After hanging up the phone, Leon lay in bed thinking for a long time.
Under unplugged conditions, Robbie's vocal conditions weren't sweet enough, while the requirement for the female lead vocal in Señorita was both sweet and charming.
Christmas songs have a history of at least fifty years in the music industry. For a long time before, it was always a battle of gods, with countless golden songs competing fiercely every Christmas.
Until 1994, when Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is You burst onto the scene. Since then, the annual Christmas music battle has become dull.
Because this song is sure to win in the end.
Now, this song has become the most profitable music work in the world, bringing Mariah Carey over $3 million in copyright revenue every year just from copyright alone.
Perhaps only the famous Happy Birthday to You can compete with it in copyright revenue.
Using Happy Birthday to You in movies, television works, radio stations, and various public occasions requires paying the copyright holder, Warner Music.
Any manufacturer making toys or musical greeting cards capable of playing the song has to pay. Even when someone sings this song, as long as there are a certain number of listeners present who are not relatives or friends, they also have to pay!
If one could launch a hit song at Christmas, they would be financially secure for life no matter what.
Taylor Swift made a fortune just by relying on a cover of the famous Last Christmas.
Arriving at Apocalypse Music the next day, Leon went straight to the point and proposed his idea to Phil and Bonnie.
Auditions! Choose the most suitable person from the vast number of girls across America who dream of stardom!
When learning of Leon's idea, Phil's eyes immediately shot lasers, and he declared on the spot that he would go all out to find potential girls for the company.
Bonnie whispered from the side, "Do you think I can do it, Leon..."
"You?" Leon looked Bonnie up and down seriously.
From her image and temperament to her dressing style, if one didn't say she was the assistant to a record company president, others would definitely think she was a top salesperson at the "One-Time Love Exchange" next door.
Everyone is born with their own talents, but obviously, Bonnie's talent was definitely not being a singer.
Maybe if she had embarked on the path of a Playboy bunny or a Brazzers actress earlier, she would have been famous long ago.
Phil's enthusiasm was exceptionally high; such an opportunity was rare for the old scumbag.
Undoubtedly, he would extend his claws to those auditioning girls and personally "check" whether their throats were suitable for singing.
After Apocalypse Music's audition invitation was released through online and offline channels, it achieved an effect even more explosive than expected.
Just on the first day, more than a hundred girls from all over the US chose to sign up.
Leon's fame as a creator was even greater than as a singer.
Anyone who knew his history of rising to fame knew that his inspiration was a mine, and his golden sentences were constantly produced crude oil.
Results speak for everything. Getting his appreciation was even easier to get famous than signing with those big companies.
Beforehand, Phil had already eliminated the vast majority of girls whose physical conditions didn't meet the standards through photos.
But on the third day when the audition officially began, the already crowded Apocalypse Music company was still flooded with more than a hundred people.
The girls had to queue up in long lines in the corridor. Just listening to them audition one by one was a huge workload.
"Shxt... stop! Your singing sounds like the scream of a cow conceiving! Next!"
"Your vocal conditions are good, but when singing, your body should move with the melody. Unfortunately, we can't choose you, but I can leave you a contact number and give you special one-on-one guidance."
"Next..."
"You sing well, but your boobs aren't big enough... Go to Los Angeles to find a decent plastic surgeon and come back next time!"
Phil's comments were acerbic and mean. Many girls were stopped as soon as they popped out the first word.
Those eliminated girls still had undried tear stains at the corners of their eyes. As soon as they walked out of the gate of Apocalypse Music, they received job offers from the red-light district next door.
Leon lay in the swivel chair without saying a word.
It wasn't that he let the other party mess around, but he really hadn't encountered a voice that moved him.
"It seems that holding this audition on a whim was really a mistake..."
Four hours passed, and more than half of the girls had completed their auditions.
If it continued like this, the so-called audition was indeed a waste of time.
Leon looked anxiously at the time on his phone. Because of the audition event, he hadn't even had time to settle lunch.
According to the schedule, he had to go to Roc Nation this afternoon to receive DJ skills training.
Just this morning, he received calls from Lenny and the American Music Awards officials.
For traffic and ratings, the American Music Awards suddenly demanded that Leon and Robbie perform Faded together on stage.
This was the first time the couple would unite in front of the American audience, maximizing the topicality directly.
When he received the notice, Leon's head was confused.
What did they want him to do for a female solo song?
Dance on stage?
To this, Lenny's answer was: "You don't need to do anything... just stand behind your girlfriend and pretend to scratch discs."
Leon said to Phil beside him, "I still have some things to deal with. I'll leave this to you."
Phil nodded repeatedly. As soon as Leon left, he could unscrupulously provide on-site guidance to the auditioning girls.
"Is it finally my turn?"
Just as Leon was about to get up and leave, he heard a sweet and sexy voice.
A girl less than 1.6 meters tall walked into the recording studio.
High ponytail, big eyes, tender skin... looking like an immature high school student.
If it were just sweetness, it would be fine, but her voice exuded a sexiness inconsistent with her appearance.
Leon felt this girl looked very familiar.
"Ariana?"
He immediately confirmed that the girl in front of him was the rich girl he had encountered at the Made in America Festival before.
Having performed on the same stage, now she appeared in the audition event held by him...
But Ariana didn't feel embarrassed and responded to Leon generously: "Hello, Mr. Leon, long time no see~"
After all, she was an artist who had participated in a heavyweight music festival. Even if he wasn't optimistic about her commercial prospects, Leon still sat down quickly.
Listening carefully to what surprise Ariana would bring.
Ariana sang Avril Lavigne's classic track Innocence.
She was one of the few contestants who could sing until the chorus part in front of Phil.
This innocence is brilliant
I hope that it will stay
This moment is perfect
Please don't go away
From rhythm to pitch accuracy, then to timbre.
Even a cappella, Ariana's performance was perfect enough that no fault could be picked.
Leon swayed his body with the rhythm and sighed, "Worthy of a girl who stepped on the Broadway stage at 15..."
He found that he had indeed underestimated Ariana before.
In the previous music festival event, his mind was full of how to deprive Big Dan of inspiration, having no time to attend to Ariana's performance.
Judging from now, this girl being able to step on the Broadway stage at such a young age relied not only on money power.
Clap clap clap—
After the singing ended, Leon and Phil applauded in unison.
"Your performance was impeccable... You completely interpreted the core of Innocence."
"Thank you..."
Receiving such high praise, two lovely blushes instantly appeared on Ariana's exquisite face.
"It's getting late, let the remaining girls go back."
"What?!"
Hearing this, Phil seemed to have been struck by lightning.
He leaned into Leon's ear and whispered, "This girl sang well indeed, but as the boss of a record company, you should prioritize considering the singer's commercial value..."
"This girl has no boobs, no butt... The audience won't like this!"
"You have to know, now even female listeners don't like the girl-next-door type... this image has been eliminated by the market!"
Leon knew very well in his heart that the old lecher Phil just wanted to look at a few more girls to find the most suitable one to make a move on, completing today's "check-in" target.
But what he said was actually not unreasonable.
Take Kim Kardashian, who became popular relying on the "celebrity sex tape" incident, for example. In a sense, she was no different from actresses at Brazzers Studio.
Also having her body seen by all American people, and her exquisite skills appreciated.
But just such a woman had far more female fans than male fans.
Under the influence of feminist ideology, more and more women believed that relying on the body to rise was also one of the inherent advantages of being a woman.
Even if rising through the body, that was a talent given by God; that was the representative of independent women.
Therefore, the image of a femme fatale was not rejected by society.
Looking at the famous "Sweetheart" Britney Spears, this last national sweetheart of America also had to lean towards the sexy route under the influence of this ideology.
Avril Lavigne had to rely on the rebellious gothic girl image to gain fans in the later stage of her career.
Even so, Leon still insisted on his choice.
He handed the paper printed with the lyrics and score of Señorita to Ariana. "Familiarize yourself with the melody first... later we'll try out the effect."
"No problem! Thank you for giving me this opportunity, Mr. Leon!"
Leon patted Ariana's head like treating a younger sister. "This is what you deserve. Opportunities should be given to the most excellent people."
From the first moment he saw Ariana, he found a special magic in this girl.
Making any man have the urge to call her sister.
And Ariana wasn't completely that kind of sickly sweet girl next door; she also exuded a hint of elusive charm.
Like an apple about to ripen.
This was why Leon finally decided to choose her.
Contrast and contradiction—the American people love this.
In less than half an hour, Ariana memorized the simplified notation relying on the basic skills from music training since childhood.
The two walked into the recording studio together, and the real audition for Señorita officially began.
Although the accompaniment for this song was a rough semi-finished product rushed out by Max Martin in two days, it still didn't affect Ariana's performance.
One second she was still a shy girl, but when the melody sounded in her headphones, she immediately entered the state.
Swaying her body with the Caribbean-style melody, her teasing gaze wandered all over Leon.
I love it when you call me señorita
I wish I could pretend I didn't need ya
But every touch is ooh la la la
It's true la la la
Phil sitting by the mixing console couldn't help but marvel: "Holy shxt... this girl really has something."
Originally, he wasn't interested in this kind of little girl with zero sexual tension at all. If he were the boss of a record company, he wouldn't sign a girl of Ariana's type no matter what.
But seeing Ariana twisting her waist like a snake, her eyes full of charm...
Even the old scumbag who had seen all kinds of meat couldn't resist this contrast.
When it came to the male vocal part, Leon's performance was equally commendable.
As a rapper, this was his first attempt at R&B singing style, but fortunately, the whole song didn't have high-pitched parts he wasn't good at.
Tequila Sunrise
Her body fit right in my hands, la-la-la
It felt like ooh-la-la-la, yeah
Leon's singing was calm, but this happened to be where he shone—his charming low voice.
The cooperation between the two sounded like they were in a romance, with the woman burning with desire constantly demanding from the man who was "as holy as a Buddha after the act."
After the audition ended, Phil stood up with a cigarette in his mouth and applauded repeatedly. "God damn it! This is bound to be another masterpiece."
Inside the recording studio, as the accompaniment was cut off, Ariana quickly transformed back into the shy posture of a young girl.
The speed of the transformation was shocking. Leon felt this girl might be more talented as an actress.
"Mr. Leon, I'm very sorry. Because it was the first time singing this work, many beats might not be accurate."
Leon smiled and patted Ariana's head: "No, I think you did a great job."
"So... am I hired?"
"Of course. We will record the complete version of this song as quickly as possible and launch it on streaming media before Christmas... If time permits, the physical record will also be released simultaneously."
"That's great!"
Ariana threw herself into Leon's arms, her small body completely covered by Leon.
Having debuted at 15, no matter how hard Ariana tried, even using her parents' money power, she couldn't move a record company to sign with her.
Recently, she even started trying to cover songs by Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, and others on YouTube, hoping to attract the attention of record companies through the internet celebrity route.
And now, her dream finally came true.
Although Apocalypse Music was just a small label in the thriving, competitive American music market, its upward momentum was rapid.
The artists under it, whether Cardi B or Robbie, caused an uproar in the circle upon debut.
Now, even those old established record companies didn't dare to underestimate this dark horse.
Ariana's manager was her brother, a typical sissy.
Facing such a gay guy wearing earrings and pink shorts, the experienced Leon settled the contract issue without much effort.
As a newcomer, Ariana naturally couldn't get the same treatment as Robbie. She would start on the same line as Cardi B.
A 10% record sales contract, and a symbolic 20% copyright revenue.
After all, this was a work created entirely by Leon, so the copyright naturally had to be firmly held in his hands.
Once this song exploded at Christmas, it would generate huge copyright revenue every year in the future.
With Ariana joining, Apocalypse Music's all-female lineup expanded to three people.