When Tang Yiyi said that she would increase Iris' workload, she really increased it to the point that Iris barely had any time to rest after a job before travelling to her next job commitment. Even the time spent inside her executive van travelling between locations was spent on Tang Yiyi briefing her about her next job. Sometimes when time was really tight, her hair, make-up and wardrobe change would all be done in the van while on the road.
JJ's record label and Bright Summit decided to put more focus and resources on Iris' career, especially now that her album "Rebirth" was proving to be more successful than they initially anticipated. Bright Summit, in particular, was ecstatic that the top two albums in the music charts were by its own artists.
Jin Chonglin was such a big star that directly competing against him in the music charts would only end up in devastating disappointment for other musicians, unless they were bigger stars than him. His star power was just on another level. Bright Summit was already more than satisfied with the number 2 position of Iris Long's album. They didn't expect her to compete against Jin Chonglin for the number 1 position. They just wanted her to maintain her second place.
JJ, however, wasn't satisfied with just number 2. Jin Chonglin wasn't signed under his record label so for JJ, Jin Chonglin was an opponent. As Iris Long's music producer, JJ wanted her to unseat Jin Chonglin from his throne in the music charts.
When the song "Rebirth" beat Jin Chonglin's song for the first time to claim number 1 in the singles ranking, JJ was so delighted that he laughed and chatted for the entire day, scaring his employees, making them wonder if their boss finally lost his marbles.
The next day, however, Jin Chonglin's song reclaimed the number 1 spot. It appeared that his army of fans did everything in their power to boost his song back to the top position.
JJ was so enraged that he immediately called Iris on the phone.
"Hello?" Iris' voice was lovely as usual.
"Hey, brat! I want you to beat the sh*t out of that pipsqueak Jin Chonglin! You hear me!"
Silence.
"Hello? Brat, are you still there?"
"Excuse me?"
"Good, you're still there. Hmph! I admit that his song is good but hello? 'Rebirth' is many leagues better! Even 'Black Star', 'The Phantom of Your Love' and all the other f*cking songs in your album are so much better than his song! His song is basically just gigolo music―well, 'great' gigolo music, I'll admit that. But your songs are works of art! They're masterpieces! An award-winning music producer like me ought to know what I'm talking about!"
"Oh." Iris' laughter sounded like the tinkle of crystal bells. "So that's what you're talking about, Mr. JJ. I thought you wanted me to beat him up like what I did to the Alarm Girls. I was wondering why you want me to get into deeper trouble by beating up someone like Senior Jin Chonglin."
"Ah? What are you talking about? Of course I'm talking about the music charts! Forget about those stupid girls!" JJ's voice boomed. "Listen to me, you brat. That pipsqueak Jin Chonglin might be many times more famous than you now but music quality never lies. That gigolo music of his has indeed great musicality, but if we're talking about fundamental quality, your songs are way superior than his."
"I know."
JJ was a little taken aback by her nonchalant yet confident response that he wasn't able to react for a few seconds. When he finally processed what she said, he threw his head back and laughed uproariously. "Yes! You should be confident of your own music!"
Iris waited for him to finish laughing.
"Here's what you gotta do, brat. You must claim the number 1 position in both the singles and album rankings and become the undisputed queen of the music charts! Your music is already more than qualified to reach the top, so it's gonna be up to the musician―you―to work hard to increase your own star power to compete against the likes of that pipsqueak. You hear me?!"
"Hmm…"
"Whatever you need to claim the top, just ask and my record label will do its best to provide. Anything! Bright Summit has the best of both worlds at the moment. But I bet that if they're forced to choose between that pipsqueak and you, they'll choose him. Hmph! So your best support to reach the top is ME! You hear me?"
A light chuckle. "I understand, Mr. JJ. I'll do my best."
"Hah! You better be, you brat! I'm betting on you."
The two talked some more. Iris told JJ that the complete piano version of her "Rebirth" album including the sheet music for each of the songs would be ready soon. She promised to submit everything to him for inspection in the next few days.
After their phone conversation, Iris still didn't care about rankings. However, she kept JJ's words in mind. Although she didn't personally care about the rankings, she thought that it might be fun to try competing against someone like Jin Chonglin, a musician currently at the top of his game.
That was why for the next few days, Iris worked like she was on stimulants.
At first, everyone in the penthouse were concerned that Iris might be overworking herself with the workload increase but contrary to their worries, Iris looked energized instead. She was very much in her element in all of her live performances. The more she performed, the better she became. Her stage presence only became stronger with every performance.
Tang Yiyi had no complaints in regards to Iris' music performances. As for the interviews, however, she was worried almost to death. Tang Yiyi knew that Iris could be brutally honest to the point that she sometimes had no filter at all. Tang Yiyi feared that if asked suddenly, Iris might admit that she had a boyfriend. So the manager decided to give Iris a personal coaching on how to answer tricky interview questions.
"This is so stupid," Iris commented in their first session.
"Iris, please take this seriously. This is necessary." Tang Yiyi pleaded with her.
"I am NOT going to lie and say that I don't have a boyfriend," Iris said, looking directly at her manager's eyes. "Please don't force me, Elder Sister Yiyi, because I'm never going to do it. My boyfriend is important to me. I like you and I don't want to be on bad terms with you."
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