The next day, it was another sunny day in Los Angeles. Because he came back late last night, Link slept in a bit, and when he woke up, the sky outside the window was already bright.
"Honey, it's time to get up."
"No, I want to sleep a little longer, you go make breakfast first."
"Okay!"
Link stretched, put on a T-shirt and shorts, and opened the curtains. The morning sunlight of Los Angeles shone through the window into the room, warm and cozy.
Seeing that Taylor was still sleeping, he closed the curtains again, did some chest expansion exercises, went downstairs to run more than ten kilometers on the Bay Highway, and bought some fresh vegetables and fruits at the Carrefour supermarket on the Bay.
When he got home, Taylor had just gotten up and was still busy in the bathroom.
Link made breakfast, put it on the table, and while eating, picked up the newspaper on the table and started reading.
The Grammy Awards were over, and the news about the Grammys was out.
Beyoncé won six awards out of ten nominations, becoming the artist with the most wins in a single Grammy Awards in history.
Taylor won four awards out of eight nominations, ranking second in the number of awards.
Jay-Z won three awards out of five nominations, ranking third.
Lady Gaga, Kanye, Eminem, Maxwell, Kings of Leon, and others all won two awards.
Link, with two wins out of eight nominations, also became the most controversial topic at this year's Grammy Awards.
The "Los Angeles Times" commented that this year's Grammy Awards made great progress by nominating more young singers, which also shows that the Grammys will be more open to new artists and the internet in the next decade, unlike the past few years when the internet was seen as an enemy of the music industry's development.
The above points are good, but the Grammy judges are still hesitant in the judging process, not daring to take a step forward and boldly accept new things.
For example, Link released a total of thirty-two songs last year, three of which won the Billboard singles chart championship, and twenty-two songs entered the top 100 singles chart. Although he is not the singer with the most champion singles, nor the person who entered the top 100 the most.
But he is the person with the most songs entering the top 100 in the same year.
This is a new record in the history of "Billboard."
Also, his singles "See You Again," "Unstoppable," "Give Me Reason," "Believer," and "Lighters" were ranked first, ninth, eighteenth, thirty-second, and forty-fifth respectively on the "Rolling Stone Magazine" "50 Best of 2009" list.
Link is also the only singer to have five songs on the list at the same time.
For such a singer who has achieved amazing results, the Grammy Awards could have been more open and inclusive to accept him, but it didn't.
Lady Gaga also had the same experience. Since last year, Lady Gaga has become synonymous with fashion, avant-garde, and grotesque. Her songs and herself have become popular all over the world, becoming a phenomenon-level singer.
But at this year's Grammy Awards, she only won two awards, Best Dance Recording and Best Electronic/Dance Album.
The "Los Angeles Times" commented on this year's Grammy Awards, saying that "she slyly retracted the dance steps she was about to take and paced in place."
Other mainstream media also commented on this year's Grammy Awards, with mixed reviews, making this year's Grammy Awards a very controversial one.
In addition to the Grammy news, mainstream media also reported that 50 Cent, on behalf of Justin Bieber, challenged Link at the scene, saying that he would compete with him on the pop charts.
The media also reported and commented on this matter.
The "Hollywood Reporter" also reported an interesting story, last night at 11:45, the Los Angeles 911 center received a call claiming that '50 Cent is going to shoot someone,' according to police investigation, the phone number belongs to the famous rapper Eminem.
Netizens speculate that the person 50 Cent was going to shoot is likely Link Baker.
This news also added a bit of blood to the competition between the two sides in March and April.
Ring ring ring!
Link put down the newspaper, got up and picked up the charging phone.
"Good morning, any good news to tell me?" Link sat back on the sofa, legs crossed, letting the Los Angeles sunshine shine on him.
"No! I have a few bad news to tell you, are you ready?" Ivanka's voice on the other end of the phone carried a hint of morning laziness, as if Olivia's fluffy tail had brushed her face.
"A few?" Link was a little surprised.
"Yes! According to inside information from the Grammy jury, you were originally going to win five Grammy Awards last night, second only to Beyoncé, but due to external interference, three trophies were taken away by public relations."
"Really? Did you find out who's behind it?"
Link had already guessed last night, so he wasn't surprised by this news, he picked up the milk on the table and took a sip.
"There is a suspect, Kuna Jr."
"Love turned to hate?"
"Don't joke!" Ivanka said in a flat voice, "There's one more thing, since last night, many singers have publicly recommended Justin's 'Baby,' which has also led to a surge in sales of the single, from 23,000 copies to 28,000 copies. According to this trend, this song is very likely to top the singles chart this week."
"It doesn't matter! We also have a champion single." Link said, eating bread.
"Don't be too careless, a bubblegum pop song can also be hyped up by them into a champion single, which shows that the agency behind Justin is very capable, in terms of promoting songs and singers, they are more professional than our team, this is a strong opponent, we should be more vigilant."
Link nodded, feeling that Ivanka was right.
In the past, singers became famous by their strength, some people were silent for ten years and then became famous overnight.
In the internet age, many things have changed, singers become famous more by marketing hype, by full coverage exposure, by gaining fans. From the signs of Kanye and Justin's popularity, Scooter of SB Projects is undoubtedly a marketing expert.
"I understand, what other bad news?"
"Do you want to hear it? There's a lot more."
Ivanka told him a few more bad news.
For example, Wiz Khalifa smoked marijuana in the recording studio, although he promised not to do it again afterwards, it felt like his promise was useless.
There was also Mars who gambled at a casino in his hometown of Hawaii during the New Year and lost 200,000 dollars, and was detained in the casino. Later, his assistant redeemed him with money. Last week, a tabloid broke this news, and Link Music's public relations department spent a lot of money to take down this news.
Link touched his forehead after hearing this, the singers under his wing are all very talented, but they are not all well-behaved people.
Wiz Khalifa's nickname is "Weed God," and Bruno Mars's nickname is "Gambling God."
Lana is slightly better, she hasn't caused any problems yet, but it's only temporary. This girl used to say in news interviews that she wanted to commit suicide, even the album names are "Kill Kill" and "Born to Die."
They are all troubled youths.
With the current situation of Link Music, both internal and external troubles, it is not easy to survive and grow in the competition with peers.
Link asked Ivanka what countermeasures she had, Ivanka told him to concentrate on preparing for the Super Bowl, and not to worry about other things for the time being. Calling him to tell him these things was to remind him to pay more attention and be careful of being plotted against by opponents.
Link said he understood.
"Boss, it's time to rehearse at the Art Theater." Anna came in with a handbag to remind him.
"Got it!" Link finished the milk in his cup, shouted upstairs "Honey, I'm going to rehearsal," put on his coat and went out.
January 31st was the Grammy Awards ceremony, February 7th was the Super Bowl game day, there were only seven days in between, so after Link finished the Grammy things, he had to continue rehearsing for the Super Bowl halftime show.
During the few days he was rehearsing, the competition in the music industry became even fiercer. On the album charts, Ke$ha, Lady Antebellum, Monica, and others' albums were fighting each other, fighting openly and secretly for the weekly chart championship.
The competition on the singles chart was even more intense, Wiz's "Black and Yellow," Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now," Usher's "Hey Daddy (Daddy's Home)," Ke$ha's "Tik Tok," and Justin's "Baby."
These five songs were also the number one on the rap chart, country music chart, blues chart, and pop chart respectively.
Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" topped the charts for two consecutive weeks in mid-January and originally had the opportunity to continue to top the charts.
But after the Grammys, "Baby" was recommended by many star singers, and its exposure increased significantly.
There were many internet celebrities on YouTube who filmed videos imitating Justin's dance, which also brought a lot of popularity to the song. The song could also be heard on radio broadcasts, TV commercials, bars, shopping malls, etc.
After the Grammys, the digital sales of "Baby" on online platforms soared, selling 124,000 copies in a week, beating "Need You Now" on the singles chart to become a champion single, and Justin also became the youngest singer in Billboard history to win a singles championship.
For a time, Justin's popularity in the European and American music scene soared, and he almost became the most popular male singer in the pop music scene.
Many media predict that with Justin's current popularity, even if Link can beat him on the singles chart, it won't be easy.
The "New York Post" also mentioned that Justin, Usher, and Drake chose to release their new albums around the time of Link's third album. Whether Link's third album can break through and achieve good results is still unknown.
Link didn't care about this news and focused on rehearsing new songs in the theater.
(End of chapter)