HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 58 [058] Cantonese EP in production; Yinghuang also uses Nicholas Tse to provoke Qi Yuan.

After attending the awards ceremony of the Top 100 Awards, Qi Yuan flew directly from Shanghai back to Guangzhou to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

When he returned to Beijing to film a Wahaha commercial, schools like Beijing Film Academy and Central Academy of Drama were all on holiday, and his old classmates Huang Xiaoming, Zu Feng, and others had all gone back to their hometowns.

Only Zhang Tong stayed behind specifically to wait for Qi Yuan. She returned to Xinjiang Province while Qi Yuan was in Shanghai participating in the Top 100 List.

Back in Guangzhou, free from the harassment of reporters and the need to maintain a good image, Qi Yuan slept in comfortably for two days and caught up on "Water Margin".

Liu Huan made a phone call to Qi Yuan and mainly talked about two things.

The first thing Liu Huan forgot to tell Qi Yuan on the day of the awards ceremony was the first thing.

Liu Huan will be performing on this year's Spring Festival Gala, singing "Heroes' Song" written by Qi Yuan.

Liu Huan recommended Qi Yuan to the Spring Festival Gala director.

It's a pity that Qi Yuan became famous too late.

The Spring Festival Gala production team usually invites artists four months in advance.

For example, the Spring Festival Gala this year was organized by a directing team established in September last year, which began inviting artists to prepare programs.

Preparing so early is to ensure that there is enough time for planning, creating, rehearsing, and refining the programs, thus guaranteeing the high quality of the Spring Festival Gala.

This is 1998 now. The Spring Festival Gala of 98 is incomparable to the Spring Festival Galas of later years. The current production team is very dedicated.

Therefore, it was too late when Liu Huan recommended Qi Yuan; the director couldn't possibly rearrange the program just for Qi Yuan alone.

According to Liu Huan, the director also felt it was a pity, saying that it would have been better if the child had become famous earlier.

Qi Yuan himself didn't think there was anything wrong with it.

As long as he polishes his Cantonese EP and new album, he will definitely be able to perform on the Spring Festival Gala, as a leading figure in mainland pop music.

Ren Xianqi was incredibly popular last year, but he didn't appear on the Spring Festival Gala. He'll be on it next year.

Liu Huan then dropped another bombshell on Qi Yuan about the Water Margin.

"It's a bit of a shame you didn't make it onto the Spring Festival Gala, but I have something good to tell you."

Do you know Li Xuejian, who plays Song Jiang? He bought his tickets the day before yesterday and is preparing to go home for the Chinese New Year.

His wife frantically urged him not to go home. The villagers thought the portrayal of Song Jiang was too hateful, that he had led all the heroes astray, and everyone in the village wanted to beat him up.

When he told a funny story, Liu Huan couldn't help but laugh several times.

Sometimes, acting a role too well and becoming too deeply ingrained in people's minds isn't a good thing.

Qi Yuan felt a little sorry for Li Xuejian. He was just too famous to appear on the Spring Festival Gala, but Li Xuejian was in a much worse situation, afraid to go home.

Qi Yuan also heard that a farmer in Hunan Province smashed the television in a fit of rage after watching the TV series "Water Margin" depicting Song Jiang's surrender to the imperial court.

This incident made the news.

CCTV's reaction was quite interesting; they compensated the farmer with a new television.

This shows just how much people hated Li Xuejian's Song Jiang, and how high the ratings and attention were for "Water Margin".

……

New Year's Eve.

A sumptuous feast was prepared at home.

Qi Yuan enjoyed a big meal and then watched the Spring Festival Gala with her parents.

In fact, Southern F3s are not interested in the Spring Festival Gala. During the Spring Festival, Southern F3s either watch their own provincial programs or go to the temple fair to watch fireworks.

Previously, Qi Yuan's family had no habit of watching the Spring Festival Gala.

This year was different. Old Qi and his mother knew that their son's song was going to be performed on the Spring Festival Gala, and that it was sung by the very famous Liu Huan, so they decided to watch it.

It must be said that the quality of the Spring Festival Gala is really high now.

Na-young and Xia... Princess sang "Meet in 1998" together, and both of them have excellent singing skills.

The rendition of "Great China" by Andy Lau, Zhang Xinzhe, and Mao Ning is also quite good, while Liu Huan's "Heroes' Song" is even more heroic.

The sketch comedy segment was equally explosive, with Zhao Benshan, Gao Xiukai, and Fan Wei, forming a formidable trio, collaborating for the first time to present "New Year's Greetings." Huang Hong and Song Dandan also performed "Going Home."

Also included was Chen Peisi and Zhu Shimao's last Spring Festival Gala performance, a piece titled "The Prince and the Imperial Envoy".

Although Richie Jen did not appear on the Spring Festival Gala, his song "Too Softhearted" was adapted and covered by Zhao Lirong in a skit.

After watching Liu Huan's rendition of "Heroes' Song," Comrade Lao Qi called all his relatives one by one, asking, "Did you watch the Spring Festival Gala? Did you see the 'Heroes' Song' that my son wrote? It was sung by Liu Huan."

This really gave Comrade Qi a good thrashing.

0:0 AM.

Qi Yuan received New Year's greetings text messages from a group of people in the entertainment industry, including Zhou Jielun, Liu Genghong, Chen Huilin, Zhang Hao, and Lin Zhiling.

Huang Xiaoming, Zu Feng, Yan Danchen, Zhang Tong and other classmates also sent New Year's greetings via text message.

By the way, Gao Yuanyuan, who had only met him once, also sent him a New Year's greeting text message. It wasn't a template message; you could tell she put some thought into it.

Qi Yuan chose to reply to everyone in a group message mainly because so many people wished him a Happy New Year. Even some elementary school classmates whose names he had forgotten sent him New Year's greetings, so he didn't have time to reply to them individually.

To avoid being surrounded and questioned by relatives during visits, I fled to Beijing on the second day of the Lunar New Year and wrote out all five songs for my Cantonese EP.

On the tenth day of the month, Zhang Hao returned.

Qi Yuan and Zhang Hao flew directly to Warner Music's branch in Hong Kong to prepare for the production of Qi Yuan's Cantonese EP.

Zhang Hao had already informed Zhou Jianhui about Qi Yuan's plan to release an EP.

Zhou Jianhui was overjoyed.

An EP, also known as a mini-album, was a powerful tool for popular singers to make money during the record era.

In the late 80s and early 90s, the golden age of record sales, popular singers from Hong Kong and Taiwan would release EPs after releasing albums.

EPs are low-cost and low-priced, making them affordable for many student fans who don't have much money.

It's basically a combination of one good song and a few bad songs.

This thing can not only make money, but when the sales figures are tallied at the end of the year, if you include the sales of EP, each one will have annual sales of millions.

Only they themselves know how much of it is exaggerated.

When Qi Yuan arrived in Hong Kong, he naturally couldn't escape the eyes of the Hong Kong paparazzi.

[Apple Daily: Qi Yuan visits Hong Kong again, seemingly provoking her ex-boyfriend, a jewelry heiress]

[Next Magazine: Cheating on a Taiwanese model, yet unwilling to let go of a wealthy heiress—is he a pop star or a gigolo?]

Warner Music Hong Kong has released the latest news that Qi Yuan's first solo Cantonese EP is currently in production and is expected to be released to Hong Kong fans in March or April.

Mainland Chinese actor Qi Yuan is set to release a Cantonese EP, vowing to challenge the Four Heavenly Kings' dominance.

As always, the Hong Kong media likes to exaggerate the facts.

Warner and Qi Yuan were used to it and couldn't be bothered with these pests.

The more you engage with them, the more enthusiastic they become.

Qi Yuan and Zhang Hao noticed a very popular news story from Hong Kong.

On the same day that Warner Music Hong Kong officially announced the launch of Qi Yuan's Cantonese EP project, Yinghuang Entertainment also announced that their artist Nicholas Tse would be releasing a new Cantonese album in March or April.

Hey!
Zhang Hao and Zhou Jianhui, who was in Taiwan, couldn't help but curse.

Shameless beyond measure! Yinghuang is utterly shameless. Aren't they just pushing Xie Tingfeng forward to piggyback on Qi Yuan's fame?

Interestingly, at the beginning of the year, senior executives at Rolling Stone also greeted Zhou Jianhui in the same way.

Being a celebrity by faking an accident is a quick way to gain fame.

The prerequisite is that you have to be strong enough yourself; otherwise, you'll easily become a clown that everyone will laugh at.

Nicholas Tse clearly doesn't need to worry about being ridiculed. He has Yinghuang backing him, and he's known as the "Crown Prince of Yinghuang." Yinghuang's best resources are all poured into him.

Yinghuang and Xie Tingfeng were confident that they would not be at a disadvantage in their attempt to provoke Qi Yuan.

　Thank you to reader Zhou Laosi for the 100 reading coins! Thank you to reader 151009134137808 for the 100 Qidian coins!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)