New York 2006

Chapter 10 New Media

Britney has had a tortuous journey from being a national icon to someone who is now besieged by the media.

From around 1999 to 2003, it was the time when teen pop groups and singers were most popular. The most popular of them was undoubtedly Britney Spears. She was known as "America's Sweetheart" and was one of the hottest singers in the world at that time. , she is also the youth idol of Luo Ji's generation.

Compared with Europe, the United States is a very conservative country and is known as the conservative base of the Western world. Especially the current president of the United States is a Republican.

During the opening performance of the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera performed Madonna's classic song "Like a Virgin". During the performance, Madonna kissed both of them at the same time.

A performance art of lace made the marketing of this MTV a great success, but the same-sex behavior of lace made the conservative media begin to hate Britney and began to treat her strangely.It's okay, the media is just weird.

Later, Britney's ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake suggested in a song that Britney's cheating led to their breakup, and he revealed in a radio interview that he had slept with her.This severely damaged Britney's image, and the media was completely bombarded, because Britney told the media in 1999 that she would remain a virgin until marriage.

Instead of being role models, teen idols engage in same-sex lesbo, premarital sex, cheating, sexy photo shoots, and chaotic marriages.This angered parents all over the United States, and the wife of the governor of Maryland even told the media: "Really, if I had the chance to kill Britney with one shot, I would definitely do it."

This completely detonated public opinion, and all the media began to criticize her. The whole society seemed to be involved in a carnival to destroy Britney, saying that Britney had poor taste in choosing men, her poor marriage relationship, and that she was out of shape. figure, saying that she has no role model as a mother...

Britney suddenly received national attention, and the media offered a huge reward for everything about her. With huge benefits, countless paparazzi followed Britney frantically, and every little mistake in her life was magnified.

Luo Ji spoke: "I feel like Britney is about to be forced to collapse by the media. Her recent appearance in the media has been getting worse and worse, and she can no longer control her emotions. Sometimes she talks nonsense to reporters."

"Yes, sometimes I feel really distressed when I see her look like that."

"Don't just feel sorry for others, also feel sorry for you." Luo Ji said.

Max looked at Luo Ji calmly: "Haha, what do I have to feel sorry for? I'm just a weed, I can live a strong life anywhere! My life is extremely fulfilling."

I'm holding on your rope
I hold on to a glimmer of hope

got me ten feet off the ground
leave everything to you

I'm hearing what you say but I just can't make a sound now
I heard your words swirling in the air but I was unable to respond

You tell me that you need me
You said it was so hard for you to leave but you decided to leave
Then you go and cut me down
Let me fall into the abyss

In the empty room, the music on the laptop was playing, and the two of them lay quietly on the bed enjoying it.

Because he planned to be a singer, Luo Ji was very interested in music. He had bought and listened to all the popular singles and albums on the market these days.The song sung by a boy just now was very beautiful, but he had never heard it before: "What is this song called?"

"Apologise."

"Who sang it?"

"I don't know, the singer is probably not famous. This song was recommended by a friend a few days ago."

Luo Ji had nothing to do. He took his laptop from the bedside table and plugged in the wireless network card: "I'll check it online."

Luo Ji first opened Allmusic, which is an American music guide website and one of the largest music databases in the world.The website was founded in 1995. Music lovers can hear the latest song clips here, check out the band, singer introduction, genre introduction, album tracks, record label, etc.Luo Ji entered the song title and searched, and found information about the singer who sang the song Apologize. OneRepublic: "It turns out this is a song sung by a band! However, no information about the record company was found in it. It seems to be an independent music People!”

Max asked in confusion: "Why are you interested in this?"

"The record industry is in a slump right now, and it's very difficult to get signed and make records. So now I'm very concerned about how new singers become famous?" Luo Ji Google searched OneRepublic.

Wikipedia didn't list it, so it seemed like the band wasn't very famous. Luo Ji flipped through many pages and finally found news about them.

During the summer and fall of 2005, OneRepublic worked on their first album with producer Greg Wells at his studio Rocket Carousel in Culver City, California.The album was originally scheduled to be released on June 2006, 6, but the band was disbanded by Columbia two months before the album's release.The album's lead single "Apologize" was released on the social networking site Myspace on April 6, 2006, and eventually ranked first on the social networking site Myspace rankings. As a result, the band became famous and continued to perform commercially...

Social networking sites like Myspace and Facebook that involve privacy in personal information block search engine crawling and do not allow search engines to reference them. Luo Ji could only search within the site.

Open Myspace and search, I found the homepage of the band OneRepublic.On their homepages, you can see the diaries they wrote, the photos they uploaded, and the life updates they posted.Among them, the most played one is their Apologize, and there are various comments from netizens below.

"Listening to this song, I feel like I have returned to my youth, those days of unscrupulous youth. I can't go back, I can't go back..."

"Because of my stubbornness, you left. I'm sorry. I wish I could go back to the past, but I can't."

"New band, your songs are really good. You are very talented. I support you. When you release your album, I will definitely buy it and support you. Come on, big boys!"

Luo Ji continued to study the logs they posted. Among them was a photo of their lead singer Ryan Tedder and rapper Timbaland in front of a pile of music synthesizers.

It reads below: We are very happy that we have signed a contract with Timbaland's Mosley Music Group. The record is being urgently produced and will be available to everyone soon. I hope everyone can support it then!
The latest picture was uploaded by them three days ago. The photo is of Republic Era performing in a mall in Los Angeles. There are many spectators around. There are celebratory slogans and red ribbons next to it. It looks like there is a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Luo Ji went to the iTunes music store again. This music store was developed by Apple and was established to sell iPods. It now accounts for 80% of the genuine online music sales market. Luo Ji searched there and found it. OneRepublic’s “Apologize” is selling like hotcakes.

Thinking about it this way, although OneRepublic has received very few reports in mainstream media, it is not worth mentioning compared with those big stars.But after they became famous with a song on the Internet, they signed a contract with a record company, online songs have begun to be sold, and physical albums will be released soon. They have also begun to accept various commercial performances, and they have truly achieved financial freedom.

Luo Ji fell into deep thought. After all, Jamie is not an expert in this field. He asked me to participate in the American idol show to debut, or let me go through the traditional way of signing a record contract to become famous, but these hopes are too slim, or even if it can succeed, the early stage The signing conditions must be very harsh. He did not come through time just to be exploited as a migrant worker. So the success of OneRepublic in the Republic Era is very useful as a reference.

In the Republican era, there was no capital support, no corporate packaging, and no media coverage. What was the key to their success?

Luo Ji's eyes became brighter and brighter, a current passed through his brain, and his thoughts became smooth for a moment. The most critical thing must be the emergence of new media on the Internet. These new media bypassed traditional media and gave everyone a way to spread information. Path, as long as your work is good and excellent enough, it will be liked and seen by others.

"Web2.0 pays more attention to user interaction. Users are both browsers and producers of website content. The so-called producer of website content means that every user on the Internet is no longer just a reader of the Internet, but also a producer of website content. Be an author on the Internet and no longer just surf the Internet, but also be a wave maker.”

Max said: "What Web2.0, what are you talking to yourself about?"

"I really want to find my way." Luo Ji was so excited that he picked up Max next to him and kissed him.

"What road? So excited!" Max was a little confused, but he was still infected by Luo Ji's enthusiasm.

The road ahead was clear, and Luo Ji felt relaxed. He looked at Max in his arms and reacted again unconsciously. He brought his mouth to her ear and blew gently: "I will perform very well this time!"

(End of this chapter)