Staples Center.

This famous Los Angeles venue, which witnessed Zhou Yi's Grammy sweep just over a month ago, has once again become a sea of ​​music tonight, as Shakira's "Oral Fixation Tour" world tour will run for four consecutive days.

"Spike hasn't shown up for the first three days! I seriously suspect this is just a tactic by Sony to ride the wave and sell tickets!"

While Shaki was being pulled away to change, Kevin Collins, seeing the DJ coming up to set the stage, pointed at the flashing stage lights and protested his friend's assertive statement—

He is not a Shakira fan.

Although Shakira is a Latin American superstar, he is a native American who doesn't particularly like Latin American songs.

I bought the ticket solely because of Spike.

Spike was a guiding light for him!

Although his ancestors used cotton-growing tools and whips, Kevin Collins is now a staunchly progressive contemporary college student.

I bought tickets for four days in a row because I didn't know if Spike would actually appear, but I didn't see a single hair on Spike's body for the first three days.

Although Shakira invited other American music guests, and her energetic singing and dancing performance was quite impactful and worth the ticket price, Kevin was still disappointed.

After all, I didn't get to see what I wanted to see most.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it. Spike doesn't hold many concerts himself, so he can only sell blind boxes. You can only blame him for being too lazy."

"No, no, no, Spike isn't lazy at all. He releases two albums every year. It's a miracle he's maintained that intensity for so many years. We can understand why he doesn't hold as many concerts..."

Despite the online criticism, Kevin still defended his friend against taking the opportunity to belittle his idol.

It wasn't until Shakira, dressed in revealing clothing and barefoot, returned to the stage to perform a high-energy song and dance number that Kevin, enjoying the visual feast, gradually suppressed his resentment and began to fully immerse himself in the live performance.

The only thing that surprised him was that, unlike the previous three days, Shakira did not invite any guest performers to the stage until the very last part of her concert tonight, which seemed to indicate that she planned to sing and dance the entire show by herself.

"call……"

On stage, Shakira, who had just finished performing a belly dance, was drenched in sweat. After gulping down several mouthfuls of water, she gradually calmed her disordered breathing: "Okay, next, I'd like to introduce tonight's guests."

"Or rather, a legend."

???

—?!

Upon hearing this introduction, everyone in the room felt their hearts race involuntarily.

Could it be that? !

Before they could even react, the scene suddenly transformed into a nightclub vibe—

The intro to Zhou Yi's first Billboard chart-topping single, "Yeah," resonated clearly throughout the entire venue!
"???"

"Fuck! Spike! It really is Spike?!!"

"Spike!!!"

The commotion at the scene was clearly visible. Shakira raised her hand and shouted, "Ladies and gentlemen, let's give a warm round of applause to welcome—Phoenix Spike!"

As one of the most suitable songs for everyone to dance to together, Zhou Yi, who danced from a high place on the stage to the beat of "Yeah," even started a dance battle with Shakira from a distance.

The smoothness of his dance moves reminded everyone that this man, now a rock icon, was once known for his dancing in his debut album.

Whether it's "Baby" or "Yeah".

The world is full of wonders, that's all I can say.

When the song ended, Shakira, who seemed to still be enjoying the dance battle, even invited him to dance to "Baby" again.

"What? "Baby"? nonono."

Zhou Yi shook his head vigorously, his tone filled with undisguised disdain: "I'm already 25 years old this year. Do you know what 25 means? I'm no longer the age I was when I was dancing to 'Baby'."

"Really? Is 25 years old a big age?" Shakira burst out laughing and even imitated the dance moves Zhou Yi and his female partner Fan Bingbing made in the "Baby" music video.

Zhou Yi rubbed his forehead, pretending not to see it: "Come on, I was only 20 years old when I sang 'Baby' back then, and now I'm almost 26."

Some songs, when sung after a certain age, can make you feel awkward inside.

But the audience didn't care about any of that—

On the contrary, when they saw the awkward yet polite smile on Zhou Yi's face after what appeared to be the end of his skit performance, they were even more eager to see Zhou Yi now singing and dancing to the song "Baby" from back then.

In particular, the I Ching has now been elevated to legendary status.

The change in their status made them even more eager to try.

"You sing songs that suit your age. I probably can't go back to the feeling I had when I sang 'Baby' when I was 20."

“For example, these days I’m writing songs for my new album. I want to summarize my past life as I turn 25, but I find that I can no longer write the same feelings I had when I sang ‘Baby’ at the age of 20…”

? ? ? ?
! ! ! !
What the hell?
New album?
Is this a new album? Did I hear that right?
Down in the audience, Kevin, who had been clamoring for Zhou Yi to sing "Baby," suddenly widened his eyes—and it wasn't just the fans who had the same expression; Shakira on stage did too.

"Wait, wait, Spike, you mean you're already writing a new album? In English?"

Shakira transformed into a presenter at that moment: "Could you elaborate?"

"Well, how should I put it..."

Zhou Yi, unusually, scratched his head in public, revealing an embarrassed expression as if he had let something slip: "Due to the company's requirement for confidentiality, I can only say that the new album '25' will be the album with the most songs to date."

"More songs than your two most recent Chinese albums?" Shakira asked, her eyes darting around, determined to get to the bottom of it.

Yes, 16 songs.

Zhou Yi paused, then grinned, "Shouldn't this be something I can say?"

(End of this chapter)