Chapter 10: The Album Goes Public (Part 2)
Cough, fell asleep while writing... Starting today, I'll resume the normal two updates a day, although my condition is still not good, but can't drag it on like this.
Thanks for the reward from two busy bee classmates!
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"I'm now standing in front of a record store in Myeong-dong, and despite the cold weather with strong north winds today, there's still a very long line outside the store. The atmosphere is extremely lively." On the 1st at noon, a KBS TV entertainment news program had a live reporter holding a microphone saying this to the camera. Behind her was a crowd of about 100 people, who were slowly moving in an orderly fashion in front of the record store under the bright midday light, their breath visible in the cold air.
The reporter, smoothing out her wind-blown hair, said loudly: "It's not just one audio-visual store that has a similar phenomenon." As she spoke, the TV screen flickered with images of people queuing outside audio-visual stores in different streets and shopping malls.
"Now let's do an interview." The reporter walked a few steps with the cameraman and picked out a girl wearing a high school uniform from the queue behind, "May I ask whose album are you queuing up to buy?"
The girl looked a bit shy, with a red face, and said in a low voice: "Uncle's..."
"It's Ahn Jun-hee! Ahn Jun-hee's 'Memory'." The girl next to her, who seemed to be her companion, added.
The microphone was then handed in front of her, "Are you too?" The girl nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, I lined up early in the morning, but didn't buy it."
"Oh, you're his fans?"
"Yes!" The more cheerful girl replied happily and waved at the camera, "Uncle, can you see? Uncle, I love you! Come on!"
After a simple two-sentence transition, the camera follows the reporter again, and the microphone is handed over to a young man wearing glasses: "May I ask if you are also here to buy An Junhe's first album?"
The boy pushed his glasses and said, "Yes."
"Are you also his fan?"
"Not really, I just liked that one song 'One Minute and One Second'." He shrugged his shoulders, "I was originally going to buy a GOD album, but yesterday I passed by this music store, listened to the song and changed my mind."
The reporter nodded and asked: "Since you're not a fan, can you comment on An Junhe's album from an objective perspective? How is it selling?"
"To be honest, I'm not quite sure, I've only heard that 1 minute and 1 second song, it's a great song, completely subverted my impression of HIPHOP songs, as for how well it sells......" The boy smiled and pointed to the crowd in front of and behind him: "It's obvious, most people here are buying 'Memory'."
After a brief interview, the camera cuts to another interview clip. The interviewee is the owner of this audio-visual store. The reporter still asks the same question as before.
The middle-aged boss scratched his head, turned around and took a look at the busy cash register behind him, and said excitedly and helplessly: "I'm not sure where the album is good, but I know it's selling well. From this morning, excluding pre-orders, I've sold almost all of the 1,000 copies I stocked up on... Now I'm worried about what to do next. I've contacted SM Entertainment to restock, but they might take a while to get back to me because there are too many record stores nationwide that want to place orders."
But the reporter apparently didn't care about his feelings and instead asked: "When was the last time you experienced such a hot sale?"
"Hmm... I think it was last year..." The middle-aged boss thought for a moment, then confirmed: "It was last year when Xu Taizhi, Li Xiuying, Li Chengzhe and the Myth band released their songs. It was even more exaggerated than this, but after them, it's been quiet for several months. This is probably the first time it's been so lively in about half a year."
KBS temporarily broadcast these interviews in the entertainment news, naturally to help Ahn Jun-hee gain momentum. After all, this Friday, Ahn Jun-hee will make his debut performance on Music Bank. KBS actively took over his debut stage, not for worship, but hoping to rely on Ahn Jun-hee's popularity to boost Music Bank's ratings.
At this time, the three major TV stations' music programs were in their most competitive period. SBS's Inkigayo was the first to abolish ranking systems in 2003 and introduced the "TAKE.7" system, later incorporating audio sources into its scoring rules, making it the most rigorous calculation method that didn't solely rely on sales but considered comprehensive factors, thus having the most authoritative reputation and highest ratings. Next was MBC's Music Core, which focused on the youth market, actively selecting popular songs to perform on stage, with a reputable chart despite still adhering to ranking systems, yet maintaining higher ratings than Music Bank.
This year, KBS is determined to regain the market for music programs. Not only did it learn from popular song contests and abolish the ranking system in favor of a nomination system, but also increased the weight of sound source evaluation rules. In selecting songs, it also drew on music camps, arranging more stages for popular songs.
Even in order to enhance authority, the program fully opens up the scoring, striving to make everything transparent and create the most fair ranking.
It can be seen that KBS is determined, and it can also be seen that KBS has high hopes for Ahn Jun-hee's popularity, perhaps even more confident than S.M. company.
Entertainment news broadcast not long after, also in this noon, the country's second-largest music website M on the surface, "1 minute 1 second" successfully solved Tei, climbed to the daily champion throne, and in the weekly chart, also relying on this half-day explosion, fiercely broke into TOP10.
"Has the world gone mad?" Many fans of GOD or Tei who were paying attention to the chart rankings could imagine the shocked expressions on their faces when they saw that name suddenly appear in first place again.
Although they had already seen the rise of "1 minute 1 second" or An Jun-xiang's strong momentum from early morning, and were also mentally prepared for an easy win, they still couldn't hold on for even half a day on M, which was beyond their expectations.
But this is just the beginning.
M's fall seemed to be a signal, by the afternoon, other music source websites such as Nate, Naver, Bugs, etc. also fell one after another, and before evening arrived, "A Person's Love" which had been barely holding on at MelOn, the largest music source website in Korea, finally couldn't help but yield its top spot and slid down to second place.
With this, "1 Minute 1 Second" achieves an All-Kill!
The internet media that had been silent all along, at the moment MelOn collapsed, suddenly emerged and put this news on the headlines of various websites!
"1 Minute 1 Second" achieved a full kill on its first day!
The top spot on various music charts has changed hands, "A Person's Love" finally shows signs of fatigue, while "One Minute and One Second" rises strongly.
"Tei and GOD fell one after another, the 'Uncle' song rose to fame, still showing off its butcher-like style, topping the charts on the first day, waiting for the weekly chart crown! This is a short review from nate music website, which brought up again how "Snow Flower" swept the music charts at the end of last year, and put the nickname that was once used to describe "Sorry, I Love You" as brutal, onto Ahn Jun-hyuk's head."
Many media outlets, after laughing at the absurdity of it all, thought about it carefully and realized that it's actually quite fitting. An Jun-hyeok, who is currently dominating the music charts with his powerful momentum, isn't he like a sharp butcher knife, cutting down his seniors one by one?
