HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 342 [342] The Heavenly King's Dream Shattered! Has Qi Yuan's Era Ended?

China.

Newspapers across mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong are relaying reports from American media.

[The glory days of Mandopop kings are over; their foray into the US market has become a joke?]

What will become of the Asian superstar who is struggling to adapt to the American environment?

[New York Daily News: An Awkward Situation from the East]

……

Qi Yuan's fans and netizens in mainland China were very puzzled.

Didn't they say Qi Yuan's single was a huge hit in Europe and America a few days ago? Why did everything suddenly collapse?
"Some people! A couple of brainless fans complimented him on being an Asian superstar, and he actually started to think of himself as an international superstar. He even went to the United States to make a living, and now look what he's done. He's embarrassed himself on the other side of the ocean."

"Do you think you're Jackie Chan, Li Lianjie, or Zhou Ruifa? Trying to make it in America? Do you think America is so easy to get by in? Give it a rest, or you'll make a fool of yourself."

"Serves you right for being so arrogant! You've finally met your match. Someone exposed that those four million singles were inflated sales figures by Warner Music. Now you're back to your old ways, aren't you?"

Qi Yuan's fans fought back and clashed with these haters, but as a result, Qi Yuan's fans were suppressed in terms of public opinion.

Because there are too many people trying to bring Qi Yuan down from his pedestal now.

Qi Yuan has been incredibly popular in recent years, single-handedly overshadowing all the top stars in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Countless fans of these stars are hoping that Qi Yuan will fall from grace so that their idols can take over.

There are some forces behind the scenes that also hope Qi Yuan will be ruined.

In their view, what makes Qi Yuan, a mainland Chinese, superior to all the Hong Kong and Taiwan superstars? What makes him, a mainland Chinese, able to take the biggest slice of the pie in the Hong Kong and Taiwan market? In the past, it was always Hong Kong and Taiwan artists who entered the mainland market to share the pie; the mainland market was their backyard.

Only Qi Yuan dared to rebel against the Heavenly Gang, treating the Hong Kong and Taiwan markets as his backyard, which many people had long disapproved of.

Previously, Qi Yuan's achievements were so outstanding that it was impossible to find any points to criticize.

Her first album pioneered R&B, her second album created the Chinese style, and her third album popularized Chinese hip-hop. The album sold a staggering eight million copies, more than double that of the second-place artist, Zhang Huimei.

Qi Yuan himself has no major flaws, except for a lot of rumors. But he doesn't have a girlfriend who has been officially announced. If you really dig deeper, his friends might be much worse than Qi Yuan.

They had been waiting for an opportunity, a chance for Qi Yuan to make a mistake.

Qi Yuan's foray into Europe and America failed, and he was ridiculed by the American media. They decided to take this opportunity to pull Qi Yuan down from his pedestal, preferably to trample him into the mud, and make him give back all the market share he had gained in the past three years.

Hong Kong coal has the most intense heat.

[Hong Kong residents: We’re back! Foreigners don’t buy your tricks! 】

Those who aren't dragons don't cross the river; only after crossing do they realize they're just snakes.

[The dream of becoming a Heavenly King has shattered in America. Following the end of the era of the Four Heavenly Kings and the era of Qi Ren, the era of Qi Yuan has also come to an end.]

……

The media is criticizing, while singers and artists from Hong Kong and Taiwan are launching a full-scale attack.

Hong Kong and Taiwan singers such as Andy Lau, Nicholas Tse, Valen Hsu, Lin Yilian, and Richie Jen have all released their new albums or EPs in the past few days.

Among them, Nicholas Tse's "Viva" was the most popular, with the title track "Living Viva" quickly becoming a hit on Hong Kong radio stations.

The script seems to be developing into a scenario where a whale falls and everything is created.

That short story in the magazine about the middle generation came out around this time. The gist of it was that Qi Yuan was already our most outstanding child, unrivaled in the Chinese music scene, and had become the most popular superstar in just three years.

When this most outstanding child went to the American music scene, he was miles behind the American children.

Finally, the writing took a turn, and the classic question of the fixed body and reflection emerged.

Lee Tsung-sheng's previous remarks have also been dug up and misinterpreted by the media once again.

Lee Tsung-sheng, known as the godfather of pop music, once commented that you could easily find a thousand musicians like Tao Ze on the streets of Seattle.

Qi Yuan is a bit better than Tao Ze; you could find a couple hundred of them on the streets of Seattle.

It's normal that Qi Yuan's trip to the United States failed; there are just too many talented people in the American music scene.

The Chinese music scene started late. When American musicians were making pop music, our musicians didn't even know what pop music was.

The Chinese music scene still has a long way to go. A second-rate musician from the American music scene can become a superstar in China.

The number one superstar in the Chinese music scene wouldn't even be considered a second-rate singer in the American music scene.

Li Zongsheng: "???"

That's what I mean.
There are many people with high skill levels, but very few with creative ability, okay? Creative ability is the most valuable thing.

Go to Seattle and find a thousand musicians who can write "10:30 Airport" and see if that's how you interpret my words? Li Zongsheng deeply regrets saying those things back then.

Tao Ze was equally exasperated. Why was it his business again? Was it so hard for him to escape happily?
……

Chen Kaige, Zhou Jielun, Fan Xiaopang, Zhang Tong, Gao Yuanyuan, Jiang Wen, Li Xue, Sun Yanzi, Zhang Shaohan and other friends in China called to comfort Qi Yuan.

Chen Kaige was furious. Those damned Americans, did they even know what they were talking about? Qi Yuan was a genius; he thought those English songs were fantastic. How could Qi Yuan be so badly criticized in America?

Chen Kaige, who was promoting "Bouquet" in Japan, immediately said: "Ah Yuan, come back to China. We'll make a big movie right away. I'll be in charge of building the Red Cliff Water Fortress, and you'll be in charge of the script. Once it's built, we'll start filming right away. I'll help you make a super blockbuster so that North American audiences can see what an Asian superstar is."

Jiang Wen: "The Americans are xenophobic too. Why don't we just come back? We don't want to put up with that nonsense. You come back, you form a film crew, and we'll make a great movie and go to Europe to develop our careers. You can rest assured that I'll act in it; I guarantee the movie will be fantastic."

Apart from these two people trying to get Qi Yuan to join the party, Fan Xiaopang, Gao Yuanyuan, and the others only said some words of comfort to Qi Yuan.

Qi Yuan, who was in the United States and had just finished singing two songs at a music festival, was very confused.

What happened in China? Why is everyone he knows calling and texting to comfort him? It's like he's going to jump off a building tomorrow.

Zhang Hao received a phone call, and when he returned, he said to Qi Yuan, "Damn it, those American newspapers and magazines were smearing you like crazy a few days ago, and the domestic media just copied the articles back and translated them into Chinese verbatim."

You've become too famous these past few years, taking away too much of the pie from other people. Many people want to get rid of you, do you understand?
Most of the domestic media are now criticizing you, and your trip to the United States has become a joke.

Hong Kong's *Next Magazine* published a commentary on its cover, telling you to back down and mocking you as no match for the foreigners.

It takes time for domestic news to spread and develop. Zhang Hao was referring to domestic news from yesterday, the day before yesterday, and the day before that.

Qi Yuan thought it was ridiculous after hearing it, but after thinking about it carefully, she found that it was not ridiculous at all.

There are so many abstract things from the past two thousand years. Can you believe that these days you'll get criticized for saying you love your country online?
Qi Yuan simply never imagined that he would become the protagonist in a public intellectual's short story.

Domestic public intellectuals and those who want to bring him down probably don't know this, right? Being smeared by American media is part of his strategy to generate buzz.

If the American media hadn't criticized him, would so many Americans have paid attention to him? Could his songs have suddenly entered the top 30 of the Billboard charts?
Qi Yuan was genuinely curious about how people in China would react when the Billboard chart results and first-week sales figures were sent back to the country.

(End of this chapter)