Bab 252: Chapter 249 Grammy Nominations
From November 25th Thanksgiving to before Christmas, major supermarkets across the United States would have promotional activities, with some goods being 50% off and some supermarkets giving vouchers to the first 300 customers.
This period was also the shopping season for Americans. According to the "New York Times" report, the total amount of shopping by Americans in this month accounted for 1/4 of the whole year.
It was the same in New York. On the eve of Christmas, long queues could be seen in front of major supermarkets and department stores before dawn, including Walmart, Best Buy, Macy's, Lord & Taylor, etc.
There were even many people wearing black masks who went into supermarkets and shopping malls for "zero-dollar shopping."
Link and Taylor decided to spend the holidays in New York, so naturally, they needed to prepare some holiday items, food, drinks, new high-tech appliances, etc.
However, they came back too late, and with the three-day Christmas holiday, many shopping malls and stores closed early, making it difficult to buy everything they needed.
After Selena knew that they were going to buy holiday supplies, she volunteered to help and patted her chest, saying that Mandy was too busy this year, and she was responsible for all the holiday supplies in their home, so listening to her was definitely right.
Link didn't quite believe it and texted Mandy to ask. Mandy said that if they waited for Selena to buy things, the whole family would starve to death. She told him to make his own decisions when buying things and not to trust Selena's suggestions too much.
After Link knew the truth, he didn't expose it and drove Taylor and Selena around the center of Manhattan.
After driving around for a while, he found that Selena had no sense of direction. She stared with her big round eyes, looking for Best Buy everywhere, but she didn't even see the Best Buy sign that was more than ten meters high right in front of her. Her round face became redder and redder, and her forehead was sweating.
After entering the supermarket, the first thing was to buy a turkey. They went to the turkey shopping area and found that all the turkeys were refrigerated.
This kind of turkey was very cheap, only 16 dollars after the discount, but the taste was very bad after cooking. He needed the kind of clean, fresh, marinated turkey, with the minimum requirement being clean and fresh.
He couldn't find it after searching for a while.
Selena said she had a good idea and dragged him and Taylor to the live animal area, pointing to a few lively turkeys in the basket and asking him to buy one and kill it himself.
Link hesitated a little. The turkey was too big, it would be troublesome to deal with it at home, and if someone took a picture of him killing it here and posted it online, he would be warned by the Animal Protection Association.
Link asked her if she dared to kill a chicken.
Selena raised her chin and said of course she dared. She claimed to be a descendant of Mexicans, and Mexicans were born warriors. In the past, everyone had a pet, which was a boa constrictor more than ten meters long, wrapped around their necks as a scarf every day.
She also said that she had raised a boa constrictor when she was a child, milky white, seven or eight meters long.
Link casually picked up a rope and quietly put it on her shoulder. Selena screamed and jumped on the spot, throwing herself into Taylor's arms, and then complaining about him with Taylor.
"Link is so mean!"
"Yes, he's terrible."
Christmas arrived, and the weather forecast from the US Meteorological Bureau was quite accurate. At noon that day, snowflakes began to fall in the New York sky, adding a lot of festive atmosphere.
Link and Taylor also put up a Christmas tree in the living room of their apartment that day, decorated with many spherical colored lights, Swarovski crystals, little snowman dolls, cute and festive.
Link also put on an apron and made a Christmas dinner for the first time: a big roasted turkey, waffles, macarons, Boston steamed shrimp, Mexican barbecue, a large fruit platter, and a Christmas cake made by Taylor.
It was colorful, fragrant, and very sumptuous.
At six or seven o'clock in the evening, Link and Taylor drove to Midtown to meet Selena and Little Annie.
Little Annie was Link's half-sister, over three years old, with a bob haircut and a perky nose. She was pink and tender, even cuter than Selena.
The group first went to Times Square to watch the light show, then to Radio City Music Hall to watch the acrobatics show, and finally went ice skating at the Rockefeller Center ice rink.
While ice skating, Taylor and Selena wanted to see him fall on the ice, so they pushed him onto the ice together.
Unfortunately, they were going to be disappointed.
Link had good physical conditions and a good sense of balance. After skating along the railing for a while, he could let go and skate slowly on the ice.
After practicing for more than ten minutes and getting used to the speed of the ice skates, he could skate faster, occasionally skate backward, skate on one leg, and do some fancy moves, even more stable than Taylor and Selena.
After Link learned, he took Annie skating.
Little Annie was very timid. Even though she was wearing a helmet and knee and elbow pads, as soon as he let go of her hand, she would be scared and squat on the ground like a little radish.
Link held her hand and skated around the rink for more than ten laps. After she got used to the speed, she dared to skate forward slowly by herself, shouting in a milky voice, "Please make way, Annie is going to bump into you."
"Annie is so cute."
Taylor skated over from behind and put her arm around his shoulder.
"Of course, look whose sister she is."
"What does Annie's cuteness have to do with you? You're so shameless."
Taylor rolled her eyes at him, skated backward for a few meters, the ice skates leaving two obvious marks on the ice, and said, "How about we compete in speed? Let's see who skates faster."
"No, I just learned, I'm not your opponent yet."
"Good that you know."
Taylor accelerated and skated to Annie's side, holding her little hand and leading her forward.
Taylor was wearing a white down jacket and blue jeans, with her hair in a ponytail, like a high school girl. Annie, beside her, was wearing a pink down jacket and a pink helmet and knee pads, like a little bun.
The two held hands, looking like sisters or mother and daughter.
"Link, move out of the way, I'm going to bump into you."
Selena shouted and rushed over from behind.
Before Link could move out of the way, she bumped into his back with a bang.
It was already past ten o'clock when they left the Rockefeller Center ice rink. Selena and Taylor had a lot of fun and didn't want to go to bed early. Annie's eyes were also shining with excitement, so Link suggested going to the AMC IMAX theater to watch "Avatar."
It was the first time Selena and Taylor watched a 3D movie. Seeing the hero and heroine flying in the sky on the Ikran, they couldn't help but exclaim.
Annie couldn't understand it very well and fell asleep in his arms after only ten minutes.
---
After Christmas, Link and Taylor became busy again.
Taylor continued to record songs in the studio. Link had a lot of things to do at the beginning of the year. First of all, the awards season had arrived, and there were many award ceremonies that he needed to attend.
For example, the nominations for the 67th Golden Globe Awards were announced on Christmas Eve.
"The Fighter" received seven nominations at this year's Golden Globes, including Best Motion Picture - Drama, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, two Best Supporting Actress nominations, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Original Song.
Link received a Best Original Song nomination for the film's theme song "The Fighter."
The 52nd Grammy Awards were also announced before the New Year.
Link received eight nominations for his two best-selling albums and multiple singles.
Including Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best New Artist, Best Pop Male Vocal Performance, Best Rock Song, Best Rap Song, and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration.
Taylor also received eight nominations at this year's Grammys, with the first three overlapping with his.
However, they were not the ones with the most nominations. Beyoncé had the most, with ten nominations at this year's Grammys.
In addition, "The Ring" magazine and the four major boxing organizations would also hold award ceremonies at the beginning of the year to select the best boxer and the best boxing promoter of 2009. The North American Boxing Association was also preparing to give him a Best Spokesperson award.
Besides these, he also needed to prepare for the Super Bowl halftime show.
There were two performers invited to this year's Super Bowl halftime show: Link and the famous British rock band The Who.
Link had seven minutes of performance time, which was about the length of two songs.
The organizers hoped that he would sing his debut album's hit song "Unstoppable" and the American national anthem.
Link was a little confused after hearing this. The American national anthem? How to sing it? He didn't know it at all, and it might be too late to learn it now.
If he sang the wrong lyrics, he would encounter the same situation as Christina Aguilera in 2011, being ridiculed and his career falling into a trough.
Even if he didn't sing it wrong, singing the national anthem that everyone could sing on the Spring Festival Gala stage was very difficult.
If he performed poorly, people would think his singing skills were too bad.
Link thought about it carefully and proposed a compromise: write a song that fits the spirit of football and pays tribute to his predecessors.
After all, singing the national anthem was not a must-have program for the halftime show, and a song that fit the spirit of the football league was also conducive to the league's promotion of the sport.
After discussion, the organizers agreed, but they needed to listen to the demo of the song first. Link agreed.
Because of this, Link had to go into the recording studio right after Christmas to discuss the song arrangement with Graeme, David Kahn, and others, and also discuss the Super Bowl rehearsal with director Kenny Ortega.
"Hi, Link, Happy New Year!"
In the morning, Graeme Goodall walked into the Link Music recording studio, took off his hat, and greeted him.
"Haha, Happy New Year, Graeme. I'm sorry to take up your New Year's vacation time."
Link reached out and hugged him.
"Haha, it's okay. In another ten years or so, I should retire. At that time, I'll have a vacation every day. Just thinking about it is scary."
Graeme waved his hand, sat down on the opposite sofa, and said with a serious expression, "You said on the phone that you wrote a song for the football league. Is this true? You have to know that football is a noble sport for all Americans. To write a song for this kind of sport is no less difficult than the football World Cup. Are you sure you can do it?"
"This is the score. Take a look and see how it is."
Link took out a stack of manuscript paper from his backpack and put it on the desk.
In fact, when he was copying this song, he wasn't sure if it would work.
This song was uplifting and passionate. The main theme of the lyrics was that the pursuit of the ultimate realm of skill is endless, and the names of those who strive diligently will be engraved in history. It was also quite suitable for a confrontational sport like football.
If this one didn't work, he could think of something else. Anyway, he wouldn't sing the national anthem.
Graeme looked through the score, his brows furrowed tighter and tighter, his expression becoming more and more serious. If it weren't for his flushed face, trembling fingers, and rapid breathing, others would think the song was too bad when they saw him like this.
Graeme finished reading it once, looked up at him, then lowered his head to read it again, his breathing becoming more and more rapid.
"Graeme, how is it?"
Link blew on the tea leaves floating on his teacup and asked.
"Can't say for sure, let's go to the recording studio. I want to hear the effect."
"No problem!"
Link put down his teacup and came to the recording studio, singing the new song once.
Graeme listened and said it wasn't good enough. It still needed accompaniment. Without accompaniment, the song lost more than half of its flavor.
He called David Kahn, Bruno Mars, and other producers in the music studio to come to the recording studio to participate in the production of this song.
(End of Chapter)
Bab 253: Chapter 250: New Song Rehearsal
"Link, sing with more intensity. Don't suppress your emotions, and don't be afraid to strain your voice. A strained voice is more impactful."
Outside the recording studio, Graeme stood at the mixing console, holding a microphone and shouting to Link inside.
Link nodded and sang again, following Graeme's instructions.
The original singer of this song was a woman, with a different tone and style.
In order to perform this song well, he and Graeme and other staff had been working tirelessly in the recording studio for the past few days, constantly adjusting the sound and rehearsing.
His voice would become hoarse every day, and he would continue singing after recovering the next day.
After days of hard work, the song became better and better, more powerful than the original, with a tougher style, majestic momentum, and a bloody battlefield feel, similar to Linkin Park's lead singer Chester Bennington's hard rock, full of passion.
He felt that his version was more infectious than the original.
They become a part of you
Write the story into a song
Every time you bleed for reaching greatness
Struggle against adversity to achieve greatness
Relentless you survive
"Yes! Sing it like that! Link, you're a genius bastard, this song will definitely become your masterpiece."
Graeme shouted, raising his fists.
David Kahn and several other producers laughed, agreeing with him.
"Link is amazing, he's good at pop, rock, and rap, he's a musical all-rounder."
Bruno Mars exclaimed, sporting an afro.
"Haha, Bruno, you're also great, and Lana, Wiz, with the four of you, I bet our Link Music will become the most dazzling music label in the industry."
David Kahn laughed.
"Yes, that's right!"
Others echoed.
"What are you guys talking about, the atmosphere is great."
When Ivanka arrived at the recording studio, she saw everyone chatting happily, the atmosphere was very warm.
"Hi, Miss Ivanka, Happy New Year!"
Everyone greeted Ivanka.
"Happy New Year!"
Ivanka smiled slightly, greeting everyone, saying hello, and asking her two assistants to distribute New Year gifts.
In the United States, the day after Christmas is Boxing Day, not a day for boxing, but a day for gift-giving.
It used to be the day when slave owners gave gifts to their slaves, but later it evolved into a day for everyone to exchange gifts.
Graeme, Mars and others happily accepted the gifts, and found that Ivanka had prepared luxury gifts for everyone, including red wine, cigars, gold pens, platinum jewelry, etc.
Everyone's gifts were different, but everyone cherished them after receiving them.
Graeme held the gift and secretly admired that Ivanka was obviously more suitable to be a manager than Link, this careless guy.
"Graeme, how is Link's new song?"
Ivanka walked to the soundproof glass window, picked up the headphones, and looked at Link who was singing.
"Great! Very great! If 'Give me reason' and 'See you again' are nine points, I give this song ten points."
Graeme said excitedly.
"Oh?"
Ivanka was a little surprised.
'See you again' topped the Billboard singles chart for 12 weeks, the 12th song in the history of the Billboard singles chart to top the chart for more than 12 weeks, and also Link's most popular work.
Now Graeme thinks this song is better than 'See you again', this evaluation far exceeded her expectations.
Ivanka put on the headphones with doubt and surprise, and listened for a while.
When she heard the chorus, she couldn't help but stand up straight, her full chest puffed out, her whole body seemed to be lifted by something, and some strength appeared out of thin air in her body.
Ivanka covered the headphones and looked through the soundproof glass at the roaring figure inside.
Seeing him clenching his fists, the muscles on his arms bulging tightly, raising his voice to a very high and amazing pitch, his roar with strong infectious power passed through the microphone, through the console to the headphones, and then into her ears.
Ivanka blinked her eyelashes, her heart beating faster.
Recalling the first time they met, he was just an ordinary beach boy, a little more handsome and courageous than the passers-by on the street, but nothing much to notice.
But after the Olympics, his name was like the sun in the sky, almost seen every day, first using a strong means, in 100 seconds to defeat one opponent after another, to become the WBA champion, causing a sensation in the boxing world and even the whole of the United States.
Then he wrote the hit song 'Despacito', released a best-selling album, and became a super popular singer.
Ivanka had known him for more than a year, and knew him better than anyone, even more than Taylor.
Every time she saw his new achievements, she couldn't help but admire, this guy is too powerful.
She thought she was used to this situation, but when she heard this song, she was still amazed.
According to Mandy's news, from the organizer contacting him to perform to him creating this song, there was only three days in between, only three days to come up with such a song.
"This guy is too powerful."
Ivanka pursed her lips and said softly.
"Hi, Eva, when did you come?"
Link came out of the recording studio and saw the great beauty standing outside.
She was wearing a camel-colored lapel wool coat, a black turtleneck sweater, and high-waisted straight pants, revealing a slender waist, making her waist thin, legs long, and hips plump, with a full bust.
Her long blonde hair was draped over her shoulders, only slightly tied with a crystal hairpin on the outer layer.
Simple, elegant, and dignified, the aura of a billionaire came to her face.
Link considered himself to be no less wealthy than her, but in terms of dressing and temperament, he always couldn't compare to Ivanka.
"Just arrived! The new song is good!"
Ivanka put down the headphones and said.
"Thank you! You have good taste, if you say it's good, it must be great."
Link laughed.
"Let's go to the office and chat."
"OK!"
Link nodded and went to the office next door.
As soon as he sat down, Ivanka threw a stack of documents at him.
2010 was approaching, and Link Music had a lot of work to do in the next year.
The first thing was the release of his third album.
This album was recorded earlier than the second album, and needed to be further optimized before release, adjusting the style of two or three songs to make them more suitable for the current market.
The first promotional single 'All of me' was scheduled to be released the day before Valentine's Day.
It would be released worldwide at the end of March.
This album was a pop ballad style, different from the previous two, whether it could continue to maintain the hot sales of the previous two albums was still unknown.
The second thing was that he was about to participate in the Super Bowl, and related publicity work needed to keep up.
If done properly, with the popularity of the Super Bowl, his albums and singles could sell tens of thousands more copies.
The third thing was next year's tour arrangements, two movies and two roles, two confirmed boxing matches, six commercials, and new song MVs also needed to be arranged.
"Too much work, shouldn't have taken 'The Expendables'."
Link said, looking through the work schedule.
In December, he met with Sylvester Stallone, who said he would design a fighting master role specifically for him, knocking down one person with one punch, the role was either the third or fourth male lead, and the salary was no less than three million.
For the sake of money and character design, Link agreed.
Now it seemed that he was too greedy and was asking for trouble.
"It's okay, many things seem like a lot, but when you do them, you'll find there are very few."
Ivanka poured two cups of hot chocolate and put one down.
"Many things seem like very few, but when you do them, there will be more."
"That's because you don't know how to arrange."
Ivanka sat in the office chair with her long legs crossed and patted another thicker folder, "These are my work arrangements, do you want to take a look?"
"No need to look!"
Ivanka was the president of Link Music, not only responsible for his record promotion and release, but also responsible for Lana, Mars, and Wiz Khalifa.
Lana's album had been released for eight weeks and was still in the top 50 of the Billboard album chart, indicating that the album had great potential and needed more promotion.
Bruno Mars' debut album was in its third week of release, with first-week sales of 287,000 copies, reaching number two on the Billboard chart, only slightly behind Lady Gaga's 'The Fame Monster'.
Cumulative sales of 573,000 copies in three weeks, the data was better than Lana's debut album, if they continued to work on it, there was a good chance of breaking 1 million copies in North America.
Wiz Khalifa's debut album 'Deal or No Deal' was also scheduled for release early in the year.
He didn't need to look to know that her work wouldn't be any less.
Link spread his hands and said, "We're billionaires now, why are we still so busy, why not stop and go on vacation?"
"A while ago, you told reporters that it was your passion that made you energetic and greatly improved your work efficiency, now why are you thinking about vacation again?"
Ivanka glanced at him and teased.
"Even a camel in the desert, you can't let him work 365 days a year."
Link laughed.
Ivanka raised her lips and took out a box from her bag.
(End of chapter)
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