131: Chapter 131 Be Down-to-Earth, Trending Topics Are King

The morning light in Los Angeles filtered through the blinds, cutting neat patches of light onto the carpet of the hotel suite. The air was filled with the aroma of freshly ground coffee and the faint sound of turning pages.

Alex sat at a small round table, wearing a simple white cotton T-shirt, his hair still slightly damp. Spread out before him was not a musical score or technical blueprints, but the twenty-seven-page "Resonance Era Post-Performance Public Opinion and Commercial Value Preliminary Analysis Report" that Marcus had compiled overnight.

His gaze swept over the bolded headings and data:

· Global total viewership: Preliminary statistics exceed 210 million, setting a record for similar events.

· "half-step echo" audio released for 12 hours, air-dropped into the TOP 10 of iTunes single charts in 32 countries and regions globally, topping the charts in 18 of them.

· #Aesthetics of Error#, #Alex and Taylor Duet in Two Cities#, and #Eternal Dome# derivative topics continued to occupy the top of social media trends in many countries.

· Inquiries for endorsements have been received from over seventeen high-end brands, covering various fields such as watches, automobiles, technology products, and luxury apparel.

· Universal Music has submitted an urgent proposal hoping to produce the "Echoes and Wavelengths" tour into a limited-edition vinyl box set and an immersive VR concert film for long-tail sales.

· The valuation of the "Echo Vision" company has been adjusted upward by approximately 40% within 24 hours in private market inquiries.

· New user registrations for the "Flashpoint" content laboratory surged by 300% in a single day, causing the servers to be under pressure for a time.

A string of numbers coldly and objectively revealed a fact: "Resonance Era" was not just a performance; it was a phenomenal brand-igniting event. The commercial value, public opinion appeal, and cultural influence represented by the names Alex Su and Taylor Allison had been pushed to a brand new, almost terrifying level.

And all of this was being converted into the constantly jumping, reassuring popularity figure on his system interface.

Alex picked up his coffee and took a sip, but his gaze drifted past the report to the awakening city outside the window. The brilliant starlight of the performance had already fallen; now it was time to consider how to "monetize" this starlight into more lasting, stable lights on the ground, while at the same time accumulating more solid fuel for his own unspeakable "path of the extraordinary."

"So, what are your thoughts?" Taylor, sitting opposite him, spoke up. She was wearing a loose sweater, no makeup, her fingers unconsciously winding around the rim of her teacup, yet her eyes were clear and sharp. After a huge success, artists often need to face a void, but she seemed to have switched herself into "partner" and "co-conspirator" mode faster.

"Cool down, settle down, and then selectively ignite the second fire." Alex put down his coffee cup, his tone calm. "We can't just stay in the praise of the 'god-tier live performance.' The audience, or rather the market, needs new 'consumption points."

"You want to start with 'Flashpoint' and 'Voice of Truth'?" Taylor immediately grasped the point.

"Hmm." Alex pulled up a few charts on his tablet. "'Flashpoint' users are here for fast-paced, highly creative short videos; they are our most advanced 'tentacles' and also the 'litmus test' for content creativity. 'Voice of Truth' users are more settled, pursuing depth and a sense of community; they are our 'base' and 'value anchor.' We need to provide different things to these two groups continuously."

He paused and stated a more specific plan: "I plan to launch a long-term project on 'Flashpoint' called 'City Soundscape Wanderer.' Instead of sitting in the recording studio, I will take simple recording and filming equipment to the streets, alleys, markets, and piers in the early morning... to capture those overlooked ambient sounds, street conversations, and accidental musical fragments, and then use these as material for rapid improvisation and short film production. Updated weekly, the style is not limited; it could be a piece of instrumental music, a rap, or just a sound montage full of emotion."

Taylor's eyes brightened slightly: "Turning the creative process itself into content that can be watched, or even interacted with? Lowering the sense of mystery and increasing the sense of companionship and... intimacy?"

"Right." Alex nodded. "A genius's inspiration needs to be looked up to, but 'how an interesting person discovers inspiration in life' is easier to imitate, discuss, and even project oneself into. This can continuously create topics, maintain the activity of the 'internet celebrity' attribute, and make it more convenient for us..." He omitted the second half of the sentence—it was more convenient for him to quietly integrate "inspiration" derived from extraordinary perception (such as the vague perception of urban emotional flow) that had been harmlessly processed into his creations, testing public reaction.

"Then what about 'Voice of Truth'?" Taylor asked.

"'Sound of Echoes' Foundation." Alex pulled up another document. "I want to make the inauguration ceremony of the first music healing space the first episode of a series of documentary shorts. Not deliberately sensationalizing, but recording the whole process from site selection, design, to the first child walking into the room in a down-to-earth manner. At the same time, open a dedicated section on the 'Voice of Truth' platform, inviting musicians, psychologists, and even ordinary users to share stories about music and emotions. We must make the label of 'social responsibility' solid, deep, and warm. This is not just an amulet; it can attract and unite a group of high-loyalty supporters on its own."

When he explained these plans, his tone was calm and pragmatic, more like a senior product manager or brand operator planning an iteration roadmap than a superstar who had just completed an artistic feat. This was the sense of reality displayed by top-tier entertainment industry works—behind the glamour lay precise business strategies and continuous operations.

"It sounds like you want to split the 'Alex Su' brand into several product lines that can operate independently yet are interconnected?" Taylor summarized, with appreciation. "'Music Creator,' 'Short Video Content Leader,' 'Public Welfare Advocate.' And 'Superstar' and 'Internet Celebrity' are the results output by these product lines together."

"You can understand it that way." Alex admitted. "A single image is prone to fatigue and is also easily attacked. A multi-dimensional, three-dimensional image can resist the wear and tear of time and the erosion of public opinion. And..." He glanced at the system interface. "Different paths can reach different groups of people and harvest different dimensions of... influence." He replaced "popularity" with the more secular "influence" again.

"A very solid strategy." Taylor leaned back in her chair. "Then we need a 'first fire' after the 'cooling down' to start these new narratives. Do you have any specific 'igniter'?"

Alex smiled, swiped his tablet, and pulled up a simple itinerary draft: "Three days later, New York. A very small, private recording studio live stream. I will only bring a guitar, and maybe one or two simple synthesizers. The theme is: 'After Resonance, some fragments that didn't make it into the songs.' In the live stream, I will improvise and play some raw materials collected by the 'City Soundscape Wanderer,' and then try to develop them into musical fragments on the spot. I will also talk about some ideas about sound and color in the 'Sound of Echoes' space design. The whole process will be relaxed, imperfect, and there may even be stutters and repetitions."

Taylor understood instantly: "Taking the 'Aesthetics of Error' off the pedestal and turning it into a tangible, even slightly clumsy daily creative routine. Deconstructing the 'fruit' of the ultimate stage into the 'cause' that ordinary people can understand. This is indeed a good fire; it can satisfy fans' desire to peek into the creative backstage, and it can also provide the most natural warm-up for your new content project."

"And," Alex added, a glimmer that only he understood flashing in his eyes, "this kind of improvisational creation that interacts with the sounds of the real world is also very helpful for me to... accumulate 'material'." He was referring to using and restoring abilities like "Information Reception Filtering" and "Rule Perception" without anyone noticing to capture more subtle urban emotional "strings," transform them into nourishment for creation, and silently hone himself.

Just at this moment, the system panel at the edge of his vision updated silently:

• Historically cumulative popularity: 108,750,000 points (continuous long-tail effect)

• Available popularity: 28,530,030 points (rapid growth after breaking 100 million)

• New prompt: Detected that the host has established a clear "multi-channel influence deep-plowing strategy." Achieving specific periodic goals (such as the "City Soundscape" series average clicks breaking 100 million, the "Sound of Echoes" documentary sparking widespread social discussion) will reward traits related to "strategic execution" or slightly improve the efficiency of specific perception-type abilities.

• Advanced exchange list is waiting for selection.

A new guide appeared. The system no longer focused only on earth-shattering major events, but also began to reward steady, continuous operations and strategic execution. This was exactly what he wanted.

"What do I need to do?" Taylor asked; she had already entered a collaborative state.

"For the New York live stream, if you happen to be free, we can 'accidentally' connect, chat a few words about the soundtrack of 'city of instantaneity' and city sounds, and do a natural cross-promotion." Alex said. "Also, for the 'Sound of Echoes' documentary, I hope you can serve as the voice-over narrator. Your voice has that power to make people quiet down."

"No problem." Taylor agreed readily, then smiled slyly, "However, Your Highness, with this combination of punches you've thrown, I'm afraid the heat won't cool down, but will burn even brighter instead." She used a joking title, but pointed out the essence.

Alex also laughed; in that smile was the calmness of insight into everything: "Isn't what we want a controllable, continuously burning fire? To light up the road ahead, warm ourselves, and by the way... to see some things hiding in the dark more clearly."

He picked up the coffee that had already become slightly cool and gestured to Taylor.

Feet on the ground, holding the trending topics in hand.

The real "management" had only just begun at this moment. And his path of the extraordinary would also, in this steady and hot firelight he had ignited himself, travel deeper and more steadily.