On the surface, "Rolling in the Deep" is about romantic love, but that's only because Adele is the singer, so everyone automatically associates it with that emotion.
If the singer were Michael, considering his current situation, the song's meaning would transform into a struggle to rise from the abyss, becoming inspirational instead.
It was precisely for this reason that Eric specifically chose this song for Michael.
This situation is similar to Tengger's "Heaven"; many say it's about his deceased daughter, while others say it's about his hometown.
Although Eric doesn't know many English songs, he does know global hits like "Let It Go," "See You Again," and "Despacito." However, these clearly don't suit Michael's current circumstances.
You can't just have Michael suddenly release a suggestive song, can you? That would be insane! It would only confirm the pedophilia rumors.
After accepting this gift, Michael couldn't sleep. His fatigue from the day vanished, and he immediately pulled Eric into the studio.
Eric hummed the melody repeatedly, while Michael reverse-engineered the music based on his singing.
Actually, this process wasn't long. With Michael's skill, it was mostly done in just over an hour; all that remained was to refine the details of the tune.
The truly difficult part was the arrangement. For a song to truly take shape, it mainly consists of three parts: lyrics, composition, and arrangement.
Lyrics involve writing and filling in the words; composition, simply put, is writing the five-line staff found in music textbooks; and arrangement is adding accompaniment to the song, including the cooperation of various instruments and human harmonies that the audience hears.
All three are indispensable; a song is incomplete without any one of them.
So, every time Eric sang a line, Michael would continuously try different combinations on instruments like the piano, guitar, drum kit, and bass until he found the most suitable arrangement.
Gadot and Elizabeth were initially interested in watching the two experiment, but this process is very tedious for outsiders. After watching for a while, they got bored and left.
And as if deliberately not wanting time to disturb them, there wasn't a single clock to be found there.
The lights in the studio remained on, and it was unclear how much time had passed.
"Ah!"
As Michael finished the last part, both of them screamed and collapsed to the ground, as if they had completed a difficult yet fulfilling task.
Through the gap in the curtains, sunlight seemed to be visible.
Michael squinted his eyes: "Is it morning? I haven't worked this excitedly in a long time, finishing a song in one night."
"Eric, if I told my friends about this, they'd never believe it. They know I'm a very slow person."
"So, is it done like this?" Eric asked.
"Mostly. I'll need to continue refining the rest with my team, but it won't take long. I'm still amazed that you hummed this; its completeness is already very high. Incredible, truly incredible."
Eric felt too embarrassed to boast excessively, so he changed the subject: "That's great! Release this song; I can't wait to hear it."
Michael smiled with satisfaction: "I will, and I'll put your name in the lyrics, composition, and arrangement. This is all your credit."
"Once this song is fully perfected and the music video is shot, it can be released as a single."
This is not yet the era of streaming media; songs cannot simply be uploaded to the internet for download. Currently, CDs are the primary medium.
Releasing a single is also different from releasing an album. An album typically contains at least ten songs, but only one lead single might have a music video.
So, releasing a single can be understood as releasing a lead song, which absolutely requires a music video.
Otherwise, if your CD only has one song, even the most foolish listeners would hardly buy it.
Eric said, "Shooting a music video isn't difficult, actually. You can directly use your current situation as the background. If you need it, MGM can find plenty of directors and screenwriters."
"And I myself am a quick worker. A big project like transformers, I finished in two months, breaking the industry record."
Michael grinned: "Thank you. That's good news for me. However, I just realized there's a crucial issue that, if it persists, will likely prevent this song from being released quickly."
"What's the problem?"
"Eric, do you know which company distributes my songs?"
"I think it's Sony, but I don't really understand the music market."
"Exactly, it's Sony Music. But currently, my relationship with Sony is very bad. To be precise, it's been bad for several years now."
Eric remained silent, listening intently.
"This is a long story, starting around 1986. That's when I spent a sum of money to buy ATV, a music company that owned the song copyrights of many artists, including The Beatles and Elvis Presley."
"Later, in 1991, Sony Music approached me. They wanted me to bring these copyrights to Sony Music, and the condition was that I would receive half of Sony Music's shares."
"So, from then on, I not only worked for Sony but was also an owner of Sony, though I didn't understand or participate in its management."
"Later, Sony Music grew larger and larger, and countless artists began to sign with them, including Madonna, Oasis, Bob Dylan, Celine Dion, Norah Jones, and others."
"This meant that Sony eventually had to give me half of all the money everyone earned. However, the copyrights to my own songs were not actually owned by Sony; they only had the recording rights, and those rights were also nearing expiration."
"In the beginning, my relationship with Sony Music was very pleasant, but things changed later."
"Sony could give me a year's dividend, but they couldn't bear to share forever, especially as the company grew larger and earned more and more money."
"I remember it was around 1993 when Sony started trying to acquire the half of the copyrights I held, and they wanted me to hand over the full copyrights of my own songs for them to manage, but I refused."
"From then on, my relationship with Sony began to sour."
"You know, my last album was released in 2001. Its production cycle lasted five years. It could have been done faster, but during production, Sony was unwilling to cooperate, always finding various excuses to drag things out."
"And after the album was finally released, Sony invested very little in promotion and marketing. Generally, companies organize various promotional events for new songs, as well as subsequent music video recordings, but they treated me very poorly, as if I were a newly debuted singer."
"Eric, if you followed the news last year, you'd know that Sony and I had a public argument in the newspapers over this. The album sales for Invincible didn't even reach 10 million copies."
"Perhaps it did, but at least on paper, it showed it didn't. Roughly three years ago, all my album sales stagnated."
"I suspect Sony froze it, so I wanted to audit the accounts. But even though I own half of the company's shares, I don't participate in management. Even when they finally allowed me to send an accountant to investigate, no problems were found. I think you understand this situation."
Eric nodded: "Cooking the books, Hollywood has always been the most professional at it. They can make 1 billion dollars in box office revenue look like a loss; it's a necessary skill for every company."
"Trying to uncover problems through individual effort, I can tell you it's almost impossible, Michael. Not just you, even if you brought in those Wall Street elites, they wouldn't be able to analyze the problem."
"Unless the IRS gets involved and spends at least a few years investigating, they might be able to uncover hidden tricks."
Michael gave a wry smile: "Yes, so I can't do anything about Sony, and I'm also carrying debt."
"You refused to sell the copyrights, so Sony plans to financially cripple you, forcing you to sell your copyrights to repay debts, is that right?"
"Yes, I think that's what those people are thinking."
Eric sighed. If it was true, Sony's methods were indeed very underhanded.
Essentially, the root cause was profit. Sony Music in 1991 and Sony Music in 2003 were no longer in the same league; the pie had grown much larger.
Previously, they might only have had to give Michael a few million or tens of millions of dollars a year, but now that figure was probably in the hundreds of millions. Sony, of course, would be unwilling.
Let alone Sony, anyone in that position would probably be unwilling; the only difference would be whether their methods were honorable.
This was also because Michael's status was too high and his influence too great, so Sony had reservations about dealing with him and only dared to act covertly.
If it were an ordinary singer, they would have been devoured until not even bone fragments remained.
"Michael, so the 1993 case and this current one..."
Michael nodded: "I suspect it's also related to Sony; they might be instigating it from behind."
"Especially in 1993, I originally intended to fight the lawsuit to the end. Evan Chandler couldn't produce any effective evidence; as long as we followed legal procedures, I would definitely win."
"But at that time, I was on the Dangerous World Tour, and Sony kept advising me to prioritize my career. Of course, many people on my team also advised me."
"However, after I accepted the suggestion of an out-of-court settlement, the concert tour still didn't continue; it was forced to end after less than three months."
"I don't know whether Sony was involved in all of this, but our relationship had indeed already developed cracks at that time."
"Now it's even more so; Sony will absolutely not produce new songs for me again, and I will absolutely not ask them to produce songs!"
"Sony won't do it, what about other record companies? Like EMI, Universal? Can't you work with them?" Eric asked.
Michael sighed: "It's an option, and ever since I completely fell out with Sony last year, Universal and EMI have proactively contacted me, hoping I could partner with them, bringing my 50% copyright. However, the specific contract hasn't been finalized yet, and then this situation erupted again in February."
"Now public opinion isn't favorable towards me, so negotiations have stalled. I don't think any record company would take the risk of releasing an album for me at this time."
"Sorry, Eric, you might not hear this song for a while."
Looking at the dejected Michael, Eric hadn't expected the situation behind the scenes to be so complex, with so many power plays.
Sony might be the mastermind, or perhaps, besides Sony, other organizations or individuals were involved.
After all, Michael was truly a valuable asset, and he was also a Black man. Even though he had done many good deeds, some things were an original sin from the moment they appeared.
Tapping his fingers slowly on the floor, Eric pondered a countermeasure.
Besides being his idol and someone he respected, Michael was also an important part of Eric's career plan.
However, discussing business on their first meeting might seem to have impure motives, so it was better to wait for the right time.
In any case, from whatever angle, he did not want a superstar to fall into the abyss.
Thump, thump, thump.
Just then, a knock sounded from outside, and then Gadot walked in, looking surprised at the two lying on the floor.
"OMG! You two didn't sleep all night, did you?"
Seeing Eric nod, she immediately got a little angry: "This is not the attitude one should have towards work. You two are heading straight for burnout."
"I'll go get some food. After you eat, you both get straight back to bed and sleep!"
With that, Gadot slammed the door shut.
"Eric, you've got a great girlfriend."
Michael said with a touch of envy. His messy marriage with Catwoman was lamentable.
"Yes, I think so too."
A moment later, Gadot returned with milk and food, then handed Eric his phone: "Your call, it's Spielberg. If it wasn't him, I wouldn't give it to you!"
Eric smiled, kissed Gadot, and then answered the phone.
"Okay, Steven, I'll call my people. You can just have DreamWorks' people come over directly on Monday."
"Hahahaha, we're partners now, it's nothing."
"If you have time, how about we invite Jeffrey and David, and I'll bring my dad, and we all go for a round of golf?"
"Hahahahaha, then it's a deal. See you then."
After hanging up, Michael asked curiously, "Spielberg? You have a partnership with him?"
Eric nodded: "Yeah, MGM and DreamWorks are strategic partners. Steven and I are acquaintances. Are you a fan of his, too?"
Michael smiled: "I've known Steven probably longer than you have. We were good friends when he was filming indiana jones and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial."
"Really? Then we can play a round of golf together. Wait, I suddenly remembered that DreamWorks also has a music department. Perhaps we can ask David Geffen for help. He's a powerhouse in the United States music industry."
"If he helps, releasing an album isn't a difficult task. Worldwide might be challenging, but limited to North America, he still has the ability to make things happen."
Unexpectedly, when David Geffen was mentioned, Michael quickly waved his hand: "No, David Geffen and I, it's best if we don't meet."
"Why? Do you two have a grudge?"
Michael looked troubled: "Actually, our relationship was quite good, I mean in the early 90s. Madonna and I even went to celebrate his birthday. But later, something unpleasant happened between us, and then we drifted apart."
"What happened? Was it serious?"
Michael shook his head, remaining silent.
"Well, how about this: I can talk to David first. If he's willing to give me face, I'll bring Steven to mediate for you two. You don't have to show up yet."
"Forget it, that would be a bit awkward."
"Michael, that's just how human relationships work. You need help now. Just leave it to me. Trying can't hurt."