HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 429 [429] This quality, you call this careless?

Nearly a year and a half later, Qi Yuan is releasing another Chinese album.

This is a significant event for both record companies and musicians in the industry, as well as for ordinary music fans and listeners.

It goes without saying that ordinary fans and listeners haven't seen Qi Yuan's new Chinese album in a long time.

Industry peers take a longer-term view. Qi Yuan is the number one king of the Chinese music scene during a period of decline, and every album of Qi Yuan's will be studied in depth by them.

Those who thoroughly understand the field can succeed on the track pioneered by Qi Yuan.

Wang Lihong and Zhou Jielun are two good examples.

Wang Lihong followed up with R&B and successfully transformed his career, while Zhou Jielun began to enter the Chinese style field and conquer the middle-aged and elderly audiences. Qi Yuan is a pioneer in these fields.

Some people in the industry also have doubts about the overall quality of Qi Yuan's fifth major.

From a business perspective, Qi Yuan's decision to release a Chinese album after successfully breaking into the US market is essentially equivalent to doing charity.

How big is the Chinese music market? Jay Chou's "Ye Huimei" is of extremely high quality and sold exceptionally well; the industry only dared to estimate its sales at 250 million to 300 million copies.

This is already the second person after Qi Yuan.

The Chinese-language physical record market is in decline; this is a consensus among everyone in the industry.

Releasing a Chinese album brought Qi Yuan far less revenue than releasing an English album.

Given such a significant difference in profits, will Qi Yuan still put as much effort into producing Chinese albums as before?
Or, to put it another way, the English album released in the first half of the year has already consumed a lot of Qi Yuan's energy. Does Qi Yuan still have the energy and inspiration to produce a high-quality Chinese masterpiece?

Countless people in the industry are curious about this.

而答案，在2001年11月11日的上午11点11分揭晓。

Qi Yuan's new album "Wishing for Rain in the Empty Mountains" is being sold simultaneously in music stores across mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, and other Asian countries.

Warner Music also stocked some of its products in Chinese communities in the United States, Canada, and other European and American countries.

As Qi Yuan gains popularity in Europe and America, there will definitely be overseas Chinese, and even Europeans and Americans, who will buy Qi Yuan's Chinese albums, although the number may be somewhat small.

……

Huizhou Province, Bengbu City.

Li Ronghao purchased "Wish for Rain in the Empty Mountains" immediately.

He waited in line for a full half hour at the nearest record store to buy the record.

Among domestic singers releasing albums, only Qi Yuan can create such a scene.

Li Ronghao was so shocked by the scene that his eyes widened.

The shopkeeper gave him his change and kindly said, "Young man, open your eyes and count to see if you have enough."

The boss couldn't help but complain, "What's wrong with this young man? He's even trying to look cool with his eyes closed while giving change."

Li Ronghao: "..."

Could he say he had opened his eyes as wide as possible?
Is it wrong to have small eyes?

After counting the change he received, Li Ronghao left with the records.

He will buy Qi Yuan's new album for a simple reason: Qi Yuan is one of the important mentors on his musical journey.

He loved watching the Hong Kong "Young and Dangerous" movies since he was a child, and he especially loved the theme song "Friendship Years". That was the first time he experienced the charm of pop music.

When he was nine years old, his family took him to a Beyond concert, and he became obsessed with the guitar.

Without any teacher's guidance, he taught himself using books and cassette tapes and CDs of popular music. He neglected his studies to learn the piano, and chose to drop out of school in his second year of junior high.

His parents recognized his musical talent and enrolled him in a professional double bass class in Jinling, where he studied every week. He has been studying there for more than two and a half years now.

It was during this period of study that he was exposed to more popular music, and Qi Yuan, who emerged out of nowhere and went from a musical prodigy to an international superstar, became his role model.

He fantasized countless times that he could be like Qi Yuan in the future.

He practiced each of Qi Yuan's songs, "Starry Sky," "Everyday," "Unavoidable Love," and "East Wind Breaks," no less than a hundred times.

Of the songs from Qi Yuan's new album that are trending, his favorite is "Young and Promising." He can't explain why, but he just really likes this song.

This song even inspired him to create his own songs.

Back home, Li Ronghao began to listen to the album attentively, hoping to draw more inspiration from it.

From the very first song, "Those Years," Li Ronghao discovered that Qi Yuan's old traditions had returned.

This song tells a sweet, innocent love story, and the female protagonist, Qin Lan, is stunningly beautiful.

Especially the scene where she cries in the rain, any man who sees it would feel a pang of pity.

The tear-jerking storyline is paired with Qi Yuan's heartfelt singing.

"The heavy rains we missed in those years, the love we missed in those years, I really want to tell you..."

Li Ronghao felt a strong connection to the song; it captivated him from the very first song.

Then, the music videos for "Back to Back Hug," "Cultivating Love," "Special Person," and "Young and Promising" played in front of him one after another.

The beauties in the music video appear one after another, with Alyssa Chia, Chen Hao, and Dong Xuan making appearances.

Not everyone may know Li Ronghao, but every one of them is a stunning beauty.

What made Li Ronghao most nervous was the music video for "Young and Promising," in which Qi Yuan cast Lin Xue as the male lead, whose acting was superb.

At the end, Lin Xue said "Drive," and the camera focused on the driver, Qi Yuan, in a close-up of his expression.

Qi Yuan nodded, her big, bright black eyes delivering a powerful blow to Li Ronghao.

He couldn't understand why, even though they were both men, the size of their eyes could differ so greatly.

On the B-side of the album, hit songs such as "Stubborn," "The Brightest Star in the Night Sky," "Your Answer," "Chasing Dreams with a Pure Heart," "The Ordinary Road," and "Blue Lotus" appear one after another.

"Stubbornness," "The Ordinary Road," and "Blue Lotus" are Li Ronghao's three favorite songs.

Finally, Li Ronghao was pleasantly surprised to find that there were two hidden songs, "Rain on Qingming Festival" and "Blue and White Porcelain".

The quality of "Rain on Qingming Festival" is already very high.

When the prelude to "Blue and White Porcelain" started playing, Li Ronghao felt a chill run down his spine.

The piece was so beautifully written that he was once again blown away when Qi Yuan's voice came on!

This song is great not only because of its melody, but also because of its brilliant lyrics.

"The unglazed porcelain is outlined with blue and white brushstrokes, thick at first and then thinning; the peony painted on the vase is like your first makeup; the rising sandalwood incense through the window reveals my unspoken thoughts; the brush on the rice paper stops halfway here..."

"The sky is the color of rain and mist, and I am waiting for you. Wisps of smoke rise from the chimneys, across thousands of miles of river..."

The lyrics, with their strong classical Eastern flavor, left Li Ronghao speechless with admiration!
He recalled what some people had said recently: Qi Yuan was putting a lot of energy into the Western music scene, and English albums were more profitable, so Qi Yuan wouldn't put as much effort into Chinese albums as before.

After listening to the entire album, Li Ronghao immediately started swearing!

Damn! You call this careless? If this album, "Wishing for Rain in the Empty Mountains," isn't even made with care, then what about 99% of the albums on the market? Are they all garbage?
Besides Qi Yuan's own album, is there any other album on the market that can compete with "Wish for Rain in the Empty Mountains"?
(End of this chapter)