Staged Accident

SBK was actually somewhat half-hearted in their marketing of the song Thrift Shop. After high-intensity promotion led to a massive first-week sale, they didn't strike while the iron was hot to climb the charts, but instead focused solely on sales. As Cooper said, the Billboard Hot 100 is not a chart based solely on sales; because the promotional momentum wasn't sustained, even though Thrift Shop was steadily heading toward two million copies sold, its ranking still began to drop significantly.

Daniel wanting Little Lowry to find his own way to grab headlines was likely motivated by a desire to save on promotional costs.

This was only human nature; after all, SBK was just the distributor, and Little Lowry wasn't their signed artist. In stark contrast were SBK's own "daughters," the Wilson Sisters and Phillips, whose single Hold On remained high at number four after months on the charts, with promotional resources in abundance.

"You're a genius, APLUS, but the two songs you wrote are a bit niche."

Daniel offered a suggestion, "In the future, you must remember this word: 'LOVE'! Rock, country, hip-hop, even adult contemporary... the genre and style of the music don't matter in my eyes. What matters is the mainstream preference of the market right now! What do people like? Hmm? What do they like? I love you, you love me, I love you, why don't you love me... it's just that simple!"

"Just like her Vision of Love?" Song Ya nudged his chin toward a photo of Mariah Carey.

"Exactly. Her single has already climbed to thirty-first. Mottola will make good use of the gimmick of her singing the whistle note at the NBA Finals yesterday, and the ranking will soar even higher." Whenever Mottola and Mariah Carey were mentioned, Daniel's tone became very impatient; he clearly felt the pressure.

The two chatted about Milla for a while longer, and Daniel maintained his view, "Milla has a good image, but her vocal range and technique have low ceilings, and she can't focus solely on her music career..."

"Madonna and Whitney Houston are both film and music stars..."

Song Ya's statement drew a scoff from Daniel.

Without the buzzing of agents like flies, without Robert, or even Lisa, and under the careful handling of SBK, Song Ya spent a pleasant time in New York. After finishing the single, he accompanied Milla to shoot the cover and the music video. Just like in Chicago, the two were as thick as thieves.

However, the day of parting eventually arrived.

The next day, Milla and her band set off from New York to officially begin their promotional tour. Al still followed as an assistant; the music industry was too chaotic, and she needed someone trustworthy to keep an eye on her. With Al's "stubborn" personality, he should be able to complete the task well.

Eric, on the other hand, made a different choice. Coming to New York to record this time, he could only play second fiddle to the SBK sound engineer. Moreover, he had complaints about Song Ya strictly forbidding him from flirting around in New York. Accompanying a female singer like Milla on tour was far less fun than following Old Joe and Little Lowry to party in various nightclubs across the USA. He regretted it.

Parting on good terms, Song Ya tossed him a small stack of cash, ended this collaboration, and returned to Chicago alone.

Over the next month, news about Little Lowry reached Song Ya's ears from time to time. His romance with the daughter of that Detroit music scene legend had reached the point of squeezing out the last bit of residual value. The two performed their breakup drama with ups and downs, arguing in front of paparazzi lenses, leaking each other's various "flaws" to the media, and then, just as the heat died down, suddenly issuing a formal breakup statement. Then, in interviews, they would express mutual appreciation and regret, saying they were still good friends after the breakup, and so on...

These actions of theirs saved Little Lowry's Billboard ranking and gave a good push to the legend's daughter's new album.

Song Ya couldn't be bothered with these messy affairs. He began to focus on previewing his coursework for the next semester and, under Hayden's guidance, ran between various private schools. The choice was a two-way street; he picked the schools, and good schools also needed to interview the students and even their parents.

With his current resume, almost no school would reject such a student: a fifteen-year-old BMI member, already with two songs released, the first of which was a platinum record with over a million in sales, excellent grades, and an active participant in civil rights activities. With all this, many schools even offered to waive tuition to recruit him.

The problem lay with Emily. Based on her elementary school grades, it was a bit difficult to pass the audit of the middle schools Song Ya favored based solely on an interview. However, for these private schools, there was nothing that couldn't be solved with money, so it was easy to handle.

Song Ya finally selected a private middle school in the northwest of Chicago. The ratio of Black to white students there met his requirements. In fact, the security in the west of the city was also quite poor, but the school was closer to the north side, and the surrounding environment was very good, which was acceptable.

Then he was busy moving.

It was also a two-way choice. For the house he liked the most, the white old man who was renting it out clearly told him a few days later that the residents of the nearby community had voted to reject his family's move-in. The old man didn't give a reason, but looking at the skin color of the nearby residents, Song Ya could guess the underlying reason. It was just that out of political correctness, no one would voice the motive for the rejection.

Finally, he chose a unit in a high-rise apartment near the school. Like Little Lowry's place, it had security and a building manager. The surrounding environment and the facilities inside the building were even better than Little Lowry's home, and the area was much larger.

However, Connie refused Song Ya's offer to help pay her community college tuition, and she didn't plan to move in with everyone else.

"Since you're all moving away, I'll just start a family in this house."

She brought home her well-hidden boyfriend, named Tyrone, a strong but somewhat dull plumber. "We will be very happy, and I'm pregnant," she said.

"You bitch..." Aunt Susie, gritting her teeth, was about to start a lecture.

"Are you really a plumber?" Tony, who had rushed back to attend the family meeting, asked Tyrone.

"Yes." Tyrone nervously rubbed the baseball cap in his hands, "You see, my tool truck is right outside."

Everyone walked outside to take a look at Tyrone's box truck, which even had tacky plumbing repair ads on it.

"A plumber is not bad..." Tony looked at Aunt Susie.

Aunt Susie pursed her lips, which counted as an admission. In the USA, a plumber's income was considered quite good among blue-collar workers, and in the eyes of the residents of the South Side slums, it was definitely a good job. Song Ya had even seen many tapes featuring plumbers as protagonists at the home of Silencer.

"Fine, I don't care anymore, do whatever you want, you bitch..."

Aunt Susie finally nodded. "Yay!" Connie hugged Tyrone happily.

At the end of July, Milla also came to Chicago and moved into Song Ya's room. She was going to participate in the Chicago Music Festival here in early August.

Due to the nature of the song, many promotional channels were blocked, and SBK's promotion was not strong, which led to very average sales for the single To de Klerk, with only about a hundred thousand copies sold in a month.

However, things finally took a turn for the better.

Reunited after a long separation, the two young lovers, who were in the middle of an intense embrace, suddenly received a call from Daniel himself. He shouted excitedly on the phone: "It's done! The South African government has protested!"

Daniel had formulated a rather shameless promotional strategy for this song scolding the white South African president, the key to which was to try every possible way to attract the attention of South Africans. A month later, the South Africans finally noticed the song. Once they received the other party's unofficial protest, the staged provocation was a great success, and Daniel's propaganda war machine could be turned on at full speed.

"The world's most unforgettable white woman speaks out for South African Blacks!"

"Why did Milla Jovovich's new single lead to a protest from the South African government?"

"Protesting apartheid, Milla faces pressure and issues a statement that she will not back down easily."

"Milla's new single created by a fifteen-year-old Black genius! The hit Thrift Shop is also his work."

"Support Mandela! American white girl fears no current South African government."

With all this, a large number of PR news stories were launched everywhere in a short period of time, which scratched the itch of the entire America society perfectly. The discussion about Milla and this new song soared, and To de Klerk landed at number seventeen on the Billboard charts in one fell swoop, with both sales and rankings rising.

Daniel and Song Ya's second collaboration was a success once again.

Song Ya's second apocalyptic work would still be a platinum record.