The night after the media conference, Robbie and her manager Maggie landed at JFK International Airport in New York.
Everyone gathered in the Apocalypse Music office to discuss the music video (MV) shooting plan for Faded.
"Ha~ Boss, I'm here!" Cardi B's strange and shrill voice came from afar.
She was wearing a highly impactful tight black leather suit, looking like she had just attended some orgy.
Sitting beside her was Robbie in a silver-white dress. Their styles were worlds apart.
Robbie glanced at Cardi, spread her hands, and said, "I think Cardi's outfit suits me better. No one likes the clichéd story of Snow White anymore..."
"Besides... shouldn't our MV be in the style of Blade Runner?"
Maggie pushed up her glasses and said, "I think this suits you very well!"
Robbie's eyes instantly shot fire, locking gazes with her. The atmosphere became a bit awkward.
The relationship between artists and managers isn't always harmonious. Cases like Leon holding his manager completely in check are the minority.
Cough, cough.
Leon coughed twice at the right time, looked at Old Mike, and asked, "Director Mike, do you have any ideas for the MV shoot..."
Regarding the MV for Faded, he didn't have a clue either.
In the MV visuals given by the Inspiration Refresh, there was only a masked man in a black hoodie constantly moving from one ruin to another.
There were no shots of the female vocalist showing her face throughout.
Old Mike lit a cigarette, looking profoundly mysterious. "I think Robbie has a point."
"Electronic music is music exclusive to young people. The essence of an MV is to construct visuals through the imagery given by the song."
"Have you guys heard of Cyberpunk?"
Everyone looked at each other and shook their heads blankly.
Old Mike continued, "This concept originated from the movie Blade Runner. Cyberpunk is a conjecture about the future..."
"Ruins, mechanical modifications, mind control, artificial intelligence..."
"In short, it's a mechanical utopia concept cooked up by a bunch of hippies."
Even after Old Mike's explanation, everyone still didn't quite understand. Only Cardi B nodded thoughtfully upon hearing "body modification."
In a sense, she was a pioneer of prosthetic modification, since she currently had a two-carat diamond embedded in her pssy.
She blurted out immediately, "God, what a beautiful concept. Does this mean men in the future can all install a big mechanical dick?"
Everyone burst into laughter, except for Maggie, who frowned deeply.
She began to doubt whether signing Robbie to this company full of weirdos was a wise decision.
Is this a serious label?
"When I heard this song... the image flashing in my mind was urban ruins made of reinforced concrete."
Thump—
Leon knocked on the table, delight showing in his eyes.
Old Mike's idea was completely consistent with what he saw in the Inspiration Refresh visuals!
"Go on!"
Old Mike revealed a lecherous smile: "We can build an apocalyptic ruin set and have Miss Robbie walk through the ruins naked..."
"The disjointed image formed by her beautiful body and the apocalyptic ruins will cause a sensation!"
"Fxxk!"
Leon almost couldn't resist kicking this old geezer.
I asked you to shoot an MV, not a porno!
Maggie's face had become extremely ugly. She grabbed Robbie's wrist and said, "Let's go!"
After successfully pissing off everyone including Leon, Old Mike finally started to get serious.
First, the idea of setting the background in urban ruins remained unchanged, but Robbie certainly couldn't appear in a pure white princess dress.
The American people were disgusted with the "Snow White" image to the extreme.
In the 90s, the frequent princess dress looks of Celine Dion and Mariah Carey were often mocked by audiences, let alone in 2010 when MVs were full of various adult elements.
As a former member of George Lucas's team, Old Mike had an exceptionally sensitive artistic sense.
He quickly got inspiration from Cardi B's tight black leather suit.
"I think a tight leather suit would be great."
Leon showed a doubtful expression. "Are you sure? If Robbie wears that, she'll look like a role-play queen walking out of some pervert club."
Old Mike shook his head and said, "Of course, we need to add some small changes. Have any of you watched Japanese anime? Has anyone heard of E.V.A.?"
Everyone looked confused. Aside from Dragon Ball being a household name in America, other Japanese anime didn't have much heat.
The base of the American 2D culture community was negligibly small.
Old Mike turned his laptop towards everyone. On it was a picture of an anime girl.
Short blue hair, white and blue tight plug suit.
Although it still looked somewhat sexually suggestive, overall it perfectly fit the atmosphere Faded wanted to express.
"Oh my god... I like this!"
"Honey, I want this one!"
Robbie hugged Leon's arm and shook it constantly; she was completely satisfied with the image of the girl in the anime.
Leon also felt there was nothing incongruous, so he made the decision on the spot. "Let's go with this!"
Maggie crossed her arms and said, "Three days... I'll only give you three days... Because of shooting this damn MV, the filming of The Wolf of Wall Street has stalled."
"Director Martin Scorsese is very angry..."
Three days to shoot such simple scenes was completely ample.
In just one day, under Old Mike's perfect command and scheduling, the MV shooting was completed.
Since it was shot entirely with practical effects, there wasn't much workload in post-production other than editing.
Two days after the MV shooting was completed, the master tape of Faded, the debut record of Apocalypse label's second artist Margot Robbie, was officially produced and handed over to the factory for printing.
It would take some time for the record to officially hit the market, but Leon couldn't wait any longer.
He had Bonnie push the digital single to streaming platforms.
In this current window period, the most important thing was undoubtedly promotion work!
Due to Leon throwing money at it regardless of cost, plus the high quality of the work itself...
In just two days, this song almost swept across the US.
From streets to shopping malls, from radio stations to social media, it was everywhere.
Downloads on the Apple Store reached an astonishing 50,000 on the first day of launch, and Spotify also contributed 20,000 downloads.
It was foreseeable that as long as the physical record hit the market, Faded would almost 100% break into the Billboard Top 20.
Robbie's manager Maggie's attitude towards Leon also did a 180-degree turn; no one hates money.
She lifted all restrictions on Robbie and demanded she fully cooperate with Leon for promotion.
"Shxt... Robbie is almost redder than when Cardi first debuted." In the Apocalypse Music office, Phil's teeth were itching with envy these days.
Leon smiled and didn't speak, lying on the sofa hugging Robbie, playing with her fair little feet.
Jealousy made Phil dissociate. He quickly changed the subject. "Seeing how busy you've been these days, Lenny was too embarrassed to call you personally."
"He asked me to pass on a message."
Leon tilted his head. "What is it?"
"P. Diddy is preparing for a wild party... He sincerely invites you and Robbie to go together."