Chapter 64 The Unexpected Grammy Encounter
Probably influenced by Julie's Maserati sports car last time, Lin Mingyang got himself a QuadRunder mountain sports car during the shooting. Because this kind of all-terrain vehicle doesn't need a driver's license, and there are no traffic police in the desert. When filming in the Mexican wilderness, every night after the crew wrapped up, he took Angelina to drive in the vast flat sand and had a great time.
Fun is supposed to be the nature of a boy of Lin Mingyang's age, and Angelina Jolie is also a person who likes adventure and excitement, so the two took the opportunity to go out for a car race to secretly date, the other members of the crew did not have any notice. This hidden underground romance gave the two enough excitement, so both plan to keep the romance in this state.
Because the movie had to be released in time for the February '03 schedule, Lin Ming Yang spent the period from Christmas to the New Year in intense and busy filming. Entering the middle of January, all the filming of the movie was all over, and Lin Ming Yang had a short period of leisure, while Ecks brought him a good news at this time.
Lin Ming Yang looked at the envelope in his hand that bore the stamped gold lettering, his face had a Judas-confident expression. "Are you sure this is the invitation sent to me by the Grammy Organizing Committee?"
"That's right, it's not a joke from some bored person or a trap designed by a media reporter." Ecks could well understand Lin Ming Yang's feelings at this time, he knew that there was more surprise than honor in this, Ecks, who had once been the producer of Song and Dance Youth, knew that Lin Ming Yang was very talented musically, but that had only manifested itself in those few songs of the film. In the standard sense, Lin Mingyang's current status was not that of a musician, even though he had a great voice.
"They're just inviting you to go as a guest of honor for the show, it's not like they're asking you to receive an award, what's so suspicious about that?" Although the Grammy had been made the "Oscars of the music industry", it wasn't the real Oscars after all, and for this reason, Ecks had specifically looked up the relevant information, "There are indeed very few examples of this, and I have to say that this time, the Grammy organizing committee has favored you!"
"Then I should be honored?" Lin Ming Yang was not as excited as he thought he would be.
"With so many senior musicians and big name singers, I think they're just looking at the fame you've had for a while and letting you sing a song to make up for it!" Ecks splashed down a pot of cold water, causing Lin Ming Yang's originally not-so-excited heart to immediately cool down halfway.
"Then what else am I going to do, be a clown on stage for people to make fun of?"
"Felix, what made you think that?" Ecks suddenly realized that his words just now seemed to have misled Lin Ming Yang, "I thought your hobby for music was only of an amateur nature, are you really going to go ahead and make an album yourself?"
"An amateur music lover going to the Grammy's and singing in front of so many professionals, don't you think it's a joke?"
Ecks was serious and put away the smile on his face, "I assure you it's definitely not a joke, you have to know that the Grammy is one of the most influential music awards in the world, to be able to perform on that stage is something that I don't know how many people can only dream of."
"But you just said that I wouldn't be taken seriously by people going there!" Lin Ming Yang looked at Ecks in disbelief, "All they see is my fame, I don't want to be a tool for them to attract the attention of the audience and the media."
"But I don't think so, what I told you just now that's just what the organizing committee thinks, but that doesn't mean the audience will think the same way." Ecks shook his head, "What I'm trying to emphasize with you here is the concept of an asymmetric advantage. When I was still studying in New York, there was a singing competition at my school, and many professors from the music school at the time signed up for it, but in the end, the winner was a polymer professor from the physics school. It just so happened that the student organization I was in at the time was in charge of the preparations for the contest site, so I watched the entire final, and the professor who was studying polymers didn't sing the best, but do you know why he won?"
"It has something to do with the asymmetric advantage you mentioned?" Lin Mingyang naturally associated it with that.
"I was wondering about it at the time, but later, during a conversation with one of the judges, I realized the answer. It turned out that before each contestant came on stage, the host would briefly introduce the background information of this contestant who came on next during the curtain call, and the judges here were all very professional, I can confirm that. The reason why they finally gave the winner to that professor from the College of Physics was because everyone thought that it was good enough for him, a guy who studied polymers, to sing at this level. And those professors from the conservatory, these expert judges were always able to pick out some shortcomings."
"The amateurism you show in music is because you've done a very professional job in writing and acting already. When you stand on the Grammy stage, the people on stage and the audience in front of the TV will not measure you by the standards of a professional singer. It's a time when you're going to be the center of attention for the whole awards show if you're able to deliver an unexpected performance."
Seeing a thoughtful expression on Lin Ming Yang's face, Ecks knew that he had understood what he meant, "Think about it, what a wonderful opportunity this would be. Many years from now, people will have long forgotten that so-and-so won the so-and-so award at this year's Grammy's, but will only be able to remember that during the award ceremony, amateur music enthusiast Felix Lin sang a moving song with a beautiful melody that still lingers in everyone's ears."
"You think I can?" Lin Mingyang asked uncertainly.
"If you're not sure, then let's just give up!" Ecks felt that it was still necessary to "stimulate" Lin Ming Yang when necessary, so that his unknown potential could be stimulated.
"The other side doesn't have a track limit?" Lin Mingyang's eyes began to glow.
"The requirement is an original song, report the song a week in advance so they can arrange the dubbing." One look at Lin Mingyang's demeanor, Ecks knew that this would definitely work.
"What if I suddenly get 'sick' on the day of the rehearsal?"
"Then I'll be the one responsible for convincing the organizing committee to let you participate directly in the live singing!" Eckles winked at Lin Ming Yang with a tacit understanding, and the two foxes set up a "trap" to design the Grammy Organizing Committee.
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In order to achieve the effect of "one hit wonder" that Eckles said, Lin Ming Yang had to make a very careful selection of his own songs, and finally he locked his eyes on a song that ranked No. 1 on Youtobe in 2010 with more than 400 million video views worldwide.
The time gap allows Lin Mingyang to "borrow" this song, and the charm of this song, not only popularized a 15-year-old Justin Bieber, making him the world's hottest popularity idol so simple. The song won awards at the 2010 MTV Awards, the National Music Awards, and the European Music Awards. Although this song does not represent all the excellent music, the point is that it is one of the representative works of the transformation of the latter generation's creative and musical concepts, and it demonstrates the future of the most cutting-edge development style of European and American music, and taking this song out now, it can definitely cause a sensation, and even trigger a new music trend.
"Mr. Felix's song, I can't comment on how good or bad it is!" After listening to Lin Ming Yang's rendition of 'Baby', Harvick, the renowned musician that Ecks had specially invited from New York, didn't make a single judgment on the song's goodness or badness, but gave a very special comment.
"The electronic and rhythmic style of music in this song is obvious, and compared to current pop music, it's obviously a very creative and courageous attempt."
By electronic, Harvick means that the work of scoring and orchestration is done with the help of increasingly advanced synthesizers, which are being used in a big way in the style of music. It is important to realize that at this time, the electronic style of music has just become a new hot spot in European and American pop music. The rhythmization of this song also drew on the development of technology, adding music styles including blues and blues, HI-POP, dance music, rock, and other types of music, so in Harvick's opinion, Lin Mingyang's song appeared to be unique.
Lin Ming Yang certainly didn't expect musicians right now to rave about this song from the future, because new trends and changes always take time to slowly rub off. If he could get a "unique" comment from a musician like Harvick, Lin Ming Yang's goal had already been achieved.
As Eckles said, he sang as an amateur musician on the Grammy stage, so he was only seeking to be "different", and the audience would give a fair evaluation as to whether the songs were good or bad.
"I think it's better for you to accompany this song with a swing step, so that you can fully mobilize the sense of rhythm in this song." After all, Ecks had supervised the production of a musical like Song and Dance Youth, and was quite experienced in this area. "With a few breakdancing masters around, such a performance would be even more perfect!"
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The 45th Grammy Awards ceremony kicked off under the glittering night sky of Los Angeles on 1/23/03, and the Staples Center was abuzz with people, as 105 television stations across the United States were broadcasting the annual musical extravaganza live on side-by-side. The day before the rehearsal, Lin Mingyang unexpectedly "sick", and then he missed the entire rehearsal.
Eckers in front of the Grammy organizing committee chairman tearfully expressed Lin Mingyang himself is how much importance is attached to the awards ceremony on stage, how hard he trained, how much he loves the music, for missing the rehearsal he is how much remorse, with all his strength, and finally won him the opportunity to participate in the awards ceremony live performance.
The cell phone recording that Eckles brought back made Lin Ming Yang almost laugh his belly off, he hadn't expected Eckles to be able to speak such sensational language at all, he could even imagine the expression on that chairman's face at that time. He finally came to the conclusion that the other party was not impressed by Ecks' sincerity, but rather by his thick skin.
Ecks himself said that he wasn't under much pressure, anyway, his purpose had already been achieved, the more the other party belittled him, the stronger the effect of Lin Ming Yang's one-two punch on stage would be in the end, and he had even been eager to see what kind of expression that chairman's face would have on his face after he watched Lin Ming Yang's performance.
Lin Ming Yang was only attending this Grammy Awards as a performing guest, so the organizers didn't arrange for him to walk the red carpet, but he was still spotted by a group of sharp-eyed reporters when he entered the venue.
At this time, the red carpet show has ended, to participate in the awards ceremony of those big stars have entered, so it is hard to "catch" a can attract readers' eyeballs of the interview object, this group of journalists do not care about the Grammys is the music awards or the movie awards, three layers outside the three layers of the Lin Ming Yang surrounded, flash and microphone together on the This Hollywood rising star is in full swing.
"Felix, are you going to perform on stage today?" Seeing that Lin Ming Yang was dressed formally, but the reporters didn't see his name on the list of award presenters, someone raised a question. "Are you preparing to sing?"
Lin Ming Yang gave the man a look of feigned surprise, "I think I'm not mistaken, is this the Grammy awards ceremony?"
His humorous and witty expression drew a burst of laughter from the reporters around him, before another reporter asked, "You showed great musical talent in Song and Dance Youth, will you have plans to develop towards music in the future?"
"Compared to the professionals present today, I can only be considered an amateur music lover, and I'm very lucky to have been invited to the Grammy's, at first when I received the invitation letter, I thought they had gotten the address wrong!" Compared to the kind of passive coping in the past, Lin Ming Yang appeared to be calm and relaxed in front of the reporters today, and even had the leisure to talk and laugh with them.
"It seems like you're confident about today's performance?" The surrounding reporters also sensed this relaxed state of his, and then naturally linked this to Lin Ming Yang's next performance.
"Because in front of so many professionals, I know I must be the worst, so there's no pressure." Lin Mingyang's performance of pretending to be a pig and eating a tiger was spot on.
The reporters' questions were of course endless, but the staff who hurriedly arrived interrupted their "pleasant" conversation, the awards ceremony was about to begin, and it was time for Lin Ming Yang to enter.
Just as he reached the entrance of the venue, a bold long-haired girl suddenly burst out, her head down as she walked out, and then stumbled into Lin Ming Yang, who was also not looking at the road.
"Hey, why don't you guys look at the road!"
Lin Ming Yang was about to open his mouth to complain, but the girl spoke up first to steal his lines. Taking the moment when the other person looked up to speak, Lin Ming Yang saw the girl's face, and then he froze.
"It's you!"