Chapter 154 Follow-up Plans

Chapter 154

The invitation reached the agent first. The moment the call ended, the agent screamed, startling Zheng Huinong.

She's been receiving good news these past few days, and she's gotten used to it.

She even felt that her fame had surpassed that of when she debuted through a talent show.

At the company, Zheng Huinong was just an unknown nobody; she suspected that even the boss might not know that she existed.

Although Zheng Huinong doesn't earn much money and doesn't need the company to invest in her, this is the fundamental reason why she continues to stay with the company.

However, in the past few days, she has received warm concern from the company's senior management for the first time.

"Singer! It's Singer!"

Given the appeal of "Singer," even if Zheng Huinong were eliminated in the first round, it would still be much more effective than her previous performances and album releases.

Zheng Huinong couldn't help but smile: "Now our lives will be a little easier."

Her agent followed her everywhere, and although he complained, he never abandoned her.

Zheng Huinong knew very well that she was a willful person when it came to music, which caused her manager a lot of trouble.

First, she doesn't earn much money; second, her willfulness... must have someone to back her up.

Over the years, Zheng Huinong has never left the entertainment industry. As she has grown older, she still maintains her dedication to music, but she has also become more mature.

She thought that if one day she was fortunate enough to make a comeback, or even if she only earned a little more money than she does now, she would like to repay her agent for her support.

In the entertainment industry, life is tough for unknown artists, and the same goes for their managers.

Zheng Huinong works alone in the entertainment industry, but she has never felt lonely because her manager has always been there for her.

As soon as the news of Zheng Huinong's participation in "Singer" came out, the company's senior management sent someone to ask if they needed a car arranged, as if Zheng Huinong had never needed a car for his performances over the years.

There are also celebrities in the same company who are a level above her in fame. Although they are in the same company, they don't have much interaction with each other. They have only added each other as friends on WeChat.

Zheng Huinong is a nobody; she doesn't even dare to like posts from big names on social media, lest she be ridiculed by others later.

In the past few days, artists from the same company have said they have listened to the song "Dahlia", and some have even subtly hinted that she should help connect Lin Yuan with him.

"How could I possibly have that kind of ability?"

Zheng Huinong said that Lin Yuan had taken the initiative to come to her, but no one believed her, thinking that she had some special connections.

Indeed, the scenario of an unknown nobody being spotted and chosen by a genius is too much like something out of a novel.

Zheng Huinong was too lazy to explain.

It's worth mentioning that no matter what she said, no one believed her. But when Lin Yuan mentioned it in an interview, everyone marveled at her good luck.

However, given that Lin Yuan mentioned that he only extended the invitation after hearing her album by chance.

Zheng Huinong's album, released four years ago and which was initially met with great skepticism, immediately garnered significant attention.

Some fans specifically sought out this obscure album to listen to, and listened to it rise from obscurity to the top 30 of the monthly charts.

Zheng Huinong used to have a single label – a struggling, unknown singer.

If she had focused on her artistic path and taken the route of unbridled growth, she might have gained a following.

Unfortunately, Zheng Huinong came from a talent show, which is too commercial and too mainstream, seemingly tarnishing the words "niche," "unpopular," and "hidden gem."

Therefore, she was unable to successfully pioneer a new path.

In terms of her musical style, it would have been acceptable, since pursuing niche tastes is a trend in itself.

However, Zheng Huinong's singing style is now being recognized by more and more fans, and she has at least been labeled as "unique".

In "1895", the reviews of "Dahlia" are quite unique. Those who like it like it very much, while those who don't like it don't even want to listen to it again.

Thanks to the popularity of "Dahlia", Zheng Huinong received invitations to music festivals all over the country, and more and more fans listened to her songs. Her albums also received more professional reviews.

They treated Zheng Huinong as if she were a new person, giving her high praise.

Zheng Huinong truly felt that he had made a comeback.

Ning Miao's tone grew increasingly sour as she said she would rely on Zheng Huinong for support in the future. However, no matter what Zheng Huinong replied, she was not happy and complained to others in private that Zheng Huinong was difficult to get along with.

Zheng Huinong's personality didn't develop recently; she didn't complain before because Zheng Huinong wasn't famous yet.

In the past few days, Zheng Huinong has seen many people looking at her with the same eyes as Ning Miao. At least Ning Miao would express herself directly, while others wouldn't say it, but Zheng Huinong could easily understand what they were thinking.

Being famous also has its troubles.

Although she is not in a position to say that now.

But Zheng Huinong feels that things are already very good as they are now. She finds it hard to imagine what kind of life she would lead if she continued to be famous.

Her rise to fame is due not only to the song "Dahlia," her collaboration with Lin Yuan, and the few admirable aspects of her albums, but also to her consistent dedication to this factor.

Audiences always love to see people like her become famous – someone who remained unknown in the early stages but persevered in pursuing their dreams.

Her career path is somewhat similar to Lin Yuan's, except she didn't suffer the same grievances as Lin Yuan—her ranking in the talent show was quite good, and no one took away her opportunity.

Lin Yuan discovered this side of her.

This development perfectly meets the audience's expectations.

Zheng Huinong naturally wouldn't be offended.

She was very grateful to Lin Yuan.

When Zheng Huinong and her agent first received the collaboration offer, they thought that by leveraging Lin Yuan's fame, her career could reach a new level.

Zheng Huinong's thoughts changed quickly—after receiving "Dahlia".

Zheng Huinong's idea became that, with the help of the song "Dahlia," her career could reach a new level.

"Dahlia" is a remarkable piece of work.

The reason why their collaboration has generated so much buzz is clearly based on the fact that "Dahlia" is of a quality that far exceeds the acceptable standard.

...

With Zheng Huinong achieving such a breakthrough in his career, Lin Yuan, as the singer of "1895," naturally attracted new attention.

Thanks to the strong promotion from music critics and feedback from fans, the popularity of "1895" is no longer limited to the fan circle.

"Heroes Who Saved the Earth" broke out of its niche first, as evidenced by the explosive growth of cover videos.

In the album "1895", audiences prefer upbeat tracks. "Hate" is the main single, but it is not as popular as "Hero Who Saved the Earth" at the moment.

"Dahlia" is the second most popular song, followed by "Prison".

Because "Prison" is a dance piece, although absurd, it is still quite lively overall.

Lin Yuan received authorization invitations from several programs in one week. Some program teams wanted to use songs from "1895" as background music, and some singing programs wanted to buy the rights to cover the songs.

The show "Singer" bought the cover rights to "Hate".

Lin Yuan quoted the market price... which is quite high.

From his perspective, it's not cheap at all.

After "Hate" was sold, Feng once remarked that inviting Zheng Huinong to "Singer" at least saved them the copyright fee for "Dahlia". Lin Yuan would never have accepted money from Zheng Huinong for singing this song.

Lin Yuan did not give Zheng Huinong any money when he invited her to sing a duet.

But at least when inviting people to collaborate, Lin Yuan couldn't adopt a condescending attitude like, "I'm so famous, it's your honor to be invited," or act like he was trying to scam people out of their money.

The return on investment for "1895" far exceeded Lin Yuan's expectations.

After the song became more widely sung, "1895" sold much better. Lin Yuan opposed fans buying many copies each, and he also disliked fans organizing fundraising activities for him—as everyone knows, this only benefits the star himself and other fans by allowing big fans to buy luxury homes.

Although fans always want to prove their purchasing power to brands, in the end, what truly matters to a celebrity is their work.

Since the release of "1895", Lin Yuan's only complaint is that there are too few publicity platforms.

He looked at the promotions of other singers, and they basically just posted a link on their homepage, got some promotion from the platform, and that was it.

A few years ago there were some dedicated music programs and music awards. They are still held now, but they have become awards that are only used to distribute prizes.

Through the album "1895", Lin Yuan became even more acutely aware that the entire music market had shrunk.

Lin Yuan had no choice but to promote his new album on radio and variety shows.

From an outsider's perspective, Lin Yuan's actions seemed unnecessary.

Lin Yuan's idea was that more people should get to know about his album.

Lin Yuan readily accepted the invitation from Star Glory Video to perform at their New Year's Eve concert this year. Only then did he realize that the New Year's Eve concert was one of the few important opportunities he could have in a year to promote his album.

Apart from this, Lin Yuan couldn't find a better opportunity.

He could certainly put on a concert; singers with fewer works than him were doing so, but Lin Yuan found it hard to muster the courage.

He wanted to hold a proper concert, the kind where the singer performs 30 songs on stage, not an exchange meeting or a concert—in order to sing less, his colleagues in the industry always manage to come up with all sorts of new ideas.

Lin Yuan was equally amazed by this.

Lin Yuan is also keeping a close eye on the music show that Star Glory Video plans to launch next year.

When Xingyao Video made the proposal before, Lin Yuan only paid attention to it. At that time, "1895" had not yet been released, and it was difficult for Lin Yuan to concentrate on other things.

Now, Lin Yuan genuinely wants to participate.

While Xingyao Video was looking forward to Lin Yuan participating in their music show, they were also hinting to Lin Yuan that they had recently been eyeing a few scripts and asked if he was interested in filming them.

Lin Yuan: "..."

He is now quite curious about how much money "Just Right You" actually made.

It is said that since the summer vacation, the CEO of Xingyao Video has mentioned "Just You" whenever he talks about financial reports, and "Just You" is always mentioned when discussing good dramas.

Autumn is the start of the school year, and "Just Right" is a must-watch for campus romance.

It's snowing in winter, come watch "Just Right" and watch the ice and snow melt away.

Lin Yuan: "..."

To some extent, Xingyao Video's marketing is truly ubiquitous.

In short, the platform will not give up any plans to let Lin Yuan film a drama. As long as Lin Yuan shows any intention, his agent's phone will be ringing off the hook.

Both "Major Cases" and "Just Right You" were broadcast on Xingyao Video. After several collaborations, the platform gradually got to know Lin Yuan's temperament.

Lin Yuan is easy to talk to—provided that the platform doesn't make fun of him or cheat him, and preferably does good deeds, then Lin Yuan is definitely willing to participate actively.

Lin Yuan is much easier to talk to than his agent.

If it weren't for the desire to avoid offending the agent, Xingyao Video would have preferred to bypass the agent and contact Lin Yuan directly.

Regarding this music show, Star Glory Video only had a suggestion and had not yet fully started implementing the plan. However, after Lin Yuan expressed his willingness, the platform truly started to implement it little by little from the perspective of making it a good show.

It's best to start after the New Year's Eve concert, taking advantage of the concert's popularity.

The popularity of "1895" is still going strong.

Just now, Xingyao Video officially announced the guest list for its New Year's Eve concert. After Lin Yuan's name was included, the comments section was filled with calls for Lin Yuan.

Last year, Lin Yuan was filming a movie and couldn't make it to the New Year's Eve concert. The executives at Xingyao Video still remember the fans' disappointment.

If a star with singing, dancing, popularity, and influence doesn't come this year, Star Glory Video will feel like they've missed out big time.

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Author's Note: Update! [Kiss][Kiss][Kiss]