HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 13 [013] A Rising Star in the Music Scene Becomes Popular in the Capital Region

Of course, the prerequisite for establishing a new school of thought and leading a trend is to become popular.

There's a classic saying: "Being one step ahead makes you advanced; being three steps ahead makes you a martyr."

Currently, older generation singers still dominate the Chinese music scene, and most fans are used to older music.

Song Ke and Gao Xiaosong are unsure whether the general public will accept Qi Yuan's new music with its entirely new concept.

If Qi Yuan's music is too ahead of its time, and the fans' musical tastes can't keep up with Qi Yuan's pace, then Qi Yuan will perish suddenly, becoming a pioneer who makes a heroic sacrifice.

However, Song Ke and Gao Xiaosong felt that none of this mattered much anymore; how many musicians weren't artistic youths?

These artsy types are inherently sentimental.

Qi Yuan's cutting-edge music was too much of a blow to them.

They were willing to take this gamble with Qi Yuan, betting that his fans, like them and other musicians, would accept his music.

"I hereby officially announce that Qi Yuan's debut album project has been officially launched. Qi Yuan will be in charge of the entire album's production concept and direction. Xiao Song, are you sure you're okay with that?" Song Ke's later success in making Wheatfield a major success was related to his boldness.

"I have no objection. Qi Yuan will take the helm, and I'll just assist him," Gao Xiaosong replied.

His previous opposition to Qi Yuan taking the lead in album production stemmed from a lack of trust in a young person's ability to produce a successful album.

He was captivated by the young man's talent as soon as songs like "You'll Be With Me All My Life," "Starry Night," and "Love at the Corner" were released.

Qi Yuan was very happy. When he came out of Wheatfield Company, he felt that the sky was blue and the air was fresh.

He finally got his first album firmly in his own hands.

Are Hong Kong's Four Heavenly Kings, Taiwan's Little Chi-Ge, and the old-school musicians ready to face the impact of the new trend?

Qi Yuan selected ten songs for his first album, each one a masterpiece, and no one else could compare.

Even if Jay Chou debuts this year, it won't make a difference, he said.

Of course, Qi Yuan's first album was not without its flaws.

The drawback is that, although he considered popularity and selected some songs that were easy to sing and easy to become popular, he still managed to achieve this goal.

However, the songs he chose were not as popular as straightforward, catchy pop songs like "Poisonous Perfume," "That Night," and "Ten Thousand Reasons."

From a popular singing perspective, these songs are the real game-changers.

The Chinese music market is huge, encompassing not only white-collar workers, students, and office workers in cities.

There is a huge untapped market in rural areas, where aunties, grandmas, and grandpas love these straightforward and popular pop songs.

Therefore, catchy pop songs have the greatest power and can easily become popular throughout the country.

Qi Yuan clearly knew how much these songs affected the aunties and grandmas in the vast rural areas.

But he was very rational; he never considered such vulgar music.

While starting out with catchy pop songs may bring rapid fame, it will never make one a true superstar or earn them a place in mainstream culture.

There's no need to sing those catchy pop songs with embarrassing lyrics just to be the number one trending song.

Being number one for a time does not guarantee being number one forever.

Like Jay Chou later on, he never managed to get the number one spot on the hot song charts, but he was consistently prolific, with his works ranking in the top three or five every year.

The staff changed every year, but he remained the only one who didn't change.

Once the tide recedes, people will naturally find that the unchanging number two for ten years is even more awesome than the number one for a time.

……

For the next few days, Qi Yuan became extremely busy, shuttling between the school and the wheat fields every day. Now it's mid-September, and he plans to release his debut album before December 31st, catching the wave of this R&B trend.

In December of this year, a small record company in Taiwan called Xia Ke will release an album called "David Tao," marking the debut of the godfather of R&B.

Qi Yuan's album was released in the same month, which means that Qi Yuan and Tao Ze were of the same mind and thought of the same thing. Together, they led the Chinese R&B trend.

If the album is released in January or February of next year, Qi Yuan will become a follower.

To put it more simply, only those who are at the forefront get to eat meat; those who come later only get soup.

Three and a half months is more than enough time to produce an album.

The most time-consuming part of making an album is the initial planning and song preparation.

Qi Yuan skipped the most time-consuming step. Recording the song didn't take long, and with the arrangement done, she could easily record one song a day.

The music video was easy to solve. Wheatfield was only established last year, and making Qi Yuan's first album would have emptied most of their savings. They didn't have money for special effects, so they had to film on location in other places.

Song Ke and Gao Xiaosong decided that the music video should be budget-friendly, and the camera should just be pointed at Qi Yuan's handsome face.

Such a handsome face and such good looks are the best scenery for fans. What else do they need?

Teacher Cui Xinqin promised Qi Yuan that he could choose any of the beautiful female students at the Beijing Film Academy.

The music video just needs to feature handsome men and beautiful women.

Qi Yuan can confidently say that while the cost of his music videos may not be the highest, the average attractiveness of the female leads in these videos is definitely the highest. It wouldn't be a problem for him to become the number one in the Chinese music scene.

Who told him to be a student at the Beijing Film Academy? Being close to the source of the good looks, he's surrounded by handsome men and beautiful women.

Moreover, he has strong support from his teachers.

Even without the teacher's support, it wouldn't have been too difficult for Qi to ask her seniors and juniors to help her shoot the music video.

Many students have never acted before, and most would not refuse the opportunity to appear in a music video to gain some acting experience.

……

During the days when Qi Yuan recorded the song "You'll Be With Me All My Life" on Beijing's music radio stations, the song was recorded between two points: school and wheat fields.

More and more listeners in the Beijing area are hearing and falling in love with this song.

These days, many Beijing residents tune their radios to 97.4 every day without fail, just to listen to "You'll Be With Me All My Life".

Because of this song, the listenership of Beijing Music Radio Station has been soaring.

On its peak day, the listenership soared to fourth place in the Beijing area.

What? You're asking why it's only fourth place? Because the top three are "Beijing Traffic Radio," "Beijing News Radio," and "China National Radio Voice."

These three are really hard to beat. Beijing Music Radio's ability to reach fourth place is actually already a step up.

Who can beat a player who's cheating?

With its popularity soaring on Beijing's music radio station, "You'll Be With Me All My Life" became a massive hit in the Beijing area, and students could often be heard humming a few lines of the song at schools in Beijing such as the Beijing Film Academy and the Central Academy of Drama.

Gradually, people began to mention Qi Yuan, the songwriter and talented student from the Beijing Film Academy, more and more often.

Qi Yuan has already become popular in the Beijing area.

Many well-known underground bars sent Qi Yuan invitations, offering him a thousand yuan a night to sing at the end of the year when the average monthly salary was only a few hundred yuan.

Traditional media outlets such as Music Weekly also sent requests for exclusive interviews to Qi Yuan.

Qi Yuan has become a rising star in the music scene.

(End of this chapter)