I became a music industry godfather by writing confidantes.

Chapter 067 The Wicked Mother-in-Law's Warning

The announcement by YunGe Music that Jiang Yinglan would be the producer of Tangyou's second album was like a thunderclap, sending the already turbulent music industry into chaos.

Industry professionals and netizens were instantly excited, and Tangyou's fans, known as "youzi," were so thrilled that they threw flowers on the spot.

[Ahhh, Professor Jiang is back in action! It's like celebrating the New Year!]

[Jiang Yinglan + Tang You, what an amazing lineup! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!]

This is a sure thing; I'm eagerly awaiting next year's Golden Bell Awards.

[The fans of that other group are making a huge fuss, but when they encounter a professional team, they'll probably be scared before the battle even begins (smile)]

Once fans get excited, they will never stay in their own little world. Comparisons and backstabbing are the norm in fandoms. Now that good news has arrived, they will naturally show it off, either openly or subtly, on Weibo.

Faced with overwhelming attacks, Orange naturally wouldn't sit idly by and immediately launched a counterattack.

[She keeps calling herself a regular soldier; anyone who didn't know better would think Tang You passed the civil service exam. Oh, turns out she didn't.]

[What a grand display! And yet he's still just a commoner. Like a toad yawning—what arrogance!]

[So what if Jiang Yinglan won a Golden Bell Award? She doesn't even know when that happened! She's using an old almanac from over a decade ago to brag about it.]

[Using academic background to disparage Yang Du makes it seem like he's from a humble background. He's a composition student at the Beijing Conservatory of Music, a true academic!]

[But they're doing classical music, so don't cry if they don't adapt well, hehe.]

[This pomelo is being way too obsequious, even descending to earth! Hilarious, it would be funny if it landed face-first.]

The two sides fought from Weibo to Tieba, and then from Tieba to Huaban, until even the main forum was wiped out.

Netizens, always eager for a good show, immediately started tagging Century Music and Sun Qingning as Jin Shi Tao Cheng and Yun Ge Tang You got into a heated argument.

[Hey, Century Music, are you asleep? How can you sleep like that?]

[We strongly urge Sun Qingning to also release an album, so we can have a thrilling battle for the title of the new generation's leading lady and see who comes out on top!]

"Be full, be full, be full..."

"What are you doing upstairs? This is China! All monsters and demons are forbidden here!"

"Ah, isn't this the kind of weapon used for fighting between four big guys and three small guys?"

Sun Qingning, cheer up, don't embarrass yourself.

The victor is crowned king, the loser is relegated to the dust and leaves the scene.

[Exciting!]

Fans argued fiercely, and netizens fanned the flames everywhere. Amidst the uproar, Tuesday, July 14th arrived.

At 10 o'clock, the latest Chinese pop music chart was updated on time, and Lin Xu's "Red Rose" topped the charts for the second consecutive time.

Some media outlets with a keen sense of smell produced an article summarizing Yang Du's achievements in less than half an hour.

The article provides a very detailed timeline:

Yang Du officially debuted in the music scene in mid-May with "Flammable and Explosive," and it has only been two months since then.

In just two months, this young man already has three number-one singles in his hands: "Flammable and Explosive," "Painted Heart," and "Red Rose," as well as the widely sung children's song "Singing and Smiling," and "Birthday Blessing Song," which appeared as a birthday battle song to boost his career.

Not only is the speed of production extremely fast, with two months' output equivalent to the results of other music producers in a year or even several years, but the quality is also top-notch, and there has never been a mistake so far.

At the end of the article, the author poses a thought-provoking question:

As a genius producer with such dominance over the charts, does Yang Du really need a senior like Xu Jiangyinglan?

Entertainment reporters have always been adept at understanding the secrets of online traffic, and soon some busybodies cornered Jiang Yinglan and posed a pointed question:

"Professor Jiang, some media outlets have compiled a list of Yang Du's achievements in the two months since his debut, and netizens are now comparing you to Yang Du. What are your thoughts on this? Do you feel any pressure taking over Tang You's second album?"

Jiang Yinglan, a woman nearing sixty with her hair styled in a traditional bun, pursed her lips and said slowly, "Before answering this question, I must clarify one thing. Personally, I have no personal opinions about Yang Du. And I must also admit that he does indeed possess a talent for producing singles that is difficult for ordinary people to match."

The entertainment reporters watched Jiang Yinglan with excitement; this kind of rhetoric was a classic case of building up a strong defense before unleashing a powerful attack.

Sure enough, Jiang Yinglan changed the subject abruptly—

"However, there's no need for you media outlets to create anxiety with singles' performance. Talking to me about market dominance based on the performance of a few singles is an extremely amateurish joke."

"A single is a single, and an album is an album. Is it comparable to cooking a few signature dishes versus preparing a Manchu Han Imperial Feast for guests?"

I don't think so.

……

At Qiuniu Studio, Yang Du was working on the arrangement of "The Pain That Breathes" when suddenly a series of hurried footsteps approached.

"Boss, you need to take a look at this."

Yuan Xiuqing hurried over and placed the tablet in front of Yang Du, which displayed a video.

In the video, Jiang Yinglan, looking quite stern, says to the camera: "...What I'm really worried about isn't whether he can achieve success as a first-time album producer, but rather the unhealthy trend of marketing hype overshadowing the music itself."

"To put it bluntly, he is using an extremely vile method to degrade the public's aesthetic sense. He is forcibly attaching music, which should have artistic value and be used to cultivate sentiments, to vulgar articles filled with petty violence, family gossip, and even infidelity."

"What is this? Just trying to attract attention!"

Yang Du looked confused and asked Yuan Xiuqing for confirmation, "The person she's talking about, is it me?"

Is his nature really that bad?

"What's worse is yet to come. Because of you, the Chinese music scene will be destroyed," Yuan Xiuqing said.

Yang Du: ? ? ?

In the video, Jiang Yinglan's tone became increasingly stern: "Capital is profit-driven and always the best at taking shortcuts. They only see Yang Du's success in the lower-tier market, but they can't learn from the solid music theory foundation he laid in the composition department of Beijing Conservatory of Music."

"They will only endlessly copy Yang Du's marketing template, replicate those sensational social issues, and incite extreme emotions. Once this model proves feasible and is widely imitated, what will the Chinese music scene become?"

Yang Du couldn't help but protest, "Why haven't I seen anyone imitating me? And what does the mess created by capital have to do with me, Yang Du?"

I'm still a male, okay?!

"You might as well imagine a terrible future. Music companies are no longer willing to spend time and money polishing arrangements, and no longer willing to cultivate singers' singing skills. Everyone is rushing to compete on who can create the most outlandish persona, whose story is more convoluted, and whose bottom line is lower, in order to gain more traffic."

"If this kind of attention-seeking and speculative behavior is allowed to continue dominating the charts, the threshold and bottom line of Chinese pop music will be completely breached."

Finally, Jiang Yinglan said earnestly to the camera: "For the long-term healthy development of the Chinese music scene, we need to uphold the bottom line of art."

"If temporarily bursting the bubble of Yang Du's superficial popularity can awaken the entire industry's reverence for art and stop capital from dangerously replicating this phenomenon..."

"Then I think it's entirely worthwhile to let Yang Du suffer some personal grievances and taste the bitterness of defeat."

"Here, I also hope that young people can have a long-term vision and a broad perspective, and not disobey the advice of their predecessors for short-term gains and traffic. Even more so, they should not be blindly arrogant and stubborn, ultimately becoming the driving force behind the bad driving out the good!"

After watching the video, Yang Du almost laughed in anger: "Fine, fine, you really think I can't write about wicked mothers-in-law, huh?"