HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 387 [387] Welcome back to my country's famous young singer, Qi Yuan!
Qi Yuan, who was enjoying great success in the United States, soon faced sanctions from the American music scene.

"Perfect" has been firmly held at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.

Warner Music wanted to release Qi Yuan's fourth number-one single but found that it couldn't reach the top.

Billboard used technical manipulation to prevent Qi Yuan's songs from surpassing the popularity of "Perfect," thus preventing the creation of a new chart-topping single.

Their approach was quite clever; they managed to keep "Perfect" at number one on the list.

In this way, they can claim to the outside world that they have not suppressed Asian artists.

Where was it suppressed? Wasn't Chris's "Perfect" at number one?

The reason is that this song is too powerful; even Chris's own "See You Again" can't surpass it.

Our B-list is purely based on data, ensuring absolute fairness and impartiality.

This approach might fool unsuspecting passersby and netizens, but it won't fool record companies in the industry, much less Warner Music.

The executives at Warner Music were all cursing. "Damn it, Fuck!" they kept yelling. "What happened to freedom? Why isn't our Chris free now?"
Zhang Hao also complained: "Damn Americans, they actually played this trick on us. They clearly don't want your album to produce its fourth number-one single."

In the history of American pop music, there are very few singers and bands who have achieved four number one hits with one album; you could count them on one hand.

In the era of traditional record labels, only one person could achieve five number one hits with one album: Michael Jackson.

If Qi Yuan were to achieve the feat of winning four championships with one album, he would smoothly enter the list of a top-tier team, and of course they would not allow Qi Yuan to achieve this.

In fact, allowing Qi Yuan to win three championships with one album was already a result of their carelessness.

The last Asian artist to achieve such a dominant position was Japan's Kyu Sakamoto, whose 1963 release of "SUKIYAKI" was a huge success in the United States, not only reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 but also holding the top spot for three consecutive weeks.

Sakamoto Kyu's performance was considered the first time an Asian musician had truly "gone global," receiving welcome and recognition from the world's mainstream markets.

They thought there were no more masters after Sakamoto Kyu, but unexpectedly, nearly forty years later, they discovered that there were still masters, masters even more skilled than Sakamoto Kyu.

Qi Yuan was more open-minded: "Forget it, three chart-topping albums are enough for the first album. Did you really think that Sakamoto Kyu from back then didn't want to continue in the American music scene? In his era, he would have faced even greater exclusion than I have."

He was born in a good era; the exclusion of him was not made openly, but rather done in secret.

It's not just the music industry; the film industry is also deliberately suppressing Asians. Just look at how Asians are portrayed in Hollywood movies.

Qi Yuan didn't care. He was very satisfied with his English major grades, and he was unlikely to be a runner-up at next year's Grammys.

Many professionals here may believe that if his first album is suppressed, he will start to decline like Sakamoto Kyu back then.

After all, in the eyes of many of them, Qi Yuan releasing an album of "23" was already a bit "reckless".

Many people suspect that Qi Yuan did this to retaliate against the Grammys for suppressing him, and to save face, he ignored Warner's advice and packaged all his high-quality hit songs into one album.

He succeeded; he achieved his goal; his album finally earned him a Grammy nomination.

But he was too short-sighted. His first album started at such a high pitch, how could he possibly surpass himself in the later albums?

Qi Yuan had no idea how many people thought this way. Qi Yuan almost laughed. Unexpected, right? He was cheating.

Next time he releases an even stronger album, he'll crush the American superstars. He's not like Sakamoto Kyu, who's incredibly unlucky; he has incredible luck, he won't crash his plane.

Zhang Hao cursed the Billboard charts and the Americans, then brought up serious business with Qi Yuan: "How about we go back in a few days to attend the Taiwan Golden Melody Awards on May 5th? The Hong Kong Film Awards start tonight, we definitely won't make it."

Let alone the Hong Kong Film Awards, even last year's Golden Horse Awards were too busy for Chi Yuen to attend.

The main problem is that his participation was pointless; he had a great chance of winning Best Actor for his role in "Infernal Affairs" alongside Leung Ka-fai.

The problem is that this film was released two years earlier than planned due to Qi Yuan's butterfly effect, causing it to clash with Li An's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and Wong Kar-wai's "In the Mood for Love".

Furthermore, Qi Yuan won the Golden Horse Award for Best Actor in 99, and it was highly unlikely that he would be awarded the award again in 00. In fact, that was the case, and the award was given to Liang Chaowei for "In the Mood for Love".

In Qi Yuan's memory, Leung Chiu-wai should have won this year's Hong Kong Film Awards, so it's fine if he doesn't participate.

However, he really should go back to China. They don't allow him to achieve four awards with one album. He's been in the US for two months now, it's time for him to return home.

Before returning to China, Qi Yuan still gave her American fans a surprise.

In early May, Qi Yuan's photo appeared on the cover of the US edition of Time magazine.

The photo was taken from the lower left corner of Qi Yuan's body, looking upwards. Qi Yuan is sitting in a chair with his arms crossed, wearing a black suit and red tie, with a gold microphone brooch pinned to his clothes.

In the photo, Qi Yuan gazes firmly into the distance, as if his journey is far from over.

From some perspectives, it's as if Qi Yuan is inspecting the musical 'empire' he has built.

The title of this week's issue is: 'A Pioneer in Asian Pop Music!'

There is no king of pop, no king of pop, but the title is more domineering than any king of pop!
In Asia, especially in Hong Kong and Taiwan, throwing a brick could knock down a whole bunch of superstars. Superstars are everywhere, so there's really not much prestige left.

The leader of Asian pop music is different; there is only one Qi Yuan, and no other singer dares to challenge him.

The release of this issue of the weekly magazine excited overseas Chinese, international students, Qi Yuan's American fans, and fans in China.

However, the Japanese people and media were very dissatisfied. They thought, "Damn it! In Japan, your Time magazine would make all its executives come out and bow in apology!"

Sakamoto Kyu was clearly the first Asian musician to go global. The title of "guide" should belong to Sakamoto Kyu, or perhaps Qi Yuan should be called the new generation's guide.

Unfortunately, no one paid any attention to the Japanese media outlets complaining about their grievances.

South Korean media outlets even published numerous articles offering seemingly plausible analyses that Sakamoto Kyu was inferior to Qi Yuan and unworthy of the title of leader.

As long as the Japanese are unhappy, the South Koreans are happy. They don't care if the leader is Chinese or not Japanese.

It is said that some South Korean netizens are already digging into Qi Yuan's family tree, trying to find evidence to prove that Qi Yuan's ancestors were South Koreans.

Some South Koreans are really annoyed. Hey, Qi Yuan oppa, can't you learn from Jackie Chan? Why didn't you say you were half South Korean when you came to South Korea last time?

When Qi Yuan's plane landed smoothly at Beijing Airport, Chinese state media reported: "Welcome back to my country, renowned young musician Qi Yuan..."

(End of this chapter)