A grand feast for the Chinese entertainment industry

Chapter 165 Divine Specialization!

American Republic, Los Angeles street scene.

An ordinary, unremarkable audio-visual product store.

Suddenly, a young man arrived at the store entrance on a skateboard. With a practiced push of his toes, the skateboard obediently lifted up. He picked it up and went into the store. "Yo, Man, there's a song called 'Baby' by '21.' Do you have it?"

The shop assistant was a large, overweight man in his early twenties. Upon hearing this, he looked up, thought for a moment, and shook his head, "NO!"

The young man was about to leave with his scooter when a middle-aged man's voice suddenly came from inside the store, "Hey! John, check the goods that arrived yesterday. Don't just sit in the counter all day, organize the goods! Organize the goods! I remember there was an album in yesterday's batch that was related to numbers!"

The young man stopped upon hearing this. The shop assistant, who was chewing gum, shrugged and walked towards a large, neatly bundled pile of new goods that was still stacked in a corner of the store. Just as he picked up the utility knife, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a stack of more than a dozen CDs lying in an empty cardboard box next to him. The people on the covers were dressed strangely, but they looked pretty cool.

At this moment, he vaguely remembered that when the goods were delivered, the deliveryman seemed to have said that this album was about a new artist that Columbia was going to promote, so he sent ten extra boxes in addition to the standard box. At the time, neither the boss nor he seemed to have paid any attention to it.

"YO! 21! Yes, that's it! Hey, Man, Kamoo!"

The young man took it and immediately beamed with joy, "This is it! Thank you!"

So he paid, and the fat man glanced at the package, raising an eyebrow slightly. "Newcomer price 19.99? Wow!"

But the young man who took out his money did not hesitate. He pulled out twenty dollars and handed it over. The clerk took the money, opened the cash register, found a dollar, and casually took out a lollipop and handed it over as well.

The neighborhood store is full of regular customers. They offer a 5% discount on new discs, and that's how they give change.

After the young man left, the fat man walked back to the boxes of newly arrived goods. Although many of these were destined to be removed from the shelves within a month at most, and returned to the distribution company within two months at the latest, at least for now, they were his work.

Just as I finished sorting out one package, two more young girls came into the store. Wow, they were very pretty. They were also there to buy the album "21". We chatted for a bit and they also listened to a song called "Baby".

It's said that this song is quite good, and the singer's dance in the music video is very cool.

After finishing the checkout, I went back to organize the items. The next package was full of "21". So the fat guy loudly asked the shopkeeper if he wanted to open one of the discs to listen to. This was a routine thing, and the shopkeeper had no objection.

So he opened a box, stopped the CD player, and put the new disc in. But just a few seconds after the first song started playing, he stopped abruptly from tidying up the new stock.

Wow, what a great intro!

"Turn it up!"

Turn the volume up!
"Wow! Wow! Wow! Boss, I think this kid is going to be famous!"

The shop owner emerged from deep within the shelves, beaming with excitement. "Yay! Rock? No, not rock, pop rock! What a fantastic melody!"

There were no new customers, and the two stood there looking at each other, listening to the song until it ended.

The boss snapped his fingers, "Get it on the shelves! Put it in the first row!"

But just then, the second song started, and the two of them were suddenly frozen in place again. "Yo, this is awesome too! I can just imagine if I brought this CD to a party, wow, they'd go crazy!"

The boss immediately scolded, "Shut up! Listen!"

"Yeah! Yeah!"

"T-got-so-caught-up-I-forgot-she-told-me!"

"Yeah! Yeah!"

"Her-and-my-girl-they-used-to-be-the-best-of-homies!"

"Yeah! Yeah!"

"..."

And just like that, another song passed by.

The shopkeeper shrugged, "This kid, Mazefak, is going to be a hit! Put him on the shelves! Put him on the shelves!"

But soon, the third song started again, and the two of them were suddenly under the control again. The beginning was okay, with very soothing music, but then a hardcore rap full of narrative or accusation began. To be more precise, the feeling they got from listening to this album so far was that this newcomer seemed to have integrated multiple styles into every song. This song, for example, is rap, but it also incorporates Hip-Hop, and at the same time, it feels like it has a bit of rock, or rap rock?

Every single one of them is absolutely awesome!
The two of them subconsciously shook their heads to the fantastic drumbeats, and as the lyrics were poured out by the newcomer with an indescribable power, they both subconsciously frowned with anger.

"Fuck! This kid is a fucking genius! Fuck!"

"I swear, I've never heard such cool rap before! Fuck! Maze—fuck!"

But at that moment, the fourth song started again, this time by Mazefak.

Wow, soul music, and it seems to blend rock and R&B...

I picked up the CD case and glanced at it; it was called "Lose-Control".

Mazefak!

How could there be such a genius as Mazefak in this world!

…………

This is not an isolated case.

New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver...

Starting in the afternoon of April 15th, many television stations and networks in America and Canada broadcast the music video for "Baby," and numerous radio stations, large and small, also promoted the new song, generally praising it lavishly. They paid for it.

Everyone's praising the new song!

But how they praised it is not important. The key point is that the catchy melody of the song "Baby", the unique and youthful lyrics, and the unique and cool dance in the music video immediately attracted the attention of a large number of teenagers. The next day, boys and girls with spare change rushed to the music stores near their homes to find the song or the album.

One, two, three, many.

Many copies were sold in just one morning. No matter who was the owner, they would subconsciously realize that this disc was on the rise. Obviously, opening a box and playing it on a loop in the store would attract potential customers.

However, once a CD is opened and put into a CD player, it's like opening Pandora's box. The owners, managers, and employees of record stores who work by listening to all sorts of songs every day are the first to be captivated by this album.

It's hard to say what other customers are like, but a group of professional CD sellers who listen to music every day until they're sick of it, almost all of them bought a CD by the time they left work.

That very night, at countless parties across America, this album immediately captivated the crowds – a bunch of music-loving, dance-loving Americans went absolutely crazy!
Almost every song on the album is good!

This is something Mazefak has never heard of before!

In the global music scene of Europe and America, singers and songs have always been known for their extensive exchange and integration. Many singers rack their brains to explore more genres and try to mix more novel styles and melodies into a single work in order to create their own diversity and uniqueness to attract fans. As a result, many famous artists in the European and American music scene are very good at mixing and matching various styles.

Most notably, Michael Jackson loved to mix pop, rock, and R&B, creating many incredibly awesome and wildly popular works that gradually cemented his status as the King of Pop!

Even he, his knowledge is definitely not that comprehensive!
Even he, his mashup is no better than this album!
Pop, rock, rap, hip-hop, R&B, electronic music, soul, punk, funk...

Basically, this album plays with everything that the Western music scene likes and that someone has made a name for themselves with. And each one is played with masterful skill. The various styles are mixed together in a natural and wonderful way. The rhythm, melody, arrangement, instruments, and vocals are all refreshing and captivating. Before you know it, you're amazed by the artistry!
Well, in fact, this album started to get out of control on the second day after its release!

On the first two days, many young people came because of the music videos broadcast on TV or the new songs promoted on the radio. And the song "Baby" was indeed very effective in capturing the teenage fan base. However, the album's rapid sales in the following days quickly deviated from the pull of just one song, "Baby"—the market is always incredibly perceptive and never very obedient!

Music radio stations that frequently interact with fans are the most sensitive to this. By this time, no one is bribing people anymore. Many broadcasters are simply doing it for themselves, for the program, or simply for a reputation for "foresight" and to please their listeners. Suddenly, they start heavily promoting the new album "21," which has only been on the market for a few days!

Some livestreamers have even started praising the philosophical, historical, and new trends reflected in the young man's "top-notch outfit" on the album cover!
Just five days later, a rumor spread like wildfire across cities—there were shops in Chinatown selling those military green hats with a five-pointed star on them!

As a result, it sold out in one day.

As a global music mecca, America's sales chain, from record companies, distribution companies, radio stations, record stores, and fan groups to peripheral products, is incredibly fast!
A truly outstanding album can become popular in just a few days!
In just a few days, "Baby," the lead single, has soared to the top of the Billboard charts, and many other works have also risen to the top without any promotion or charting!
When Billboard released its singles chart that week, "Baby," a new song by a new artist, was surprisingly ranked sixth. Even more astonishingly, among the top 100 hit singles, the album "21" had as many as seven songs that charted overnight. As soon as the Billboard TOP100 was released at 8 p.m. on Friday, it immediately caused a sensation on major music radio stations across the United States: A new king has arrived!
Countless radio hosts have even predicted that "Baby" will definitely be the number one single next week!

However, other hosts immediately disagreed: While "Baby" is a great teen pop song, it's not quite good enough to be a number one single. On the contrary, many songs on the album "21" are just waiting to be released. Once they are released, at least three of them will be number one singles!

And so they started arguing.

Of course, the argument was just about which song was better.

Whenever the topic returns to the entire album "21", everyone's evaluation is completely unanimous: This is a masterpiece!
…………

While the "21" craze was sweeping across America, North America, and even Europe and Latin America almost simultaneously, and even in Japan, where many professional music critics and radio stations specializing in English songs were raving about the album, the response in Hong Kong and Taiwan was relatively muted.

The media also hyped it up, as did professional music critics and musicians. Some people scoffed at it, but many others praised it.

He boasted in his writings, on radio appearances, and on television programs.

But it didn't seem to work, and fans weren't very interested.

A random street survey revealed that 59% of respondents (754 people) admitted to being fans of Lin Chien-lu and had purchased "Cold to the End." However, those interested in Lin Chien-lu's first all-English album, "21," immediately dropped to only 184 people. As for those willing to buy it or who had already bought it, well, only 44 people remained.

It's such a magical ratio.

At that moment, Lin Jianlu, carrying a small bag, quietly landed at the airport and got into Liang Yongqi's BMW, who had come to pick her up in high spirits, and drove straight to the hotel.

After a short rest, I had dinner with Brigitte Lin and Leung Wing-ki in the evening—well, you could call it a small family of three.

I went to see the house the next day.

Whether it was North America, Europe, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, or Taiwan, he didn't ask a single question about how the album performed upon release or how fast it shipped, showing no concern whatsoever.

Ge Fuhong had compiled and prepared a lot of market feedback from various places, intending to talk about it on the way to look at houses, but when she saw Lin Jianlu's demeanor, she was inexplicably shocked and speechless—she had never seen an artist like this before!
In her opinion, Lin Jianlu is such a smart person, he definitely isn't truly indifferent! But it's also quite obvious that he's so confident in his work that he can simply not care!
So without saying anything, I accompanied him to look at houses.

A total of six houses have been prepared, all in good locations and large houses.

Ge Fuhong had visited Lin Jianlu's large house in Taipei and knew what kind of house he liked.

Every building she chose perfectly matched Lin Jianlu's aesthetic.

Finally, we settled on a detached villa on the hillside, which occupies less than three acres. It's not small, but because it's on a hillside and the house is built into the hill, although there are many private gardens around the house, they are not regular in shape and feel a bit small—but it's still expensive!

The house has a floor area of ​​just over 600 square meters. The original owner's decoration was decent, and while they spent a lot of money on materials, their aesthetic taste was a bit questionable. They added some decorative items, tables, chairs, and paintings to offset the lack of taste, which made it barely acceptable.
The appeal of buying a second-hand house is that it's already renovated, saving time; you can move in right away after a little tidying up!

The asking price is HK$1.45 million, which is roughly HK$24 per square meter.

Compared to the market price of ordinary apartments, this is roughly four to six times the price. This is considered a normal price range for a detached villa—even somewhat low, considering it's a hillside villa area, a well-known luxury residential area in Hong Kong. However, given the imminent handover and the special circumstances, there's still considerable room for negotiation on this price.

Once they found a buyer, the negotiation was left to Ge Fuhong and the real estate agent. That evening, the price was agreed upon, and the deal was completed for HK$1.18 million. In terms of time, it was the evening of April 18th, Hong Kong time, which was the morning of April 18th, Eastern Time in New York. Over the past two nights, "21" had already appeared at countless parties for young people in America and Canada, and since yesterday, audio-visual stores and supermarket counters around the world have experienced a sudden and explosive increase in sales!

Countless music radio hosts, critics, and professional musicians in America, Canada, and Europe were already excitedly shouting the words "divine album," while the Hong Kong entertainment newspapers that evening ran the headline: "New Album Disappointment is Commonplace, Laughing and Buying a Big House with Two Beauties!"

***
Another 11,000!

Brothers, I really tried my best! Please vote for me with monthly tickets!

(End of this chapter)