Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Recording Studio Sparkling with Starlight

  The first five years of the 21st century was indeed a era of songstresses, with Kawada Mami under Being, who would later become very popular, Kōda Kumi with her cool and sexy wind, Namie Amuro promoted by Komuro Tetsuya, Utada Hikaru who had the strongest ability but suffered from tumor in 02 and suddenly got married leading to a gradual decline, and also Matsutoya Yumi who was excellent at both singing and acting... Of course, we can't forget about Hamasaki Ayumi who combined songs with pop culture.

  In such a great era, even Being can only support one Komuro Tetsuya, the true trendsetter of this era is Avex, among the six top singers mentioned above, Ayumi Hamasaki alone has three: Hikaru Utada, Namie Amuro and Ayumi Hamasaki.

  However, for the sake of the long-term prosperity, one thing is clear: although the era of songstresses was indeed glorious, it was actually the people behind them who made that era shine. It was their outstanding creative and planning abilities that allowed the songstresses to rise to fame and take the stage. Therefore, for these producers, the lyricists, composers, and arrangers are the most precious treasures. There are many good singers in Japan, but those who can create million-seller singles are extremely rare.

  From the song "Small Love", Osamu Nagata heard Zhou Xiao's potential. He was worried, of course, as many famous Japanese songwriters have spent their entire lives producing excellent music, but more people have only been able to contribute a few great songs after releasing an outstanding work. Good music seems to be just a brilliant explosion accumulated over the years. On this point, Osamu Nagata could not help it, he could only try his best to grasp every newcomer who was considered talented.

  So, when Zhou Xiao really arrived at the entrance of the Being headquarters building, the company gave him a treatment that made him feel somewhat honored and surprised. Although Zhang Yong didn't come downstairs to greet him, he seemed to have been waiting for a long time.

  After being introduced by Spring Water Sister, Nagato Daikou seemed somewhat impatient to lead Zhou Xiao into his own office: "Mr. Zhou's 'Small Love' I've heard it, it's really an excellent song, and what surprised me is that Mr. Zhou is so young and handsome!"

  Indeed, many Japanese singers are not good-looking, but undoubtedly, a handsome appearance is also very useful, after all, everyone is in the entertainment industry.

  "You're too polite, and what's with the 'Mr.'? I'm only 18, not even an adult yet. Just call me Little Zhou."

  "It's not ordinary to be able to write such an excellent song at the age of 18, I heard that you also want to be like Sakai Izumi and not promote or sing? In that case, your handsome appearance would be a bit wasted." said Osamu Nagato.

  "It's not that I don't want to participate in promotions at all, it's just that I hope to have more time to do what I want to do, so as for the promotional aspect...I just hope there won't be too much of it."

  "Haha, promoting this kind of thing, I'm afraid our company is the only one in Japan that's so careless about it! Being has always been about winning with music quality! You can rest assured on this point, every promotional activity will be confirmed with you beforehand, and as long as you cancel before it starts, you don't have to go if you don't want to." What Osuga Takayuki meant was that we'll give you a list of promotions you might need to participate in beforehand, and if there's one you don't want to attend, just refuse. But if you didn't object beforehand, unless something big comes up, you have to participate. After all, it's a contractual society.

  "That makes me feel at ease."

  "Shall... we discuss the contract?" said Osamu Nagata.

  "Alright, you speak," said Zhou Xiao.

  Takashi Osugi pulled out a document from his desk: "This is our company's new employee contract. Take it home and have a look, when you're sure, come to the company directly, we don't need to rush into signing the contract. (Since Japan considers 20 years old as an adult, I'm not quite sure if an 18-year-old needs a guardian to sign this kind of contract, but let's just assume he can do it himself.)

  Zhou Xiao nodded secretly, and the method of Zhang Hu's good fortune was very kind. He didn't force Zhou Xiao to sign the contract today just because of his age. By letting Zhou Xiao go back to study the contract, he was actually giving him time to find a guardian and a lawyer. This way, it could avoid loopholes in the contract to the greatest extent.

  "Alright! I'll go first then." Zhou Xiao said a couple more words to Zhang Huaide, bid farewell and turned around to walk out of the room.

  "Here it is! Here it is!" Outside the office, Kawashima and a group of people were waiting at the door. When Zhou Xiao came out, they all swarmed around him.

  "How is it?" Kawashima asked.

  "I'll take a look at the contract first." Zhou Xiao waved the contract in his hand.

  "What's with the contract, little brother? Come with me to the recording studio, I've found a few people." At this time, Sakai Izumi also came over. In the current Being, apart from B'z's two old men, Sakai Izumi is the biggest.

  Zhou Xiao followed Sakai Izumi out of the company with a spring in his step, feeling extremely good. Following this older sister, he gazed at her ponytail bouncing up and down behind her back, Zhou Xiao felt incredibly wonderful. When he first crossed over, he had fantasies about AKB48, fantasized about meeting Kitahara Rie and Nagase Tomoya, fantasized about getting to know countless female celebrities, but the one thing he never imagined was that the first person he would have such close contact with would be her.

  There wasn't a professional recording studio within the company, and for some reason it was also inconvenient to gather people directly inside the company. Sakai Izumi brought Zhou Xiao out of the company and drove her car directly to an indoor recording studio.

  As soon as she entered, Zhou Xiao was dazzled by the starlight inside. Inoue Hiroshi and Tsutaya Osamu were sitting together chatting, with Sakai Nanase standing beside them like a little servant, who is his proud disciple. This cold and beautiful singer, Aikawa Nanase, is now listening to Tsutaya Osamu's words, her face showing a faint smile that seems to have no relation to the cool beauty outside.

  Another woman in her thirties, about 150 cm tall, looked familiar to Zhou Xiao. This woman was talking to two very young men in the room, and Zhou Xiao knew them well - they were Kinki Kids, Jingi's agency's recent rising stars, Toma and Koichi Domoto.

  Zhou Xiao took a glance at Sakai Izumi, who had arrived before him. He didn't expect that the artist's private social circle would be so extensive. The people present were from different companies, but when they gathered in the small recording studio, there was no discord among them.

  After Sakai Izumi dragged Zhou Xiao in, she introduced him to everyone one by one. Apart from a few people he already knew, the beautiful woman in her thirties was surprisingly Asuka Yui, a representative figure of the idol era in the late 1980s. Among the others that Zhou Xiao wasn't familiar with, there were several whose names he had heard but didn't recognize, and these were also people he needed to make an effort to remember. Before Sakai Izumi arrived, she had already told him that in the entertainment industry, what floats on the surface is always just the tip of the iceberg, so it's never wrong to be friendly and humble.

  It's not that if you don't lower your posture, others will treat you differently at the time. However, you will definitely receive backlash, and this is not something to be questioned. In the early 21st century, why did the Song Dynasty disappear in less than ten years? Apart from a few songstresses who were older and no longer attractive to young people, there are many legends that originated from their attitudes. It is said that after several songstresses became big stars in Asia, they became very arrogant. The directors and staff of TV shows may have tolerated them at the time, but afterwards, they simply wouldn't invite you to participate in programs, and you would be helpless?

  This kind of thing is very normal, Guo Xinyu admitted in the show that when she was a ter at Xiaomao Club, there were too many praises around her and she gradually became arrogant. She was very rude to an ordinary staff member of a certain TV station. As a result, after several years, that staff member climbed up to become a director, while Guo Xinyu's reputation greatly reduced due to the disbandment of Xiaomao Club. In the end, she never appeared on that TV station again.

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