HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 78 [078] EP Released, the King Killer is Born
After finishing the song "Good Hearted Breakup," Zheng Xiuwen asked the fans below, "Did you like the new song that Yuanzai and I sang?"

"like."

The response was overwhelming.

"Next, I will briefly hand over the stage to Yuanzai. I hope everyone will like Yuanzai's songs."

After saying a few more words, Zheng Xiuwen went backstage to rest.

A large concert lasts 2 to 3 hours, and a person's voice will be hoarse after singing the whole thing.

Therefore, many singers invite guest performers to help out.

It can bring some novelty to the fans, and also give the singer a break.

Qi Yuanxian will first perform a song called "Starry Sky".

This song is quite popular in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and many young people have heard it.

After "Starry Sky" ended, Qi Yuan brought the second song, "Rogue".

This song is amazing; it's incredibly popular in Hong Kong.

It remains number one on all major music charts in Hong Kong.

This song has a wide audience; many middle-aged and elderly people in Hong Kong got to know the young singer Qi Yuan because of this song.

Therefore, when Qi Yuan sang "Rogue", the live effect was better than when he sang "Starry Sky".

Halfway through singing "Rogue," Qi Yuan picked up a water glass from the ground, took a sip of water, and said to everyone, "The lyrics will be on the TV later. Friends who know the lyrics, sing along."

Then he took off his in-ear monitor and handed the microphone to the audience.

"Why do you still like a scoundrel like me? Are you stupid or incredibly noble? Everyone here has badmouthed me, but you never seem to mind. Why bother with a scoundrel like me..."

The sound of thousands of people singing together resounded throughout the stadium, but Qi Yuan, the singer standing on the stage, was the one applauding everyone.

Some singers in later generations would surely exclaim upon seeing this: "Don't believe the rumors! Don't spread the rumors! Why did no one respond when I handed the microphone to the audience?"

Backstage.

Zheng Xiuwen, who had just changed her clothes and was about to take over from Qi Yuan, was a little surprised: "Where is Yuan? Why didn't I hear him sing? It was all the fans singing."

The concert director was both amused and exasperated: "He handed the microphone to the audience halfway through his song and asked them to sing for him."

"!!?" Zheng Xiuwen's eyes widened in surprise.

Why is Qi Yuan so popular?

Even getting the fans to sing along didn't have the same effect.

Oh no, is Qi Yuan going to steal her fans away?

Fortunately, Qi Yuan didn't go all the way with his 'rogue' act. In the last chorus, he bowed to his fans and said, "Thank you all for liking me, this kind of rogue. Are you stupid or great? You're working so hard for me. I wouldn't have the heart to do anything sneaky if it were someone else."

After finishing the song, Qi Yuan bowed to the fans in the audience again, waved goodbye, and gracefully left the stage.

Even after he disappeared from the stage for more than ten seconds, a large number of fans were still calling his name.

When Zheng Xiuwen returned to the stage, she couldn't help but complain: "I went downstairs to change my clothes, and you all betrayed me. You don't know, just now my manager was rushing me to come on stage, telling me that if I was any later, my tour concert would turn into Yuanzai's solo concert."

The fans in the audience laughed after hearing Zheng Xiuwen's accusations.

Qi Yuan has a great stage presence; she's a natural-born star. Her song "Rogue" became an outrageous hit in Hong Kong.

In terms of the popularity of a single song, Zheng Xiuwen really doesn't have a song that can rival "Rogue".

Therefore, it's perfectly normal that Qi Yuan's performance was so amazing and the fans' feedback was so positive.

...The next day, Hong Kong media reported on Cheng Sau-man's Hung Hom concert.

'Qi Yuan is a true scoundrel; halfway through his song, he handed the microphone to a fan, letting tens of thousands of fans finish the song for him.'

Qi Yuan and Zheng Xiuwen's new song "Good Hearted Breakup" amazed the audience; a rare Cantonese-Mandarin duet in the Chinese music scene.

'Zheng Xiuwen accuses Qi Yuan of stealing her true love at her concert'

Qi Yuan had only been back in Hong Kong for a few days when his name appeared in major entertainment newspapers.

Qi Yuan's stage presence and charisma at Zheng Xiuwen's concert have given Warner Music great confidence in Qi Yuan's future solo concerts.

"The Taiwanese company has already applied for the Taoyuan Arena for you, and the date is set for November 3rd. The application for the Hong Kong Coliseum is also underway. You'll be very busy in the second half of the year; after releasing your Cantonese EP, you'll start working on your second Mandarin album," Zhang Hao said.

Taoyuan Arena is slightly larger than Hong Kong's Hung Hom Stadium, and can accommodate 15,000 spectators.

Qi Yuan remembers that Jay Chou's first solo concert was held at the Taoyuan Arena.

Damn! He's really become like Milk Tea Lun.

And like him, Jay Chou started holding solo concerts after releasing her second album.

"Can you manage? You have to write so many songs." Zhang Hao was a little worried. Wouldn't this workload drain Qi Yuan dry?
"I can manage. My second album already has three songs: 'Serious Snow,' 'Unavoidable Love,' and 'The One I Love.' I've written a few more recently, and I'll be able to put together a few more later." Qi Yuan said with a relaxed and contented expression.

“That’s good. Nicholas Tse is promoting his EP in Guangdong Province and Joong-ki is promoting his EP in Taiwan. We can promote your EP in Hong Kong,” Zhang Hao added.

Now that both of them are away, it's the perfect opportunity for Qi Yuan to dominate Hong Kong.

This month, Hsu Huai-yu from Rock Records released her self-titled album, and the title track "I Am a Girl" became a huge hit. The album sold very well as soon as it hit the Taiwanese market.

Just over three months into 1998, Hsu Huai-yu released an EP and an album, and planned to release another album in the second half of the year.

The Chinese music scene is really chaotic these days.

However, Hsu Huai-yu mainly targets the Mandarin market, and Qi Yuan could easily suppress her in Hong Kong.

In the following days, Qi Yuan embarked on a workaholic mode of frantically running around promoting the product.

On March 30th, the day the EP was released, his efforts were rewarded handsomely.

"Loving Too Late" has been placed on the shelves of audio-visual stores and bookstores in Hong Kong and Guangdong.

On its first day of release alone, more than 50,000 copies were sold in Hong Kong, making it a platinum item on its first day.

In the Guangdong and Guangxi regions, as many as 100,000 tickets were sold in a single day.

Handsome young men and beautiful young women from Guangdong Province and cousins ​​from Guangxi Province donated real money to support Qi Yuan.

With the solid foundation laid by Qi Yuan's debut album in mainland China last year, the initial sales of this EP have been phenomenal.

The distribution volume in provinces outside of Guangdong and Guangxi was relatively small, and less than 10,000 copies were sold on the first day, which was a rather unremarkable result.

This is quite normal. Cantonese songs don't have much of a market outside of Guangdong and Guangxi. Selling around 10,000 copies a day is already quite an achievement.

Many of them weren't interested in Cantonese songs, but bought the record because of Qi Yuan's name.

In short, Qi Yuan is already very satisfied with these results.

To be precise, the sales of this EP exceeded his expectations.

Hong Kong media even gave Qi Yuan a new nickname in their newspapers: "King Killer".

In Hong Kong, the four Heavenly Kings' core fanbase is still strong. Apart from Jacky Cheung, the other three Heavenly Kings' Cantonese album sales have fallen behind that of Chi Yuen.

(End of this chapter)