63: Chapter 63 Your Eyes Are a Ruler

The photoshoot for the album cover of 《Epiphany》 was scheduled for the last week of June.

The location was an old theater in downtown Los Angeles called the "Palace," built in the 1920s.

It was once the most luxurious movie palace in Los Angeles, but later fell into disrepair, leaving only the stage, two thousand red velvet seats, and faded murals on the dome.

Diego booked the entire theater.

The lighting technician used warm lights from behind the stage, casting Chen Mo's profile in half-light and half-shadow.

He wore a black turtleneck sweater, and the Cartier on his left wrist looked low-key yet luxurious under the lights.

"We've discussed the concept for this cover before." Diego stood behind the monitor, his beard cleanly shaven, but he had dark circles under his eyes—he had stayed up for several nights for this plan.

"Ten songs, ten types of light. Electronic pop is neon, folk is streetlights, funk is a disco ball, ballads are candles, alternative rock is a lighter, so the cover needs to combine these ten types of light."

He asked the lighting technician to turn on all the lights in the theater—the crystal chandeliers on the dome, the footlights on both sides of the stage, the wall lamps in the seating area, and the green exit signs.

A dozen different light sources lit up simultaneously, turning the entire theater into an ocean of light, and then he asked Chen Mo to stand in the center of the stage, facing the audience.

The auditorium was empty, two thousand red velvet seats silently facing him.

"Now, I'm going to turn the lights off, one by one."

The crystal chandeliers went out.

The footlights went out.

The wall lamps went out one by one.

Finally, only one spotlight remained above the stage, shining on Chen Mo.

He stood in that beam of light, the collar of his black turtleneck covering half his chin, his left hand hanging naturally at his side.

"Look at the camera, you don't need to pose, just standing there is already perfect."

The photographer pressed the shutter.

The monitor froze on a photo—an empty old theater, two thousand empty seats, a spotlight, one person.

His eyes weren't looking at the camera; they were looking at a certain empty seat in the last row of the auditorium.

That seat was outside the range of the spotlight, completely hidden in the darkness.

Diego set this photo as the final cover for 《Epiphany》.

On a pure black background, a beam of light, one person, and a line of text in the bottom right corner—"Epiphany. Chen Mo."

Chen Mo stood in front of the monitor, looking at the photo for a long time.

"Diego, that seat in the last row, who am I looking at?"

"You know yourself."

"Do I know?" Chen Mo murmured.

The final mixing of the album was completed on the first weekend of July.

Evan had lived in the recording studio for three full days, the blanket on the sofa crumpled into a ball, the coffee table piled with takeout boxes and empty coffee cups.

Chen Mo had slept for less than twelve hours in total, his eyes bloodshot, but his hands remained steady.

It was 4:30 AM when the masters for all ten songs were rendered.

Evan took off his monitor headphones and placed them on the mixing console; a small piece of the worn leather on the earcups had fallen off again.

"《Epiphany》, ten songs, I mixed from the first to the tenth with you, and every single one was revised at least a dozen times."

"《7 Years》 had the most revisions; in every version, you were looking for the voice of a different age. In the final version, you kept the breathing sound in the first verse, the voice of a twelve-year-old."

"Because when a twelve-year-old sings, they take a breath first." Chen Mo tidied up the recording studio; it was full of traces of life.

Evan organized the master files for the ten songs, compressed them into a folder named "Epiphany_Final," and pressed send.

The recipients were Scott and Katherine at the Universal Music headquarters.

When the notification that the email had been sent successfully popped up, the sun in Los Angeles was just rising from behind the Santa Monica Mountains outside the window.

Evan let out a long breath.

"Chen Mo, after this album is released, you won't be 'that Chen Mo who writes pop music' anymore. You will be Chen Mo."

For the MV shooting plan for 《Perfect》, Diego ultimately chose the second one—no female lead, just Chen Mo from beginning to end.

The shooting location was New York.

Chen Mo didn't tell Taylor; they hadn't been in touch recently, perhaps because they were both too busy.

On the Bow Bridge in Central Park, the light at 6:00 AM was still soft.

Chen Mo stood in the center of the bridge, wearing a washed-out gray T-shirt and dark gray trousers, the Cartier on his left wrist reflecting a pale golden light in the morning sun.

Diego set the camera at the bridge entrance, the lens slowly pushing in from behind Chen Mo, stopping at his profile.

"Walk."

Chen Mo walked from the center of the bridge toward the entrance.

The camera followed for a while, then stopped.

He continued walking, his back getting smaller and smaller in the morning light.

The lake under the bridge reflected the light, making one's eyes ache.

Diego stood up from behind the monitor, the back of his T-shirt soaked, and laughed: "This take is good."

Brooklyn Bridge, afternoon. The sun made the steel cables hot to the touch, heat waves rose on the bridge deck, and the distant lower Manhattan was slightly distorted in the hot air.

Chen Mo walked on the sidewalk, with a line of yellow taxis stuck in the slow lane beside him.

Diego had the photographer set the camera behind the steel cables of the bridge. The shadows of the cables fell on Chen Mo, slicing his body into strips of light and shadow.

"Don't walk too fast, and don't look at the camera, just walk like someone would."

The shadows of the steel cables slid across his body one by one. When he reached the third cable, his pace slowed slightly.

"Cut." Diego poked his head out from behind the monitor. "You slowed down just now. Why?"

"The shadow of that cable happened to fall on my eyes."

"Right, keep that pause."

Tribeca streets, evening. The streetlights had just turned on, and the warm yellow light seemed a bit hesitant in the sky that hadn't completely darkened yet.

Diego set the camera under the streetlight on the street opposite Taylor's apartment.

"From here, walk to the street corner, don't look back."

Chen Mo stood under the streetlight, wearing a gray T-shirt, the watch on his left wrist, nothing else.

He walked toward the street corner, his sneakers stepping on the sidewalk with almost no sound. When he reached the corner, he paused for a moment.

It wasn't requested by Diego.

"Cut." Diego's voice came through the intercom. "You paused just now."

"Yeah."

"Why did you stop?"

"Walking to this point, I felt I needed to stop for a moment."

Diego didn't press further. He played that take from the beginning. In the footage, Chen Mo's back went further and further away under the streetlights, paused for a beat when reaching the corner, then continued walking and disappeared out of the frame.

"This take, not a single cut."

The MV for 《7 Years》 was filmed in Chicago.

Diego found three actors of different ages—a twelve-year-old Black boy, a twenty-year-old white youth, and a thirty-year-old Latino man.

The three people played the three age stages written in Chen Mo's lyrics respectively.

The twelve-year-old was filmed on the streets of the South Side of Chicago, wearing a faded school uniform, sitting on the steps of a house with a basketball next to him.

The twenty-year-old was filmed by the railway near Lake Michigan, wearing overalls stained with oil, sitting on the tracks with the gray-blue water of Lake Michigan behind him.

The thirty-year-old was filmed on the fire escape of an office building in the Loop, wearing a white shirt with sleeves rolled up to his forearms, holding a cold cup of coffee, walking to the railing and looking at the traffic below.

Chen Mo only appeared at the very end of the MV.

In an empty recording studio, he sat in front of a Steinway, played the last chord of 《7 Years》, and lifted his fingers from the keys.

The camera pushed to his face; his expression didn't change, but there was a faint light in his eyes.

This was the advantage of having beautiful eyes; even though he didn't deliberately adjust them, the camera could still see it.

"What's in your eyes?" Diego asked from behind the monitor.

"A thirty-year-old looking back at a twelve-year-old."

Diego was silent for a while, gave a thumbs up, and said: "This take is good."

Three days later, both MVs entered post-production.

Diego locked himself in the editing room. When he came out, his beard had grown, and his eyes were bloodshot.

"《Perfect》 is edited, four minutes and twelve seconds, not a single cut more, perfect!"

Chen Mo watched the final cut in the recording studio.

The footage started from the Bow Bridge in Central Park, morning light, back view, the shadows of the Brooklyn Bridge cables, the streetlights in Tribeca. His back went further and further away under the streetlights, pausing for a beat when reaching the corner.

Diego had zoomed in on that beat a little bit and extended the duration of that beat by less than half a second.

"I measured that pause you made." Diego leaned on the sofa, picking up a cold cup of coffee.

"It was exactly half a second, the exact same duration as the hesitation in 《Closer》. You brought the same kind of hesitation to a summer in Tribeca."

Chen Mo was speechless, and a moment later, he took Migo's hand and said: "Your eyes are the ruler!"

"I'm going to take a nap. Don't look for me until I wake up." Migo put down the cold coffee and walked into the lounge, swaying.

At the end of July, the master recording, album cover, and two MVs for 《Epiphany》 were all delivered to the Universal Music headquarters.