Chapter 119: Kuroki Tsubasa's Sister Hosts a Record Award Show

  The preparation for the Red and White Song Festival began on December 29, when the performers met with the director and hosts. In the years before Akashiya Sanma's crossover, the male hosts of the Red and White Song Festival were almost entirely dominated by Johnny's Arashi, but in 2000, none of the three hosts (Red Team, White Team, and General Host) were familiar to Akashiya, as they had all retired from the entertainment industry by his time.

  After going through the script with the host and rehearsing the stage movements, Zhou Xiao's work for today was basically done. Originally, Zhou Xiao's performance was supposed to have a band, but when he recorded the song, Sakai Izumi's ZARD band wasn't suitable for appearing on the formal performance stage. After all, they were just helping out when Zhou Xiao recorded the song. Of course, this wasn't a problem, as the program team had found a band that was familiar with the songs to come and perform with Zhou Xiao. After coordinating with this band backstage, Zhou Xiao didn't have any more problems, anyway he was just singing, there were no other things for him to do.

  Although it's been more than half a year since debut, the status has never been determined solely by achievements. A singer who has just debuted for half a year, put on the Red and White Song Festival is thoroughly small potatoes, even the program team won't give him too much attention.

  This made Zhou Xiao very happy. In the backstage, he saw many stars that were hard to see in his previous life. Those big-name celebrities who had already become famous might not be of much interest to Zhou Xiao, but being able to see Morning Musume excited him. Unfortunately, when he saw Morning Musume, Chun Jun was pulling them aside for a lecture. Zhou Xiao was also very aware that at his age, going up to greet them would definitely make people suspect he was trying to do something, so he could only reluctantly leave the area around Morning Musume.

  Actually, Zhou Xiao had nothing to do and it wouldn't be a problem even if he left the backstage, but for him, this wasn't a good option. The closer it got to New Year's, the more he discovered an important issue - he really had nowhere to go.

  Go back to that house with a monthly rent of 100,000 yuan? But what's there, nothing at all, it's a very bad choice for Zhou Xiao.

  It's also very annoying to just wander around in the background, and Zhou Xiao had no choice but to leave in the end.

  By the 30th, there was only one day left before the start of Kouhaku, and Akane's only work for the day was the Japan Record Awards that would be held tonight.

  Zhou Xiao didn't have much desire to win the Record Awards. On one hand, the top prize was definitely not his; as for the newcomer award, its value wasn't high either, and whether he won it or not didn't make a difference.

  Of course, I have to go, and I must attend in formal attire, because there will be a dress rehearsal. Zhou Xiao had to rush to the TBS Broadcasting Center Hall in the morning.

  In 2000, the host of this Record Grand Prix was Koji Yakusho and Meisa Kuroki. Koji Yakusho is a veteran artist with a status almost equal to BIG3, and he has been hosting AKB48's Kouhaku Utagassen for several years in a row.

  Kuroki Hitomi and Zhou Xiao had a connection, she helped introduce Yakushimaru Hiroko, which finally allowed Zhou Xiao's film to find such a suitable supporting actress.

  After Xiao Dawei arrived, the two hosts had already arrived. In this situation where many artists gather together, it is a test of the host's ability to link them up. Since the time for the music awards ceremony was not as abundant as the New Year's Eve concert, they could only arrange for the two hosts to wait in the broadcasting hall one by one to meet the artists who were about to attend.

  When Zhou Xiao appeared on the scene wearing a dark suit, it caused quite a stir. Elsewhere, Zhou Xiao is just an ordinary artist, but here, he has the label of "200 million sales with his debut single" printed on him. If not for his first two singles this year being too strong and against the odds, it would be difficult to win the annual award, but just being nominated for Best Song is enough to make people take notice.

  "Little handsome guy, I saw you as a screenwriter before, but now you've changed and come to the music awards ceremony to receive an award." Hei Mu Tong also saw Zhou Xiao, walked over and greeted him.

  "Hello, Kuroki-san. Hello, Sakai-san." Zhou Xiao bowed repeatedly and greeted them as he stood there. Even the early morning girls' group, those little girls were all his seniors, so on this road, he was almost always passing through greetings.

  "How was it? Have you seen it?" asked Higashiyama Shōchō from beside him.

  "In these six months, he didn't sing but instead went and filmed a movie, I think it's called "A Liter of Tears"?"

  "That's right, it was taken from a book over a decade ago." Zhou Xiao nodded.

  "Ah, I see! I think I have some recollection of it. Is it the story of a girl who suffered from an incurable disease?" asked Sakai Masashige.

  "Yes, I heard this story when I was a kid and it moved me so much that I remembered it. Now that I've grown up and made some money, I wanted to film it and see how it turns out. Also, I hope more people can see it and understand the story, and not forget about that strong girl." said Zhou Xiaodao.

  "Not bad, this kind of thinking is what I like the most. In this circle, you can't just think about making money, but how to give back and pass on good things to everyone, that's the most important thing." The old man loved hearing such words, and Zhao Zhengzhang listened to Zhou Xiao say so, and spoke with great approval.

  "By the way, I haven't seen your movie yet. When it's released, remember to send me two tickets, okay?" Kuroki Hitomi said.

  "No problem at all, I have as many as you need." said Zhou Xiao.

  "Two will do, it's okay to take advantage of you a bit?" Hei Mu said. This woman's every frown and smile could be described as charming, and after saying these few words to Zhou Xiao, who had just recently escaped from his hikikimori lifestyle, he felt an itch in his nose.

  "Sister, how can you say that? If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been able to find Yakushi Mariko-senpai," said Zhou Xiao.

  After chatting with the two hosts for a while and confirming the script for tonight's performance, Zhou Xiao didn't have much to do. Unlike the red carpet backstage area which had many cameras, this venue seemed more serious, so Zhou Xiao walked around without finding any cameras. As a result, the atmosphere in the entire backstage area was much more relaxed than the red carpet one, with many participating singers chatting freely and not worrying about being secretly photographed.

  Zhou Xiao also received some attention, an 18-year-old talented singer who wore a suit and looked handsome. After being surrounded by various halos, many singers came to take photos with him as a souvenir, among whom several were quite familiar to Zhou Xiao.

  For example, Hitomi, who is now 24 years old and studied under Philosopher Tetsuya Komuro, was nominated for an excellent work this year with the song "LOVE2000", which can also be considered a divine song, with good melody and lyrics, and has been continuously used for many years.

  Hitomi is a very beautiful woman, with a height of 167 cm which is also considered tall among Japanese women. Standing there with her slender figure, she looks more like a model than a singer.

  Another person who is as famous as XIAO HU ZHOU is Ayumi Hamasaki, who has been nominated for multiple awards. It can be said that Ayumi Hamasaki is the darling of Japan's music scene in this era. If it weren't for "TSUNAMI" by Southern All-Stars and "Sakurazaka" by Masaharu Fukuyama being too strong this year, Ayumi Hamasaki might have even won the Grand Prize at the Record Awards for four consecutive years. Yes, that's right, after this year, Ayumi Hamasaki will win the Grand Prize at the Record Awards for three consecutive years.

  As for whether Zhou Xiao can rely on "S-M" AP's "The World's Only Flower" to compete with Hamasaki Ayumi next year, it depends on Johnny's thoughts. Since 1990, Johnny has basically not participated in any competitive award ceremonies. In the history that Zhou Xiao experienced, "The World's Only Flower" was indeed shortlisted for the Record of the Year award at the time of its release, but Johnny gave the reason that they wanted to convey the important information in the lyrics, and withdrew from the competition with the excuse that being unique is more important than being number one.

  Regarding Jenice's practice of making more money than anyone else when it comes to making money, being stingier than anyone else when something happens, and being more neurotic than anyone else when it comes to trivial matters, others may still celebrate the absence of these people on the surface, but behind their backs, who knows if someone will secretly curse Jenice for becoming XX and still wanting to stand up for XX.