Across America, Starting with the Boxing Champion

Chapter 185 Second album released

I walked around the MJ memorial service and watched a concert in memory of MJ. Mariah Carey, Lionel Richie and others performed. In the end, dozens of singers came on stage to sing MJ's "Save". world".

 In the evening, Link drove Taylor home.

 “How are you, do you have any inspiration?”

On Santa Monica Boulevard, Link looked at Taylor in the passenger seat and smiled.

Taylor was wearing a blue dress, curled up in her seat, her brows knitted together, her hands scratching her head, and her long blond curly hair was messy, like a pile of instant noodles.

 “Why? Why can you find inspiration at the memorial service, but I can’t?”

Tyler blinked his blue fox eyes and looked at him with jealousy.

Link smiled softly, "I have said before that you and MJ have no friendship. His death cannot touch you, and it will naturally not inspire your creative inspiration."

“You mean you need someone close to you?”

Tyler propped up his chin, blinked his long eyelashes, and slowly turned his eyes to him again.

 “Hey, stop looking around!”

Link pushed her forehead away with his fingers, "I have given you too much inspiration. You can't dedicate me to God just to write songs."

 “I didn’t think so!”

Taylor rolled her eyes at him, "I was just thinking about the relatives who passed away around me. My grandfather passed away too early. I was only eight or nine years old at the time, so I didn't have a deep impression. My grandma, you know, she is also a singer from Tennessee. , was very beautiful when she was young, and I was most influenced by her. Unfortunately, she passed away in 2003."

"Feel sorry!"

Link said politely.

Taylor ignored him, held his face in his hands and said, "Maybe I can write a song for my grandma."

Link nodded and said yes. Not only did her grandmother write songs, but she also wrote songs for her grandfather, Mrs. Andrea, etc. Link thought again that Mrs. Andrea seemed to have a tumor. He didn’t know if it had been found out now, but he could do it next time. Take them for a physical exam.

“When will your third album be released?”

“There are no plans for next year or the year after.”

“It’s really slow. I debuted two years later than you. I will release my second album next week and my third album next year.”

Link raised the corner of his mouth and smiled.

Taylor clenched his fist and knocked on his shoulder: "Don't be happy. Everyone in the industry knows that it's best to release an album once a year. If you release it too frequently, fans won't pay for it, and you may not be able to sell it."

Link smiled, and what she said made sense. The album was released too fast, and the promotion and distribution could not keep up. The singer was too little famous, which would also cause the album to be unsaleable. This was one of the reasons why the release of his second album was delayed by a month. one.

However, he is not too worried. The songs on the second album are also of high quality, and the company is willing to spend money on promotion, so there is no need to worry about not selling.

In addition, after the release of the second album, Ivaca asked him to go on a concert tour around the world to promote the songs from the first and second albums.

"Do you have enough songs in your third album? Do you want my help?"

"No! I have hundreds of songs in my songbook. The three albums are already enough. I just want to write better songs and give them to my fans. Unlike some people who just write a few songs and release them. There is no sincerity.”

Taylor glanced at him from the corner of his eyes and said with the corners of his mouth raised.

Link smiled and shook his head, not arguing with her.

Taylor snorted softly, straightened his messy hair in the mirror, and said: "The news said that Link Music is a mom-and-pop store, one is responsible for operation and management, and the other is responsible for creation, which sounds really good."

Link has also seen this kind of article to hype up his relationship with Ivaca.

 Some say that he is Ivaca's lover, and the two often secretly date on the top floor of the TP Building.

Some say that the Tom family are the backers and financial backers of Link Music. There are also news that he and Ivaca have secretly obtained their licenses in Las Vegas. There are more news that he has two boats, one is Taylor. and Iwaka, calling him a big scumbag.

Especially after he had a feud with the East Coast rap gang, the amount of negative news reports increased day by day.

 But those tabloids have no actual evidence and can only report some speculative tidbits, which are harmless.

“I don’t have a special relationship with Ivaca, I’m definitely not lying to you about that.”

"I know."

Taylor pursed her lips, turned to look at him with blue eyes and said, "I just want to tell you that the Tom family are businessmen and focus on profits. She keeps urging you to release records, two or three a year. It’s not good if you use it as a tool to make money. It will waste your talent and potential in music.

If you want to be a good singer, you should not pay too much attention to your income, but your works. Although your last album had six singles on the list, which was a very good result, if you can be patient in creating, your first album will be ten Both songs have a chance to be on the list. "

Link nodded, Taylor was right.

If artists are too profit-seeking, their works will become philistine. In order to cater to the market, they have to lower the quality of their works. However, good works are very niche, such as spring and snow, and some good works will take decades or hundreds of years to develop. Be accepted.

 But this does not apply to Link.

Although he learned piano, guitar, and music composition from Taylor, at his current level, he has not been able to write a piece of original music that will impress people. At this stage, he can only draw on the hundreds of future songs in his mind. Music, hanging out in the music scene.

ˆDue to the time-sensitive nature of this music, he had to speed up the release of the album.

There are also projects in his mind that are worthy of investment, and they are also time-sensitive, so he needs to make money quickly. So Iwaka urged him to release an album and make money in this way, which was also in line with his plan.

“I understand what you mean, but don’t worry, this is my peak creative period, and I can fully cope with two albums a year.”

Link pinched her cheek and smiled.

 Taylor slapped his hand away and hummed softly: "Stop making excuses, you just can't bear to let go of that woman with **** and big ass. I want to touch that **** just looking at it. Don't tell me you don't want to."

“Uh, dear, we are discussing music creation, can you not take the topic so far? You just said that I believe I have no special relationship with Ivaca.”

Link said helplessly.

“But you must have had an affair. The movie is right. Men are half-hearted animals who love the new and hate the old. They will never be satisfied.”

As he was speaking, Taylor suddenly stopped, took out a notebook and pen from his bag, put them on his knees, and started writing and drawing.

Link knew that she had an idea and did not dare to disturb her. He lowered the speed of the car and drove slowly along the west coast road with tall palm trees towards the sunny beach villa area.

 Wednesday, the second album "KeepOnMovin\'" released its second promotional single "Believer", the first being "GiveMeReason" released in May.

 The second song is also a rock song, released by Dream Dragon in 2017.

The style of this song is tough and violent, like Link's boxing style. The accompaniment is heavy beat drums with a strong rhythm. Paired with Link's impassioned voice and strong rap-like rhythm, it feels like a song of overcoming. A battle song for overcoming difficulties.

˜The theme, style, and background story are all very consistent with Link’s identity and experience.

 “Believer” once ranked fourth on the Billboard singles chart and topped the rock singles chart. It is of extremely high quality.

On the first day of release, the digital music platform received 126,000 downloads, and became the number one download list on the iTunes Music Store within 12 hours, the number one download number on the Amazon Digital Music Mall within 16 hours, and the number one number one on the Billboard Digital Music Download Chart.

Many musicians in the industry have also praised this song. In the Amazon digital music store, 23,049 people gave it a rating of 9.1 out of 10.

 "Rolling Stone" magazine gave a five-star recommendation on the official website.

"Believer" received a good response, which also led to a surge in the online and offline pre-sales of the second album. As of 12 noon on Friday, the cumulative pre-sales exceeded 100,000 copies. According to expectations, the sales volume of this album in the first week will not be less than 30 Ten thousand copies.

 But on Friday, Jay-Z also released the second promotional single of his 11th album "Empire State of Mind".

 This song is written about New York. It is Jay-Z's masterpiece and is of extremely high quality. It was downloaded 164,000 times on major digital music platforms on the first day, directly taking the top spot on the "Believer" digital music download list.

After the release of "Empire State of Mind", the entertainment media also turned their attention to the music scene, focusing on Link and Jay-Z's new songs.

 After two or three months of spreading, the news of Link’s rift with East Coast rappers such as Jay-Z has caused a stir in the entertainment industry, becoming the most exciting news in June and July besides MJ’s death.

Media reports said that since April, the two parties have been competing for the top spot on the Billboard Rap Chart, first for the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Rap Chart, and then for the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart.

Link Music’s participants include Link, Wiz Khalifa, Atlantic Records rapper Bobby Little, and Link Music’s new singer Bruno Mars. Among these five people, except for Link and Wiz, There is one album and the other two are considered newcomers.

Participants in the East Coast rap war include: Jay-Z, Kanye West, Eminem, Lil Wayne, T.I., Drake, 50 Cent, etc. In the rap music circle, their albums Both sales volume and influence are within the top 20.

Comparing the fame and number of participants on both sides, East Coast rappers have the ability to crush Link Music.

 But what is surprising is that after the competition for the list began, Link Music was not crushed.

Link's "I\'mTheOne" and "Givemereason" successively defeated Jay-Z's "D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune, Kanye's "Monster" and T.I.'s "Dead and Gone" on the rap chart and the Hot 100 singles chart. , won the double championship.

The only failure was the rap song "Lighters" released in mid-June. "Forever", co-written by Kanye, Eminem, Lil Wayne, and Drake, ranked second on the rap chart, always Unable to reach first place.

But this song was sung by two new singers, and was suppressed by three top singers. Although it was defeated, it was an honor.

 Now the two sides are competing for the charts again. This time they are not only competing for the singles chart, but also for the album sales chart.

Link's new album "Go Forward" will be released next Monday, and Jay-Z's 11th album "The Blueprint 3" is scheduled to be released next Tuesday.

The release dates of the two albums are only one day apart.

　Judging from the current situation, both albums are very capable.

 The first promotional singles of "Go Forward" and "The Blueprint 3" both topped the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.

 The second promotional single also topped the digital music download chart.

　Judging from the album itself, it’s hard to tell the difference.

 In terms of fame and influence between the two, Jay-Z, who has been in the music scene for more than 20 years, has a deep foundation in the music scene, has many loyal fans, and is known as the "King of New York Music", is even better.

"But we can't underestimate Link. He is an amazing guy. His debut album won double platinum in the United States. When "I\'mTheOne" competed with "Monster" in May, everyone was I thought Kanye would win, but Link suddenly won eight swimming gold medals at the World University Games, which was amazing.

This news also made his song top the rap chart. I heard that Link has signed up to participate in the World Swimming Championships in Berlin next week. If he can defeat Phelps and other world champions and win eight gold medals, " "Go Forward" may not have no chance of winning. Yes, "Go Forward" is the name of Link's second album. We can also hear it from the two previously released singles. This album tells the story of a struggler. The theme is very positive.

So it’s not yet certain who wins and who loses between the two albums. "

ˆ John Ferrero, the famous music critic of the Los Angeles Times, wrote in the article.

In addition to the Los Angeles Times, other major newspapers, TV stations, and radio stations in the United States have recently talked about the topic of Link and Jay-Z's new albums preparing to compete for the charts. They are all discussing who will win and who will lose, and whose album will be on the list. There are more songs and whose single will reach the top of the charts.

For this reason, some gambling companies have opened a new gambling project, using the sales volume of the two albums in the first week, first month, and three months to place bets. Judging from the odds offered by multiple gambling companies, Link's new album's weekly sales volume won 1:1.8 , Jay-Z album won 1:1.2, Jay-Z has a greater chance of winning.

 (End of this chapter)