A grand feast for the Chinese entertainment industry

Chapter 40 Favor

Lin Chien-lu's main purpose in coming to Taiwan was, of course, to participate in a series of events organized by Rock Records for "Cold to the End." But since he was already there, he decided to stay a few more days and take the opportunity to produce the remix version needed for the so-called "10 Million Celebration Edition."

Old Li suggested making two songs, "Cold to the End" and "Xiao Xiang Rain," and that we could try making both, compare them, and choose the one that felt better to include—that's how everyone does it.

There's no technical difficulty involved; it's purely a gimmick to sell at a high price.

Then let's do it. Rolling Stones has top-notch mixing engineers.

But in his opinion, this approach is actually quite shameful—if you're going to offer more for the same price, you really have to offer more! What's the point of just giving us a remix?

It's basically a scam to rip off those die-hard fans.

At lunchtime at the company, while everyone was eating takeout together, Lin Jianlu seemed rather quiet. He listened as Lao Li and the others praised his song "So Many People in This World"—whether it was "Too Softhearted" or "Noisy," Lao Li thought they were all at a normal level, at least just Lin Jianlu's normal performance, and not worthy of any praise. But in his opinion, "So Many People in This World" was definitely a level above.

He likes it very much and admires it highly.

There's a paradox, contrary to what many people think—most creators with an artsy or artistic flair actually crave commercial success and aren't as detached or arrogant as they seem, while those who are commercially successful often crave something alternative or artistic. For example, pop singers are particularly fond of rock music!

However, in reality, very few people can bridge the gap between the two.

Once you unlock it, you'll be king.

For example, Luo Dayou, Li Zongsheng, and Zhou Moulun.

In Lao Li's evaluation, it is clear that although Lin Jianlu has few works, he is certainly worthy of being included in this category.

In his view, "So Many People in This World" is a typical good song with temperament, style, beautiful and catchy melody, but not vulgar - it may not become a huge hit, but it will definitely be popular!
It suits Chen Shuhua's current situation very well.

Let's take a step back and try to gather the popularity that's gradually dissipating.

For someone as popular as her, just one great song showcasing her talent in a new EP is enough to keep her fans buying her music – "This song is really well written!"

However, Lin Jianlu clearly didn't take these things seriously, even though the person praising him was Old Li—as mentioned before, he knew that what the person was praising actually had nothing to do with him.

So I got a little distracted.

Then, suddenly, he came to his senses and overheard them talking about how Huang Jiaju had been dead for three years. "Huh? Three years already?"

Everyone then began to recall, and soon someone with a good memory gave the exact date: June 30, 1993—the accident happened on the 24th, and he passed away on the 30th.

The music scene in recent years has been arguably the most prosperous period since the inception of the Chinese music industry, with the entire market showing signs of vitality and prosperity. Therefore, the sudden deaths of a few individuals make them all the more memorable.

Huang Jiaju in 1993, and Deng Lijun last year.

One just turned thirty, the other just turned forty.

Going back further, what left a deep impression on Taiwanese people was probably Sanmao's suicide. Luo Dayou was deeply shocked. When Sanmao passed away, the only film she ever wrote, "Red Dust," was still showing in theaters. The theme song of the film, "Red Dust," was Luo Dayou's work. So, Luo Dayou added four lines of lyrics to his original work, "Youth Without Regret," and renamed the song "Dream Chaser." Then, it became Feng Feifei's last representative work, who was gradually fading out of the music scene at the time.

Let the footprints of wandering leave behind lasting memories in the desert.

The fleeting strokes of your pen are the hidden passion in your heart.

In the cycle of past and future events, who lingers in the sound?

My infatuation laughs at my mundane world, a concern I can never truly understand.

—This was written for Sanmao.

Lin Jianlu didn't know these things in her previous life, or perhaps she had read about them but didn't remember them well. At the previous gathering, Luo Da was present, and Li Zongsheng told her these things himself.

Lin Jianlu didn't really know who Sanmao was, what she wrote, or how great she was. Therefore, he couldn't quite understand the complex emotions that people around him felt when they talked about her.

But then he suddenly drifted off into thought.

Suddenly, he put down his lunchbox, got up, and walked away.

The group of people, who were having a complicated conversation, immediately stopped talking and looked up at him in surprise.

Not far away, I grabbed a few sheets of paper and a pen.

After a few seconds of looking at each other, Chen Shuhua was the first to stand up, walk over, and stand behind him.

As he looked, a look of surprise unconsciously appeared on his face.

Then, Zhou Huajian got up and walked over.

Then, more people put down their lunchboxes or brought their lunchboxes over.

About ten minutes.

He stopped writing, carefully examined the page, and wrote his name at the top of the page: "The Gift".

After thinking for a moment, I drew another line and wrote a subtitle: "In Memoriam of Ka-Kui".

Then he threw down his pen, waved the few thin sheets of paper in his hand, and looked at Duan Zhongtan, who was standing on the outside with a lunchbox and still smacking his lips. "I want to invite a few more people to record this song together and put it in the celebration version."

Old Duan smacked his lips, and without even seeing a single word, calmly nodded, "You decide."

…………

In just three minutes, Lin Jianlu had identified the people she wanted to sing with.

Putting aside other boasts, although he has only been in the industry for a short time, his network of connections is quite impressive.

Aside from the chorus, the lyrics actually consist of ten bars. As a song he really liked in his past life, he vaguely remembers that Xu Wei sang two bars, so it was actually a chorus of nine people.

But when it was his turn to organize the song, he wanted to go a little bigger.

The Rock Records group represents Taiwan, including Lo Ta-yu, Lee Tsung-sheng, Chou Hua-chien, Chao Chuan, and Wu Po. Let's add Chang Chen as well—Brother Yue is very interesting, a cool and sly guy, and a really fun person.

Six people—that's quite a show, a grand affair indeed.

I actually recognize the fewest Hong Kong singers, but Wong Jim and Leslie Cheung together are enough to hold their own. As for the ones I don't recognize, let's just leave them be.

This kind of song is very niche, it can be very highbrow, but it won't make much money and its commercial value isn't very high. However, putting it into a celebratory edition of a blockbuster album that has sold millions of copies is actually a great treat for fans, which is quite appropriate.

So, inviting someone you know well is a sign of respect, and the person is willing to reciprocate. A fee is expected, but whether you accept it or not is secondary; friendship is more important. However, inviting someone you don't know well is inappropriate because it's difficult to distribute royalties among them.

Then, for the mainland, there are Cui Jian, Liu Huan, Dou Wei, Zheng Jun, Wang Feng, plus myself, which is about right—actually, the number has already exceeded the limit, but it doesn't matter, we can just split each section into two people singing!

The main challenge is getting so many big names from across the Taiwan Strait and Hong Kong into one song!
But I should at least have that much face, right?

Well, it's not suitable to choose the mainland, as it would be very troublesome for Luo Dayou and the others to come over. It's also not suitable to choose Taiwan, as it would be very troublesome for Liu Huan and the others to come over. So let's choose to record in Hong Kong!

Anyone can go there freely.

Anyway, Lao Duan reimbursed all expenses.

Who owns the biggest recording studio in Hong Kong?

"Eternal".

"Can I borrow it?"

"no problem."

Then I started making phone calls.

They all agreed to attack the mainland first.

When asked to call Ganggang again, both of them immediately agreed.

Huang Zhan even immediately agreed to help contact the band BEYOND and invite them to participate in the recording and accompaniment.

Then I looked around, oh right...

This kind of song could be sung by fourteen men without any problem, but...

Forget it, let's remove... Wu Bai will do.

"Brother Luo, Brother Li, Brother Huajian, Brother Chuan, Brother Yue... and... you!"

…………

A rising star from Rock Records, one of the industry's three major record companies, he is unanimously hailed by Hong Kong and Taiwan media as a new king who can rival the Four Heavenly Kings. He is the king of record-breaking album sales of over 76 copies in Hong Kong, and is very likely to be crowned the first singer in Taiwan's history to have an album with sales of 200 million copies. He is also the owner of the first diamond album in the Chinese music scene...

Lin Jianlu suddenly announced that he wanted to record a new song. Without any doubt, all of Rock Records' resources would be mobilized instantly.

One by one, I made the calls, and everyone was incredibly accommodating, without the slightest hesitation.

And so, things were quickly set in motion.

Ge Fuhong and Zhang Aijia were about to fly back to Hong Kong to continue business negotiations when they suddenly received a call. They immediately postponed their scheduled business meeting and instead helped with the arrangements.

The visitor's airfare, reception, accommodation, and meals.

Ganggang is Ge Fuhong's territory, and in this area, Rolling Stone can't do these things as well as she can.

On June 23, with only a two- or three-hour difference between the flights, one from the capital and the other from Taipei, brought together the most awesome group of people in the current Chinese music scene.

It brought together Huang Zhan, Zhang Guorong, Huang Guanzhong, Huang Jiaqiang, and Ye Shirong.

The CEO of EMI Records personally received this impressive team. The recording studio, touted as the largest and best in Asia, was emptied out, and all recording work was suspended to make way for them!

We met that evening, exchanged brief pleasantries, and then I gave them the sheet music and we practiced singing.

Then rest for one night, and practice teamwork the next morning.

Recording officially began in the afternoon.

This alarmed many people.

Although they were not invited to participate in the recording, they still rushed over to watch.

There aren't many examples of groups of people getting together to record songs like this in the Chinese music scene—only a handful, such as "Tomorrow Will Be Better," "Pearl of the Orient," and "Never Look Back."

Moreover, this is Lin Jianlu's new song, and it's a tribute to Huang Jiaju.

Duan Zhongtan, Ge Fuhong, Zhang Aijia, Wang Fei, Na Ying, Sun Nan, Lin Yilian, Su Huilun, Liang Yongqi, Lin Xilei, Lin Qingxia, Xu Ke, Shi Nansheng, Xue Zhongding, Chen Jiaying, Sister Kuan...

Sometimes you come, sometimes he leaves.

The recording studio was always packed with people, even though people were just practicing inside.

As the final recording session drew to a close and before entering the large recording studio, Wang Fei, with a half-smile, glanced around at the many onlookers and subtly poked a certain man with her finger.

When he turned around, she whispered sarcastically, "You really spoil him!"

The newly crowned all-around songwriting king's new song is a tribute to Huang Jiaju. He invited all the big names in the Chinese music scene, but only one of the fourteen people was a woman.

It's just too conspicuous.

Chen Shuhua.

Take a look around, and you'll see who wouldn't be envious!

There are only benefits and no drawbacks to getting involved.

Moreover, this is by no means a simple matter of earning some labor fees or royalties!

Lin Yilian, Su Huilun, Liang Yongqi, Na Ying, Sun Nan... and many others who weren't even there, including Wang Fei herself, were all envious if they thought, "I could do it too."

But someone only invited one female singer.

It was absolutely a deliberate setup, a show of everyone being fawned over.

Lin Jianlu chuckled upon hearing this, waved her hand, and turned to enter the recording studio.

(End of this chapter)