Zhou Yan poured a glass of water for Mariah Carey, then sat down opposite her and asked with a smile, "Are you going to release a new album this year?"
Mariah Carey shook her head, "There is no new album this year."
"Oh, I met your fans at the celebration party of "The Sixth Sense" before, and I thought you would have a new album coming out."
>Maria shrugged her shoulders, "Because singing invitations always fail."
When she said this, she looked at Zhou Yan with a half-smile.
Zhou Yan knew what she wanted to say, so he smiled and said, "Do you think you are suitable for the song "People Like You"?"
Maria curled her lips, "You are questioning my singing. Ability? "
"That's not true. Of course your singing skills are fine, I just think the style may not be suitable for you." Zhou Yan smiled and changed the topic, "Although your "Daydream" last year. It has achieved great success in business, but it has not won any awards. Do you want to rely on awards for your next album?”
Maria said nonchalantly, “As long as the fans like to listen to it. It doesn’t matter if you win or not.”
Zhou Yan pursed her lips and smiled. It’s hard to say how sincere her words were. No one wants to win, and she was even dressed up for the Grammy Awards this year. If you attend, you definitely want to gain something.
The album "Daydream" received five nominations at this year's Grammy Awards. It was originally a strong contender for Best Pop Album and Album of the Year, but in the end it failed.
It is impossible to say that she is not angry.
Even if Maria herself really doesn't care, as the most popular pop queen today, she has been put in this position. If she does not win the award, her fans will not agree.
The last time Zhou Yan chatted with her fans, she could also feel this. The fans were fighting for her and accusing the Grammy Awards of being shady.
“Are you coming to Los Angeles to work?” Zhou Yan asked.
Maria laughed, "Don't you know? I live in Bel-Air now."
Zhou Yan raised his eyebrows. Bel-Air is a well-known luxury community in Los Angeles. It's like Beverly, only the rich people live there.
In the lyrics of "Young and Beautiful", Bel-Air is mentioned.
“You didn’t buy a house in Bel-Air because of “Young and Beautiful”.”
“Not exactly, I had thought about buying a house here. , but because of this song, I actually have a small hobby, which is buying a house.”
Her words reminded Zhou Yan of Wang Zuxian. It seems that women from all over the world are the same when it comes to buying a house.
Then before Zhou Yan could speak, Maria started telling Zhou Yan about her house in Bel-Air.
She told Zhou Yan everything about movie theaters, gyms, basketball courts, and even the nine bathrooms in her home.
Just now Zhou Yan was thinking that Mariah Carey shouldn't be very busy at work recently. Now it seems that she is not only not busy, but even a little too busy.
If you weren't very free, why would you come here to tell him these things?
Although it was a boring topic, Maria herself was quite happy talking about it.
But as she was talking, she suddenly sighed and became depressed, "Am I bored?"
Zhou Yan was thinking about the storyboard of "Titanic". Hearing Maria's words, he came back to his senses, smiled and shook his head, "No, your new house is very interesting."
But Maria seemed to not hear Zhou Yan's words, and murmured, " It’s really boring. I originally wanted to take a break, but I found that once I stopped working, life became meaningless.”
Hearing her topics drifting around, Zhou Yan’s mood changed quickly. With a confused expression on her face, this girl looked like she had a mental problem and didn't look like a normal person at all.
Is it too much pressure?
Normally, this is not the case. Her career has been developing very well over the past year and she should be in high spirits.
Zhou Yan was a little worried about her mental state, so he followed her and said, "It is true that when you are busy at work, you all want to rest, but once you rest, you think about work again. Most people are like this. "
"Will you do the same?" Maria looked up and asked.
Zhou Yan nodded and smiled, "Of course, many people say that I am a workaholic and basically have no time to rest. But I am still relatively good. Do you know Zhang Yimou?"
Maria shook her head, "I don't know."
"We have a very famous director in China. He usually only sleeps for two or three hours, and works the rest of the time."
"How is it possible? If you only sleep for two or three hours a day, won't it affect your health?" Maria looked surprised and said she couldn't believe it.
It's okay to sleep for two or three hours occasionally, but if she only sleeps for two or three hours every day, it's a bit more than she imagined.
"Maybe, but I think he is in good health. Everyone's body is different, and their lifestyle is naturally different. I also know a person who sleeps for at least ten hours a day."
This time Maria showed an envious expression, "I also want to sleep ten hours a day, but I can't sleep. It's not easy to have good sleep."
Zhou Yan shrugged , "If you can't sleep, find something to do. The key is to have a good mentality."
Many people have entered a misunderstanding and always feel that there is a big problem if they don't sleep enough. Especially after the saying "you must sleep eight hours a day" came out, many people felt that they would have physical problems if they slept less than eight hours.
But in fact, the most important thing is to calm down. If you always feel that you don't have enough sleep, and you fall into anxiety, you will enter a vicious cycle.
It’s better to relax a little and find something serious to do if you can’t sleep.
Zhou Yan told Maria this because he felt that Maria was a little anxious.
After listening to Zhou Yan's words, Maria nodded thoughtfully, and then sighed, "Of course a good attitude is important, but a good attitude is not so easy to have. Sometimes, the harder you work, If you want a good attitude, it's easier to get a bad attitude."
Zhou Yan frowned, why does Maria's state look like the early stage of depression or bipolar disorder.
Although Zhou Yan is not a psychiatrist, as a teacher, he has also been exposed to psychological counseling, because when students have psychological problems, they mainly rely on the guidance of their teachers.
Maria’s current situation, if not taken seriously, is likely to eventually develop into severe bipolar disorder or depression.
But the two of them weren't very familiar with each other. Zhou Yan couldn't tell Maria directly that she might be sick and ask her to see a doctor. Although the attitude towards mental illness in the United States was relatively open, it was inappropriate to say this directly.
After thinking about it, Zhou Yan still chatted about music with Maria, "Will there be a new album next year?"
Although Zhou Yan's topic changed quickly, Maria didn't. There was no response. She smiled and said, "Of course, two songs have been decided, and there are a few more songs under review. But the one I want to sing most is "People Like You."
Zhou Yan did not expect that when he talked about music, Maria took advantage of the opportunity and mentioned "People Like You" again.
This time he did not avoid the topic, but said seriously, "You can give it a try, and if it suits you, I can sing this song to you."
Maria's eyes lit up, "How to try? I'll find someone to write lyrics and sing a demo for you to listen to?"
Zhou Yan shook his head, "Don't bother me, I'll give you a version of the lyrics."
“You even wrote the lyrics.” Maria said in surprise.
She used to think that Zhou Yan had no intention of turning "Someone Like You" into a song, but now it seems that is not the case. Zhou Yan even wrote the lyrics, so he must have made it into a song long ago. preparation.
"I'll write it to you."
Zhou Yan got up, walked to his desk, sat down, and started writing the lyrics to "People Like You".
Maria also stood up and came over. When she saw the "Titanic" script and storyboards on the table, she looked curious, but because Zhou Yan was writing lyrics, she did not disturb them.
When Zhou Yan wrote the lyrics, he also wrote the music score to make it easier for Maria to sight-sing.
Maria looked at it for a while and felt that the posture was too awkward, so she ran to the sofa and sat down to wait.
More than ten minutes later, Zhou Yan handed the score and lyrics to Maria, "Take a look."
Maria took the lyrics excitedly, and then looked at them carefully. While reading the lyrics, she was also silently trying to figure out how to sing.
This time Zhou Yan did not mark anything related to singing method, everything depends on her own performance. After watching it several times, she tried to sing it. After singing the first line, she felt it was not good and started singing again.
The same song has the same tone, but it is very different when sung in different singing methods. Where is the breath, where is the emphasis, where is the true voice, where is the falsetto, and different places are processed. Different, the effect produced is very different and very different, which needs to test the singer's singing skills.
Of course there is no problem with Maria's singing skills. Although there are problems when singing each line the first time, after singing it again, the problems will be improved a lot.
When Zhou Yan listened to her singing the first five or six lines, he couldn't help but nodded. Originally, he always felt that the song "Someone Like You" was not suitable for Maria, but now that he heard Maria sing it, His mind changed.
Maria's performance was better than he expected. Her performance of this song was very different from the original singer Adele's style, but it was also very nice. Although there are still many problems, Zhou Yan believes that as long as she is given a little more time, she will be able to finish the song.
In the final analysis, the song itself is more catchy, and any excellent female singer can perform it well. It’s just a different style.
Maria’s vocal range is relatively wide, and she can control both high and low notes well. Moreover, her pitch and breath quality are very high, and she can show the rare sphenoid sinus resonance, which is also a characteristic of her singing.
The most important thing is that she has a good sense of music and pitch, which is rare. Many pop singers become monks halfway and rely on their talents to make a living, but their musicality and pitch are not good.
When Maria spoke, her voice was a little hoarse. This was because she had a voice problem in the past few years.
Due to various reasons, Maria developed vocal cord nodules, which seriously affected her voice, so many people said that her voice was brittle.
In order to avoid the impact of this situation, she has changed her singing method since the last album, raised her vocal position, and used more balanced mixing.
During this period, her high notes were much brighter than before, and they were also particularly open and resonant.
And precisely in her current state, she can indeed grasp the song "Someone Like You" better.
After Maria touched the whole song, she asked Zhou Yan with a smile, "Y, are you satisfied with my singing?"
"I'll give you six points." Zhou Yan said no directly. High or low score.
“That’s not bad.” Maria was quite satisfied with this score.
Zhou Yan then added, "The full score is one hundred points."
"..."
Seeing the solid smile on Maria's face, Zhou Yan laughed and said, "I'm just kidding, you performed well on this song. Although there are some areas that need to be adjusted, it was already very good the first time you sang it. There are many places. I think you should think more about pronunciation and have a better way to deal with it."
Hearing Zhou Yan joking with her, Maria rolled her eyes and then asked, "Then this song is okay. Want to sing for me?"
Zhou Yan thought for a while, then nodded and said, "You can go talk to Zhang Youan."
Maria smiled and said, "No problem, I will do it. An offer he can't refuse, this song is mine."
After getting "Someone Like You", Maria was very happy and precious. She pinched the paper with the lyrics on it. I don't want to loosen my grip.
In addition to the melody of this song, she is also very satisfied with the lyrics and the visuals are very strong.
Zhou Yan seems to be very good at writing lyrics from a girl's perspective, as is the case with his last song "Young and Beautiful".
Holding the lyrics, Maria suddenly asked, "Do you have any new songs recently, especially ones like this that can be made into songs with lyrics?"
This is the next round. By the time Zhou Yan rolled his eyes, people are indeed dissatisfied. Before he was sure to win "Someone Like You", he started thinking about other songs.
“You are too greedy.”
Maria laughed, "People always have to be greedy."
Zhou Yan curled his lips, "Are you going to put this song in next year's album?"
Maria shook her head repeatedly. , "Of course not, I want to release a single, and I can't wait for more than a year. By the way, do you have time? If you have time, help me make the arrangement, because it is a single, so There is no producer, just be responsible from beginning to end."
Zhou Yan said, "That's okay."
It won't take long, even if he is not in the United States. He helped to do it, and he was not at ease if this piece of music was arranged by someone else.
"When will you do it for me?" Maria asked again.
“I’m in Los Angeles these days. If I have time, I’ll do it for you. If I don’t have time, I’ll record it later and have it sent over.”
“No problem.”
At this time Zhou Yan looked at his hands and saw that it was almost half past six. He stood up and said, "It's dinner time, let's go out to eat."
"Okay, I'll treat you to dinner. There's a steakhouse nearby. The shop is delicious.”
As soon as he heard her mention the steak restaurant, Zhou Yan thought of the restaurant he had been to twice. However, seeing Maria's positive recommendation, he did not say that he might have been there. He just nodded and set off with her. .
Zhou Yan guessed right, the one Maria recommended was the one he went to with Chris and the others before.
Maria does come often because the waiters all know her.
However, the waiter acted quite calmly and simply said hello to Maria. Thinking about it, big stars often appear around here, so it is not unusual to see Maria.
The third time he came to this steakhouse, Zhou Yan re-examined the layout of this shop. He had really underestimated this shop before, but he did not expect it to be so popular. Everyone recommended it three times in a row. Home store.
This store doesn't look like anything special, the environment is relatively quiet and there aren't many customers.
It stands to reason that if a restaurant is popular, there should be many customers.
But now that Zhou Yan thinks about it, it may be because the prices in this store are not cheap. A steak here costs at least more than fifty dollars.
When he saw a piece of steak costing tens of dollars before, he didn’t think much about it and even thought it was okay. But if you think about it, it is already very expensive.
At this price, ordinary families have no way to spend. A family of three will spend more than two hundred dollars for a meal, which is not enough.
If you want to have a good meal, you will need more than one or two hundred dollars per person. If you drink some wine, the budget will increase crazily.
Americans are indeed living a better life now, but the salary of most people is only about two thousand dollars, so ordinary families will not spend so much money on a meal. A few hundred dollars is enough for them to do many things.
Zhou Yan's meal was naturally not cheap, and the total cost with tips was close to six hundred US dollars.
After eating, Maria asked Zhou Yan with a smile, "Are you satisfied with this restaurant?"
Zhou Yan nodded, "Well, their steak is indeed delicious, thank you. ”
Maria was very happy that the restaurant she recommended was recognized, "You're welcome, there are many good restaurants in Los Angeles. If you have the chance, I will take you to a few more."
Seeing Maria With a beaming look, Zhou Yan also nodded secretly. Her current situation is not bad. As long as she can give her some positive emotional value, her mood will be very stable.
......
After dinner, it was getting late, so Zhou Yan did not invite Maria to his room, and the two separated downstairs in the hotel.
At around nine o'clock in the evening, Zhou Yan received a call from Zhang Youan.
"You gave "Someone Like You" to Maria?"
Zhou Yan didn't expect that Maria would contact Zhang Youan so late. It seemed that she was really impatient.
"Well, she came to the hotel today and we chatted for a while. I also listened to her singing, and it was pretty good."
Zhang Youan smiled and said, "It seems she still has to do it in person. I’ll just ask you to invite me to sing. We’ve already discussed the matter of collecting the songs, and we can arrange to sign the contract in the next two days.”
“It’s so efficient.”
"Of course it's high. She gave me a very good condition when she came up. It was so high that I was embarrassed to negotiate."
Zhou Yan didn't ask how high it was, and just nodded and said, "You can just negotiate." (End of this chapter)