China Entertainment 2000

The Beatles are recognized as the number one band in the world in Europe and the United States. Even if this scope is expanded to the world music scene, the number of supporters is definitely greater than the opponents.

In terms of their influence on music history and future generations, even Michael Jackson, who is known as the world's king of pop at his peak, cannot say that he can surpass them.

Therefore, as the former editor-in-chief of Rolling Stone, Raul Jackson’s words in his column immediately detonated the entire European and American music scene as soon as they were released——

Countless insults and criticisms poured in.

There are even more radical people who wish that this 73-year-old man with a history of heart disease would die suddenly.

As an insurmountable monument in the history of the world music scene, the birth and dissipation of the Beatles are full of stories - the cultural frenzy set off by the Beatles has almost bound the name of the band to the music of the United Kingdom and the United States. in history.

To today’s believers, the Beatles are untouchable gods;

For the mainstream media in the British and American cultural circles, the Beatles are the king that outsiders cannot touch.

In the past, Michael Jackson could be crowned the King of Pop and challenge the Beatles' status. That was because his skin color needed to be considered his own relative to his nationality. Nowadays, a Chinese person in Zhouyi also wants to rely on the Beatles to promote himself?

Who do you want?

"Fuck! Raul Jackson is so stupid! How can Spike possibly rival the Beatles?!"

"I admit that Spike's album is indeed good, but trying to compete with the Beatles is just a fool's errand!"

"Warner bought it, it is definitely Warner's public relations, there is no doubt about it!"

"Jackson, be careful whether you make money or spend your life!"

"..."

I don’t know whether they are sincere or criticizing trolls. There are endless insults on the Internet. Fortunately, the old man’s main battlefield is offline media channels. These voices have no impact on him. The lag of traditional media channels in spreading news is reflected at this moment. clear and direct.

Obviously, a large number of netizens on the Internet have been quarreling over the old man’s heavyweight column, but the New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, the Village Voice, Vibe, Blender, Magazines and newspapers such as Entertainment Weekly were unable to comment immediately——

Not to mention rushing to finish the manuscript, it’s too late to print and typeset!

This wave has actually made American and British online music and entertainment magazines and websites cheaper, including "AllMusic", "Metacritic", "New Musical Express", "Slant Magazine", "Stylus" and other websites. Compared with the previous traffic, A leap in growth!

Especially the Stylus website.

For a new website and brand that was only established last year, this wave of traffic from Zhouyi is a windfall for them!

The music review and rating website "Metacritic" clearly wanted to gain traffic, abruptly breaking the rules established by the founder when he founded the website in 1999. The album by Zhou Yi was opened directly on its own website the day after it was launched. Scoring mechanism——

With a perfect score of 100 points, the painting started at 11 o'clock in the morning on March 2, and the result was that in less than three hours, I became a weirdo——

It's either 91 or 100 points or 10 or 20 points. What stands out is one extreme. The few centrists who score 50 or 60 points are somewhat out of place.

"This rating is already a C. Sooner or later the website will be broken!"

Caribbean, Barbados, St. Michael District.

Robyn Rihanna Fenty, who just celebrated her 15th birthday last month, is somewhat aggrieved by the fact that her idol Mariah Carey's new album "Gossip Boyfriend" was hacked.

Although she was also aware of the Beatles' status and influence, she did not think that the Beatles were really so invincible and untouchable.

At the very least, she believes that Spike's creative talent is definitely not inferior to anyone else - he has done all the album programming since his debut, which is something even the Beatles' resurrection could not do.

But unfortunately, there was nothing she could do about it and she could only complain a few words.

Since she had no money to buy the album, she could only give it a 100-point score as best she could online to help balance the website ratings for Spike's new album, that's all.

Since her mother divorced her alcoholic father who only knew how to take drugs last year, her life in school has completely become the object of ridicule and bullying every day. For this reason, she no longer wants to live a life of bullying and discrimination. Rihanna chose to drop out of school after forming a girl band with two friends and winning the championship in a school singing competition.

She told her mother that she wanted to go out and pursue her music dream with two good friends.

Rihanna originally thought that she would be recognized by her hometown record company by virtue of her reputation as the champion of the campus competition. However, to this day, she can only hang out in major nightclubs in her hometown and cannot even get a stable singer. Opportunity……

The regular life in the past was also turned into a mess by herself.

In order to live and support herself, Rihanna had to work hard with her two good friends, but as time passed, she no longer knew what she was busy with.

She felt like she was lost in the mechanical endless cycle of going to and from get off work - looking for a job - going to and from get off work - looking for a job.

The scorn and ridicule of past classmates, the mess in life;

Her mother's secret disappointment and her companions' vague thoughts of leaving the team all stimulated Rihanna's self-esteem.

Her life, her life, seemed to have been a foreseeable failure.

And she messed it up herself.

If she hadn't dropped out of school, if she hadn't pursued her dream so blindly...

“Am I out of luck, Am I waiting to break

"When I keep saying that I'm looking for a way to escape (When I keep saying that I'm looking for a way to escape)

"Oh, I'm wishing I had, what I've taken for granted (I wish I could have it, what I want is granted)

"I can't help you when I'm only gonna do you wrong (when everything goes wrong again and again, I don't deserve it)..."

When she passed by a video store on the way home, the new song she had never heard before that was playing in the store immediately attracted her ears——

The extremely rhythmic drum beats seemed to knock into her heart. Spike's slightly familiar voice came from the speakers. On the small TV outside the window, Spike, dressed in black, seemed to be trapped in life. Unable to extricate herself from the quagmire, every lyric is like a sharp sword, piercing the young Rihanna's chest.

I destroyed everything I had in the past, maybe it was my destiny to make the same mistakes again and again...

But, can you blame her?

Since she was born, fate has not given her much choice.

Her alcoholic and drug-addicted father directly destroyed the entire family. It was the cruel reality that forced her to pick up the gun in her hand and leave her comfort zone in an attempt to carve out a new future.

The burden of life weighed on her so much that she could hardly breathe. She didn't even have time to reconcile with the awkward self in her heart.

“In the meantime we let it go (It’s time to let go)”

“At the road sign we used to know (Back to the familiar intersection)

"We can let this drift away, Oh, we let this drift away (let right and wrong go with the wind, let it go with the wind)..."

Spike on the small TV in the window is getting older, singing the core idea of ​​the entire song "Shots" with an extremely open-minded image - reconciling with himself.

The youthful frivolity of "Enemy", the perseverance of "Natural", and the self-reconciliation of "Shots".

Who hasn’t done a few stupid things when they were young?

Who hasn’t been stupid when they were young?

Who didn’t stubbornly walk into darkness when they were young?

Whether you succeed or fail, this is all part of your life experience. There is no need to resist. Just as "Natural" sings, if you raise your head, you can still move forward——

As long as you can reconcile with yourself who is in trouble.

As "Shots" sings: My dear, people always have to learn to change.

Rihanna, who felt like crying inexplicably, pursed her lips, subconsciously approached the window, looked up through the glass and watched the DVD video played by the store to attract customers, her eyes filled with longing.

If possible, she would also like to reconcile with herself.

If possible, she would also like to reconcile with her family of origin, her father, and those classmates who laughed at and bullied her.

But she is just an ordinary person.

She is just a confused and helpless ordinary person.

The things she wanted were obviously simple, but yet they were all so difficult.

As the song "Shots" ended, Rihanna, who stood silently in front of the window for a long time, clenched her right hand tightly. She wanted to go in and buy the album several times, but in the end she touched her pockets and weighed the weight of her life. After all, she had no choice but to make a choice. Give up——

And just when she was about to leave, another extremely catchy prelude stopped her in her tracks.

"I've been reading books of old (I've read all the ancient books)

“The legends and the myths (those myths and legends)

"Achilles and his gold, Hercules and his gifts (Achilles and his treasures, Hercules and his powers)

"Spiderman's control, And Batman with his fists (Spider-Man's control, and Batman's iron fists)

"And clearly I don't see myself upon that list (I obviously can't compare with them)..."

It has a bit of British slow rock mixed with electronic dance music, and the voice is no longer as roaring as in the previous song. Zhou Yi's performance in "Something just like this" is extremely gentle——

Greek mythology, Spider-Man, Batman.

These are all familiar figures and deeds in the Western world, but now they have become lifelike geniuses described by Zhou Yi in the MV, and Zhou Yi is now an ordinary person who can be seen everywhere in life.

Ordinary studies, ordinary family, ordinary growth.

It's obviously so ordinary, but I heard that Rihanna in front of the window was completely uncontrollable——

In the past, she had also fantasized about whether she could become a superpower and use her superpowers to improve her life.

She thought about her good neighbor Spider-Man, about Batman's money-making ability, and even thought about flying around like Supergirl and punching a scumbag like her father whenever she saw one.

But this is ultimately just fantasy.

Back in reality, she is just a child who can't do anything.

“When we were young, we fantasized about becoming superheroes in comics and TV. When we grow up, we realize that as long as we can change things around us, kiss the people we love, and take care of our families, we are already very amazing superheroes.

"No matter what happens, remember to look forward. As long as you don't die, you will always be young.

"I admire Spike's ambition and intention. This is an album that reflects his outlook on life and world view."

Johnny Davis, the editor of the British "New Musical Express" website, which was founded in the 1950s and actively transformed into an online music and movie discussion website after the advent of the Internet era, directly listened to the entire album on this website. It has been given a high score of 9.1 on the Internet - the website's full score is 10 points.

"The most important thing is that Spike is not satisfied with expressing his own opinions. He also made further innovations in his album. The use of electronic music in the song "Something just like this" is different from the previous one. "DJ" in this album has reached a new level. It can be said that he single-handedly opened up a new form of electronic music——

“He incorporates unique elements of rock and roll, blending it with the pattern of electronic dance music that tends to get boring after being listened to dozens of times.

"In this era when most popular electronic music has disappeared, or is still stuck in the old disco era of the last century and the new era of dance floor songs that are popular in nightclubs, Spike's "Something just like this" brings a new meaning to the music scene. The changes are undoubtedly revolutionary.

"The simplest comparison is the application of electronic music elements in Spike's last album's songs "Yeah" and "DJ". Compared with this song, it seems like the product of two eras after the introduction of the old and the new.

“This is a terrible fact.

“A Chinese, a Chinese musician who has never received formal Western music education, has actually promoted and updated genres in the world music scene.

"I heard that Spike also created a new Chinese style in his hometown that gradually started to lead a trend. Maybe this unprecedented use of electronic music is why Spike will become a legend in the Western world. Foundation.

"Raul is right, Spike may really have the potential to rival the legend."

Johnny Davis's heartfelt sentiment received hundreds of approvals less than half an hour after it was posted.

As the senior editor of "NME", Johnny Davis has extremely senior qualifications in the industry. Even the queen Madonna will refer to this editor's evaluation of herself after releasing an album. At the same time, he is also another industry authority after Raul Jackson, the former editor-in-chief of Rolling Stone, who has publicly praised Zhou Yi——

"Johnny did it too!"

Zhou Yi's fans who are in urgent need of finding allies are now not only buying the album, but also jumping up and down to help their idol Zhou Yi win this "headwind situation".

And with the demise of Johnny, another authoritative figure in the music critic world, more and more passers-by and listeners began to become curious——

The Grammy winner and last year's global best-selling song was The Lion King from China.

Why is Spike's album so controversial this year?

It stands to reason that after winning the Grammy, shouldn't he be like Norah Jones and rely on the award-winning effect to achieve word-of-mouth sales of all his albums?

And it is precisely under this kind of controversy that Zhou Yi's new album "Forever Young" is soaring in popularity that no one expected -

On March 4, 2003, the second day of the second lunar month, the dragon raised its head.

Just three days after the album was released, the new round of US Billboard charts was officially updated——

On the Hot 100 Singles Chart, Zhou Yi's entire album was selected in an eye-catching manner, directly setting the record for the fastest full album song to enter the US Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart!

FUCK!

This result will undoubtedly cause the noisy Internet to explode in an instant!

No, why are they so noisy, and all the songs can be included in the top 100 of B-charts?

In the top 200 album chart announced shortly after the singles chart, "Forever Young" silenced all the fans with a record of 927,000 CDs sold in three days, and topped the list of the top 200 albums for the week!

Three days! 927,000!

"Unbelievable! Unbelievable!!!"

"He sold more in three days than others in a week?!"

"We quarrel online, but we never lose offline!"

“Is this the power of the Grammys?”

"..."

In Zhou Yi's "Forever Young" album, the three songs currently ranking highest are "Viva La Vida", "Counting Stars" and "We Are Young", ranking 45th, 51st and 67th respectively.

Airborne into the list!

For comparison, 50 Cent, the hottest hip-hop singer from the beginning of this year to the present, sold 870,000 copies of his first studio album "Get Rich or Die Tryin" in the first week, and the lead single "In da Club" passed After six weeks of climbing, we have climbed to the runner-up position after today’s update.

If nothing else happens, this song will top the B-chart next week or the week after that, making 50 Cent the first man to have a number one single in his debut album.

As we all know, 50 Cent was a new talent discovered by Eminem.

As for Spike, it can be said that he directly faced Eminem at the Grammys.

On a certain music program on Time Warner's HBO TV station, when Zhou Yi, as a guest, appeared in his seat for an interview with a calm attitude, he smiled and said that he didn't care about it at all——

"He will not be my opponent. I can be sure that I have never taken him seriously."

"So what do you think about someone putting you together with the Beatles, Elvis Presley, and Michael Jackson? Who do you think is number one in the world?"

"Me."

"...? Sorry, I didn't hear clearly. What did you just say?" The host was a little confused and quickly asked, hoping that he could make up for it.

Zhou Yi straightened his collar and shrugged: "I think it's me who is number one, number two or number three in the world."

"..."