1990: Starting from Baojia Street

Kelly Chen has a strong musical perception ability. By the third time, she has basically grasped the details expressed by Zhou Yan's humming. What follows is her own study of the song.

At this time, Zhou Yan had already decided to let Kelly Chen sing "A Thousand Years", but he was not in a hurry to say it, thinking that he would wait for Kelly Chen to study it first.

The song "A Thousand Years" is the theme song of "Twilight". Because of the movie it has gained considerable popularity and because of its loving lyrics, many people like to play this song at their weddings, just like "I Will Love You For A Long Time".

This is also the first song Zhou Yan added for "Time Traveler". When he was drawing the storyboard of the first meeting between the male and female protagonists, he was thinking about what kind of music should be added here.

After much thought, he came up with the song "A thousand years". Both the lyrics and the melody of this song are very suitable for the movie "Time Traveler".

In addition to this song, Zhou Yan also plans to let Kelly Chen sing another version of "How Long Will I Love You". This song originally has two versions, and it is just right for Wang Lihong and Kelly Chen to sing one version each.

After practicing with Kelly Chen for a while, Zhou Yan stood up and said, "You study on your own for a while. I'll go next door and come back when I'm done."

"No problem, Teacher Zhou, you go ahead and do your work." Kelly Chen nodded.

She was gradually finding the feeling of the song and wanted to spend some time exploring it. She also needed time to digest some of the things Zhou Yan had just said.

After Zhou Yan left, assistant Xiao Lin finally couldn't help but speak up, "Kelly, you sang this song so beautifully."

Facing Xiao Lin's praise, Kelly Chen was very rational. She smiled and said, "It's not that I sing well, it's that Teacher Zhou wrote this song well. Anyone can sing it well."

"I think this song is suitable for you to sing. Teacher Zhou will definitely let you sing this song."

Xiao Lin's words reminded Kelly Chen that although they had come all the way to Yanjing, there was still no sign of the outcome and it was still uncertain whether Zhou Yan would let her sing the song.

Although Kelly Chen has not been in the industry for long, her career has been developing very smoothly since her debut.

On the one hand, she has very good conditions. First of all, she looks good. Although she is not a stunning beauty, she is definitely good-looking among all female singers. Secondly, her voice condition and singing skills are above average. Overall, she basically has no shortcomings, so it is easy for record companies to promote her.

On the other hand, it benefited from her family background.

Kelly Chen was born into a relatively wealthy family. Her father, Chen Chongwei, is a jewelry tycoon in Hong Kong. It is said that their family controls more than 60% of the jewelry business in Hong Kong. This rumor may be exaggerated, but it also indirectly shows that her family is indeed very wealthy.

Kelly Chen previously studied at Parsons School of Design in New York with the goal of joining the family business after graduation, but now she has become a singer.

As for Kelly Chen's development in the music industry, even if Chen Chongwei did not directly help, at least because of his presence, Kelly Chen did not encounter any hardships.

In Hong Kong, everyone has to give Chen Chongwei some face, so Kelly Chen can get better resources without Chen Chongwei asking for anything.

But this is Yanjing, and Zhou Yan is such a big star, it is unlikely that he will let her sing this song just because of her family background. She had heard before that countless people had asked Zhou Yan to sing songs, including some superstars, but Zhou Yan would not cooperate just because of his fame.

Now if she wants to win this song, she can only try her best to perform better to impress Zhou Yan.

After that, Kelly Chen did not get distracted anymore and continued to focus on the research of "A Thousand Years".

……

Zhou Yan stayed in Shed No. 2 for a long time.

Because Wang Lihong was in very good condition at the moment, Zhou Yan didn't want to interrupt. He wanted to take this opportunity to record the song in one go.

It was not until lunch time that Zhou Yan asked Wang Lihong to stop.

"Take a rest first, and then record a few more takes in the afternoon. Basically, there won't be any major problems."

Of course, Wang Lihong's singing cannot be perfect, but the problems he has now cannot be solved in a short time. Zhou Yan is already satisfied with the current level.

Hearing Zhou Yan call to stop, Wang Lihong also breathed a sigh of relief.

Compared to his previous song recordings, today's recording time was not long, but the information density was so high that he had to stay mentally alert at all times. Otherwise, if he was not careful, he might miss some details in Zhou Yan's words.

Fortunately, he was in good condition today and was able to respond immediately to some of the questions raised by Zhou Yan.

After recording songs with Zhou Yan for a whole morning, Wang Lihong even felt that his singing skills had improved a little. Although Zhou Yan himself could not sing, his grasp of details amazed Wang Lihong.

He even felt that as long as Zhou Yan was willing to spend more time on singing, he would definitely become a very good singer.

Most of the behind-the-scenes creators stay behind the scenes because they have no way to get in front of the stage.

But Zhou Yan is obviously not like that. His physical conditions are too good. He is good-looking, and when you listen to him humming, his pitch is also fine. As long as he puts in a little effort, he can step onto the stage.

However, maybe for Zhou Yan, there is really no need to be a singer.

Many times, after listening to some of Zhou Yan's suggestions for revision, he didn't think there was anything wrong at first, but after he made adjustments based on the suggestions, he found that adjustments based on Zhou Yan's suggestions would indeed make things much better.

"Teacher Zhou, when do we start again this afternoon?" Wang Lihong asked.

Zhou Yan looked at his watch. "It's about 2:30. You should rest for a while. Do you want to rest in the studio at noon or go back to the hotel?"

Wang Lihong thought about it and said, "I want to stay in the studio and hang out."

"Okay, then after you finish your meal, I'll have someone take you around. At one o'clock, the piano boy will be rehearsing in the big recording studio, you can go and take a look."

Wang Lihong's eyes lit up. He was not only interested in the youth piano orchestra, but also in the large recording studio in the studio.

"I heard that all your albums were recorded in that big recording studio?"

Zhou Yan nodded, "All my later works were indeed recorded there, not only music albums, but also movie soundtracks, all came from there."

"Then I'll definitely go check it out."

"Well, you go eat with them first. I have something to do in Shed No. 1."

"Ok."

When Zhou Yan returned to Studio No. 1, Kelly Chen had been waiting for her for a long time.

When Zhou Yan left, Kelly Chen thought he would come back in half an hour just like last time.

But she waited for more than two hours and didn't see Zhou Yan again.

She was too embarrassed to go to Zhou Yan, so she could only continue studying "A Thousand Years".

Now seeing Zhou Yan coming back, she immediately stood up and said, "Teacher Zhou, you're back."

"Sorry for taking up some time." Zhou Yan apologized and asked, "How is it? Do you have any questions?"

Kelly Chen had a lot of questions to ask, but they were scattered, and she didn't know where to start, so she said, "How about I sing it once, and you can listen to what you think?"

“That’s fine.” Seeing Zhou Yan agreed, Kelly Chen began to sing.

After all, she had been studying for a long time, so her performance this time was very good, much smoother than before, and it could be heard that she had added a lot of her own ideas. Although these things she added were not all to Zhou Yan's liking, Zhou Yan was still happy to see that she had her own ideas.

It is difficult for a singer to sing expressively if he does not have his own ideas.

After listening, Zhou Yan pondered and said, "Take a break at noon. I will write you a suggestion sheet later. You can practice again in the afternoon. But you must pay attention to your voice and not affect tomorrow's recording."

Kelly Chen was about to nod when she heard Zhou Yan say "recording tomorrow" and asked in surprise, "Recording tomorrow?"

"Well, there's basically no problem. You performed very well. I can trust you with this song. Do you have any questions yourself?"

"No, no, I'm glad to hear you say that... But do you need to discuss the cooperation with our company?"

"I'll have someone discuss this matter. It won't affect the recording. By the way, you can spare three to four days, not including your return trip time."

Excluding the return trip, Kelly Chen now needs at least five days to come.

This was obviously not in Kelly Chen's plan, because at the beginning, she thought it was just a try and didn't expect to record it directly.

But she didn't hesitate and quickly nodded, "No problem."

Although the new album will be released soon, it still makes some time.

"That's good. You need to be prepared. You need to record two songs in these three to four days."

"Two songs?" Kelly Chen's expression became even more surprised.

"Well, in addition to the song you have in your hand, there is another one." Zhou Yan smiled, "But the other one is relatively simpler because there is a male version. You will be able to hear it tomorrow."

If there was a male version, Kelly Chen would save a lot of time in figuring out the answer.

Kelly Chen was filled with surprise at the moment. Just now she was still worried about whether she could get "A Thousand Years". In a blink of an eye, she not only got the song, but also got a buy one get one free deal, which was an extra surprise.

It's like pie in the sky, that's all.

She could even imagine Mr. Zhang from Fumao Records grinning like a crooked smile after hearing the news.

At this time, she also did not forget to assure Zhou Yan, "Teacher Zhou, please rest assured, I will take it seriously and will not let you down."

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "Let's go eat."

The reason why he told Kelly Chen that he had to finish recording the two songs within three to four days was because the casting for "Time Traveler" would officially begin four days later, and he would not have time to worry about the soundtrack for a while.

If we don’t record these two songs in the next few days, we will have to wait until the filming of the movie is finished.

Fortunately, Kelly Chen did not let him down. It took Zhou Yan three and a half days to help her record "A Thousand Years" and the female version of "How Long Will I Love You?"

When Kelly Chen heard Wang Lihong singing "How Long Will I Love You", she almost jumped up with excitement.

She couldn't believe that she was singing two such beautiful songs at once.

At the same time, because of these two songs, she developed a strong interest in Zhou Yan's new movie.

Through these two songs, she roughly knew what style Zhou Yan's new movie was. It must be a love movie, and a very sweet one.

She also knew that the film was about to start casting, and that it would be conducted here in the studio. If she hadn't been busy going to Taiwan to promote her album before its release, she would have wanted to stay here and join in the fun.

……

On the night Kelly Chen left Yanjing, Joey Wong and Chen Derong came to Yanjing from Taiwan.

Chen Derong came to Yanjing to audition for "Time Traveler".

Actually, Joey Wong could have come later, after all, the filming of the movie still had some time, but she also wanted to meet Zhou Yan, so she took the opportunity to come along when Chen Derong came.

After dinner, Zhou Yan was looking at the list of auditions for tomorrow in his office when Joey Wong and Chen Derong knocked on the door.

When they met again, Chen Derong smiled and called out, "Brother-in-law."

Hearing Chen Derong calling him brother-in-law, Zhou Yan raised his eyebrows and looked at Joey Wong.

Wang Zuxian rolled her eyes and tugged at Chen Derong's arm, "You're the only one with a big mouth."

In fact, this was not told by Joey Wong to Chen Derong. Chen Derong’s source of information was Wang’s mother.

Chen Derong's mother and Wang's mother used to be classmates and had a good relationship. The two families often interacted with each other. The last time Chen Derong went to Wang's house to play, she heard about this from Wang's mother.

Zhou Yan didn't know the situation, but he didn't care much. He smiled and stood up, "Are you tired from the journey? Have some tea or water, or I'll ask someone to bring some drinks."

"No need to drink, we just came here to take a look, we have to go to the hotel later."

"Sister, why are you still going to the hotel? Why aren't you going to your brother-in-law's place in the evening?" Chen Derong said with a wink.

Looking at Chen Derong's weird expression, Zhou Yan couldn't help but find it funny. Why didn't he notice that Chen Derong was so eccentric before? Sure enough, she was different after getting to know her better.

When Joey Wong saw her talking nonsense, she couldn't help but pinch her arm.

"Okay, okay, I won't say any more." Chen Derong said in pain, and then said to Zhou Yan, "Brother-in-law, do you have Arctic Ocean? I like to drink that."

Zhou Yan asked in surprise, "Have you ever drunk Arctic Ocean?"

"I've also spent quite a long time in the mainland."

"When she was filming 'The Peony Pavilion', she stayed in Yanjing for a while. We were filming 'The Sixth Sense' at that time. However, we were very busy during that period and they went to Hangzhou before we had the chance to visit them on set," said Joey Wong.

"Oh, so you were also in Yanjing at that time. OK, I'll go get you the Arctic Ocean."

There is no refrigerator in Zhou Yan’s office, but there is a refrigerator a few steps away, which is filled with many drinks.

It is said that Zhou Yan's studio conditions are good. In fact, this is also one aspect. If you want to drink any drink, you can just take it yourself. As long as you don’t take it home, you can take as much as you want.

Of course, whether to take it home or not is entirely up to personal conscience, and there is no one to supervise.

In fact, there is no need to take them back, because the studio will regularly issue various coupons, such as ice cream coupons, grain and oil coupons, and everyone can use the coupons to exchange for goods in stores that cooperate with the studio.

There were a lot of these coupons issued, and people like Jiang Mengfei, who were alone in Beijing, could not use up all the coupons, and would often give some to others. (End of this chapter)