Chapter 336 Arrange some Performances for Them

After hanging up the phone with Akina Nakamori, Zhou Yan started to work on the arrangement of "Someone Like You".

He had been very busy since he came back and had not found time to do it. Maria even called to urge him.

Zhou Yan originally thought that Maria had no time and energy to take care of the new song because of the divorce, but after chatting on the phone for a while, he felt that Maria was in a good state, even better than the last time they met.

At least Maria's mood was much more stable, without any nonsense, and she could even make a joke from time to time.

It had been three or four days since Maria called to urge him. Zhou Yan estimated that if he didn't finish the arrangement, she would call again to urge him.

It happened that other work was finished early today, so he took time to start working.

It was not until after nine o'clock that Zhou Yan packed up and went out, but he heard the sound of chatting from the other end of the corridor.

When Zhou Yan walked to the stairs, he saw Wang Feng and others coming down from upstairs.

Seeing Zhou Yan, Wang Feng and the others greeted him.

"Teacher Zhou."

"Senior brother."

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "When did you come back? I didn't see you at dinner."

"We came back in the afternoon, but we ate late, so we might not have made it. We stayed in the practice room the rest of the time." Wang Feng explained.

Long Long said with a smile, "The food at home is still delicious. When you go out for performances, you can never have a good meal."

"It's good enough to have dinner on time. Don't be so demanding." Zhao Muyang said.

Zhou Yan glanced at Zhao Muyang and felt that this guy has been more outgoing recently. In the past, he would not respond at this time.

Their band's first album "No. 43 Baojia Street" has been out for several months. The response was not great at the beginning. Of course, it was not particularly bad. After all, they had performed many shows before, and even went to Kudo Shizuka's concert as a guest. The album was also sold after it was released.

However, it is still far from becoming a hit.

Zhou Yan has been observing them, trying to see if they will lose confidence because the album sales have not met expectations, but judging from their performance in recent times, they are not bad.

"Where are you performing recently?"

Either Zhou Yan is out or they are out, so we haven't met.

Since we met today, I'll ask a few more questions.

"Just came back from Shanghai, the fans there are still very enthusiastic."

"Always in various bars?"

"Not all bars... but most of them."

Zhou Yan nodded, and then said: "This kind of performance is necessary, but it's okay in moderation. It's getting late today, you should go back and rest early."

Performing in places like bars can maintain the performance state to a certain extent and get close to the masses, but it's not good to perform too much.

Wang Feng nodded and replied, "Okay."

...

The next morning, Zhou Yan called Xu Junrong.

"Old Xu, I want to tell you about Wang Feng and the others."

As soon as Zhou Yan finished speaking, Xu Junrong laughed, "Teacher Zhou, I was just about to tell you about this. The company is preparing to prepare a few more formal performances for No. 43 Baojia Street, and we are already choosing a place."

Hearing Xu Junrong say this, Zhou Yan couldn't help but raise his eyebrows and said, "What a coincidence."

He called Xu Junrong for this matter.

"Isn't "Growing Up" going to be released soon? No matter how the film market performs, our company must take this opportunity to promote their band."

"Yeah, I think so too."

Zhou Yan also thought that "Growing Up" was about to be released recently, and felt that such a good opportunity should not be wasted.

Compared to Xu Junrong, Zhou Yan must be more confident in the movie "Growing Up".

Although "Growing Up" cannot become a hit movie, the market performance is likely to be good. Zhou Yan has seen the film that finally passed the review, and it is even better than the original version, and it is more likely to attract audiences.

In the original movie, although the protagonist is a member of a band, there are not many things related to rock in the whole movie, and there is no impressive music.

But this version is different. With the participation of Wang Feng, the soundtrack of the movie is much higher, and the songs Wang Feng put in the movie are just right.

After the movie is released, the songs in it will definitely be heard by more fans.

"In addition to the performance, does Mr. Zhou have any instructions?" Xu Junrong asked.

Zhou Yan thought for a while and said, "In July, Shizuka Kudo will come to China for a concert. Arrange another one for them and let them go up as guests."

"No problem, I will contact Ogi Production in a while, there should be no problem."

"There is nothing else, just arrange it as you see fit."

"Okay."

"What's the situation with Wu Bai recently?" Zhou Yan asked.

"He just released an album in June, and it performed very well. I am arranging activities for him in the mainland now."

"Oh, the new album has been released."

Zhou Yan has been busy with other things during this period and didn't pay attention to the fact that Wu Bai's new album has been released.

When Wu Bai's new album "The End of Love" was just being prepared, Zhou Yan had watched it. There were several very classic songs in it, such as "Norwegian Wood" and "Last Dance", which were both chorus songs.

Zhou Yan expected this album to be popular.

Speaking of which, Zhou's opportunity to sign Wu Bai is indeed very good. If he waits until Wu Bai completes "The End of Love", it will not be easy to sign.

"This was posted just after you came back from the United States. The wind has not yet reached the mainland, but it should be soon."

There are many reasons why Wu Bai is willing to sign with Zhou's Entertainment. One of them is that he also wants to develop more in the mainland market. Although Zhou's Entertainment is only a new company, its influence is actually not small.

Now that he has released a new album, Zhou will of course vigorously promote him to the mainland.

Zhou Yan didn't ask much about Wu Bai. After all, it was useless no matter how much he asked. The key still depends on Wu Bai himself and the resources provided by the company.

There is no doubt about Wu Bai's strength. The company, without Zhou Yan's instructions, attaches great importance to Wu Bai's development.

After all, there are not many musicians signed by the company now. Wu Bai can be said to be Zhou's number one at this stage. If there are any resources, Wu Bai will not be treated badly.

"Have you discovered any new people recently?" Zhou Yan asked.

"There are a few good performers, but they are difficult to recruit. For example, Zhang Yu, Zhang Xinzhe, and Ren Xianqi all have great potential."

Hearing these names, Zhou Yan rolled his eyes. These guys are not just as simple as having potential. They have all been in the industry for a few years, but they have not become popular yet, similar to the situation before Wu Bai.

Everyone can see the potential in them, but of course it is difficult to tap it.

And among these people, Zhang Yu Zhouyan is the only one who is interested. He pays more attention to singers with creative ability.

Singers without creative ability have a low error tolerance rate. After signing them, you still have to find suitable songs for them.

Signing Wu Baiduo is worry-free, as long as you provide him with conditions, he can handle the songs himself, and when he has time, he can also help other singers write songs.

"Are there those who have just debuted and are less well-known?" Zhou Yan asked again.

"Yes, there is, but Liangyan hasn't noticed it yet."

Zhou Yan sighed secretly, he was thinking too much. If Xu Junrong really had such ability, he would not become unknown later.

Before many singers debuted, or when they first debuted, not many people could have imagined that they would become very popular in the future.

"Clean up more of these singers and give me the information. It's best if you can give me their works as well."

In fact, Zhou Yan had said this before, but the company never paid much attention to it. Xu Junrong did send information, but the ones he sent were all already somewhat famous singers, similar to Zhang Yu and Zhang Xinzhe.

Now hearing Zhou Yan mention this matter again, Xu Junrong said, "Understood, I will collect the information as soon as possible and have it sent over."

"It's best to have some creative ability." Zhou Yan warned again.

"OK."

…

After hanging up the phone from Xu Junrong, Zhou Yan continued working on the arrangement of "People Like You".

One morning passed, and the rest of the arrangement work was basically done.

After finishing the arrangement of "People Like You", Zhou Yan didn't have time to rest. He was busy writing the novel "Shutter Island".

This novel was to be released in conjunction with the movie, so Zhou Yan wrote it completely according to the original setting without making any modifications based on the situation in China.

Zhou Yan made some fusions between the original work and the original movie, taking the essence and discarding the dross, and first made an outline.

After the outline is drawn up, the subsequent work becomes easy. Just follow the outline and work your way down slowly.

It wasn't until the evening that Zhou Yan stopped writing. He stretched and saw that it was already past six o'clock, so he got up and prepared to go to the cafeteria to eat.

But before he could reach the door, the phone on his desk rang, and he turned around to pick it up.

Akina Nakamori said in Chinese on the other end of the phone, "Hello, Mr. Zhou, have you had dinner?"

Zhou Yan smiled when he heard Nakamori Akina's greeting. He didn't know who she learned Chinese from, so he asked if she had eaten before. Although it was reasonable, it sounded awkward.

Moreover, she just learned it on the fly, and her pronunciation was really bad. If it weren't for this classic sentence, Zhou Yan wouldn't be able to understand what she said.

Although Akina Nakamori is better than Shizuka Kudo in singing skills, her language talent is much lower. Shizuka's speed in learning Chinese is not comparable to that of ordinary people.

Zhou Yan did not answer whether he had eaten, but asked, "Ms. Zhongmori, are you calling me again? Do you have any problems with the lyrics that you want to tell me?"

The girl who was in charge of translating on the other side babbled, and then heard a man speak in neon language. Then the translator said to Zhou Yan in Chinese, "Mr. Zhou Yan, the creator of today's lyrics, Oyama Yoshi, is also here. , he made some changes to the lyrics based on the questions you raised yesterday. If there are still questions today, he would like to discuss them directly with you."

Hearing that the lyricist was there, Zhou Yan smiled and said hello, "Hello, Mr. Dashan."

"Hello, Mr. Zhou Yan, nice to meet you." Dashanyi said in neon language.

"Now that the lyrics have been changed, sing it to me again."

Hearing what Zhou Yan said, Akina Nakamori prepared a little and then started singing with the newly revised lyrics.

In fact, Zhou Yan didn't ask many questions, and it didn't require many revisions. Zhou Yan only had to pay attention to a few important points.

The revised lyrics are indeed much better and fit the melody better than yesterday’s version.

Zhou Yan only cared about these things. As for whether the meaning of the lyrics had been changed or what they had been changed to, he didn't really care.

After Akina Nakamori sang it once, Zhou Yan smiled and said, "No problem, this is fine."

Hearing Zhou Yan's words, Akina Nakamori and Yoshi Oyama on the other end of the phone breathed a sigh of relief.

Yoshi Oyama was a newcomer and had not written many lyrics before. He was very nervous to be able to work with Akina Nakamori and Zhou Yan this time.

Before writing the lyrics, he spent a lot of energy studying the works of Zhou Yan and Akina Nakamori, and then studied the creative background of the song "Snow Flower", and finally wrote the lyrics.

After the lyrics were written, he communicated with Akina Nakamori and VICTOR for a long time before finally sending the lyrics to Zhou Yan.

When Yoshi Oyama learned that Zhou Yan was "unsatisfied" with the lyrics, he was particularly panicked, fearing that the lyrics would be completely rejected. Fortunately, only a small part had to be modified.

But even if it was just a small part of the revision, he was very serious and did not delay for a moment. He took one day to change the lyrics according to Zhou Yan's needs.

Then he was still worried, and ran to communicate with Zhou Yan with Nakamori Akina.

So when he heard Zhou Yan say that there was no problem, he was greatly relieved.

But he couldn't help but confirm, "Is it really okay?"

Zhou Yan smiled, "It's really okay, Miss Nakamori can prepare for the recording."

"Are you going to Yanjing to record?" Nakamori Akina asked.

"Come to Yanjing, or in Neon, it's all fine, it depends on your choice."

Nakamori Akina thought for a while and said, "Then I'll go to Yanjing."

She wanted to go to Yanjing to record, not only because she wanted Zhou Yan, the producer, to guide her, but also because Tomson Company wanted to sign a manager contract with her before. At that time, she did not agree immediately because Tomson Company's main body was in China, and signing with them might not be a good thing.

But she figured it out during this period. Anyway, she didn't sign a formal management company, and no big record company was willing to sign with her. She might as well try to sign with Tomson. After all, Tomson's conditions were very good.

So this trip to China was just the right time to settle the contract.

And Shizuka was going to China in a while, so she would be with Shizuka and wouldn't be so lonely.

Zhou Yan didn't think much when he heard that Akina Nakamori was coming to China. He just said, "Then you arrange your own time. Tell me in advance before you come."

"Well, OK, I'll tell you when I confirm the time."

"Okay, that's it. Let's talk when we have time. See you later."

"Goodbye."

Zhou Yan simply said hello and hung up the phone.

This time, only Oyama Yoshi was stunned on the other end of the phone. It was his first time to contact Zhou Yan. He didn't expect Zhou Yan to be such a "straightforward" person.

Before Oyama Yoshi came, he was ready to have a good exchange with Zhou Yan, but from the time the call was connected to the time it was hung up, he didn't say a few words to Zhou Yan.

Not to mention him, even Akina Nakamori didn't say a few words to Zhou Yan.

"Has Mr. Zhou Yan always been like this?" Oyama Yoshi asked weakly.

The translator nodded, "Yes, Mr. Zhou Yan is a very efficient person."

Hearing the word "efficient", Oyama Yoshi nodded in agreement. Perhaps only Mr. Zhou Yan, who is so efficient, can create a large number of high-quality works.

Akina Nakamori couldn't help but say, "He is actually a very gentle person."

Although Zhou Yan hung up the phone quickly, Zhou Yan left a good impression on Akina Nakamori when they met before.

Zhou Yan in reality is a gentle person.

The translator curled her lips secretly. She really didn't see where Mr. Zhou Yan was gentle. But it is understandable that such a talented and good-looking man would make people feel gentle just by standing there.

Now many girls in Japan are very fascinated by Zhou Yan. He also appears on various lists, such as "the most popular foreign star", "the most popular musician", and even "the man most wanted to marry".

And Zhou Yan already has fanatical female fans in Japan.

Although Zhou Yan and Maria's scandal was not reported by the media in China, it was very popular in Japan. After all, Zhou Yan and Maria are both top stars in Japan.

The two top stars are now rumored to have a scandal, and the Japanese media will of course report it.

As for these scandals, Zhou Yan's fanatical female fans reacted strongly. They firmly did not believe that the news was true, because they believed that Zhou Yan could not be with a married woman, and even if Maria was not married, she was not worthy of Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan has fanatical fans, and Maria naturally has too.

However, the attitude of Maria's fans is different from that of Zhou Yan's fans. They believe that the husband who is divorcing Maria is not a good match, and she and Zhou Yan are a perfect match.

Zhou Yan's fans definitely disagree with this idea, and the two sides quarreled over it. (End of this chapter)