HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 204 [204] Qi Yuan's Hit English Single for Li Wen
“Ah Yuan, how about we fly to Thailand to find the White Dragon King? I don’t think this launch is very auspicious.”

Wang Jing felt a chill run down his spine as he thought about it.

"Director Wang, you're a top student who graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, can you please stop being so superstitious?"

Qi Yuan said calmly.

The crew of the TV series "Hua Wuque" had a lot of trouble in their previous lives.

"Alright, since the actress can't play Jiang Yuyan because of family matters, you can find one from your Beijing Film Academy. There are plenty of pretty girls there."

Wang Jing sighed and gave up the idea of ​​finding the White Dragon King.

Actually, Wang Jing was just saying it casually; he wouldn't go to Thailand. Filming has already started, and if he and Qi Yuan go to Thailand for at least a day or two, the entire crew will be shut down for a day or two, resulting in a loss of at least six figures.

Wang Jing is a director who values ​​efficiency, and he wouldn't do things that would affect the filming efficiency.

“Okay, I’ll have the school teachers compile a student list, Director Wang, you can choose one.”

Qi Yuan's tone remained calm, but he was overjoyed inside.

Great, he can slip in his own agenda again.

If you asked him to find the best actress to play Jiang Yuyan at the Beijing Film Academy, he would definitely choose Yang Xue.

Yang Xue's portrayal of Jiang Yuyan is one of the most outstanding characters in the entire "Hua Wuque". Netizens jokingly call the show "The Legend of Jiang Yuyan", which shows how successful the character is and how well Yang Xue performed.

In other dramas, after a female villain turns evil, she usually wears different makeup to represent her evil state.

Yang Xue's portrayal of Jiang Yuyan is unique. With her wispy bangs and innocent makeup, she delivers the strongest, most domineering, and most ruthless female villain in martial arts films. In the early stages, she appears innocent and pure, but later she becomes ruthless and merciless.

The Beijing Film Academy was very efficient and quickly compiled the list of female students' information.

Wang Jing has a great eye for talent. He himself has said that in all his years in the industry, there has only been one celebrity he has misjudged: Zhang Guorong.

He took a liking to Yang Xue at first sight and called her to the film crew to audition for a role.

Wang Jing was quite satisfied with Yang Xue's appearance, but he also noticed her problem. He said with some melancholy, "Oh no, oh no, the first thing you do when you open your eyes is look completely innocent. What are we going to do if you turn bad later?"

It was difficult to find a better actor for the time being, so Wang Jing could only make do: "You'll do. You'll have to figure out how to turn bad yourself, and we'll help you find a way."

Yang Xue was both happy and flustered. She was happy because she got the role, but flustered because it was her first time acting. She had never played a villain before, so she had no idea how to act like one.

Yang Xue is a gentle and friendly person who keeps a low profile. She is very humble on set and gets along well with Li Bingbing and Fan Xiaopang.

Yang Xue also consulted with Li Fan and others on acting.

Li and Fan were relieved to see that Yang Xue was a newbie.

Fan Xiaopang thought to himself, "Yang Xue and Xiao Kara are just minor characters, and they're even female villains. They can't possibly steal my spotlight. I just need to be wary of Li Bingbing."

Li Bingbing also felt that Yang Xue, this inexperienced newcomer, posed no threat to her. She was more confident and didn't even take Fan Xiaopang seriously.

So a strange scene unfolded on set: Fan Li was secretly competing with Yang Xue, while Yang Xue got along well with both of them.

Qi Yuan was amazed by what he saw. Luckily, his phone didn't have a QQ function, otherwise he would have suspected that these three people could create four small groups.

Once Gao Yuanyuan joins the group, the number of possible combinations will only increase.

Qi Yuan was very cautious and rarely had much contact with actresses on set, except when filming.

Wang Jing had even teased Qi Yuan in private.

Wang Jing was quite flamboyant when he was young. Qiu Shuzhen was his girlfriend, but he had a wife at the time.

Now that I'm older and less capable, I focus on making money.

Qi Yuan merely glanced at Wang Jing without saying anything. Gao Yuanyuan was about to join the crew, so shouldn't he avoid the risks?
Of course, there is another reason.

The day after filming began, Li Wen, who was in the United States, contacted Qi Yuan and mentioned the song. Li Wen's first English album is currently in production.

After signing with Sony headquarters, Li Wen discovered that the English music scene was much harder to navigate than the Chinese music scene; it was too competitive there, and there were stereotypes about Chinese people.

Sony came up with a terrible idea: to have Li Wen cater to the current popular Latin music elements in the United States and package her as a Latin American diva.

This was absolutely a terrible move. Li Wen isn't Latin; she doesn't speak Spanish, nor does she know Latin music and dance like samba, tango, or cha-cha.

Forcibly packaging her as a Latin songstress not only failed to achieve the desired effect, but also caused Li Wen to lose her own personal characteristics.

This is called an album positioning error, which is a fatal mistake.

Li Wen's first English album sold two million copies worldwide after its global release.

At first glance, the results seem pretty good, but upon closer inspection, it's not that simple. Hundreds of thousands of copies were sold in Taiwan alone, mostly by East Asian Chinese, while only over 40,000 copies were sold in the US market.

Even more critically, the emergence of monster newcomers like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera this year has made the market even more competitive.

Sony headquarters lost faith in Li Wen and was no longer willing to invest resources in her.

Li Wen's second English album, "Exposed," was repeatedly delayed, from 02 to 05. After finally being released, Sony was unwilling to invest capital in its promotion.

An English album was released not in the United States, but only in Asia.

It was incredibly difficult for a superstar like her to venture into the English music scene.

The personnel changes at Sony Taiwan were also detrimental to Li Wen.

Yao Qian and other high-ranking executives who had been promoting Li Wen left Sony, and the new executives promoted newcomers like Cai Yiling.

Li Wen experienced losing her voice and being sidelined, and by the time she terminated her contract with Sony in 06, she was already somewhat past her prime.

This is what they call "one wrong step leads to another".

The main problem was that the foundation was unstable, there was no way out for oneself, and luck was bad; the right time, the right place, and the right people were all missed.

This is why Qi Yuan first established himself in the domestic music scene, then ventured into the Japanese music scene, and finally set his sights on the English music scene.

With an unstable foundation and no room for error, the attack is unsuccessful, and when looking back, even the retreat route has been blocked by competitors, so it can only continue to decline.

Qi Yuan promised to write a song for Li Wen.

His initial plan was to write an English song for Li Wen.

Li Wen's establishment in the English music scene is beneficial to him.

Zhang Shaohan can take the spot on the Mandarin Dancing Queen track, while Li Wen can focus all her efforts on conquering the English music scene.

Qi Yuan was extremely careful when it came to selecting songs.

The flaw of misjudging the album's positioning was too fatal; he had to choose a hit song for Li Wen to turn the tide.

After much deliberation, Qi Yuan finally chose a hit song for Li Wen.

Britney Spears' "Oops! I Did It Again" is translated into Chinese as "爱再告白" (Ai De Zai Gao Bai).

This is a crucial song that cemented Britney Spears' status as a pop diva. In her previous life, Britney received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female, based on this song.

Only with great force can a brick fly.

There's no need to worry about them clashing because the years are too close; Qi Yuan was prepared.

Last year, Qi Yuan had the idea of ​​helping Li Wen enter the English music scene. He wrote some recent classic English songs and had his studio register the copyrights in the United States to reserve the slots.

"Oops! I Did It Again" is one of them.

(End of this chapter)