Chapter 442: Asian Invasion, Grammy Secrets (6k)

Warner Bros. didn't really react much to Eminem and 50 Cent jumping out to add drama to themselves at this time - anyone can see that this guy is just trying to boost his album sales in the name of fighting Zhou Yi.

As the most promising contender for this year's best rap album and best single, 50 Cent, who reached the peak of his debut, has been rising all the way under the protection of Eminem -

The album "Get Rich Or Die Tryin" was released in early February, and sales exceeded one million within a week. So far, the total sales in the United States have exceeded 4 million copies. According to industry estimates, the album is expected to sell more than 6 million copies in 2003.

This is just the sales in North America alone. If the scope is expanded to the world, the total sales will exceed 10 million, and it is not impossible to expect higher sales.

For those in the entertainment industry, fame and fortune are the most important.

Now for 50 Cent, with this super hit album as a foundation, the profit is definitely there, and the next thing he lacks is fame.

Or, it's the status.

Is there anything better than stepping on Zhou Yi, the new Grammy triple winner, to get the No. 1 single on the Billboard?

The answer is no.

With "In Da Club" only one step away from the No. 1 on the Billboard, using the Billboard results to make a fuss is undoubtedly the safest option.

Not to mention that Zhou Yi's reputation in many American media is now mixed - there are as many people who like him as there are people who hate him.

Don't say that Zhou Yi's song has just started to rush to the charts, and you are asked whether you are competing for the charts.

What?

Do you want to be shameless?

If Eminem and the company behind him really had shame, they would not have torn up with Mariah Carey last year, and repeatedly bit her when she denied it.

"I think this is a kind of confidence."

Rowan Placido, then editor of the American comprehensive literary magazine "The New Yorker", expressed his appreciation for 50 Cent in an interview: "This is the kind of confidence that the American music scene needs. Just like the Brit Awards pay more attention to the British, we should focus more on the American music scene instead of discussing an Asian.

"It is no exaggeration to say that I think this is an invasion from Asia, and the Grammys have surrendered to the invasion. In this respect, they are even worse than the Brit Awards."

As we all know, because the Brit Awards were held before the Grammys, Zhou Yi's public relations team did not choose to focus on it after weighing it. It is precisely because of this that Zhou Yi, who knew that he would not win the award, did not go at all, and even "spoke wildly" in an interview.

And the Grammy Award is undoubtedly a stamp for the European and American music scene - after all, whether you are willing to admit it or not, the Grammy is indeed the highest award in the world music scene.

Kylie Minogue has achieved success in the UK, and Shakira is already a queen in Latin America. Even so, they still coincidentally I chose to venture into North America.

Because the word racial discrimination is too sensitive, Rowan Placido, who received the money, did not mention this aspect, but borrowed the experience of Kylie Minogue, Shakira and others in the North American music scene to pave the way for the high-end status of the American music scene in the world-

Then he changed the subject and began to attract fans of these outsiders.

Your idols failed to get the recognition of the Grammy Awards in North America, but Zhou Yi won the trophy for the first time he participated in the Grammy Awards. Can you tolerate this?

Isn't this a complete shady deal?

This is a small matter. The inside story of the Les Mys, to put it in a bigger way, is the invasion of the United States by Asian capital!

Asians want to control the discourse of our American music scene!

Can you tolerate this? !

As for how to solve this problem, Rowan Placido did not give any detailed names, but said ambiguously, "We also have very good singers, such as Norah Jones, Alicia Keys, Britney Spears, 50 Cent, etc...."

However, in this series of names, the only one who has released a new album is 50 Cent.

This thought is more or less like Kennedy's convertible - passers-by know it.

In order to gain sympathy points for himself, 50 Cent, who played the inspirational card, gradually began to tell the outside world about his "legend" under the instruction of the company - the legend of not dying after being shot nine times!

On July 6, 1975, 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis James Jackson III, was born in Queens, New York, USA.

This is a legendary inspirational neighborhood in itself, just because many famous rappers in the history of American music have come out of here, including LL Cool J, Nicki Minaj and the most successful female rap group in history Salt N Pepa.

Curtis also inherited the fine tradition of Queens and became a rapper.

Like many black people, not long after he was born, his father abandoned the family by relying on his racial talent to "get rid of the father and keep the son".

His 15-year-old mother started a drug trafficking and pimping business to raise her son.

Then, when Curtis was eight years old, his mother was murdered because of a drug deal, and the young Curtis had to go to his grandmother's family who were also in the slums.

At the age of 12, he embarked on the road of drug trafficking. At the age of 18, he became a well-known drug lord, earning $5,000 a day.

In 1996, perhaps tired of the terrifying life of drug trafficking, Curtis, who was released from prison again, began to cut off the drug lord business and transformed himself - learning rap and gave himself a stage name: 50 Cent.

It must be said that Curtis is indeed very talented in hip-hop music.

But just when everything was about to get back on track, on May 24, 2000, Curtis, who was about to release his first album, was shot outside his grandmother's house. The assailant used a 9mm pistol to shoot him 9 rounds at close range and then fled the scene.

The 9 shots hit Curtis' fingers, arms, buttocks, legs, chest and left face respectively.

If it were an ordinary person, he would probably confess on the spot, but Curtis survived miraculously after being sent to the hospital for rescue, and he recovered as before after only recuperating for more than half a year.

Family misfortune, father disappeared and mother died; he was a pimp, a drug lord, and a boxer, but he survived nine shots, his first album was aborted, his debut was blocked, and he was blacklisted by the American record industry, and then he was signed by Eminem and his debut album became a hit...

If there were no living people here, everyone would think that this plot was a movie.

This has also become Curtis' favorite capital to boast about during promotions - most of his fans were attracted by his legendary experience and were moved by his inspiration.

"I choose 50 Cent, he is more in line with the situation of our American music scene, and he is one of us."

"Indeed, it's not that Spike is not good, but mainly because Spike's experience is too smooth, it seems meaningless, and the only hot news is gossip, which is too distant from us."

"Yes, that's right, just as Spike said at the beginning, he has a happy family and a happy life, and he has achieved success without any setbacks, which is too distant."

"I grew up in various drug trafficking environments when I was a child, but my experience is not as legendary as 50 Cent, but I recognize his courage to come out, this is a real man."

"..."

Unconsciously, 50 Cent has become an inspirational black representative who interprets the American dream, subtly influencing every passerby who can see similar news. Coupled with the hype of related songs, it looks like a representative figure of the American music scene.

In the context of the so-called Asian invasion, who else can we support if we don’t support such an executor of the American dream?

Of course, many people are still confused about this trend - they don’t even know what the so-called "China threat theory" and the so-called "Asian invasion theory" are.

They only know the world according to the news given by major traditional media.

Today the media says east and they are east, tomorrow they say west and they are west.

And under the description of some large and small media, Zhou Yi, who won the Grammy Award, became the vanguard of the Asian invasion, the evil dragon that must be stopped and the demon that must be fought.

"It's just nonsense! It's outrageous that so many people still believe it."

Qian Jiang almost tore up the newspaper in his hand.

Obviously, this is a counterattack by many media - a counterattack against Warner leading the public relations team to help Zhou Yi win the Grammy Award.

"Normal. You can't expect that there are still many people who believe that the European and American idiots have superb information discrimination ability."

Zhou Yi, who was sitting on the sofa in the lounge, took a bite of the hot dog bun to replenish his stomach that had not eaten properly for almost a day. He said vaguely: "After all, the fact that I won the Grammy is too shocking for them. To put it more broadly, I have the ability to threaten the cultural evaluation system dominated by them. They will never give up."

The cultural evaluation system dominated by Europe and the United States - to be precise, the cultural evaluation system dominated by the United States has always been a weapon for the United States to export cultural values.

Whether it is the Grammy or the Oscar or the so-called three major European awards, the British Music Awards, etc., if you want to win an award, you have to enter that circle, or conform to their concepts, and then you will reach the stage of competing in public relations skills.

If film directors can occasionally break through the blockade from time to time with their expressions on the screen, then in terms of pop music, the Asian market is unilaterally defeated.

Especially for the Chinese pop music market, which started very late.

Even the rapidly improving Japanese music is a complete failure under the current American rules. The only genius who had a hope of breaking the blockade, Sakamoto Kyu, not only returned to Japan early due to suppression, but also died in a plane crash later.

Zhou Yi was able to win the award this time, thanks to the interests of Warner, Disney, Apple, Pixar, Coca-Cola and other interest groups behind him, who are all members of this circle, so he got the ticket to compete in public relations skills.

Of course, the most important thing is that Zhou Yi's English songs are all products of American music rules, so those media can't find any faults even if they want to find faults and exaggerate, and can only lead the rhythm to Zhou Yi himself.

"I will ask the company and partners to help dispel the rumors. You should go to the scene more during this period."

Qian Jiang bit a toothpick, obviously ready for a protracted war.

When those people put 50 cents in an opposing position and marketed inspirational, American dream and other personalities, it was actually time for media resources to collide head-on.

If Zhou Yi hadn't been so strong, then Zhou Yi would have been the best spokesperson for the so-called "American Dream".

But unfortunately, he was obviously not very obedient.

Not only is he ambitious, but he also kicked open the door of the Grammys with the banner of "racial discrimination" and received the award while standing. This is something many people don't want to see.

Qian Jiang stood up and was about to prepare, but was stopped by Zhou Yi: "No, no, no, Lao Qian, don't go to refute the rumors. This is a waste of resources and useless work."

"?"

Qian Jiang stopped and turned his head, looking at the man sitting on the sofa in surprise.

Zhou Yi raised his eyes and looked at him, pointing his right hand at his temple: "There is a concept called the self-proving circle in the law, which is why the law advocates whoever proposes to provide follow-up evidence.

"If we focus on refuting rumors about PR shady dealings, it will actually go their way. They will continue this topic all the way, and let us waste our energy in this undisputed wrangling."

Qian Jiang frowned: "But if we don't refute the rumors, the risk will be great. The status of the Grammys in Europe and the United States is self-evident. ”

Although they are indeed suspected of shady dealings, if everyone does this kind of PR, it means that everyone is doing shady dealings, which means that no one is breaking the rules.

“Just use a more outrageous news to cover up the limelight and discussion.”

Zhou Yi put down his right hand and smiled: “Just right, you can also hype a concept for me.”

In this era, if you want to achieve the outrageous result of 5 number one singles in one album, it is difficult to do it without a concept or reason that can touch the G-spot of the American public.

There are so many good songs every year, many of which are number one on the Billboard charts, but they have never won a number one single. In addition to the lack of marketing, the more important thing is that they lack stories.

As an Asian and a Chinese, the only thing he can use is freedom and equality, the banner of Europe and the United States to deceive people abroad.

And this is exactly the basis of the United States’ external propaganda.

“We just used racial discrimination before, will it cause disgust if we use it again? "Qian Jiang still has some concerns about the high frequency and multiple use of marketing methods in a short period of time.

"As long as I am really discriminated against, then there will be no problem?"

Zhou Yi spit out the toothpick in his mouth, and what he said surprised Qian Jiang-

"Let people black me, and if necessary, let people deliberately black me, the stronger the better, the premise is to bring 50 cents as the object of praise, and praise him infinitely to belittle me. But the premise is that you can't be caught by others and expose that we are the ones who found you..."

When someone says that you are doing shady things, and you really do it in name, what should you do?

It's very simple, just ruin the reputation of the person who said you were doing shady things.

False business war planning, real business war personal attack.

After explaining, Zhou Yi stood up and adjusted his slightly wrinkled suit, standing in front of the French window and looking at New York at his feet, his angular face was reflected on the glass.

……………………………………

"Breaking news! Breaking news! Zhou Yi may encounter the biggest resistance in the United States! ”

《Asian invasion! Zhou Yi's Grammys scandal exposed?!》

《Zhou Yi involved in PR scandal, Grammys trip may be tainted?》

《The scandal is coming, Zhou Yi's award is hard to tell whether it is real or fake?》

《Grammy's silence, Zhou Yi's Grammy trophy may be taken back?!》

《……》

March 15, 2003, Saturday, 9:30 am, Beijing time.

Newspapers led by "Southern Entertainment News", "Apple Daily", "Next Weekly" and other magazines brought the latest weekly The vortex of public opinion that Yi was caught in in the United States - shady dealings.

On the Internet, the discussion about this matter has intensified as information from all parties has been transferred.

It is the time of SARS, when Chinese people are basically staying at home watching TV, discussing news, and discussing celebrities.

When they suddenly saw negative news about Zhou Yi, the attention naturally increased.

A Chinese star went abroad to receive an award and was accused of shady dealings?

This is too funny.

"Really? Is Zhou Yi so powerful that he needs to be shady?"

"That's right, didn't Zhou Yi have the highest album sales worldwide last year? That award should be his."

"High sales doesn't mean you can win an award, please know."

"Please know your mother, don't open a smurf if you have the guts!" (Muted)

"..."

Netizens who were already bored now have another topic to discuss on the Internet, and the popularity is even higher than that of "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber", which was just aired a few days ago.

"If you ask me, Zhou Yi shouldn't go abroad to compete with European and American singers for awards. It's inevitable that he will be criticized. Americans will never allow a Chinese to conquer the American music scene. He is not one of them."

"Zhou Yi was too arrogant in Europe and the United States. Now he has been retaliated. Only Shakira, Mariah Carey, Kylie Minogue, Avril, Alicia Keys, Norah Jones and other singers in the European and American music scene will say a few words for him."

"Why are they all female singers? What about male singers?"

"This pervert had a fake smile on his face when taking photos with male singers at the Grammy Awards. It must be a female singer who is on good terms with him."

"If you ask me, Zhou Yi might as well come back to acting instead of being criticized outside That's so annoying. It would be great if Zhou Yi played Zhang Wuji in the recently popular "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber". He is young and handsome, and is more suitable for Gao Yuanyuan and Jia Jingwen. Su Youpeng is too old and not suitable at all! "

"..."

Taiwan, Cai Yilin, who is promoting her new album and wants to take advantage of the SARS period to enjoy this big cake, is very excited-

She released her new album "Look at My 72 Changes" on March 7th to make a comeback. The two songs "Say I Love You" and "Madrid Castle" with Jay Chou's support are of high quality. It was the time to show her strength and dominate the headlines, but she met Zhou Yi's British album "Forever Young" released after dominating the Grammys.

Because Taiwan broadcast the Grammys this year, Taiwanese fans who haven't seen the real Zhou Yi in the news for a long time suddenly burst into great enthusiasm, especially after he lifted three trophies.

With the Grammy effect, Zhou Yi's English album sold a crazy 280,000 copies in Taiwan in the first week. As of the 15th, 360,000 copies were sold in two weeks, which can be said to have directly squeezed out nearly one-third of the Taiwanese album market in the past few months.

This is not friendly to Cai Yilin.

Under the pressure of Zhou Yi's almost sweeping, the popularity of her album was crushed by Zhou Yi's Grammy news, and the first week was obviously lower than expected, with only nearly 70,000 copies sold.

Although this result is much better for ordinary singers, for Sony, which expected 80,000 to 90,000 in the first week, this result was obviously affected by the popularity.

There was no way. Cai Yilin, who planned to rely on the quality of the album, began to run more desperately to the scene, in order to allow herself to occupy more pages of major entertainment news-

Originally, she was almost successful. After all, Zhou Yi's Grammy effect could not last too long, and he was not in China.

As a result, seeing that he was getting more and more news coverage, the song "Say I Love You" was also recognized by more and more people, and the popularity was getting higher and higher. Suddenly, all the major entertainment media in Taiwan collectively gave up the "Double J" report and swarmed to chase the news of "Zhou Yi's Grammy scandal".

Cai Yilin missed the front page, the headlines again and again... and even the popularity.

"I..."

Cai Yilin, who was in Taiwan, was almost crying out of grievance. When she called Jay Chou to complain, she was crying and her words were incomplete.

Jay Chou felt a little embarrassed.

Zhou Yi was very worthy of him. He said early on that he would not release a Chinese album in March, but only an English album, and he would release it on March 1st after participating in the Grammy Awards.

He had also conveyed these situations to Cai Yilin a long time ago.

The latter was convinced that Zhou Yi's English album would not perform well in Taiwan, so she dared to release it on March 7th as originally planned.

As a result, first Zhou Yi won the Grammy Award, and then there was Zhou Yi's Grammy scandal. Two explosive hot topics served her alone. This blessing was somewhat against the will of heaven.

Affected by the popularity of Zhou Yi's news, her album "Look at My 72 Changes" has only had 120,000 legitimate sales in the past half month. A large number of passers-by and listeners were attracted by Zhou Yi's news before and after.

Although the sales volume in Taiwan this year is not low, there is a certain gap between Sony and her expectations...

"There is no way, okay, I won't tell you for now, I have to call and ask about Ayi's situation." After comforting Cai Yilin, Jay Chou turned to call Zhou Yi's number and cared about his situation.

Thanks to Zhou Yi's reputation in the past in China, when this so-called scandal was first exposed, many people actually did not believe it.

Basically, they all thought that Zhou Yi was blackmailed by the Americans because he had made an international impact.

But it was not until a week after the news became more and more intense that they only waited for Warner to explain the rumor lightly, and some people smelled something wrong.

According to Zhou Yi's character, if this thing was fake, he would have stood up and fought with others.

But there is no official counterattack from Zhou Yi at home or abroad.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. I'm collecting evidence and preparing to make those idiots pay for it."

On the phone, Zhou Yi's usual hearty laughter made Jay Chou feel relieved.

After him, Cheng Long, Jiang Wen, Li Lianjie, Chen Daoming, Zhang Guoli, Huo Wenxi, Cai Zhuoyan, Wang Lihong, Lin Junjie, Tao Zhe, Liu Ruoyin and other friends Zhou Yi met and contacted in China all called or sent text messages to ask about the situation.

At one point, Sun Yanzi, who was so anxious that he jumped up and down like a wild animal, and hung out at Cheng Hao's house all day, almost bought a plane ticket to fly to the United States.

Xiao Yaxuan, Fan Xiaopang and other people who clearly had a good relationship with Zhou Yi were worried but also took his reassurance.

On the Internet, discussions about Zhou Yi's dark secrets have gradually become popular.

The most typical example is a post published by Tianya user "Free Beaver 7": "Zhou Yi, you have brought shame abroad, shame!"

"I have always said that Zhou Yi's arrogant personality will suffer a great loss. There are people who protect him in China, but not abroad.

"There are a lot of people abroad who are more talented than him. This is a big deal, right?

"He still wants to touch the Beatles, and I don't know who gave him the courage.

"His parents have been honest all their lives, and they didn't expect that the son they taught would be an arrogant and liar... (The user has been banned for verbal abuse)"

On the evening of March 17, 2003, Europe and the United States, and even Asian countries such as China, Japan, and South Korea, unexpectedly received an open media invitation letter from Warner-

It was sent by Zhou Yi, inviting them to attend a press conference.

The invitation letter publicly stated that Zhou Yi would personally come forward to clarify the matter...