1novels Chapter 118 is coming soon!
Chapter 118 is coming soon!
Chapter 118 is coming soon!
November 24, Jinshi Music, conference room.
Fang Lei said to Yang Du, "Thank you for what happened before."
Yang Du knew what he was talking about.
The night before last, Yang Du saw a very absurd statement on the internet while browsing Weibo before going to bed.
A netizen wrote on Weibo: "I originally wanted to pre-order 'Swallowtail Butterfly,' but after seeing the 93% rating from Sour Lemon, I hesitated. I'm not afraid to admit it, but these highly-rated albums are usually very artistic and stream-of-consciousness. Can someone as ordinary as me really appreciate them?"
What's even more ridiculous is that this viewpoint actually resonated with many netizens.
Of course, Yang Du knew why such contradictory statements had arisen.
It is well known that music critics' tastes are often completely different from those of ordinary people.
Often, the albums hailed as masterpieces by music critics are, to the average listener, nothing more than a bunch of noise, but definitely unpleasant or boring stuff.
The most typical example is the album "Phoenix" released some time ago, which received a high score of 94% from critics and is highly recommended by music critics.
But what about sales?
Less than 2000 copies were sold on the first day, and several months later, the cumulative sales were less than 30,000.
What about the "sweet lemon index"?
They didn't even reach the 60% passing mark, only managing a pitiful 52%.
Furthermore, some of these 52% are sympathy votes for Mr. Luo Gengyun, who is quite old and spent four years producing an album, or blind following of others' opinions because they think the music reviews are good.
It's a classic case of being critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful.
After all, times have changed.
Before the rise of the internet, it was an era where whatever music critics said was good, was good. Even if ordinary people couldn't appreciate it, they would try to convince themselves and look for the reasons within themselves.
Now, netizens have their own opinions and tastes.
Tao Cheng's second album, "Swallowtail Butterfly," received a 93% rating from Sour Lemon. From Music Weekly to M magazine, the former praised its conceptual and overall quality, while the latter commended its superior album structure. Such high praise is extremely rare for a pop female album.
Some people, especially those who had previously suffered losses by trusting music critics' recommendations, began to hesitate after seeing this score.
Could it be that Yang Du and Tao Cheng also played a high-level game?
Originally, this fear of being scared off by the high score was only spreading within a small circle, but it escalated rapidly within just a few hours, with a group of netizens who appeared to be Du Li's fans giving the Weibo post a lot of likes and reposts.
As for why it's described as "suspected"?
Because it's obvious to anyone with eyes that Du Li, as a veteran diva from the 90s, now has fans and audiences who are at least 35 years old.
If nothing unexpected happens, middle-aged people in this age group are being tormented by car loans, mortgages, bosses, and jobs every day. Where would they find the leisure to fight with Tao Cheng's group of Gen Z fans online?
But both Jin Shi and Tao Cheng had to admit that this statement was effective and quite useful to a certain extent.
Yang Du was so angry he almost laughed when he saw the news. His hard work on the album was actually being scare away from some potential audiences because of its high professional ratings.
What kind of hellish joke is this?
So he directly used the account 【羊都督】 to reply in the comments section.
[Brother, with masterpieces like "Bubble" and "Cage" already established, are you really worried I'll dabble in some unfathomable art? Have you forgotten why I was criticized before?]
"Hahaha, we've captured a wild sheep governor alive!"
—"Yang Du: I'm a top writer in the romance literature section, and I wrote 'On the Day of My Wedding'. You're worried about me getting into art? You're insulting me."
— "Jiang Yinglan: Don't mention me, I'm busy making an album."
"I can't believe it. The world is full of wonders. I can't believe I saw online that an album's high rating affected its sales. Hahaha."
Yang Du resolved a public relations crisis with just one sentence, so it wouldn't be unreasonable for Fang Lei to give Yang Du a red envelope.
"Okay, everyone, Yun Ge has released some new promotional points." The publicity director spoke first, "Goodbye, Unforgettable Love will be Du Li's last album before her retirement."
Yun Ge was originally playing the nostalgia card, and now that she's saying it's her last album, the nostalgia factor is off the charts.
Some marketing accounts have already started compiling a list of Du Li's ten most popular singles and ten highlight moments in her career.
"In addition, we have detected that a large number of marketing accounts on the Internet have begun to use the same narrative to question the quality of our music reviews, whether the sample is too concentrated, and whether it can really represent professional ratings. They are trying to smear the explosive word-of-mouth of 'Swallowtail Butterfly' as a forced marketing campaign."
The executives from the publicity, public relations, artist management, and production departments analyzed the situation one after another. Yang Du leaned closer to Tao Cheng and asked, "Senior, are you still worried about the 'second major curse'?"
"Since you've asked so sincerely, I'll mercifully tell you—" Tao Cheng covered her mouth and whispered, "I'm not worried at all. What about you? I heard you might be nominated for the Feitian Award?"
"Well, we've got some leads. I originally thought that only 'Today is Your Birthday' could be nominated for the National Song Award and the Acting Award, but I didn't expect CCTV to also submit 'Songs and Smiles' and 'The Lone Warrior'."
Tao Cheng was also taken aback, but to be honest, "Singing and Smiling" is definitely one of the best children's songs this year.
"But Director Huo also told me to be mentally prepared that this kind of award will not let one person shine alone. After all, one flower does not make a spring, but a hundred flowers blooming together make a garden full of spring."
Tao Cheng was speechless: "Your level of ideological awareness is really high."
The two chatted quietly on one side, while the publicity department offered their solutions on the other.
"Clarifying the authenticity of the music reviews has instead fallen into Yun Ge's self-proof trap. What we need to do is to frantically promote the topic of the new generation's top female singer versus the veteran diva, and the comparison between 'Swallowtail Butterfly' and 'Goodbye Love' on social media."
"When all netizens, passersby, and media subtly use our rhetoric to put the names Tao Cheng and Du Li together in the same headline, we've already won half the battle."
Yang Du whispered, "This is a publicity stunt."
Then Tao Cheng hit his arm, and it hurt a lot.
The PR director continued: "In psychology, this is called the anchoring effect. When people judge the value of something, they always rely heavily on the first reference point that is given. Now, our reference point is Du Li."
"When a new generation female singer is frequently compared to veteran divas, over time, netizens will subconsciously feel that Orange has the strength to compete with the veteran divas."
In the following days, the two music giants, Jinshi and Yunge, went all out, going back and forth. Today you appeared on a variety show, tomorrow I was trending on social media; today you released a music video teaser, tomorrow I released a 15-second song preview.
Finally, in this tense and exciting atmosphere, the time came to November 30th.
The albums "Swallowtail Butterfly" and "Goodbye, Unforgettable Love" were released simultaneously.
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