HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 39 [039] If he can be a Heavenly King, so can our Qi Yuan.

Executives from record companies such as Rock Records, Chikor, EMI, and Shanghua witnessed firsthand how quickly Qi Yuan rose to fame in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

They had someone check the submissions the company had received in the past two years and found that Qi Yuan really wasn't exaggerating.

Every record company received Qi Yuan's letter, and not just one.

However, most of Qi Yuan's letters were treated as waste paper, and the envelopes were never even opened.

It is rumored that executives from several record companies were furious, angrily denouncing the production departments as freeloaders.

Qi Yuan's song has been delivered right under your noses, why don't you evaluate its quality?
Why let such a promising talent with outstanding looks and exceptional creative ability go to Warner Music, which was on the decline?

After Warner acquired UFO Records, its top management fought amongst themselves, causing internal chaos within the company. All the record companies in the industry hoped that Warner would collapse so that they could swarm in and take over Warner's market share.

Now things are much better. With Qi Yuan's sudden emergence, Warner Music has shaken off its previous gloom and started to get back on track.

After criticizing their own production department, the record company executives started criticizing Zhou Jianhui.

Zhou Jianhui, that bastard, is really lucky. He's only been in office for a few days, and he's already achieved such impressive results.

Alfa Records.

The two newcomers who signed last year are paying special attention to Qi Yuan.

One of them was Jay Chou, who found a reflection of himself in Qi Yuan.

It turns out that Qi Yuan had the same experience as him, writing many songs that no one used.

Another was Fang Wenshan, who discovered that Qi Yuan had done the same thing as him, and was even more insane than him.

In his early years, he worked as a construction worker on construction sites and once sent more than two hundred letters to record companies, all of which contained lyrics he had written.

Qi Yuan has even more perseverance than him, doubling his efforts even further. They're truly kindred spirits.

Fang Wenshan immediately sent several poems he had written during this period to Warner Music, asking the front desk staff to pass them on to Qi Yuan.

He was in the same situation as Jay Chou, having been benched for six months after signing with Alfa Romeo.

He hoped that Qi Yuan, someone he had known before, would appreciate his talent.

……

Warner Records.

Filming for "My Fair Princess" wrapped up at the end of December, and Qiong Yao returned to Taiwan.

Zhang Hao handed the lyrics written by Qiong Yao to Qi Yuan: "This was given to me by He Xiuqiong. Qiong Yao demanded that not a single word of her lyrics be changed."

It is said that during filming, Qiong Yao did not allow the director and actors to change her lines. She had to say the lines exactly as written in the script, and not a single word could be missing.

Therefore, not allowing the lyrics to be changed is in line with Yao's character.

Qiong Yao is quite an interesting person. Before he rose to power, he wrote scripts praising the love between mistresses. After he succeeded in becoming the wife, he started to criticize mistresses from the perspective of the original wife.

Her dramas have extremely skewed values.

However, audiences these days really like her style, so poor Yao's dramas have always been very popular and have made her a star.

Lin Qingxia, Lin Fengjiao, Chen Derong and other well-known actresses were all made famous by the poor Yao dramas.

Qi Yuan is just a singer of theme songs; how melodramatic or outrageous the plot of the TV series is has nothing to do with him.

After receiving the lyrics, he checked them and confirmed that it was indeed the song "When" from his previous life.

He immediately started working, spending some time creating a simple piece of music and recording a demo.

It was just a demo, rather rudimentary. Qi Yuan stayed in the recording studio alone, typing on the keyboard and humming the lyrics from beginning to end. After only an hour or so, Qi Yuan came out of the recording studio: "Take the demo we just recorded to Qiong Yao's people. If they think it's okay, we can continue."

Qi Yuan doesn't have time to record a complete song right now. The album has just been released in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and he needs to cooperate with the company's promotional strategy by doing roadshows and autograph sessions.

Sure enough, after recording the demo of "Dang" in the morning, he appeared at "Rose Records," one of the largest record stores in Taipei, in the afternoon, starting his business.

"I still love you, that's my only way out; I still cherish every moment of happiness..."

"Love is love, but tenderness cannot withstand the test of time, and joy is fleeting. Let's not wait until we hurt each other..."

……

Qi Yuan performed several songs from her albums in the square outside the music store, where fans cheered enthusiastically.

The staff arranged some interactive games for Qi Yuan and her fans.

For example, Qi Yuan randomly selected some autographed gifts of varying value from a box and gave them to the fans in the audience.

The Taiwanese girl's enthusiasm far exceeded Qi Yuan's expectations; he had never seen such a wild scene in mainland China.

"Honey, stop with the lottery! Pick me instead!"

A loud female voice came from the crowd, and Qi Yuan couldn't keep her composure any longer.

Laughter filled the air.

Afterwards, Taiwanese newspapers posted photos of Chi Yuan's strained expression, with the headline "Chi Yuan becomes a ginseng fruit, almost being sexually assaulted by a crazed female fan at his Taipei autograph session."

Qi Yuan spent several days traveling to major cities throughout Taiwan Province.

Warner Music's marketing strategy, coupled with the album's exceptional quality, propelled Qi Yuan's fame to soar in Taiwan.

Within five days of its release, the album sold 300,000 copies in the Taiwanese market.

Songs such as "The First Time," "You'll Be With Me All My Life," "Because of You," "Small Town Girl," "Starry Night," and "Simple Love" have climbed the Taiwanese music charts.

Qi Yuan occupied four spots in the top ten of the song request charts at Wanwan KTV: "Starry Sky", "Simple Love", "First Time" and "Because of Love, So I Love".

Qi Yuan's popularity in Taiwan is in no way inferior to that of Richie Jen at the beginning of the year.

Richie Jen's "Too Softhearted" was a phenomenal hit, but only one song from the entire album became a hit.

Qi Yuan is different; his album has ten songs, and every single one of them is a hit.

Such incredible popularity and album sales shocked many record companies.

Both are R&B artists, but Tao Ze's "David Tao," released last month, hasn't even sold 300,000 copies yet. If it sells more than 300,000 copies over its entire sales lifecycle, that would be considered pretty good.

Qi Yuan, a singer from mainland China, has shown such strong dominance in the Taiwanese record market.

After receiving the good news, Warner Music's General Manager Zhou Jianhui intensified marketing efforts to elevate Qi Yuan's status.

[With over a million genuine copies sold across Asia, a new pop star has been born—Qi Yuan]

[The godfather of Mandarin R&B, who made R&B a mainstream phenomenon in the Chinese music scene.]

We need more singer-songwriters like Qi Yuan who can bring innovation to the Chinese music scene. Qi Yuan, this new little king, is different from the Four Heavenly Kings and Richie Jen of the past. He is the only one who has won the title of "Heavenly King" based on his talent and songwriting ability.

In 1997, after "Too Softhearted" became a hit across Asia, Rolling Stone and the media bestowed upon Richie Jen the title of Asia's New King of Pop.

In 1998, Qi Yuan's self-titled debut album became a hit across mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, with cumulative official sales exceeding one million copies. Zhou Jianhui believed that it was perfectly acceptable to give Qi Yuan the title of a new pop star.

Richie Jen of Rock Records is a singer, and so is Qi Yuan of Warner Music. If he can become a superstar, so can Qi Yuan.

(End of this chapter)