308 Super Burning Divine Comedy and Chinese Foodies
Composing the theme song for "The Matrix" was Cao Xuan's idea after coming to the United States.
Film and television theme songs have always been one of the mainstream branches of the pop music world. Many singers have become famous by singing film and television theme songs. A popular film and television golden song is more popular than many popular album title songs.
Not to mention, Hu Jing, who sang "Providence of Love", is still on the charts, which has become a strong guarantee for her to "enter the music scene".
The "Matrix" series is a classic Hollywood IP, and the movies have had a wide impact around the world.
The first part had a global box office of US$466 million, the second part had a global box office of US$741 million, and the third part had a global box office of US$427 million.
The total box office of the entire series was 1.634 billion U.S. dollars. According to the exchange rate between RMB and U.S. dollar in 2002 and 2003, which was 1:8.277, the box office revenue of the "Matrix" series alone was almost 13.525 billion RMB.
Almost equivalent to the entire net worth of one of the top five richest people in China listed on Forbes...
In Hollywood, box office revenue is only a part, and a large part is in audio and video production and distribution and peripheral derivative development.
If they can be operated, the profits generated by the latter two will be far greater than the box office itself, which is why Hollywood dares to spend money desperately.
However, these have nothing to do with Cao Xuan, and he will not get any money. The reason why I say this is to show that behind the outstanding box office results is the global influence of the "Matrix" series of movies.
Winning the theme song of the movie "The Matrix" means that Cao Xuan's songs and himself have been around in front of fans around the world as the movie became popular, which is very conducive to Cao Xuan's popularity.
This is not Cao Xuan’s whim. Later, Linkin Park was able to become a global hit partly because they sang the theme song of the "Transformers" series.
At least in China, many people first learned about Linkin Park from the theme song of the "Transformers" movie.
Now that it's tied up with "The Matrix", just having a small supporting role as Cao Xuan feels a bit like a loss.
If he comes up with a theme song and rides on the global popularity of "The Matrix" next year, Cao Xuan's acting these days will be in vain.
Cao Xuan's creative talent has been certified by Billboard. It was included in the new weekly Billboard list just announced on April 3.
"Rebeautiful" and "Numb" have both entered the top 25 of the singles chart, with the former only one step away from the top 20.
"Natural" also successfully entered the top 30 and is expected to enter the top 25 next week.
Although it is obvious that the upward trend of the three songs is slowing down.
But this is normal. Billboard songs are inherently more popular as they rank higher. Because they have dominated the charts for a long time and continue to gain a lot of exposure, it is difficult to push them down.
At the top of the Billboard, there are very few new songs that have just been released.
Unless Britney or Michael Jackson, who are hugely popular at the top of the music scene, most new songs are rising from the middle.
Of course, it’s not like there aren’t new artists and new songs that jump directly to the top of the Billboard, but they are basically phenomenal songs, which are rare to see in several years.
Cao Xuan, a newcomer to the European and American music scene, was able to get three songs to the top of the Billboard in more than a month. In addition to the quality of the songs themselves, Warner also put in a lot of effort behind the scenes.
And with multiple songs reaching the top 25 on the Billboard, Cao Xuan has truly become famous in the United States. There are guaranteed to be tens of millions of people who have listened to his songs, and the influence of his songs has even begun to spread throughout the Americas.
Cao Xuan became a new star in the American music scene.
Many Americans know that the Chinese not only have Jack Cheng who is good at kung fu, but also Chris Cao who is good at singing.
The producer of "The Matrix" readily agreed to ask Cao Xuan to sing because he was interested in Cao Xuan's performance on Billboard and believed in his "musical talent."
Anyway, Cao Xuan's asking price is not too expensive, only a mere US$200,000.
If the song is good, the studio will make money; if the song is not good, it will be used as a promotional song at worst. Anyway, the price is not expensive and the studio will not lose much.
Cao Xuan was also very satisfied. 200,000 US dollars was equivalent to more than 1.6 million yuan. Before he came to the United States, the music production of a song might not have this price.
Moreover, Cao Xuan is not doing it to make money. The key is to use the platform of "The Matrix". Not to mention the popularity, the effect is good, and it can also generate advertising.
He has a stack of English songs in his hand and is waiting for the Hollywood studios to invite them to sing.
In China, Cao Xuan is too lazy to produce music because the price is too low. Hundreds of thousands or even millions are really not enough for him to keep busy, and it is easy to create various debts of gratitude.
But it's different abroad. It smells really good, and these Americans are really rich. They can spend hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars without blinking an eye. Converted into RMB, the Fanxing Company Building has grown by one floor.
Not only can he make money, but he can also promote global popularity. Cao Xuan really can't bear to refuse these injustices... Ahem, international friends...
As for the theme song for "The Matrix", Cao Xuan also had an idea in mind.
The theme song should match the tone of the movie, and if best, it should be able to promote it to a certain extent.
The song "Slodout" is a very popular song in later generations. For a while, it became the best soundtrack for Yanxiang video editing on major online platforms.
The tune is very exciting and powerful, and the melody is explosive. If it can be matched with the fighting scene, it will be extremely cool.
The song title "Slodout" means sold out, that is, sold out, but the meaning should be to try your best or give everything, or it can also mean to be highly sought after. It depends on how you interpret it.
The overall atmosphere of the lyrics is generally positive and relatively in line with the tone of "The Matrix". As a leader, he no longer lives for himself, leading others to follow his faith and fight against the darkness.
"The Matrix" also has a certain meaning of a savior saving the world, and the two fit together.
Of course, there is a sentence about following Jesus in it. If Cao Xuan wanted to use it, he would definitely change it.
It can be changed to salvation responsibility or for the faith of the world or people.
Anyway, there are many beliefs. Religious beliefs, personal beliefs, and responsibility beliefs can have countless explanations.
Cao Xuan found that English songs are sometimes easy to modify, because each word has too many meanings, and several words may mean completely different things.
Cao Xuan's previous Chinese and English subtitle markings were not entirely personal. There was also an official explanation to prevent others from randomly tampering with the original meaning of the lyrics.
It is worth mentioning that this song has certain electronic music elements and is a combination of electronic music and rock. It can also be regarded as Cao Xuan's new "creation" in the pop music world.
The producers of "The Matrix" gave Cao Xuan four months to produce, but he had to deliver the demo within two months.
Along with another job that Cao Xuan took on, after returning to China, Cao Xuan will have to work in the recording studio for a while before joining the group "The Legend of Heaven and Sword of the Dragon".
Even during the filming of "The Matrix", Cao Xuan had time to rest, so he was working on the music score and changing the lyrics. When he was tired, he would write a blog to relax.
Since Cao Xuan became more and more popular in the United States, the number of followers of his blog has also increased. Now the number of fans has exceeded 300,000, and he is on his way to 500,000.
On Yahoo Blog, Chris Cao can be considered a moderate Internet celebrity, and he is in charge of the Chinese food section.
After being trained by a small double-digit blog, Cao Xuan's writing style about food is getting better and better, and the food pictures he writes are full of touch and are particularly delicious.
Many Chinese or Chinese students who follow him often curse in the comment area.
Cao Xuan is now even thinking about setting up a blog in China to post poison late at night.
Keanu Reeves has also become a follower of Cao Xuan's blog. He is a kung fu enthusiast and is also very interested in Chinese culture, including food.
But it's a pity that this guy has a truly American stomach.
Previously, Cao Xuan learned about an authentic Chinese restaurant in Los Angeles from a blog comment. One day after filming, he took Keanu Reeves to eat there.
Cao Xuan ate happily, but Keanu Reeves was picky and picky. It was not a contradiction, but he really didn't like to eat. The boss made him an improved version of Chinese food, and he was quite happy with it.
Later, Keanu Reeves returned the favor and took Cao Xuan to a Canadian-style restaurant and had a meal of Canadian food.
Keanu Reeves has several nationalities. He was born in Lebanon and grew up in Canada. He came to the United States to work and live. Because of his teenage experience, his personal taste is more Canadian.
And Cao Xuan, who has a Chinese stomach, has no taste for foreign food.
There are some things in this Canadian restaurant that he is not used to, but there are also things that he thinks are good.
For example, the pan-fried foie gras was quite surprising to him. Although he thought it was more like French food, Canada is a country of immigrants and it is normal to combine the strengths of different cuisines.
The owner of this restaurant has a good relationship with Keanu Reeves and knows Cao Xuan. He specially took the two of them for a photo and even gave them a bottle of private wine.
After returning home, Cao Xuan was bored and wrote a blog about his dinner date with Keanu.
Unexpectedly, two days later, the two owners thanked him through blog comments and Keanu Reeves, saying that because of his blog, the traffic of the two stores has increased sharply in the past two days, and their popularity has also spread a lot.
Cao Xuan doesn't know if this counts as having created two Internet celebrity stores, but from then on, restaurants often approached him to advertise in his blog's private mailbox.
Along with his information on several foreign encyclopedia websites such as Google and Wiki, a new foodie/food reviewer was added behind the singer and actor.
Cao Xuan felt that if he went back and showed this sign, it might be free to go to several Western restaurants in the capital.
Well, with Cao Xuan’s reputation in the country, it might be free without showing the brand...
So Cao Xuan thought about it and realized that this thing was useless to him.
On April 11, Cao Xuan finished filming on the set of "The Matrix".
After bidding farewell to Yuan Baye and Keanu Reeves, who had become friends, Cao Xuan finished his last few activities and was preparing to return to China.
However, before returning to China, looking at the increasingly higher rankings on the Billboard and EP sales, Cao Xuan still hopes to make a splash before he leaves.
Having fulfilled his two wishes of reaching the top ten of the Billboard and being certified as platinum sales, returning to China can be considered a complete success.
