Domination in America, Starting from being a Boxing Champion

"Paul! Catch!"

"Ah! Link, can you take it easy when you spike? We're playing volleyball, not boxing; you almost KO'd me."

In Los Angeles, on Santa Monica Beach, a group of scantily-clad men and women were playing beach volleyball.

The men were mostly shirtless, wearing athletic shorts.

The women were all in bikinis, red, black, pink, their flesh jiggling as they ran.

All of these people were in their twenties or thirties, and their figures were very sexy and hot.

Ms. Anna Farrell arrived at the edge of the sand court, adjusted her glasses, and scanned the men before her gaze settled on the man in khaki athletic shorts, Link Baker.

He still had sharp black hair, exposed robust back, bronze skin, and although his muscles weren't as exaggerated as those of a bodybuilder, they were well-proportioned and clearly defined, each one just the right size.

He looked like those genetically engineered soldiers trained with high-tech equipment in the sci-fi movie "Soldier," very sexy.

Every time Anna saw him, she felt like she was dreaming. Some time ago, when Link Music Company was hiring new staff, she submitted a resume, went through several rounds of selection, and was retained by the company.

She used to work as an editor at a men's fashion magazine publisher and thought she would stay inside the company as a secretarial clerk, never expecting to be assigned to Link's side as an assistant.

Facing handsome men like Link every day, even though she had been married and had children, she couldn't help but get excited.

Thump!

On the beach, Link pushed off the ground with both feet, leaped more than a meter into the air, and slammed his raised right arm onto the red volleyball, forcefully striking it downwards, causing a thump as it hit the sand and sent up a spray of golden sand.

Paul Walker and another teammate lunged over to try to save the ball, nearly colliding with each other.

"11:5, Paul, you're paying today," Link said, laughing while propping himself up by the waist.

"Damn it! Are you a Boxer? Why are you so good at racing, volleyball, tennis? Next time I'm challenging you to ping pong; I refuse to believe a Boxer can play ping pong."

Paul Walker exclaimed as he jumped up from the ground.

"Haha, you can try."

Link, spotting his assistant Anna approaching, called a time-out and came to the edge of the beach court.

Anna was his newly hired assistant. Initially, he wanted James to come over, but James couldn't part with the Baker shop. Besides, he had recently found a girlfriend and was even less willing to leave Miami.

"Anna, what's up?"

Link took a sip of water from his bottle.

"Ms. Thomp called and said she needed to talk to you, hoping you'd call her back when you're free."

Anna passed him his cell phone.

Link nodded, laid down on the beach chair, and called Eva's number.

After recording his new album, Link came to Los Angeles to audition for "Fighter" and successfully landed the role. Because the production crew requested it, he temporarily stayed in Los Angeles to coach several main characters in boxing.

"Eva, missing me?"

When he heard the call connect on the other end, Link joked.

"Hmph, do you know what day it is today?"

Eva's voice asked coldly.

Link touched his forehead, thinking for a moment, "Our first meeting was in early June, not quite one year ago, and your birthday is in October, so today shouldn't be any special day."

"Don't joke around, I'm talking serious business here. Today is the day the first week's results come out for your album release. Don't you want to know how your first album sold and its chart positions?"

"Oh, is it? You didn't mention it, and I almost forgot. Tell me the sales figures."

Link sat up straight and asked.

Around the New Year, he and Graham and other workers from Link Music spent more than a month in the studio, finally completing the recording of all 14 songs on his first album "The Fighter."

After hearing about the album's success, Eva asked about twenty music professionals to listen and provide feedback.

Everyone rated the album quite high, averaging an A-, with potential for big sales.

With the listening results being good, Eva took the staff from Link Music's marketing department and started a massive promotional campaign, releasing the album nationwide last week.

Today was the day to see the first week's results, and Link was quite looking forward to the sales figures for his first album.

"Total U.S. sales are 97,651 copies,"

Eva said evenly, her breath subdued, but if one listened closely, they could detect a quiver.

"Only just over 90,000 copies?"

Link was somewhat disappointed. Taylor's second album sold 650,000 copies in its first week, reaching number one on the Billboard 200, and his own album sales were just one-seventh of hers—not good at all.

"You're not satisfied with nearly 100,000 copies on your first week?"

Eva asked in surprise.

"Taylor's last album sold 650,000 copies, and I have only a seventh of her sales."

"But that was Taylor's second album, with a fan base, and she released singles and promoted everywhere half a year in advance. We didn't release any singles ahead of time, and you couldn't be bothered to promote, so aren't these results satisfying for a first-week release?"

Eva had shouted out in excitement when she saw the figures and hurriedly called Link to share the good news, but when Link heard the data, he didn't show a flicker of excitement and seemed pretty dissatisfied.

However, realizing that Link understood even less about the music industry than she did, besides songwriting and singing, she wasn't so angry anymore.

"Link, do you know what last year's breakout stars Lady Gaga and Katy Perry's first album results were?"

Hearing these two big names, Link's ears perked up. In Miami, he had listened to their songs, and he hadn't realized they had debuted around the same time as him.

"How much?"

Eva told him that last June, Katy Perry's debut album "One of the Boys" sold 47,000 copies in its first week.

In October, Lady Gaga released her first album "The Fame," which sold 24,000 copies in its first week.

Katie Perry was the breakout star of pop music last year.

"Now do you understand how impressive 97,000 copies are?"

Eva asked.

Link nodded, his debut outperforming megastars like Fruit Sister and Lady Gaga wasn't too shabby indeed.

However, he remembered that he was the world boxing champion, with a fan base.

Before the album's release, the "Despacito" video surpassed 10 million views on YouTube, making it one of the top twenty most-viewed music videos on the platform.

There was also the hit song "dream it possible," which topped the singles chart for three consecutive weeks and listed his own name in the songwriter credits.

These two singles had built up quite a reputation for him.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

He wasn't exactly a newcomer in the music industry.

"Link, take another guess, what position did 'The Fighter' rank on the Billboard 200 album chart in the United States?"

Eva's voice turned merry again, as if she was teasing him.

"Just tell me, don't make me guess."

Paul was calling him to play volleyball on the beach. Link waved his hand and pointed to his phone.

"It's number five!"

First place went to Kanye West, who released his fourth studio album "808's & Heartbreak" on January 3rd this year, with first-week sales reaching 452,000 copies and holding strong at 375,000 in its third week.

Second place was Britney Spears with her sixth studio album "Circus," released on December 12th last year, featuring 13 tracks including "Womanizer," "Out From Under," and "Kill the Lights," achieving first-week sales of 505,000 and 175,000 this week.

In third place was Taylor's "Fearless," with 137,000 copies sold this week, accumulating to a total of 3.2 million copies across America.

Forth came Rihanna with the revamped album "Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded," which also had a New Year's release, earning 102,000 in its third week.

In sixth place, 'pop princess' Christina Aguilera released her first greatest hits album "Keeps Gettin' Better: A Decade of Hits," with this week's sales at 73,000 copies.

Usher's fifth album "Here I Stand" was in seventh with 68,000 copies.

Hearing about these music industry giants on the same chart, Link suddenly felt that being fifth wasn't so bad after all.

"Among all the newcomers, you're number one. How do you feel now?"

Eva chuckled.

"Not bad."

Link stretched lazily and laughed, "What about the singles chart? How many tracks made it?"

"Three songs made it into the top ten of the singles chart, and there's one champion single. Guess which one it is?" Eva seemed to be in a good mood and smiled lightly.

"There's a champion single?"

Link was surprised, as he didn't remember many inspirational songs, and he hadn't managed to copy many good ones. He didn't expect one to become a champion single.

"Is it 'never say never' or 'chasing the sun'?"

"Neither."

Eva laughed, "'Unstoppable' debuted at number one, 'chasing the sun' at six, and 'Fire' at ten. Your most anticipated 'never say never' only made it to 97th place."

'Unstoppable' was a hit?

Link was taken aback; this song was a last-minute addition.

Because the few songs arranged by Graham were of mediocre quality, he was worried about dismal album sales and racked his brains to come up with a few more songs, including "Unstoppable," "Fire," and "American dream."

"Unstoppable" was the NBA theme song for 2015-2016, and the original singer was a female artist with a more androgynous voice.

He had listened to it a few times before and liked it, so he'd included it to fill the album, not expecting it to become a number one hit over the ones he was more confident in like "never say never" or "chasing the sun."

He suddenly understood Mr. Graham's words; to become a top singer, personal ability wasn't enough—it also took social context and market trends into account.

America was still affected by the financial crisis, from the nation to individuals, and everyone's spirits were quite low. The positive lyrics and tune of "Unstoppable" managed to reach the top of the singles chart, which did indeed involve some luck.

"How many songs from 'The Fighter' broke into the top 100 of the singles chart?"

Link asked.

"Seven, and all seven songs are your own work."

Eva paused for a moment, then said softly, "Link, you're really amazing."

Link smiled faintly, accepting only 50 percent of her praise because he genuinely did well on the interpretation of several songs. His personal style and emotions were present in the songs, not losing to the originals, and in some cases like "Unstoppable" and "chasing the sun," his versions were even better and more spirited.

The remaining 50 percent of the praise he attributed to the original songwriters.

"Eva, is there anything else? I'm playing volleyball,"

Link inquired.

"Of course, there's something else. Your debut is a huge success, and you've got a chart-topping single. Did you think there'd be nothing else? The rest will be handled by Mandy; I'm hands-off. But there's talk on Yahoo News that you have a new girlfriend named Amber Heard. Have you and Taylor Swift broken up?" Explore new worlds at empire

Eva suddenly asked.

"Yes, she's very busy, and so am I. We've only met once in the past three months. It seemed more appropriate to be just friends, without any guilt on either side,"

Link shrugged and said.

"She agreed to it?"

"No, but I think she'll come to understand."

"She hasn't agreed to break up, and you're fooling around with other women? You really are a damn scoundrel."

Eva cursed unreservedly.

Link touched the sweat on his forehead. He thought about defending himself, but then decided against it. As for breaking up with Taylor, he didn't think he had done anything wrong.