HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 109 [109] If Xiao Qiyuan in the music scene is already this fierce, what will happen when the real deal arrives?
August 2nd is Qi Yuan's 20th birthday.

Zhou Jianhui originally planned to throw a big birthday banquet for Qi Yuan to reward this lucky general.

Qi Yuan declined, but he invited Zhou Jielun, Liu Genghong, Dai Peini, Lin Zhiling, Wen Lan and other friends he got along well with in Taiwan to a small gathering.

It's not very meaningful to throw a big birthday party, even though a lot of people will come, including many celebrities from the industry.

But those people all came with ulterior motives, either to curry favor with him or to ask him to write a song. It's much more comfortable and relaxing to have a private get-together with friends.

On August 5th, Zhou Huajian released his new album "A Person with a Story", firing the first shot in the August music scene.

This album immediately climbed to third place on the IFPI record sales chart in Taiwan upon its release.

This result is truly mediocre for Zhou Huajian, who is known as the "King Killer".

A few years ago, his record sales surpassed those of the Four Heavenly Kings. Only Jacky Cheung was able to maintain his dignity, and the media nicknamed him "Heavenly King Killer".

It can only be said that the market is unpredictable and ever-changing. The quality of Zhou Huajian's album is not as high as before. The only songs that can be called good are "Lately I've Been Feeling Annoyed" and "A Person with a Story".

The most popular song is "Lately I've Been Feeling Annoyed," after all, it features the work of Li Zongsheng, Zhou Huajian, and Qi Yuan.

Lee Tsung-sheng's line about the blue pill became the biggest highlight, but some media criticized the lyric as being too vulgar.

Qi Yuan's lyrics have been ridiculed because they always give people a Versailles-like feeling when he sings them.

For example, there's a lyric: "My girlfriend's mother thinks I'm ugly."

Taiwanese fans couldn't hold back anymore.

By North!

Who is your girlfriend's mother? She looks like you and still complains about being shabby?
Another phrase is, "Some girls in Taipei are unattainable."

Hey!
You just arrived in Taiwan and already snagged a long-legged young model. You call that unattainable?

Thankfully, the lyricist's name is listed as Li Zongsheng, and Qi Yuan has nothing to do with the lyrics. Otherwise, Qi Yuan would definitely be nicknamed a pretentious show-off.

Zhou Huajian's album barely reached 20 copies sold in half a month after its release.

This result was far below the expectations of Rolling Stone and Zhou Huajian.

However, another singer's album was quite amazing.

8 month 21 day.

Sony's Wang Lihong, under the label of Xiao Qiyuan, has brought his new album "Revolution and Rotation", which represents a transformation in his career.

The album cover is predominantly blue, with Wang Lihong sitting on the ground with his legs drawn up, and blue sky and white clouds behind him.

Fans who bought the "Revolution and Rotation" cassette tape or disc found a booklet included with the box set.

The booklet mentions that Wang Lihong's album "Revolution" was deeply influenced by Qi Yuan's music.

Besides Qi Yuan, the booklet also mentions some interesting stories that happened during Wang Lihong's album production process.

The person who made Li Wen and Harlem Yu famous really has some skills.

Normally, Wang Lihong's attempt to piggyback on Qi Yuan's fame would definitely provoke dissatisfaction among some of Qi Yuan's fans.

Qi Yuan's fans are mainly young people and students, and Wang Lihong also focuses on these two groups.

Wang Lihong must not offend these two groups, nor can he offend Qi Yuan's fans.

If handled properly, Qi Yuan's fans can become Wang Lihong's fans.

There's no rule that says a person can't like two singers at the same time.

Thus, this booklet was created, which clearly explains the great influence that Qi Yuan's music had on Wang Lihong.

After Yao Qian's actions, Qi Yuan's fans will have nothing to say when they see this booklet; they might even be very happy.

Look, even an excellent musician like Wang Lihong admits to being influenced by his idols. Doesn't that prove they have good taste in idols?
Yao Qian's marketing strategy successfully won over Qi Yuan's fans, and many of those who bought the album were Qi Yuan's fans. With the release of "Revolution and Rotation" and Yao Qian's superb marketing skills, Wang Lihong became an instant sensation.

This album's success far surpassed all the albums he released during his time at Linfair Records, which imitated Zhang Xueyou.

Even Zhou Jianhui was amazed by this hot album.

Are you guys at Linfair Records really pigs? Such a talented person with such a good image, and you made him imitate Jacky Cheung? How could you even think of that?

Zhou Jianhui did not misjudge Fu Mao.

Fumao's strategy is truly bizarre; they're the kind of company that can lose even when they're holding two jokers and four twos.

Just look at which singers Foremost missed out on, and you'll understand.

Xin Xiaoqi spent seven years at Linfair Records without becoming famous. Later, Li Zongsheng recognized her talent, and the music scene gained a new queen of healing songs.

Suri, Li Yaming, and Lin Longxuan, all talented singers, became famous after leaving Linfair Records.

Now there's another one, Wang Lihong.

Later came Zhang Shaohan.

When Zhang Shaohan's family had a problem, Fu Mao did not provide any help; instead, they sidelined her for several years.

Not long after leaving Linfair Records, Zhang Shaohan began singing "Invisible Wings".

If Fumao's management had been even slightly more professional, it wouldn't have ended up in such a sorry state.

"Yao Qian has unearthed another treasure. This Wang Lihong is really something; he has truly mastered R&B."

The songs on this album are all of good quality, and "Revolution" can be considered a high-quality hit.

His self-composed and self-written song "Really Love You" sounds pretty good, and it's somewhat similar in style to your "Still Love You."

Zhou Jianhui remarked with emotion.

He bought a copy of Wang Leehom's new album and listened to it in its entirety. He gave the album a very high rating.

Qi Yuan also noticed that there was a song called "Really Love You" on Wang Lihong's album, which he remembered was not on the album in his previous life.

Could it have been inspired by his song "Still Love You"? That's truly going against the grain.

True creative talents are that awesome. They won't lose their popularity just because their songs are copied. They are fully capable of creating new songs.

Qi Yuan was very confident in Wang Lihong's musical talent.

Wang Lihong is proficient in 18 musical instruments, has a formal musical education, has sung on Broadway in the United States, and has very strong musical skills.

Wang Lihong's biggest problem is that his lyrics are terrible; he's not good at Chinese but still insists on writing his own lyrics.

Later, Wang Lihong created the Chinked-Out style of music, but unfortunately it was not promoted and failed to attract peers to imitate and learn from it.

Therefore, Wang Lihong is more like a master of answering questions; he is very good at following paths that others have already tried.

In his previous life, Tao Ze popularized Chinese R&B, and he could immediately produce "Revolution" and the later R&B masterpiece "Incredible".

Jay Chou popularized Chinese style music, and he produced a series of great works such as "The Sun and Moon in My Heart", "Mistake in the Flower Field", "Hero of the World", "Deep in the Bamboo Forest" and "Bo Ya's Broken String".

That year, Qi Yuan's brilliance overshadowed Tao Ze, and Wang Lihong changed his role model from Tao Ze to Qi Yuan.

Currently, this album, "Revolution and Rotation," has sold over 17 copies in its first week in Taiwan, surpassing Zhou Huajian's "People with Stories."

Wang Lihong, who was initially somewhat resistant to the label of "Little Qi Yuan," started to exclaim "It's really good!" after tasting the sweetness of it. In particular, he found that many of his new fans were fans of Qi Yuan, which made him feel even more satisfied.

Taiwanese media reported on Wang Lihong with the headline, "Xiao Qi is willing to take down veteran superstar Zhou Huajian."

Fans across Taiwan are starting to look forward to Qi Yuan's new album even more. If little Qi Yuan is already this amazing, what will happen when the real Qi Yuan comes?

(End of this chapter)