HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 426 [426] A Little Bit of Commercialized Rock Shock!
Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, November has arrived.

During the days that Qi Yuan was filming in Hengdian, he and Donnie Yen had a wonderful fight scene together.

Qi Yuan's full range of abilities, combined with his master-level martial arts skills, greatly surprised the kung fu star Donnie Yen!
He really wanted to ask, "Are all young people these days this fierce?"

It's fortunate that he was born more than ten years too early, otherwise he might never have made it big.

He debuted relatively early, in 84, but didn't start gaining attention until 92.

It's not that he can't fight; his disadvantage lies in his appearance. In his early days, he was too sharp and had a fierce look, making it impossible for him to play a righteous character.

It was also villainous roles that propelled his career to new heights, such as Nalan Yuanshu in "Once Upon a Time in China II" and the head of the West Depot in "New Dragon Gate Inn".

Besides praising Qi Yuan's action scenes, Donnie Yen also highly praised Qi Yuan's music: "You're really amazing that you can make it in a place like America and do so well."

He spent his teenage years in the United States and knows how tough it is there.

After Zhen Zidan left the production team, Qi Yuan began acting opposite Chen Daoming, filming the scene where he meets the King of Qin.

……

Outside of the film set, Warner Music started promoting Qi Yuan on the charts.

Zhang Hao asked Qi Yuan in advance which songs to choose for chart ranking.

Qi Yuan's answer was: "Young and Promising," "Blue Lotus," "Chasing Dreams with a Pure Heart," and "Rain on Qingming Festival."

These four songs encompass three main elements: pop, rock, and Chinese style.

"Blue and White Porcelain" can be kept in the album as a trump card, there's no need to use it in advance.

The four songs Qi Yuan chose are more than enough.

"Young and Promising" is one of Li Ronghao's most influential hit songs.

"Blue Lotus," a classic of Chinese rock, is a must-sing song for countless people to start a party.

"Chasing Dreams with a Pure Heart" is an inspirational song that many high school seniors listen to during their final year of high school and that is used to cheer on athletes at numerous major sporting events.

"Rain on Qingming Festival" is a classic Chinese-style work by Xu Song.

Most singers, with these four songs and six more filler songs, could release a high-quality album.

Moreover, these four songs are merely appetizers for Qi Yuan's fans; the real feast is yet to come.

Under Warner's management, these four songs began to appear on radio stations across the country, including in Taiwan.

They just don't allow Qi Yuan to do any commercial promotion.

They don't have the guts to prevent Qi Yuan from selling albums or airing his singles on the radio.

According to the information revealed by Zhang Hao, things are starting to get a little panicked over there.

The inability of "Meteor Garden" to enter the mainland market resulted in F4 gaining no fame in the mainland.

This is just the beginning. They persist, and we will persist as well. In the future, all the popular dramas like "Meteor Garden" will have to wait in line for approval. Let's see who can't afford to wait in the end.

If the time intervals weren't so short, and if people weren't afraid of hurting themselves, the restrictions might have already started to loosen.

……

Beijing.

Warner Music artist Wang Feng, who later became a major figure in the rock scene, is paying attention to Qi Yuan's new album.

The reason is simply that Qi Yuan played rock in this new album. In 93, Wang Feng formed a band with his classmates and other enthusiastic music enthusiasts during his university years, and he served as the lead singer.

In the years that followed, Wang Feng created rock songs that were recognized in the rock music scene.

The band also released two albums, but didn't make much money; they could only gain some recognition within a small circle.

Last year, Wang Feng joined Warner Music as a solo artist, and the band announced its disbandment.

Wang Feng was very resourceful. He followed Qi Yuan's example and signed his record deal only with Warner Music, while signing his acting deal with another company in Beijing.

He also wanted to completely emulate Qi Yuan and sign a more lenient, custom-made entertainment contract with Warner that could be terminated at any time.

But he clearly doesn't have that qualification.

If he dares to mention this, Zhou Jianhui will kick him out immediately.

What level are you in? You want the same contract as Ah-Yuan? Can you sell 2700 million Chinese albums and over 1000 million English albums? Let's talk after you've done that.

At the end of last year, Wang Feng released his first solo rock album, "Fireworks," with Warner Music.

During his time in bands, Wang Feng discovered that most of the so-called authentic rock music was just a small circle of people entertaining themselves.

He didn't want to flop, so in his album "Fireworks," he explored commercial rock, incorporating more pop elements into the rock genre.

He is a very pragmatic person. In his opinion, what's the point of rock and roll if you can't even make money?
Record companies will only promote a record company if it wants to achieve commercial success.

Only when more people are willing to listen to rock music can it be promoted nationwide, and only then can it be considered a true contribution to rock music.

To put it simply, it's a struggle between the conservatives and the reformers.

As it turned out, Wang Feng's approach was correct. After the release of his album "Fireworks", 80 copies of the official record were sold, setting a sales record for mainland rock albums in recent years.

Although it still lags far behind those best-selling pop albums, the album sold well, convincing Wang Feng that commercializing rock music was a viable path.

Of course, Wang Feng is still exploring. It wasn't until a few years later, with songs like "Flying Higher" and "Life in Full Bloom," that he officially established his commercial rock style and gained huge market recognition.

Just at this time, his "senior" Qi Yuan, who was also with Warner Music, suddenly started playing rock music. He was really looking forward to seeing what Qi Yuan's rock music would be like.

He had absolutely no idea that Qi Yuan would try to take his spot.

He knew how utterly pathetic those people in the rock scene were!

If Qi Yuan can promote the commercialization of rock music, bring it to the masses, and expand the rock music market, he can follow in Qi Yuan's footsteps and enjoy the benefits, even the spoils.

Based on his understanding of Qi Yuan, he believes that Qi Yuan will have a new musical style or concept in each album, and it is impossible for him to play rock music in every album.

He, however, can delve deeply into the realm of rock music.

To put it simply, the Chinese rock scene is large enough to accommodate Qi Yuan and him.

Even if Qi Yuan occupies half of the rock music scene and broadens the horizons, isn't there still half left? How do we know he can't be the other half if we don't try?
With a research and learning attitude, Wang Feng stayed up late on November 4th at a Beijing music radio station, ready to listen to Qi Yuan's rock music as soon as possible.

At the appointed time, the radio station promptly played Qi Yuan's new song for its eagerly awaiting listeners.

As the music began, the powerful prelude and rousing melody entered Wang Feng's ears.

In 01, before commercial rock was born and before rock music was truly accepted by the mainland public, "Chasing Dreams with a Pure Heart" was like a bombshell. It made countless ordinary music fans accept this kind of music, and it also brought some new inspiration to rock musicians like Wang Feng who were exploring commercialization.

Wang Feng quickly felt a little shocked by this song! He realized that commercial rock could be played like this.

(End of this chapter)