Chapter 142 First Album

  July 26, 2013

  Today's weather in Xiangcheng is undoubtedly a good day for this fiery summer. This storm brought a bit of coolness to the scorching Xiangcheng.

  This is already the third day since I returned from Yunnan, but the subtitles of that girl lying in a sea of blood are still swirling around my mind, and no matter what, I just can't shake them off. If only I could have gone faster at that time, maybe this girl would have been saved. Although Zi Qi told me it wasn't my fault, my heart is still so uneasy, I've made up my mind! I must do something! Must!

  This is a diary entry written by Guo Xiaoyu last night, no one knows what he's going to do, maybe not even himself. Because right now he's in Zhao Yuyun's office discussing his new album.

  "Xiao Yu, are you sure that all 12 songs on this album were written by yourself?"

  "Of course!" In response to Zhao Yuyun's question, Guo Xiaoyu replied: "I wrote nine songs myself, and then included the three songs I sang before, 'Finally Waiting for You', 'Little Love Song' and 'When You Hear Me Say' in my heart album. That's all twelve songs."

  "Should the title track of that album be 'Finally Waiting For You' or 'When You Hear Me Say'?"

  "It doesn't matter." Guo Xiaoyu shook his finger and said, "Use another song."

  "Another one?" Zhao Yuyun asked curiously: "What song?"

  "A Little Love Song." Guo Xiaoyu took out a sheet of music and handed it to Zhao Youyun, saying, "It's this song."

  Zhao Yuyun took over the score with a puzzled expression. "Finally Waiting for You" was already a very classic song! But Guo Xiaoyu still wanted to use another song as the main hit of his first album, was this "Little Love Song" better than "Finally Waiting for You"?

  Zhao Yuyun held the score and unconsciously started singing: "This is a simple little love song, singing about the twists and turns of people's hearts." After humming two sentences, Zhao Yuyun asked Guo Xiaoyu in doubt: "This song is indeed good, but do you think it would be better to use 'Finally Waiting for You' as the main song?"

  As for Zhao Yuyun's confusion, Guo Xiaoyu was well aware of it. The song "Little Love Song" can be said to be excellent in both lyrics and melody, but it was sung to perfection by a unique voice. Guo Xiaoyu took over the score and said to Zhao Yuyun: "Auntie Zhao, this song isn't sung like that, listen to me sing a few lines." With that, Guo Xiaoyu went ahead and sang:

  "This is a simple little love song, singing about the white dove in our hearts. I think I'm suitable to be a singer, youth drifting away with the wind..."

  Guo Xiaoyu sang a short segment and then asked Zhao Youyun, "How's that? The feeling is completely different now, isn't it?"

  "Your voice?" Zhao Youyun knew at once that the problem lay with Guo Xiaoyu's voice.

  Seeing this, Guo Xiaoyu smiled and said: "When singing this song, you need to make your voice sound a bit sticky, giving people a feeling of being connected by a thread. The biggest difference between this song is that the word breaks and sentence breaks must not be so abrupt, they must be dragged slightly, and this feeling will come out." As he spoke, Guo Xiaoyu sang a few more sentences.

  After listening to Guo Xiaoyu's explanation and singing, Zhao Yuyun couldn't help but admire Guo Xiaoyu's talent in music. A good song can be sung well by many people, but not everyone can make a classic out of an ordinary song! And Guo Xiaoyu is the latter, which relies not only on vocal skills, but also on innate sensitivity to music.

  "In that case, 'Little Love Song' as the title track and album name, plus the other three songs, makes four. And what about the remaining eight songs?"

  When Zhao Youyun asked this, Guo Xiaoyu nodded and said: "I've thought about it all. This is the score of several other songs."

  Zhao Youyun held the score, looking at it page by page, and muttered: "Had enough trouble, willing to get one person's heart, I still miss her, still love you, Always-On-line, crazy wish, if there is no you, I am here."

  After reading Guo Xiaoyu's score, Zhao Youyun smiled lightly: "This is not a little love song! It's simply a promise to the sea and the mountains!"

  "Hehe..." Guo Xiaoyu rubbed his head, feeling a bit embarrassed. In fact, half of the songs in this playlist were added later by Guo Xiaoyu himself. Now, whenever he sings these songs, Guo Xiaoyu's mind is filled with images of Deng Ziqi, and every move she made has left a deep impression on his mind.

  At this time, Zhao Youyun asked again: "Xiao Yu, are you sure you want to put all these songs on your album?"

  Looking at Zhao Yuyun's surprised gaze, Guo Xiaoyu calmly nodded his head. He knew that Zhao Yuyun would definitely ask this question. These twelve songs can be used as the main track of an album just by picking one out randomly, but now Guo Xiaoyu has put them all in one album. In Zhao Yuyun's eyes, it's a waste of good music. With these twelve songs as the foundation, Guo Xiaoyu could have released at least four high-quality albums, but now they've become just one album.

  Seeing Zhao Yuyun still looking a bit unbelievable, Guo Xiaoyu gently pushed her and said: "Auntie Zhao, I'm different from those other prolific singers. From now on, I'll only release one album per year, and each album will have my best songs."

  When Guo Xiaoyu said that, Zhao Yuyun gave him a white eye. One album per year, you're not considered high-yielding yet! How do you think you can be considered high-yielding?

  After a while, Zhao Yuyun reacted and carefully put away the scores. These were countless treasures! With these twelve songs, Zhao Yuyun felt as if he had taken a reassuring pill. When he signed the contract earlier, although he had also looked at Guo Xiaoyu's lyrics book, most of it was filled with messy symbols, occasionally having one or two complete songs. It wasn't like now, where nine high-quality songs were produced all at once.

  "Xiao Yu, two days later, we will start recording and at the same time, the MV shooting will also be carried out. What kind of requirements do you have for this?"

  "No...". Suddenly, Guo Xiaoyu seemed to have thought of something and pulled Zhao Yuyun, saying: "Auntie Zhao, I really do have a favor to ask of you."

  "What's wrong?"

  "Uh..." Guo Xiaoyu thought for a moment, then said: "Director Zhao, can I take charge of shooting this MV?" In fact, Guo Xiaoyu had wanted to say this for a long time. Although he was now a singer, his heart leaned more towards being a director. In his past life, although he hadn't single-handedly directed any films, he had still worked on dozens of movies and TV dramas, and he had a special feeling about directing!

  When Guo Xiaoyu said this, Zhao Yuyun was taken aback for a moment. His first thought was to refuse, but then he remembered that Guo Xiaoyu's father was a director and Guo Xiaoyu himself was studying directing at school. The MV wasn't a big production after all, so maybe giving him a try wouldn't be bad! After all, the TV station had done something similar before, and this could be an opportunity to ease tensions between Guo Xiaoyu and the TV station. Thinking of this, Zhao Yuyun said: "This isn't something I can decide on my own, let me ask someone higher up."

  "Alright!" Hearing Zhao Youyun say that, Guo Xiaoyu readily agreed. Zhao Youyun was a clever person, and Guo Xiaoyu wasn't stupid either; he understood Zhao's little cleverness very well!

  PS: A signed album by Guo Xiaoyu will be awarded to each friend who has voted, recommended, collected and rewarded the three Jiang votes!