章節 251: Chapter 248 Spring Festival Gala Invitation

At the end of the year, the American entertainment industry began a big melee.

In the film market, blockbusters were released one after another, including James Cameron's "Avatar," Robert Downey Jr.'s "Sherlock Holmes," Fox's famous animation "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel," Matt Damon's biographical film "Invictus," George Clooney's "Up in the Air," and Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore's new film "Baarìa," and so on.

Coupled with several blockbusters released in November, the competition in the December film box office market entered a fever pitch.

Also because of the many blockbusters, the "Commercial Daily" reported that after the 2007 and 2008 lows, the total box office of the American film industry this year was expected to return to more than 10 billion US dollars, which was good news for all film industry practitioners.

In addition to the film market, the record market competition was also very fierce.

Britney Spears released her second greatest hits album "The Singles Collection" in early December, and Lady Gaga released a reissue of "The Fame" called "The Fame Monster."

Drake's first EP "So Far Gone," Rihanna's fourth studio album "Rated R," and Link Music's artist Bruno Mars' debut album "It's Better If You Don't Understand" were also released.

Counting the albums released in November, Lana Del Rey's "Young and Beautiful," Carrie Underwood's "Play On," and Justin Bieber's debut album "My World," etc.

According to "Rolling Stone" statistics, fifty-three albums were released in the last two months of the year, and 15 of them currently had sales exceeding 100,000 copies.

Among them, Selena's debut album "Come & Get It" had sold 671,000 copies in the United States after seven weeks of release, and Lana's "Young and Beautiful" had sold 563,000 copies after six weeks of release.

Canadian boy Justin Bieber's debut album "My World" had sold 537,000 copies in the United States and 172,000 copies in Canada after eight weeks of release, with global sales exceeding 1 million copies.

Justin also became one of the youngest singers in the world to get a platinum record and the second male singer in 2009 whose debut album sales exceeded 1 million copies. He was called a "magic boy" by the media.

In the boxing world, before Christmas, Dr. Ironfist Wladimir Klitschko, South African Nightmare Samuel Peter, Cannon Shannon Briggs, and Eastern Beast Valuev all had exciting matches.

Among them, it was worth noting that on December 10th, in the WBA heavyweight championship fight held in Nuremberg, Germany, British boxer David Haye fought against Valuev for 12 rounds and won by points, winning the WBA heavyweight champion's gold belt.

The WBA heavyweight champion's gold belt changed hands.

Other levels didn't change much.

And on Christmas Eve, Link took his tour team and held nine concerts in seven countries in South America.

Because "Despacito" was quite popular, the physical single sales had accumulated to 600,000 copies, becoming the best-selling single in South America in 2008/2009. His two albums also sold 520,000 copies in South America.

His reputation as a boxing champion was also very loud in Mexico, Haiti, Colombia, Brazil, and other places.

The nine performances in South America were also quite sensational, with an average of 47,000 people per show and a total box office of about 18 million US dollars.

During the concerts, he also held two gold belt lottery ceremonies on the spot.

According to the original arrangement, on Christmas Eve, the six gold belts would be given in batches to boxing enthusiasts who shot videos. One for the United States, one for South America, one for Asia, two for Europe, and one for Oceania, just enough to distribute.

After a busy year, two days before Christmas, Link returned to the United States with his tour team to rest.

Because the weather forecast said it would snow in New York during Christmas, major shopping malls would hold holiday activities, Broadway theaters would have some special Christmas performances, so Link and Taylor decided to go back to their apartment in New York for Christmas.

"It's been almost half a year since we lived here. I feel that New York is quieter than Los Angeles."

Link dragged two suitcases, opened the door of the Yorkville apartment, and turned on the power switch.

The whole apartment instantly lit up, and through the window, he could see the lights of thousands of homes across the street. He felt that living here had more of a sense of life than in the beach villa.

"It's not quiet! It's deserted!"

Taylor followed behind him with her hands in her pockets.

She was wearing a burgundy college-style coat, a white spotted wool sweater, and blue pencil pants. Her blonde hair was loose, and she wore a knitted hat and his scarf around her neck, revealing only a delicate and fair oval face.

She was dressed warmly but still complained about the cold.

"I lived here for half a month in September. With the doors and windows closed, there was no sound around, like living in a cave. I couldn't stand it and went to Nashville."

Taylor said, following behind him.

"Really? I happened to have time those days, and I said I would come to accompany you, but you didn't want to. Now you say it's deserted. Aren't you asking for it?"

Link teased.

"It's your fault. I used to live alone and never felt deserted. After living with you, I gradually got used to having someone around. When you were suddenly gone, of course I felt deserted."

Taylor bumped into him and said sulkily.

"Okay, it's my fault!"

Link smiled gently, turned on the heater, and helped her take off her hat, scarf, and windbreaker, hanging them on the rack.

Because Mrs. Mandy sometimes arranged for people from the housekeeping company to come and clean, the apartment was in good sanitary condition, and they didn't need to do any dusting.

After returning home, they only needed to organize their daily necessities and go to the supermarket to buy some fruits and vegetables to move in.

"Honey, how are we going to spend Christmas?"

Taylor took off her shoes, lay on the sofa, and turned on the TV with the remote control.

"Make a Christmas dinner, visit Catherine and Mandy's homes, watch the Christmas Spectacular show at Radio City Music Hall, then go to Times Square to see the Christmas light show. I heard that the Winter Village in Central Park West will be very lively that day, so we can go there for a walk if we have time. Do you have any other suggestions?"

Link asked, coming out of the dining room with a basket of washed fruit.

"Do we have to go to so many places? I think it's also good to stay at home and enjoy our time together."

Taylor picked up a strawberry and took a bite.

Link nodded, "That sounds good too. We can keep making love at home, from Christmas Eve to Christmas night. What do you think?"

"Hey, pervert, what are you thinking? Why is your mind full of those dirty things?"

Taylor lifted her foot and pretended to kick him.

"Don't you think it's romantic? Just like in the movies."

"Not at all. I'm not as lecherous as you."

Taylor wrinkled her nose and said.

Link smiled gently, lay on the sofa, and hugged Taylor to watch an episode of the popular drama "The Good Wife."

Taylor liked to watch TV series about strong women, hoping to absorb nutrients from these strong female characters.

Link thought the female lead Alicia looked good in a lawyer suit and didn't mind watching it with her.

While watching TV, Selena called and said she was going ice skating at the Rockefeller Center ice rink on Christmas and asked if he and Taylor would go. If they did, she would buy tickets for them.

Link said he couldn't skate and didn't want to go.

Taylor immediately took the phone and said "yes." Selena said okay.

"Do you really want to see me make a fool of myself?"

"Yes!"

Taylor raised the corners of her lips and smiled, "You're so good, you're good at all kinds of sports, but you can't skate. That's so interesting. So how about Selena and I teach you how to skate on Christmas Day?"

"Thank you! You're such a good wife!"

Link pinched her cheek.

As soon as the phone hung up, it rang again. Mrs. Mandy told him good news on the phone.

The organizers of the 'American Spring Festival Gala' invited him to perform in the halftime show.

Link was a little surprised to hear this news.

The 'American Spring Festival Gala' was the final of the National Football League (NFL), also known as the 'Super Bowl.' It was the most watched sporting event in the United States.

It was usually held on the last Sunday of January or the first Sunday of February each year, and it was also one of the most important unofficial holidays in the United States every year. The amount of food consumed in the United States on Super Bowl Sunday was second only to Thanksgiving.

There was another statistic that clearly showed how attractive the Super Bowl was.

In 2006, the total number of American TV viewers watching the World Cup final was about 17 million, and in 2008, the number of viewers watching the Olympic opening ceremony was about 12 million. In 2008, 120 million people participated in the presidential election voting.

In 2009, 130 million Americans watched the Super Bowl, and the Super Bowl was also broadcast live or relayed globally, with more than 1.5 billion viewers watching the Super Bowl every year, no less than the number of people watching the Spring Festival Gala.

The Super Bowl was divided into two halves, with a 15-minute halftime break.

Before 1990, the halftime show was mostly used to pay tribute to celebrities.

Since 1991, pop music stars have been introduced to participate in the performance, also known as the 'halftime show.' The average viewership rating was 40%-60%, three times more than the sum of Major League Baseball and NBA Finals.

Because of the great influence of the Super Bowl, the singers invited to perform every year were all top stars in the music industry, such as Michael Jackson, Shania Twain, Justin Timberlake, P. Diddy, U2, The Rolling Stones, etc. Small singers were not qualified at all.

Link had thought that he would have the opportunity to be on the Super Bowl, but he didn't expect it to be so soon. After thinking about it, it was probably because of the advantage of the venue.

This year's NFL final was between the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints, on February 7th, at Dolphin Stadium in Miami.

Now he had a great influence in Miami, and the locals called him the 'Prince of Miami' and the 'Pride of Miami.'

Before his concert in Miami in October, the city hall awarded him the title of honorary citizen and gave him a 'Key to the City of Miami' symbolizing honor.

If it weren't for this, he would probably have to wait a few more years to be on the Spring Festival Gala.

"Link, do you want to participate?"

Mrs. Mandy asked.

The reason she asked this was because in November, the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show invited him to be a guest performer, but he was busy with his tour and didn't have time, so he declined.

Link thought for a moment. This was a good opportunity. The Super Bowl had a huge influence, and performing at halftime could further expand his influence in the United States, and at the same time, he could also promote his third album.

"Let's participate. You can contact the organizers and ask when the rehearsal is and how much performance time we have. We'll prepare in advance."

"Okay, I'll arrange it right away."

Mandy said.

Mandy also asked if he and Taylor wanted to come over for Christmas. Link declined. Last year, there was no one at home, so he went there to join in the fun. It was better to spend Christmas at home.

"I heard that the Super Bowl invited you to perform?"

Taylor looked at him in surprise after he hung up the phone.

"That's right."

"You're so amazing! I haven't received an invitation after three years of debut, but you can in just one year. Humph! Tell me, why are you so awesome?"

Taylor wrapped her legs around his waist and hooked her hands around his neck, asking.

"Of course it's because I have a super beautiful and famous girlfriend."

Link hugged her hips and smiled.

"Humph! You smooth talker!"

Taylor curled her lips and leaned in to kiss him.

(End of Chapter)

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章節 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)

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