1990: Starting from Baojia Street

After Celine Dion finished singing once, René Angeli couldn't wait to ask, "How is it, Mr. Y?"

"Very good." Zhou Yan nodded, then laughed, "Then I'll have to trouble Celine. Record both songs during this time. Start recording "My Heart Will Go On" tomorrow, and put this song at the end. During these two days, let Celine get familiar with this song."

Seeing that it was done, René Angeli said happily, "Please rest assured that it will not delay the post-production of your film. If it really doesn't work, you can record this song first. After all, it will take a long time to finish filming Titanic."

Rene Angeli's proposal is actually feasible. After all, compared with the post-production work of "Titanic", "Time Traveler" is more urgent.

Zhou Yan waved his hand, "No, just follow the plan. Celine has been familiar with My Heart Will Go On for a long time, so the recording shouldn't take too long."

No matter how tight the time is, there is no need to waste time on this.

There are still many songs that have not been recorded, and I don’t care which one is recorded first.

Then Zhou Yan pressed the intercom button again and said to Celine Dion inside, "Celine, you can come out now. It's getting late tonight. You should go back and rest first, get yourself in shape, and come back to record tomorrow morning."

Celine Dion didn't hear the conversation between Zhou Yan and René Angelier just now, but from René Angelier's excited expression, she could guess that the result was good.

She nodded and walked out.

René Angeli smiled and said to her, "Y has decided to give this song to you. Let's record "My Heart Will Go On" first, and then record this song... What's the name of this song?"

The music score Zhou Yan gave them had no song titles on it, only a string of numbers.

"It's called "All of Me."" Zhou Yan said.

René Angeli nodded. "It's the lyrics of section C. I should have thought of that. Did you also write the lyrics of this song yourself?"

"Ah."

"Very good lyrics," praised René Angeli.

In fact, compared to this song, René Angeli prefers the lyrics of Zhou Yan's other songs, such as "young and beautiful" and "someone like you".

Although the melody of the song "All of Me" is very narrative, the lyrics lack a sense of narrative and there is no story at all. From beginning to end, the lyrics are the singer expressing his strong love for his lover.

"Someone Like You" is very popular in Europe and the United States recently, and the lyrics are also talked about with relish. The things described in the lyrics are enough to make people imagine a movie.

Of course, the lyrics of pop songs do not necessarily require a sense of narrative. Many times, lyrics that express one’s feelings directly and have no special structure can actually make the audience remember them.

Because it is simple, it is easy to remember. Because it is easy to remember, it is easy to sing along.

"Is this song the theme song of the new movie or..." René Angeli couldn't help but ask.

He wanted to know whether this song played an important role in Zhou Yan's new movie.

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "It was an episode that only appeared once."

Zhou Yan intended to use the song "All of Me" in the ending of the movie. The clip is very short, only more than 20 seconds, and even only a few words of the lyrics appear.

It can be said that this song has very little importance in "Time Traveler".

Hearing Zhou Yan say this, René Angeli was a little disappointed. He certainly hoped that this song could occupy an important position in Zhou Yan's new movie, which would be very beneficial for the promotion of the song in the later stage.

At the same time, René Angeli was also very curious about how many good songs there were in Zhou Yan’s new movie, so much so that "All of Me" did not occupy an important position.

In his opinion, such a good song can be promoted as a theme song.

In fact, other songs in "Time Traveler" may not be better than "All of Me", but when it comes to music, it's not just about the good songs, it also depends on the suitability.

"All of Me" is not suitable to be placed in a very important position, especially when there is already "How Long Will I Love You".

There is no way Zhou Yan would touch "How Long Will I Love You" because this song fits the tone of "Time Traveler" too well.

"I read in the news before that there are many songs in your new movie. Have the casts for the other songs been confirmed?" René Angeli asked again.

Zhou Yan smiled. It seemed that René Angeli was not satisfied with just one song "All of Me" and wanted to inquire about other songs.

Although there are some songs whose singers have not yet been finalized, Zhou Yan will definitely not let Celine Dion sing because the styles are totally incompatible.

He smiled and said, "The other songs have basically been decided."

"Can I ask who they are?" René Angeli asked curiously.

"It's inconvenient to reveal, but if you stay for two more days, you will meet some of them later."

René Angeli smiled and said, “I’m actually looking forward to it.”

"Okay." Zhou Yan stood up and said with a smile, "It's getting late. Let's go back and come back tomorrow morning. I'll ask Liu Hang to take you back."

……

Zhou Yan asked Liu Hang to send Celine Dion and her husband back, but he himself did not rush to leave. Instead, he stayed in the office to continue working.

These days, in addition to working on the movie, he also squeezed out some time to modify "Shutter Island".

The first draft of this novel was completed before the filming of "Time Traveler" started. Now he is revising it for the final time and is ready to give it to Zhang Youan.

Harry, the owner of the Little Bear Bookstore whom I met last time, was very concerned about this matter and asked me whether the new book manuscript had been published or not.

Harry told Zhang Youan that he would help coordinate the publication of "Shutter Island" in the United States.

Zhang Youan was naturally happy to have Harry's help. After all, Harry was a professional and had connections in the industry. Having his help was better than Zhang Youan having to do it alone.

Zhou Yan had been working at his desk for a while when the phone on his desk rang.

He reached out and picked up the phone, "Who is this?"

"It's me." Zhang Youan's voice came from the other side.

Zhou Yan looked at the clock on the wall. It was already past nine o'clock in the evening. He asked curiously, "Why are you calling me at this time?"

"Nothing, just asking if you will go to tomorrow's game?"

Zhang Youan was talking about the symphony competition for the 130th anniversary of Sun Yat-sen's birth, the results of which will be announced tomorrow evening. Although it is a competition, it is not a live performance. The results of the competition have already been announced, but the results will be announced live tomorrow, and several winning songs will be performed at the same time.

"I should go." Zhou Yan said.

"What do you mean by should? Is there any other unexpected event?"

"I have to record Celine Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On' tomorrow. If it's late, I won't go."

"It's just recording a song, but you still want to supervise the studio yourself? Celine Dion has had this song for such a long time, and she is already very familiar with it. There is actually no point in you supervising the studio yourself."

"I didn't prepare to monitor the studio, but I will keep an eye on the recording. If there is any accident, I can handle it at any time in the studio. The key is that this competition is not interesting at all, and there is no award ceremony on site."

"Why not? Isn't there an award ceremony?"

"It's a collective award ceremony, so it doesn't make much difference whether you go or not."

Unlike ordinary awards, the Sun Yat-sen Birthday Competition will announce all the winners at once, and then find a time to call all the winners to the stage to receive their awards together and take photos together.

The winners do not have any separate screens, and do not need to give acceptance speeches.

The only thing that could attract Zhou Yan was the live performance of the works.

However, Zhou Yan had basically heard all the works that had a chance of winning the award, so his expectations were naturally lower.

Moreover, the live performances were all by bands chosen by the organizers themselves, which was not very interesting.

It’s not that the orchestra found by the organizer is not good, but that the orchestra they found lacks rehearsal time, and the live performance effect will not be particularly good.

If you want a good live performance, you have to invite an orchestra that specializes in playing these works to the scene, but this is not realistic. Once you do this, the winning results will have to be announced a long time in advance.

The key point is that many orchestras are not in Yanjing. If we invite everyone here, the cost will increase a lot.

If twenty pieces are to be performed live, twenty orchestras will be needed. Even if only half of them are from other places, food and lodging for hundreds or even thousands of people will still have to be arranged.

Not only does it cost money, it is also very difficult to organize.

"You should go if you can. After all, you are in Yanjing. It would be a shame not to go and take a look."

Zhou Yan didn't comment, and then asked Zhang Youan, "You called me so late just to talk about this?"

"By the way, I want to ask you, what happened to the Forbidden City concert you mentioned last time?"

"Nothing. I've been busy with other things lately and have no time to care about this. Why did you suddenly remember to ask about this?"

"It just suddenly occurred to me that you said before that CCTV had to report three months in advance. I thought you should not forget the time. It would be a pity to miss this opportunity. We are almost done with the work of Time Traveler, and you should also consider this matter. If you can settle it soon, we will feel more at ease."

"Yang Dongsheng called me a few days ago and asked about this, but I was busy at the time and didn't discuss it with him in detail."

"Look, they are more anxious than you. How about this, I will contact Director Yang and discuss the details so that we can set a date early. Then I can avoid it when I arrange your schedule later. Otherwise, I will have a hard time arranging your schedule for next year or last year."

"Well, then go contact Yang Dongsheng."

"It's too late today. I'll call him tomorrow. Did you meet Celine Dion and the others today?"

"Well, I was planning to treat them well tonight, but they were eager to see the new songs, so I took them to finish their meal quickly and return to the studio. They are probably already in bed by now."

"Have you seen the new song? So soon?" Zhang Youan asked in surprise.

"Well, it's that quick. We'll be back in the studio at seven o'clock."

"Tsk, tsk, I knew René Angeli would be anxious. So, have you decided to sing the song to Celine Dion?"

"Yes, I have promised her that. Her performance is very good and has exceeded my expectations."

"That's good, don't look for anyone else. Mariah Carey called me yesterday to inquire about your new movie. She heard from somewhere that you were looking for singers for your new movie and wanted to ask if there was anyone she could sing for. I was thinking of saying that if Celine Dion wasn't okay, we could try her."

"Why doesn't she come and ask me directly?" Zhou Yan asked curiously.

Zhang Youan said with a smile, "What else could it be? It's because every time I call you, you always ignore me. I'm a queen, and I have a temper. I can't always put my warm face on you."

Zhou Yan rolled his eyes. "What do you mean by warm face to cold butt? When did I ignore her? It's just that every time she called me, I was busy and had no time to chat with her."

When Zhou Yan was filming in Pengcheng, Mariah Carey called him twice. Once was to ask about how the filming of Zhou Yan's new movie was going, and the other time was to share with Zhou Yan the joy of the big sales of his new song "Someone Like You".

When Zhou Yan received the call from Mariah Carey, he was very busy and did chat with her in a disjointed manner. However, Zhou Yan felt that he was not too perfunctory. At least he responded to whatever she said.

"Anyway, people are not happy to call you now."

"What did you tell her?"

"What else can I say? The songs in the new movie aren't really suitable for her. We'll work together again next time if there's a chance. In fact, I think it's OK to give 'All of Me' to Mariah Carey instead of Celine Dion. Mariah Carey can definitely sing this song with feeling. Besides, Mariah Carey is much more popular than Celine Dion right now, which will be good for the promotion of the movie."

"It's because Mariah Carey is so popular that I don't want to use her. And I can't give all the songs to one person. I'll write a few more songs for her and become her exclusive composer. Now I want to cooperate with more European and American singers to expand the market."

"That's true. If we give all the songs to her, it's hard to say whether the songs are better written or she sings better. It would be more convincing if we write more songs for other people."

"She is so popular now. I think what needs to be done is to cool her down. Being too popular is not a good thing."

Before, several other female singers could still compete with Mariah Carey, but since last year, there has been a situation where one female singer is superior and many are stronger in the European and American music scene.

Mariah Carey has been ranked first among European and American singers in popularity for more than a year. This time, "Someone Like You" won the Billboard singles for two consecutive years, which made her popularity reach an exaggerated level.

Zhang Youan smiled and said, "It's easy to say, but it's the hardest to quit while you're ahead. You're very popular now, but are you willing to cool down?"

"I'm not hot enough right now."

“See, there’s a double standard there.”

Zhou Yan laughed, "When one of my albums can sell tens of millions of copies, I will lower the heat." (End of this chapter)