HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 374 [374] This album isn't selling well; Warner Music might as well commit seppuku.
That's how powerful the hype surrounding Grammy discrimination is.

Singers like Avril Lavigne and Shakira, who are preparing to release albums in the United States, want to take inspiration from this, but they don't dare to.

If there's a shady deal behind the hype and the album turns out to be a flop, it would be incredibly embarrassing.

It doesn't matter if Qi Yuan fails; he has a market of over one or two billion people in East Asia behind him. At worst, he can go back to singing Chinese songs.

However, Qi Yuan has already succeeded. His new song debuted at number 59 without any physical sales boost, which is an incredibly impressive achievement.

If Qi Yuan releases an album at the same time, with the added benefit of physical sales, this song will immediately drop into the top 20, or even the top 10.

[Is the mysterious power of the East shaking the American music scene once again?]

[Kris once again proves her talent with music!]

Is there really any behind-the-scenes manipulation at the Grammys?

……

In the public sphere, Qi Yuan, bolstered by his achievements, began to reverse the tide, gaining more and more supporters and a growing number of people who believed that the Grammys deliberately withheld the award from him.

The executives at Warner Music (USA) were grinning from ear to ear.

Release Chris's new album quickly and make a fortune in dollars.

They've already set the price: $18.99 for the standard edition, which includes all tracks but not all music videos.

The deluxe edition is $22.99, featuring special packaging and a free lyric booklet, poster, postcards, and includes all music videos.

The deluxe edition is priced at $29.99 and includes a CD + CVD two-disc set with more exquisite packaging. In addition to the deluxe edition's contents, it also comes with some song demos, music video highlights, and souvenirs.

The higher-ups were all geared up and ready to spend some dollars, only to find out later that Chris had two music videos and a song that weren't finished.

The top management directly transformed into "Mamma Fucks" (a derogatory term for someone who is outdated and unreliable).

How can this Chinese artist be so lazy? Earning US dollars is such a big deal, how can he delay it? Fortunately, there's a song called "Waving Flag" that can be released first.

The music video is similar to the Olympic bid promotional video, except that the Olympic bid slogans have to be removed, as those slogans are inappropriate in a singer's music video.

This isn't a big problem. After watching the music video, the next time they see a promotional video for the Olympic bid, the audience will understand what's going on.

Warner Music executives called Zhang Hao, urging Qi Yuan to hurry up and shoot the music video. If it couldn't be released by the end of March, they would try to release it in early or mid-April.

To expedite Qi Yuan's album production, Warner Music helped recruit a female lead for the music video.

Now that Qi Yuan has gained fame in the European and American music scene, it's too easy for him to find girls to shoot music videos.

The fans here are known for their enthusiasm, and a large number of them signed up.

Child models and child actors were also eager to sign up.

In Europe and America, many film actors debuted by shooting music videos or gained early exposure through music videos.

Music videos by established singers are themselves a huge exposure channel, especially for English songs, which can be seen by audiences in all European and American countries.

If the song is particularly popular and the music video is also a hit, it's possible that a film director or film company will notice it and the artist could directly start making movies and debut as an actor.

Scarlett Johns directed music videos for several singers in her early career.

Ryan Gosling, who has been nominated for Golden Globe and Academy Awards for Best Actor multiple times, has also directed music videos for singers.

"A newcomer from CAA Artist Management Company? She's played the lead role in a movie?" Qi Yuan asked.

"Yes, this actress has not acted in any works before. The movie she starred in finished filming at the end of last year, but it has not been released yet."

Zhang Hao said earnestly.

Qi Yuan suddenly realized, no wonder. Who can guarantee that their first starring film will be a hit? There are countless flops.

What's the actress's name?

Anne Hathaway.

After hearing the name, Qi Yuan snatched the information from Zhang Hao's hand and confirmed it. He was born on November 12, 1982, in Brooklyn, New York, and starred in "The Princess Diaries".

There's no mistake. Last year, Hathaway, who was a complete newcomer, was lucky. She fell off a chair during her audition, and this mistake actually caught the director's eye, giving her the opportunity to star in "The Princess Diaries".

The film was released in the United States in August of this year, and with a budget of $37 million, it grossed $1.65 million worldwide, achieving great commercial success.

Hathaway doesn't have the ability to predict the future, so how could she dare to imagine that the movie she starred in would be a box office hit?

She is still an unknown newcomer, so it's not surprising that she appeared on the shortlist of candidates for the female lead in Qi Yuan's music video.

Qi Yuan is currently very popular in the United States, and the Grammy scandal has given him a lot of exposure.

Now that we've found the best Catwoman, we can eliminate the previous candidates for the MV lead actress and we don't need to look at the rest of the list.

Qi Yuan's album doesn't need many female leads; one outstanding female lead is enough.

His album includes the hit song "Perfect," which has been played at countless weddings—a very sweet song.

The music video tells a very sweet story: the male and female protagonists go on vacation with a group of friends, during which the two spend romantic time together, riding cable cars, skiing, hugging, dancing in the snow, and kissing.

The female lead in the music video is Hathaway, and paired with this explosive single, it will become the ultimate bombshell!
In addition, Shakira's agent contacted Zhang Hao again, just like last time, saying that she wanted to get to know Qi Yuan.

Qi Yuan hasn't recorded the song yet, it's called "Somebody That I Used To Know," and he needs to find a female singer to collaborate with.

Shakira approached him, and Qi Yuan suggested they collaborate and have her film the music video for this song.

Qi Yuan knows how successful Shakira's first English album at the end of the year will be, with global sales exceeding 1300 million.

Unfortunately, this Latin pop diva reached her peak right from her debut in the American music scene, with her first English album being her peak moment.

Collaborating with Shakira led to her album becoming a hit at the end of the year, which, to some extent, can be considered as Qi Yuan's "keen eye for talent".

Moreover, Qi Yuan can't always work alone in the Western music scene. Someone like Shakira, who is Latino, is not considered white in the traditional sense in the United States, and she will also face discrimination, though she will be slightly better off than someone like Qi Yuan, who is East Asian.

Another opportunity is the collaboration with Shakira, which gives him a chance to boost his popularity with Shakira's image. His first English album has the added bonus of teaming up with a Latin pop star, and there might be some unexpected surprises, such as gaining him a lot of fans in the Spanish-speaking world.

Zhang Hao relayed Qi Yuan's idea to Shakira's manager, and sure enough, Shakira quickly replied that she was willing to help Qi Yuan record a song and shoot a music video for free.

She needs Qi Yuan's songs to help her gain recognition in the United States. If she can gain some exposure by collaborating with Qi Yuan, it will undoubtedly benefit her in releasing her first English album at the end of the year.

This is a win-win collaboration.

Qi Yuan is quite happy. His first English album includes several chart-topping singles, the music video starred Catwoman Hathaway, and now Shakira has joined the cast.

This album didn't sell well; Warner's publicity and marketing departments could really go to Japan to learn seppuku techniques.

(End of this chapter)