Across America, Starting with the Boxing Champion

Chapter 164 The King of Music

 “Lights! It’s too dark in here!”

As Link and Selena walked over, a beam of light shone under the stage, illuminating the front row of the audience.

 Kanye and the others were chatting with MJ in the audience, and several people were surrounding MJ, like little fans seeing the leader, with deep admiration and eagerness in their eyes.

Link took a look at MJ in the middle of the crowd. He was tall and thin, wearing a black dome hat, a strand of curly hair hanging down from his forehead, and a pair of sunglasses. He was as cool as in the MV.

While speaking to Kanye and others, he gently patted Kanye's arm with a friendly smile on his face.

　　It’s just that his face is too pale, his facial contours are also very stiff, his cheekbones are high and his cheeks are sunken inward, as if he is wearing a white mask.

Link felt Selina's grip on his hand tightened a little, smiled softly, put his arm around her shoulders, and walked over quickly.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Jackson, I’m Link Baker, and this is my sister Selena Gomez. It’s a great honor to see you here!”

Link said with an eager voice.

MJ also looked up at him, smiled slightly, walked out of the crowd and stretched out his hand to him and said: "Link, I'm glad to see you too. I saw you and Tyson play in Atlantic City."

"oh?"

Link was a little surprised. The last time he played against Tyson, he even went to watch it?

However, I thought about the news that the media broke in May last year, saying that MJ had appeared in disguise at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas and watched the Ultimate Fighting Championship in the crowd.

Also, he often disguises himself as an ordinary person and visits supermarkets, CD stores, and antique stores in Beverly Hills for shopping.

It is not impossible for him to come to Atlantic City to watch the match between himself and Tyson. Besides, the opponent is a superstar, so there is no need to lie to a small star like himself.

“Mr. Jackson, what do you think of my boxing?”

Link said with a smile.

 “Call me Mike!”

MJ smiled gently, greeted the nervous Selena again, and said: "Link, you are definitely one of the best boxers in the world. What's even more rare is that you are only 21 years old. This is so cool. "

Link smiled softly and thanked him humbly.

“Mike, he’s not that powerful. If Tyson wasn’t older, this guy would definitely not be Tyson’s opponent.” Lil Wayne said unhappily.

MJ patted him on the shoulder and said: "I called Tyson and asked him. No matter how young he is 10 years old, he can only tie with Link. Link, a super middleweight boxer, can beat Tyson, a heavyweight boxer. This is No one can deny the true strength.”

While several people were talking, MJ's doctors and nurses rushed over, asking him to sit down and rest, and help him check his body.

In 1999, MJ suffered a serious stage accident. He fell from a 50-foot-high bridge, causing serious injuries to his waist, back and other parts. He needed injections to relieve the pain. This also led to his drug addiction and his health became worse and worse. weak.

 He himself also suffers from severe vitiligo and family hereditary lupus erythematosus and other diseases.

These diseases and old injuries tortured him all the time and seriously affected his performance on the stage.

 This also resulted in him needing to bring a medical team with him during rehearsals and performances.

MJ apologized to several people, sat on a massage chair, and was examined by doctors and nurses.

Link looked at the thin MJ and once again realized the profound meaning of "if you want to wear the crown, you must bear its weight".

He debuted in the 1960s, became popular around the world in the 1970s, became the world's top superstar in the 1980s, and became a unique superstar in the world's entertainment industry in the 1990s. He is also a musician, a great philanthropist, a pacifist, a humanitarian, etc. .

 The more titles you have, the more doubts you will receive.

 While filming a Pepsi commercial in 1984, an accident caused his hair to catch fire and his scalp and face were severely burned. After several skin grafting surgeries and the effects of vitiligo, his skin gradually turned white.

 Since then, there have been a lot of news about his skin whitening in the media.

By the time the Luantong case first broke out in 1993, he was subjected to massive public attacks, abuses, criminal investigations, and was almost imprisoned. Afterwards, he appeared in court to defend himself many times and was acquitted twice by the court. However, when people judge a public figure, they are accustomed to making assumptions about guilt to achieve a certain psychological balance.

That incident became an indelible stain on him, and there are still reports of related incidents in the media to this day.

 In order to solve these troubles, he had to temporarily retire.

After the change of ownership in Washington this year, the situation seems to have improved, which is why the current comeback concert will be held.

 Link thought about himself from MJ’s experience. If he became a unique superstar in the future, would he be criticized by many media like MJ?

 The answer is yes.

 Every celebrity will be burdened by fame after becoming famous. This seems to be a law that all celebrities in the entertainment industry cannot follow.

The greater the reputation, the more interests are involved, and the more people want to benefit from him, this law becomes more obvious.

Just like MJ, the king of entertainment, with more than 1 billion fans worldwide.

He has huge influence in the United States and around the world. Every time the president takes office, he will be invited to Washington for a chat, and various medals will be awarded to him, in this way to win over him and his fans.

MJ has become a ‘too big to fail’ existence.

 For many people, this is not a good thing.

Similar people include Taylor, who will become a hugely influential star in the future and even be able to influence the political situation.

 In the process of her becoming famous, she also encountered a large amount of public opinion attacks, but she is blond and white, and the attacks she received were relatively minor.

In addition, there is one thing she does very smartly, which is to have many boyfriends publicly, so that she becomes a person with a bad reputation, an imperfect idol, and a target for the media to attack, so that she will not let the media focus on her private life. There are too many openings.

Link feels that if he really becomes a world star in the future, he can follow Taylor's example and shape himself into an imperfect idol, which will save him a lot of trouble.

 “Mr. Baker, Mr. West, please come this way.”

While MJ was receiving a massage, concert executive director Kenny Ortega approached Link and Kanye to discuss rehearsals with them.

According to the plan, Link will perform two songs with MJ.

 The first song is "Remember The Time", performed by him and MJ on the same stage.

The second song is "Weare the World", which is led by MJ and is sung by more than a dozen invited singers including Link, Kanye, Lil, Backstreet Boys, Billy Gilman, and Liza Minnelli. , is also one of MJ's concert repertoires, somewhat similar to "Tonight I Forget".

What Link needs to do is to become familiar with these two songs in the next month or so, and take time to come and participate in the rehearsal. The concert is expected to be held in June.

 “Mr. Baker, do you have any questions?”

Director Kenny Ortega asked.

“Do you need to dance? If there is a dance performance, I hope the director team can inform me early and give me some time to practice.”

Link didn’t want to be outdone by MJ on the stage, so he could only find time to practice more.

Director Ortega nodded and said there was no problem.

Link received the task and went to say goodbye to MJ. MJ asked him about the time of his next match. Link said that there was a boxing championship challenge in New York next month.

MJ didn’t say whether he was going or not, he just said he understood.

After chatting for more than ten minutes, seven or eight staff members came to talk to MJ. Link saw that the other party was too busy, so he took Selina and left.

 (End of this chapter)