"Let's not talk about that. Jay-Z specifically asked me to ask you, how is the recording of your debut album going?"
"Eighty percent of the tracks have entered the post-production adjustment stage, and the rest is a bunch of music video shooting plans."
With the help of a gold-standard producer like Max Martin, Leon's debut album was progressing rapidly.
Anyway, his head was filled with hundreds of Dan Reynolds' inspirations; throwing out a few at random would make a complete album.
Although Martin expressed that he didn't understand this, he was greatly shocked: "In the time it took me to take a shit, you finished another masterpiece..."
Lenny nodded. "Very good. Miss Beyoncé has high hopes for you. If you have any requests regarding the MV shooting, you can bring them up to me."
"As long as you don't ask for a big shot like Arnold Schwarzenegger to make a cameo..."
"Fxxk... I don't understand what kind of magic you have, white boy. This is the first time I've seen Beyoncé care so much about a newcomer."
Regarding Beyoncé's favor, never mind Lenny not understanding it, even Leon himself didn't understand it.
The only explanation he could think of was that "Sister-in-law" ate too much chocolate and occasionally wanted to change her taste to bananas.
After the conversation with Lenny ended, Leon went to the recording studio, where Martin had been waiting for a long time.
Today's main task was recording the last lead single of the debut album.
Although the album name hadn't been decided yet, after careful study with Martin, the three lead singles of the debut album were basically confirmed.
Demons, Sucker for Pain... and this song currently being recorded, Radioactive.
They were the main force for rushing the charts.
The difficulty in recording this song lay in the high notes being too high; Leon always struggled to reach them.
After recording five or six takes in a row, he still couldn't achieve a satisfactory result.
Martin complained about this: "You can become a singer entirely thanks to your damn talent..."
Leon smiled and didn't speak.
To achieve something in the music world, talent and personal charm are much more important than vocal skills.
American Idol has been on air for so many years. Unknown numbers of powerful singers have come out of it, but few could become popular like Kelly Clarkson.
And Kelly became popular not because of her vocal skills, but because of her songwriting talent.
The cruelty of the American music scene lies here; hoping for charity from lyricists and composers to become popular is impossible.
When he sang the tenth take, Leon finally walked out of the booth.
Because the recording booth was airtight, even with the air conditioning on, he was still sweating profusely from exhaustion.
Martin leaned on the sofa and said, "Let's call it a day. No one can be perfect."
"By the way, I forgot to talk to you about the concept of the album. Do you have any ideas?"
An excellent album must have a unified concept; it can't just be ten or so listenable songs stuffed into one album.
For example, the famous rock band Pink Floyd's immortal great album in music history, The Wall.
Most of the songs included involved exploring the trauma caused by World War II to people's spiritual world.
The concept of "The Wall" also corresponded perfectly to the Berlin Wall in reality.
Leon pondered for a moment and said, "I think the concepts of the songs I included in this album are unified."
Power, atonement, pain, future...
Most of the songs he carefully selected were based on these themes.
Martin continued, "That's true, but there must be a clear theme so that listeners understand it immediately."
"From this point of view, the name of the album is particularly important."
Leon fell into deep thought for a long time.
Those great albums that can leave a name in music history all have a great name that can reveal their conceptuality.
"How about calling it Demons?"
"So Demons will directly serve as the title track of the album?" Martin revealed a playful smile. "You transformed from [Jesus] to [Demon]? That is indeed interesting..."
Leon hurriedly corrected, "Not Jesus, it's Street Jesus!"
"Those are two different concepts."
Three days later, the recording work for Faded was completely finished, and the MV shooting was already on the schedule.
During this period, Leon learned some simple DJ techniques from David Guetta.
Beatmatching, phrasing, and scratching.
In the contract between Leon and Robbie's management team, it was stipulated that Robbie enjoyed a 30% share of record sales and 30% of copyright revenue.
Both parties had equal performance rights.
Faded is a piece of pure electronic music; even without the vocal part, it can still be performed alone.
This meant that if Leon didn't know some simple DJing skills, it would be difficult to rely on the song Faded to tour and make money.
Once the news of Robbie officially joining the Apocalypse label was announced, it caused a stir in the media. People were curious about what kind of work this "flower vase" beauty from Hollywood would bring.
This wasn't just a cross-border collaboration, but also a collaboration between a couple.
Topicality and controversy were maxed out directly.
Coupled with Cardi B frantically creating topics recently, Apocalypse Music gradually emerged in the public eye.
In a media meet-and-greet held in Brooklyn, out of curiosity about the relationship between Leon and Cardi B, reporters constantly threw out various questions.
The questions reporters asked most were not about the Apocalypse label, but about the club conflict incident.
"Mr. Leon, how do you view Chris Brown's harsh words on social media that he would let you die on the street even if he has to go to jail?"
In the Los Angeles club, Chris had completely lost face.
The ruthless image he had previously cultivated by beating passersby while drunk and committing domestic violence against Rihanna while on drugs was gone...
Everyone could only remember the classic scene of Cardi B pressing her butt against his head.
The corner of Leon's mouth rose forty-five degrees as he answered, "Whether in Los Angeles or New York, if he runs into me, he will only have the same outcome as last time."
"I'm a little suspicious of his motive for targeting me so much now."
"Is he addicted to kissing Cardi's ass and wants to do it again?"
Hearing this, the reporters in the venue burst into laughter, and Cardi B laughed so hard she leaned back and forth, almost falling over.
Near the end of the media meet-and-greet, a reporter finally raised a tricky question about the Apocalypse label.
"Mr. Leon, the Apocalypse label you founded has recently become the focus of everyone's discussion."
"I would like to ask you, what is the main theme of this label?"
"Uh..." Leon was speechless for a moment, not knowing how to answer this question at all.
A music label should produce a single type of music product; this has become common sense in the public's impression.
A label either does gangsta rap, experimental style, or pop music.
But in the Apocalypse label, there was both Cardi B's dirty, bottomless gangsta rap and Robbie's psychedelic cyberpunk electronic music...
This sounded like a hodgepodge stew.
Leon hurriedly winked at Phil beside him.
The old geezer also looked blank, completely unsure of how to answer.
At this time, Cardi B couldn't sit still. She opened her mouth and retorted to the reporter: "Robbie and I are both girls. The Apocalypse label is a kingdom for girls! Isn't that distinctive enough?"
"And my BOSS Leon is the king here..."
Cardi's words instantly gave Leon inspiration.
He took over the conversation and said, "Apocalypse..."
"Women are men's apocalypse."
The reporters didn't understand the meaning of this sentence for a moment.
After various interpretations, they unanimously agreed that Leon meant Apocalypse Music was a label dedicated to creating female singers.