America's Top Player

Chapter 142 Beyoncé's Jeans

Like Leon, UFC president Dyna White is also an absolute marketing expert.

Although the two have no intersection and are engaged in completely different fields, Leon admires Dyna's talents.

To put it bluntly, birds of a feather flock together.

A hotel doorman became the president of a multinational fighting event without investing a penny.

Dyna created a typical inspirational myth.

In just ten years, he turned a tournament on the verge of bankruptcy into an industry leader.

It all started with a fighting reality show called "The Ultimate Fighter".

This show is an unprecedented combination of fighting and reality TV.

Show the audience the entire process of players' selection, training, competition and quarrels for free.

This initiative was a huge success.

This is also where Li Ang's inspiration came from to create a hip-hop reality show under the banner of "Vibe" and riding the wave of hip-hop music.

Without hesitation, he gave Phil instructions: "I'm very interested in this matter. Reply to Dyna's email and tell him that I will be at the Rogers Center in two days."

"Why did you agree so readily this time?" Phil sneered, "This is not like your style. You should know that you won't get any compensation."

"I've told you many times that you need to have a long-term vision," Li Ang said helplessly.

Phil has a lot of problems.

Drunkenness, greed, and loose talk.
But Li Ang can choose to ignore these shortcomings as long as his business skills are outstanding.

What disgusted him most was Lao Deng's short-sightedness and his tendency to try to guess his own thoughts.

Phil wrinkled his nose in disdain. "Dyna invited you this time, not just to present awards to the players."

"What?" Leon perked up, fiddling with the Knicks championship ring on his middle finger. "Could it be that he wants me to be the UFC spokesperson?"

"That's pretty much what it means."

"Go on, don't keep me in suspense."

Phil stood up and paced around the office unsteadily. "Ever since Brock Lesnar semi-retired, UFC's performance has been declining, and they haven't been able to find a new flagship figure."

"And your name is now the biggest traffic in the entertainment industry, almost becoming a synonym for street ruthlessness."

In March of this year, UFC parent company Zuffa acquired the "Strike Force" event, completing its unification in the field of mixed martial arts.

It seems that the company's position is stable and its prospects are bright.

However, with the retirement of the show's biggest star, Brock Lesnar, the show's PPV sales continued to be sluggish.

Running a fighting event is similar to running a record company in that signing a hundred mediocre singers is far less important than having one big star.

"How much is Dyna willing to pay?" Leon stared at Phil with interest.

The previous invitation to the scene was just a mutually beneficial act for exposure.

Large commercial sports leagues such as the NBA and MLB often invite entertainment stars to watch the games on site.

Event organizers use celebrities to increase attention, and celebrities use the event platform to gain exposure and increase their followers.

But endorsement is an outright commercial activity.

Black and white words and real money are essential.

"It's not really an endorsement," Phil shook his head. "Dyna's ideas are always new and novel. I don't know how to tell you."

"Has the alcohol damaged your brain so much that you've even lost your ability to speak?!"

"Okay~" Phil waved his hand quickly as he saw Leon standing up. "He wants to create a new championship title in your name."

"WTF" Li Ang was a little confused.

UFC championship titles are divided according to the weight class in which the fighters compete.

There are featherweight, lightweight, middleweight, light heavyweight, etc.
Creating a new champion avatar with your own name is really an abstract concept.

Li Ang wanted to ask more questions, but Phil said he didn't know the specific details.

I can only find out when I officially meet Dyna.

At six o'clock in the afternoon, the lights in the company gradually went out.

Only Aisha, who is in charge of finance, is still working overtime.

After observing for several days, Li Ang discovered that Aisha often received some mysterious calls while working.

Although she deliberately lowered her voice during the call, Li Ang still noticed it.

Since the entire conversation was conducted in Spanish, he did not know the content of the conversation.

He was too lazy to guess.

At least Elsa managed the company's finances in an orderly manner. As for what kind of person the other party was in private, it had nothing to do with him.

"Damn it." Leon stretched out in the swivel chair.

Staring blankly at the ceiling.

Ever since his falling out with Robbie, he hadn't had a chance to vent the positive energy surging in his body for a long time.

This seriously affected his work efficiency.

He picked up his phone and flipped through the address book.

His eyes locked on Beyoncé's name, and the heroic image of a Texas cowgirl galloping with a whip cracked immediately appeared in his mind.

He was about to call, but hesitated.

According to what Phil said before, there are already gossip tabloids hyping up the scandal between him and Beyoncé.

This matter has reached JAY-Z's ears.

The good news is that no media outlet has provided any solid evidence, only exaggerated descriptions.

But this incident also sounded a wake-up call for Li Ang. It is better to keep a low profile when dealing with Cao thieves.

Soon after sliding past Beyoncé's name, his eyes locked on Ariana.

This girl has made rapid progress since being injected with positive energy by Li Ang.

In addition to the scheduled phone calls every night, there are also some large-scale selfies.

Most of the time just wearing underwear.

Sometimes I just cover it with my hands as a substitute.

Do everything you can to make yourself look more mature and sexy.

"Xiao A, are you at home now?" Li Ang asked after dialing the phone.

"Leon! OMG, you actually took the initiative to call me!" Ariana couldn't hide her excitement in her words.

"Changing face as soon as you pull up your pants" is pure scumbag behavior, Li Ang always does this.

He rarely calls Ariana on his own initiative.

"What are you doing?" Leon asked.

"Writing songs, practicing piano." Ariana's voice suddenly dropped to a whisper. "And practicing those yoga moves you taught me."

"You are already good enough, there is no need to work so hard."

"No, I'm not good enough compared to Robbie!" Ariana said, "You once told me that this industry is very cruel. Only by working harder than others can you avoid being eliminated by the market!"

Li Ang couldn't help blushing after hearing these words, especially when the other party's tone was so sincere and serious.

"The harder you work, the luckier you get" is a catchphrase that Li Ang often says and is a catchphrase for PUA employees.

Currently, most of the employees of Apocalypse Music have certain work experience.

Having worked in the industry, I am no longer sensitive to this kind of rhetoric.

It seems that only Ariana took it seriously.

Ever since Li Ang promised to produce a new album, this girl's life has been like a clockwork.

Performance, creation, vocal training, dance, and fitness.
These things almost filled her life.

Even Li Ang had to sigh that this girl didn't look like a woman in the entertainment industry at all.

She is simple and stubborn, so stubborn that she is a bit silly.

At least for now.

The two of them have already had "in-depth communication" and there is no need to test it at all.

Li Ang got straight to the point and said, "If you've hit a creative bottleneck, I can offer you some guidance."

"Really?!" Ariana's excitement almost overflowed from the phone, "Now?!"

"Of course, if you want." "I want it!"

Half an hour later, Leon's Porsche 997 stopped downstairs of Ariana's luxury apartment.

The two first performed some simple yoga exercises to warm up.

Then in the sauna, they fought each other like wild Vikings.

The large amount of sweat secreted makes the humidity in the steam room twice as high as usual.

The thoughtful Li Ang also carefully guided Ariana on how to "train her voice".

The other person's screams passed through the wooden walls of the sauna room and filled the entire apartment.

By the time the two came out of the sauna room, they were exhausted.

The body shrank due to lack of water.

Leon was lying on the pink sofa in the living room, holding an ice beer in one hand and playing with Ariana's little feet with the other.

"The sales momentum of "Senorita" seems to have slowed down." Ariana curled up in Leon's arms like a docile ragdoll cat.

Li Ang saw through the girl's little thoughts at a glance.

It seems that women all over the world make demands on men afterward.

It's like an instinct.

Currently, the physical sales of "Senorita" have exceeded 120 million copies, and it is certain to exceed 200 million copies within the year.

Streaming sales grew much faster, largely due to the rapid expansion of the Spotify platform.

It is a consensus among most people in the industry that streaming platforms may completely replace traditional records in the future.

"Don't be impatient." Li Ang's palm climbed from the sole of his foot to his thigh, "Your first album will be out soon."

"Yeah," Ariana nodded, and after hesitating for a moment, she asked in a low voice, "Have you had any problems with Miss Robbie recently?"

"Where did you hear that?"

"Some gossip magazines and your fan community." Ariana said, "I visit your fan community every day."

"Shxt" Li Ang was speechless. There is indeed no impenetrable wall in the entertainment industry.

However, he was too lazy to refute the rumor about this matter. In his mind, it was already an established fact.

The gossip news will only speed up the official announcement.

"Yeah, Robbie and I are done."

"Wow" Ariana opened her mouth wide, unable to believe that Leon said it so bluntly.

"I mean, if you're here to persuade me, or to criticize me based on gossip, then you can shut up."

Before Leon could finish his words, Ariana interrupted him: "I won't do that!"

Then, Ariana pulled her thighs out of Leon's arms.

Kneeling on the sofa, with a serious expression on his face, "So, I have a chance now, right?"

Li Ang was slightly stunned and didn't know how to respond for a moment.

"what chance?"

"You know what I mean."

"I don't know." Li Ang quickly waved his hand to stop the other party from continuing.

He pulled up his pants and made an excuse to quickly escape from Ariana's apartment.

The next morning, the "bang bang" MV shooting team gathered at the location in Brooklyn.

Filming the first scene featuring Beyoncé.

David Fincher has a huge filming crew behind him.

There were as many as seven camera positions alone, and more than twenty handymen holding black and white soft light cloths.

David glanced at his watch and started arranging the street scene and arranging fixed camera positions without waiting for the official start time of shooting.

Guide each dancer's positioning and expressions.

Demonstrate strong professionalism.

What surprised Li Ang were the dancers' costumes.

All of these performance costumes were selected by David himself, and some were even designed by him himself.

This made Li Ang have to agree that there must be a reason why it is expensive.

Although the costumes in the MV of Inspiration Refresh are bold and avant-garde, they also fall into the category of normal clothing.

For those fashionable girls in New York, it's just an ordinary outfit for going out.

But David gave the costumes some simple yet bold updates, exposing even more skin to the elements.

Many clothes are made directly from transparent lace material, which is more deadly to wear than not wearing anything.

This made Li Ang even more imaginative about Beyoncé's next performance costume.

About half an hour later, Beyoncé's business motorcade arrived at the scene, exactly as agreed.

This was a big surprise for David, who was used to the queen being late.

During the time he was Madonna's official music video director, he was used to being late.

"Hi~ Ha. Leon~" Beyoncé gave him a passionate hug when they met, and almost said the affectionate name "Honey" in front of everyone.

The crew on the set was too busy, so Li Ang deliberately kept his distance from the diva. "You look great."

Jay-Z has become suspicious, and exposing it now is not a wise choice.

Leon is not afraid of breaking up with JAY-Z, it is a matter of time anyway.

But a business breakup and a minotaur are two different things.

"Every time I see you, you are at your best." Beyoncé lifted her hair and punched Li Ang coquettishly.

Everyone on the "WTF" set was confused by the ambiguous atmosphere between the two.

"I can't wait to see your performance later!" Li Ang said.

After some teasing, Beyoncé got into the nanny car used for makeup on the set.

Half an hour later, when she walked onto the set again, everyone was stunned.

Beyoncé's makeup is as exquisite as ever, and the visual impact mainly comes from her clothes.

In order to highlight her long and beautiful legs to the greatest extent, David prepared a pair of tight jeans.

It is thin and light, yet adheres tightly to the skin with almost no gap.

The most daring thing is that there are two cutouts on the back of the jeans.

Li Ang had seen girls trying on this kind of jeans on the street, but when they were worn by Beyoncé, the effect was of a completely different dimension.

The exaggerated curve of the hips caught everyone's attention and made people breathe faster.

The queen made a circle around Li Ang without hesitation, "What do you think?"

Li Ang spread his hands and said, "I can't find any other adjective other than perfect."

After David gave the order to start filming, all the staff members surrounded Beyoncé holding cameras.

Standing or squatting, long shot, close shot, follow shot.
Don't miss any angle.

Especially the photographer who kept squatting and following Beyoncé. His job at this time was envied by all men in the world.

Beyoncé sang and danced on the graffiti-covered streets, shaking her hips vigorously.

The aura is in full swing.

Her sharp eyes swept across the streets, and the whole city seemed to be her hunting ground.

It has become a jungle filled with hormones.

"Dancers keep time to Beyoncé's moves!"

"Actors, don't just stare at your buttocks! Watch your movements and make sure they don't get distorted!"

David rarely swears on the set, which is rare among directors.

But when the actors heard his voice, it was like they were electrocuted and they immediately adjusted their state.

"It's amazing," David, who has always only worked with big names, couldn't help but admire it.

Beyoncé's ability to become the first female singer to establish legendary status after the millennium is not just due to her singing and dancing skills.

But it is the aura of an extremely confident and powerful queen.

(End of this chapter)