On Saturday, April 3rd, in New York, high school student Kassia and her best friend Danny went record store hopping. The song "Baby" was playing in the store, and many customers were humming along. They noticed that a whole section of the most prominent shelf was dedicated to Linton's "Music Prodigy" album cover, and there were large posters throughout the store.
She found the "Baby" CD and took two copies because her younger brother would definitely fight her for one. Danny also took one "Baby" CD, and both quickly got in line at the cash register.
There was no other way; the cash register was never free, always with a line. While waiting in line, she noticed that about a third of the people held the "Baby" single disc, and she couldn't help but say to Danny,
"It seems everyone likes 'Baby'."
Danny interjected, "Of course! I fell in love with Linton after watching MTV last night."
A chorus of agreement surrounded them: "Indeed, this Linton sings well, is handsome, and he even wrote this song himself. I heard it was inspired by his personal experiences."
"Ah, how romantic, how talented! I declare, Linton is my idol!"
This situation was playing out across the United States. Linton and his team also arrived in New York for promotion, doing two local TV interviews during the day and scheduled to appear on ABC's 11 PM talk show that evening.
At the show, substitute host Jay Leno first welcomed and introduced Linton to the audience, then began the interview. The interview was live, but most questions had been rehearsed, so Linton handled them with ease.
Of course, for the show's effect, he also voluntarily revealed some "embarrassing moments" from his growth process. At the end of the show, Jay Leno highly praised Linton's talent, calling him a new generation idol.
At the same time, numerous TV stations, radio stations, newspapers, and magazines released previous interview Materials that day, promoting Linton and "Baby."
And the Seniors and music critics who had accepted Universal's PR also began to lavish various praises on Linton and "Baby."
During prime time that evening, MTV continued to play the "Baby" music video. The handsome men and beautiful women dancing, combined with scenic backdrops and simple close-ups, attracted a large number of teenagers. The fresh, slightly melancholic song and lyrics resonated with even more people.
Not long after, listeners started calling into radio request shows across the country to ask for the song. Radio DJs in cities like New York, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Atlanta, as part of Universal's promotion plan, also began to heavily push it...
Linton could clearly feel his popularity skyrocketing. When he Cultivated that night, his Cultivation speed was hundreds of times faster than the day before, almost startling him. Even when he wasn't Cultivating, his Cultivation Technique began to operate automatically. At this rate, he could Break through to the second layer of Qi Cultivation in at most five days. It was truly exhilarating.
So, at breakfast the next day, everyone was surprised to find Linton looking refreshed and energetic, showing no signs of fatigue, in stark contrast to everyone else.
As he enthusiastically greeted them, they all secretly wondered if Linton was just overly excited from his newfound fame and how long this state would last. Mira, who was also accompanying him throughout, quietly reminded Linton to maintain a normal mindset and not overwork his body, which left Linton speechless.
After eating, he had to perform live at New York Plaza at 11 AM and interact with fans. The on site effect was explosive, with fans completely igniting the atmosphere.
Then, in the afternoon, he had to rush to Chicago to repeat a similar itinerary, though the live events were not exactly the same. Some were held in city squares, others in city parks, and some in shopping malls.
He even went to a casino in Las Vegas for an event, and so on, but the live effects were all phenomenal.
During this time, he also received several congratulatory and thank-you calls from Cameron Diaz. Thanks to the widespread popularity of the music video among teenagers, she, as the female lead of the music video, also gained a significant amount of traffic, and her visibility was rapidly increasing. Her agent had recently received a noticeable increase in job offers and audition invitations. They agreed over the phone to reunite when he returned to Los Angeles.
Aunt Kelly's family also called with well wishes. Aunt Kelly's voice choked with joy over the phone, repeatedly saying, "Go, Linton, your mother would be proud of you too." His cousin Judy shouted from the side, "Brother, you're amazing! Many of my classmates like you."
WMA Vice President Logan also called to congratulate him and instructed Mira to take good care of Linton. Daniel from Universal called with good news every day, his laughter unstoppable over the phone.
There were also many congratulatory calls from teachers and classmates, and even his ex-girlfriend, the former campus belle Connie, who had recently broken up with him, called, hinting at wanting to get back together, but Linton completely ignored her.
More often, it was record companies and various agents trying to connect, but these people could only contact him through Mira, and Linton had Mira reject them all.
Throughout, good news kept coming in. First, sales: many channels sold out in two or three days and requested replenishment. Universal had already arranged emergency restocking and simultaneously initiated the urgent pressing of a third batch of 2 million discs. First-week sales were expected to Break through 500,000 units.
On April 15th, Billboard's singles chart shocked everyone: "Baby" debuted at No. 9 with 330,000 sales.
Billboard magazine also included a personal resume and a short review: "Linton-Anderson, a student at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, during his time at the University of Southern California (USC), wrote this excellent work 'Baby' and personally performed it, based on his musical talent and insights into life." It gave him a high evaluation as a new force in the music industry.
Local stations across the United States called Universal to request audio-video discs of "Baby" for free broadcast on their own TV stations.
The reality of this society is that usually, to get a general song's audio-video disc played on TV, you have to pay. However, considering viewership ratings, for a currently popular song's audio-video disc like "Baby," TV stations will actively reach out to help you broadcast it for free, thereby boosting the song's promotion.
By the time they returned to Los Angeles on April 30th, everyone but Linton was exhausted. The results were also very gratifying: sales of "Baby" had already Broken through 1.5 million units.
The latest Billboard singles chart had already risen to third place. What pleased Linton the most was his Cultivation, which had improved at a rocket-like speed. On April 8th, he unexpectedly Broke through to the second layer of Qi Cultivation, and yesterday, he successfully Broke through to the third layer of Qi Cultivation.
At this point, the promotion temporarily concluded, the promotion team disbanded, and everyone returned home.
Everyone else could go home, but Linton couldn't. Daniel was in a hurry to discuss the filming of the next two music videos with him.
It was a mistake. "Numb" was scheduled for release on May 7th. The original plan was to release the song first, with the music video to follow, but now it seemed like a big mistake.
They had to quickly remedy the situation. Last week, Carson, Zac, and Annie were arranged to prepare and record the "Numb" music video. All preparations were complete, just waiting for Linton to return to start filming.
