69novels Chapter 119 Letting Go
Chapter 119 Letting Go
Chapter 119 Letting Go
In the early hours of November 30th, besides Tao Cheng's fans, Sun Qingning was also staying up late.
She spent the better part of an hour listening to "Swallowtail Butterfly" carefully from beginning to end.
The more I listened, the more alarmed I became.
The more I listened, the more uneasy I became.
After the last song, "Unstoppable," ended, Sun Qingning couldn't help but start thinking about a question: Is this really Tao Cheng's album?
From the restraint of "The Pain That Breathes" to the explosion of "Bubble", the despair of "Cage", the transformation of "Swallowtail Butterfly", and finally the ultimate sublimation of "Unstoppable".
This complete narrative structure, which is both sophisticated and commercially appealing without being clichéd, is surprisingly Tao Cheng's second album.
If you cover up the singers' names and tell her it's an album by three rising stars, Xu Xiao, Qian Wancheng, or Zhu Pingting, Sun Qingning won't feel any sense of incongruity.
She picked up her phone and quickly logged onto Lemon.com.
The interface of "Swallowtail Butterfly" still maintains a professional rating of 93%.
She recalled what her manager, Yuan Cheng, had said during the day: "Sour lemon ratings don't represent popular tastes, so you don't need to take them too seriously. There are plenty of albums that are critically acclaimed but not commercially successful."
Sun Qingning knew, of course, that Yuan Cheng was trying to comfort her, but she believed him in a self-deceptive way, and even secretly prayed that "Swallowtail Butterfly" was the kind of album that was disconnected from professional and popular reviews.
However, before she could draw any more comfort from it, the page refreshed and the "sweet lemon index" appeared.
Like Sour Lemon, Sweet Lemon also needs a sufficient number of user ratings before it will start scoring, usually 500. It's almost 1 a.m. now, but the sample size has already accumulated to more than 10,000.
Sweet Lemon Index: 98%.
According to the algorithm, this means that only 2 out of 100 reviews are negative.
In this internet age where opinions are hard to please and trolls and online trolls are rampant, it is simply unbelievable that a highly anticipated commercial album could achieve a 98% initial rating.
It's important to understand that mutual attacks are a crucial part of internet marketing.
Although Lemon.com has implemented purchase verification, only users who have purchased the album can rate it.
But her fans, Tang You's fans, or other haters who can't stand Tao Cheng's recent success, will definitely be unable to resist leaving negative reviews immediately, even if the price is paying 20 yuan to buy an album first.
But the result is obvious: compared to the vast majority of genuine positive reviews, these costly fake negative reviews, whether real or fake, failed to make a ripple.
Sun Qingning put down her phone and stared blankly at the ceiling.
It received rave reviews from both professionals and the general public.
Unwilling to give up, she picked up her phone and typed Du Li's name into the search box, hoping that this veteran diva could teach Tao Cheng a lesson.
The page for "Goodbye, Unforgettable Love" popped up, with a 91% rating from Sour Lemon, two points lower than Tao Cheng's "Swallowtail Butterfly," but still an extremely good score.
The sweet lemon index also came out, at 95%, which is also very high.
"Tao Cheng — Yang Du —"
The ringing of the cell phone brought Sun Qingning back to her senses.
She answered the phone: "How is it?"
"I can't find out. Tao Cheng and Du Li belong to Jinshi and Yunge respectively. I just used all my connections and made more than a dozen calls, but I still couldn't get the core data."
"However—" Yuan Cheng paused, his tone becoming slightly more serious, "Although I couldn't get the specific backend data, I asked someone to collect data by combining the real-time download ratios of the two major platforms, Tencent and NetEase Cloud Music, and made an estimate."
"The sales figures for 'Swallowtail Butterfly' in the first hour were definitely over 150,000 copies. Du Li's 'Goodbye, Unforgettable Love' also sold over 100,000 copies. The two albums are currently very close in sales, but overall Tao Cheng is leading by a slight margin."
Sun Qingning never expected that Du Li, a veteran diva, would suffer a double loss in both music reviews and sales. That's Du Li, the diva who once dominated the 90s.
Even though it's 2026 now, and her era of absolute power is over, a fallen camel is still bigger than a horse.
In the first hour of album sales, Du Li surprisingly failed to overwhelm Tao Cheng, a female singer born in the 00s, and instead they were evenly matched.
"That's not surprising," Yuan Cheng comforted her. "Don't you think about the age of Du Li's fans? They're mostly people born in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, middle-aged and elderly people who have settled down and started families. Who has the energy and time to boost sales for their idol in the early hours of the morning?"
Sun Qingning knew that Yuan Cheng was right. Du Li's sales figures would be mostly during the day, and the emotional appeal would really kick in in the morning or at noon. At that time, the sales curve of "Goodbye, Unforgettable Love" would see a significant increase.
However, she knew even better that needing to find other reasons to cover up the mistake was a bad sign.
If Du Li still had the same appeal as before, she should have crushed Tao Cheng from the very first minute the album was released.
Of course, what suffocated Sun Qingning the most was the sales data of "Swallowtail Butterfly" in its first hour.
What does it mean to sell over 15 copies in the first hour?
When a singer like Tao Cheng releases an album, there will definitely be fans waiting to buy it, but it's not as extreme as for popular singers, so the sales in the first hour are about 25% of the first day's sales.
With 15 units sold in the first hour, the first-day sales will definitely be heading towards 60.
With 60 copies sold on the first day and 150 million copies sold in the first week, it easily entered the gold album market and was directly certified.
Keep in mind that her first album only sold a little over 200 million copies.
Thinking of this, Sun Qingning couldn't tell whether she felt bitterness or jealousy, and she felt completely drained.
Albums and singles are different.
A single song costs 3 yuan, which is easy for passersby to buy without any psychological burden or financial pressure, as it costs about the same as a bottle of cola or a popsicle.
However, a digital album costs at least 20 yuan. For the average person, an album contains ten songs, and not every song will suit their taste. Naturally, they won't buy the entire album just because one or two songs are good.
Why not just buy the single directly? Why waste money on that?
The album was certified gold in its first week, which is definitely a top-tier achievement in the music industry, showcasing the appeal of this popular young star.
Sun Qingning's guess was correct, not only correct, but also somewhat conservative.
As the sun rises and a new day begins, the data for "Swallowtail Butterfly" continues to climb.
At 8 a.m., eight hours after being put on the shelves, cumulative sales officially exceeded 30.
At noon, 420,000.
At 18 PM, 55.
By 23 p.m., less than 24 hours after its release, "Swallowtail Butterfly" had already sold 60 copies.
Ultimately, the number settled at 66.
With 66 copies sold on its first day, the album's first-week gold certification is a foregone conclusion.
Upon seeing this news, Sun Qingning suddenly recalled the Golden Chart Music Awards ceremony a year ago. Back then, she...
Tao Cheng and Tang You were newcomers who had just debuted, and were dubbed "rising female singers" by the media.
Every time anyone makes a move, the media will drag them out to compare sales, looks, endorsements, and whose career is developing better.
It's only been less than a year.
A deep sense of powerlessness welled up inside her; she no longer had the energy to feel envy or jealousy.
Staring blankly at the number 66 on her phone, Sun Qingning finally came to terms with it after a long while.
Because she discovered a fact that she had been deliberately ignoring all along: Tao Cheng and she were no longer on the same track.
It seems like things started to change when "Flammable and Explosive" was released in the first half of the year.
Once she understood this, she felt an unprecedented sense of relief.
Since we are not competitors, there is no need to feel hurt by the achievements of others.
I can finally get a good night's sleep.