Chapter 57 The second single is...

  Isn't rock? Upon hearing this, Zhang Hu's initial reaction was anger followed by joy, and then a surge of complex emotions.

  Being was founded on rock music, although it's just ordinary and not the kind of extreme live-performance-oriented band-style rock that is truly valued in the rock world, but in any case, their persistence and development on this path has been their greatest reliance for standing tall in Japan's entertainment circle all these years.

  So when Zhou Xiao said that his new song is not rock and roll, he would certainly be somewhat angry.

  What followed was a pleasant surprise, as after thinking through the implications of Zhou Xiao's actions, he didn't react impulsively with intuition, but rather arrived at his decision through rational thought. What's wrong with Being? Isn't it just that the company only has rock music and can only do rock music? If Zhou Xiao really had the ability to find another path, it would be a good thing for both himself and the entire company.

  But this change is undoubtedly frustrating, the long-awaited good fortune of rockers, the whole being is a rocker, and rockers are forced not to do rock, how can they be happy?

  "Alright, if it's not rock then what is it? What kind of song is this?" Nagato Daikou asked.

  "This song is called... 'Powder Snow'."

  Looking back at the Japanese music scene, examples of a single song sparking an entire phenomenon in Japan without any connection to the singer themselves have become almost extinct since 2000. In terms of single sales and annual sales, the Japanese music scene has been dominated by idol groups, from Johnny's heyday to AKB48's sudden rise to fame. Whether it was Ayumi Hamasaki, who was shaped by her era, or Johnny's, which gradually took over the era in the late 2000s with its beautiful marketing of its artists, their essence is all about selling music through the charm of their artists.

  In this state, Zhou Xiao's second album can still use the numerous rock songs in his mind, and the sales are estimated to be not bad either. But if that's the case, then Zhou Xiao would just be an ordinary singer. What he hopes to get is a reputation and evaluation that is extremely high for himself. Only with these, can he have enough prestige to manage AKB in a few years.

  Under the drive of this idea, Zhou Xiao finally made his own choice. The song "Powder Snow" is still a song with guitar as the main instrument, but in terms of style, it is quite different from the previous single "Small Love", and maybe it will get some attention.

  "Just... before releasing a new album, I still need to practice my singing skills, and there are other more important things to do, so for this album, I hope it can be released at the end of 2000 or even early 2001," said Zhou Xiao.

  "Year-end?" Long Hou Dahao furrowed his brow, how did it suddenly get pushed to year-end? He's currently at the peak of his career, and if he were to release a single now, he would undoubtedly achieve even better results. Why on earth does he want to move it to year-end?

  What does Zhou Xiao want to do? It's actually very simple. The quality of the song "Powder Snow" is really good, but as I said before, just having a good song quality is not enough. Social topicality is also a very important thing.

  A Japanese TV series? No, Zhou Xiao can't afford a Japanese TV series now, so he's preparing to make a movie!

  The theme song is actually a Japanese drama theme song, but the movie and the Japanese drama are talking about the same thing, "A Liter of Tears"!

  All girls and young women in Japan, get ready with tissues, the tear-inducing demon king is coming!

  Zhou Xiao... basically had no experience in film production. So for the idea of making a movie, this first film, Zhou Xiao was not prepared to direct it himself. His idea was that "A Liter of Tears" was originally published in 1986, he would buy the film and television adaptation rights, then based on the original work, plus his own ideas for the movie and TV series, write out a script and hand it over to a director to direct.

  This director doesn't need to be too talented, but needs a lot of work experience. Because apart from not having money, Zhou Xiao has every scene and every shot in his mind, if the director is too talented, it's hard to control.

  Then, such a director will also bring him a wealth of experience. Zhou Xiao hopes that after finishing this first play, he will have enough experience to at least lead a drama team to make a film.

  It can be said that this film not only allowed him to gain experience, but also definitely earned him social recognition and even helped him boost the sales of his second single, making it a perfect multi-birds-with-one-stone plan.

  Moreover, compared to "Small Love", the song "Powder Snow" is also relatively more difficult. Excluding the difficulty brought by music adaptation, "Small Love" is a song that even Aragaki Yui can sing, and speaking of Aragaki Yui... she's cute, has a good voice, and her acting skills and image are not bad either, but when it comes to singing... maybe she's not as good as many AKB idol girls. This isn't something to criticize, because after all, this isn't her main profession, and when she appeared on Music Station, she didn't turn the song into a playback accident either.

  But the song "Powder Snow" is not easy to sing well, rhythm, pitch and tone all require a lot of practice beforehand. It's okay for Uncle Inoue to sing or even sell songs outside, but it's not good enough to record multiple times in the studio. Zhou Xiao can't always hide behind the scenes, what if he messes up this song when he finally goes on stage? Wouldn't that ruin his reputation?

  So before recording this single, Zhou Xiao still needs to find some teachers to give herself lessons on vocal skills.

  In terms of singing, Zhou Xiao's voice is actually a bit immature, after all, this body is only eighteen years old, and his voice has the youthful tenderness. The talent for singing skills is not bad, high-pitched and low-pitched, but the pitch and control are not so good because he hasn't received too much professional training.

  With such hardware conditions, it's impossible to pick up a song and sing it with your own flavor, making it sound good and emotional. Why do AKB members often go off-key or even out of tune when singing? It's not ruled out that some people just can't sing, but most of the time, the reason is that they haven't practiced enough. For example, famous members like Kojima Haruna and Minegishi Minami have gone off-key during theater performances. However, if it's a specific song that they've practiced extensively, at least for idols, they should be able to sing it well, even if it's just one song.

  Zhou Xiao is the same, but "Powder Snow" was sung by Nishikido Ryo to a broadcast accident level. However, it's clear that Nishikido Ryo didn't practice this song much, and Zhou Xiao is slightly better than Nishikido Ryo in terms of idol level. After practicing a lot, he should be able to master this song.

  Choosing "Powder Snow" as the new single has another advantage, which is that the second song in the single doesn't need to be worried about, and can directly choose another song by the same singer from the TV series version of "1 Liter of Tears", namely "March 9th". I suppose with the movie's release, these two songs will also be able to ride this wave and sell as well as they did in their previous life, ranking second on the yearly charts.

  Regarding Zhou Xiao's behavior, Zhang Hu couldn't say anything. After all, the contract was signed with such loose terms from the beginning. Now that Zhou Xiao wants to do something on his own, this side can't stop him either. It can be said that in the company's internal settlement meeting, it's unlikely that Zhou Xiao's income will ever be listed as regular income, because the company's control over him is really too weak.

  After leaving the company, Zhou Xiao was a little confused. Now that the single is on the right track, what should I do next?

  How about... publishing this comic?

  As soon as this idea popped into Zhou Xiao's mind, he felt ashamed and wanted to slap himself. Who would think of doing so many things at once and expecting to do them all well? Don't be kidding yourself! Not to mention that Zhou Xiao's painting skills were average to begin with, but drawing comics wasn't an easy task either. Moreover, it was a huge waste of time. If he really wanted to create comics, Zhou Xiao would probably have to devote all his energy to it.

  But... if it's just a matter of coming up with an idea or writing out a script-like thing, and then finding a professional manga artist to draw it, that wouldn't be a problem.