HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 36 [036] Arriving in Taipei for the first time, and still playing basketball?

Having lived two lives, Qi Yuan knew better than anyone how valuable the seemingly dirty and chaotic urban village his parents talked about would become in the future.

Ugh!
He accidentally became the only son of a landlord and landlady. Thinking about it carefully, the pressure on him must be immense.

In ten or so years, those houses will be demolished. If he doesn't do well in the music industry, he will be asked to go home and inherit the family fortune.

In order to avoid becoming a landlord who collects rent every day in a white tank top and flip-flops, he had no choice but to work even harder.

Early the next morning.

Qi Yuan ate a bowl of lean pork rice noodle rolls at a breakfast stall on the streets of Guangzhou, and then boarded a plane to Taipei with her agent Zhang Hao.

He's here in the Hong Kong and Taiwan music scene.

Hong Kong and Taiwan developed their economies earlier than the mainland, and their music scene also started earlier.

While there was no pop music in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan already had a group of pop superstars such as Sam Hui, Lo Tai-Yau, and Teresa Teng.

Qi Yuan's achievement of becoming famous with just one album in the mainland music scene is not considered a remarkable accomplishment.

The mainland music scene is too backward compared to the Hong Kong and Taiwan music scenes.

Whether Hong Kong's music scene is truly strong or not is a matter of debate.

Some people in later generations believe that the Hong Kong music scene is nothing special, and that many of the famous songs of Hong Kong and Taiwan superstars such as Andy Lau, Cheung Suet-yu, Chan Wai-yin, and Anita Mui were covers of Japanese songs.

Another group believes that Hong Kong's music scene was very strong during its peak, with classics such as "Half a Catty Eight Taels", "Shanghai Bund", "A Laughter in the Vast Sea" and "A Man Should Be Self-reliant".

If there are controversies in the Hong Kong music scene, then there are absolutely no controversies in the Taiwan music scene.

At this time, the Taiwanese music scene was at its peak, in a period of vigorous development.

A-mei (Chang Hui-mei) and Harlem Yu have already become very famous.

Tao Ze, the godfather of R&B, debuted this year.

Wang Lihong of Linfair Records is still imitating Zhang Xueyou. In the near future, he will take control of the album and start his own music career.

A whole host of well-known figures in the Chinese music scene, including Tsai Yi-ling, Pan Weibo, Zhang Shao-han, Dai Pei-ni, Wang Xin-ling, and Liang Cui-ping, will debut in the next few years.

The relatively unknown singer Sun Yanzi will soon be discovered by Zhou Jianhui.

Lin Junjie, the king of comedy sketches in the music scene, and A Du, the god of the undercarriage, soon participated in the singer training class held by Ocean Butterflies Music in Singapore, and successfully stood out and became signed artists under Ocean Butterflies.

The most significant year was 2000, when the man wrote fifty songs in a week to earn the opportunity to release an album. The first song began with a memorable "wu~".

Only after all these people have appeared will the Taiwanese music scene reach its peak, and the Chinese music scene usher in its golden age.

For a long time, the mainland music scene was suppressed by the Hong Kong and Taiwan music scene.

Especially in the realm of innovative music such as R&B, Hip-Hop, Chinese style, and dance music, it has always been Taiwanese singers who have been leading the innovation.

Sun Nanna and others are not strong in songwriting; they are veteran singers who lack songwriting ability and cannot pose a challenge to innovative singers from Hong Kong and Taiwan.

In fact, Qi Yuan has always thought that Hu Yanbin is quite amazing. In an era when many talented people emerged in the Taiwanese music scene, he was able to gain fame through R&B.

During the period when the Hong Kong and Taiwan music scene dominated the mainland music scene, Hu Yanbin was one of the few people who could compete with Hong Kong and Taiwan singers in the pop music field.

Of course, what's most admirable is Hu Yanbin's inspirational story; his success is absolutely based on his hard work and talent.

With his looks, he wouldn't have become famous if he were even slightly less talented or less creative.

If he weren't so bad-looking, his fan base would double.

The rise of the mainland music scene is a long and arduous task, and Qi Yuan feels a lot of pressure.

At the same time, he was also looking forward to seeing what kind of sparks would fly when he clashed with those well-known figures in the Chinese music scene.

After about two hours, the plane landed at Taipei Songshan Airport.

Qi Yuan felt quite good standing on this land of his motherland.

Qi Yuan and Zhang Hao first went to Warner Music (Taiwanese company) to meet with Zhou Jianhui. "Yuan, you're really great. I heard from Hao that you went south from Beijing to hold a tour, and each show had several thousand people."

We'll capitalize on this momentum, and your debut album will be released simultaneously in Hong Kong and Taiwan on the 1st.

Afterwards, I will arrange for you to give a media interview to clarify the rumors spread by "Fan World" and clear your name.

Zhou Jianhui valued Qi Yuan very much.

Qi Yuan was a key factor in his rapid turnaround of the company's business.

Zhou Jianhui added, "You don't blame the company for not standing up for you immediately, and for making you suffer a lot of ridicule, do you?"

Qi Yuan shook his head: "No, it's all about generating buzz. Even negative publicity is still publicity, I know. Actually... if we want to generate buzz, I have a better way. If we use it in conjunction with a clarification strategy, it will definitely create a huge wave of buzz."

"Oh? What method? Tell me quickly." Zhou Jian raised his eyebrows slightly.

“Last year, I was admitted to the Beijing Film Academy. At that time, I was just a behind-the-scenes musician. I sent songs to well-known record companies such as Rock Records, Magic Stone Records, PolyGram, and Yinghuang Records. The total number of letters exceeded 500. I even mentioned this when I was interviewed in mainland China a few months ago,” Qi Yuan said slowly.

Zhou Jian grinned from ear to ear. He knew he hadn't misjudged Qi Yuan; Qi Yuan was truly his lucky charm.

He has already figured out how to proceed.

If Qi Yuan's album sells well in Taiwan and Hong Kong, he can make Qi Yuan a sensation throughout Hong Kong and Taiwan through a series of actions.

Zhou Jianhui became increasingly satisfied with Qi Yuan. He discovered that Qi Yuan was not only a smart person, but also as knowledgeable about marketing as he was.

After discussing album release matters at Warner for a long time, it was afternoon, and Qi Yuan took the keys back to the accommodation arranged for him by the company.

Just like in Beijing, it's a high-end apartment close to the company; big companies really do have deep pockets.

As they passed a row of buildings, a basketball rolled to Qi Yuan's feet.

"Excuse me, could you please pick up the basketball for me?"

Beside the basketball court, a muscular man in a vest called out to Qi Yuan in a friendly manner.

Standing next to the muscular man was a slightly shy young man.

Qi Yuan was somewhat surprised. Could it be such a coincidence?
When he first arrived in Taiwan, before he even got home, he unexpectedly bumped into that kid who later became a milk tea enthusiast.

That's right, that youthful boy with the 3/7 parted hairstyle is Zhou Jielun.

He doesn't wear a headband when he plays basketball now.

The muscular man who asked him to help retrieve the ball must be Liu Genghong.

Thinking about it carefully, it's not that strange that he would run into Liu Genghong and Zhou Jielun here.

Warner and Alfa are not far apart. Liu Genghong debuted in 1990. For an artist with a certain level of fame like him, the company would arrange accommodation for him nearby.

Zhou Jielun, a newcomer who only signed with Alpha this year, did not receive this treatment. He later said that he had lived at Liu Genghong's house for three years.

At this point in time, he might be staying at Liu Genghong's house.

That makes sense; perhaps the two of them live not far from Qi Yuan's apartment.

Speaking of which, Qi Yuan hadn't played basketball for a while and was really itching to play. He rolled up his sleeves, bent down to pick up the basketball, and walked towards the court.

"Okay, you want the basketball, right? Take it from me."

Qi Yuan dribbled to find his touch.

Both being basketball enthusiasts, Chou Chieh-lun and Liu Geng-hong instantly understood what Qi Yuan meant.

The two exchanged a glance, and Zhou Jielun appeared opposite Qi Yuan, assuming a defensive stance.

Qi Yuan suddenly stopped the ball and said to the two of them, "No, you misunderstood. What I meant was that you two should come at me together, I want to take on both of you."

(End of this chapter)