"Oh my God, I can't believe I still have to accompany you to deal with these annoying reporters even after we broke up."
Free from the constraints of the cameras, Robbie let go of Leon's arm and started chatting with her friends at the entrance.
The actors and singers of the "Aussie Posse" awkwardly waved to Leon from a distance.
He and Taylor were seated in the second row of the main venue. According to past conventions, Taylor should have been sitting in the front row. The main problem lay with Leon himself.
Sitting in the first row were Roc Nation founder JAY-Z, Warner Music Vice President Leonard, Def Jam Recordings President, new generation rap godfather Lil Wayne...
Every single one of them had some beef with him, more or less.
Quincy Jones was originally on the guest list, but when he heard Leon would also be there, he immediately slammed the phone down, almost losing his breath and going to see God.
"I thought it would be extremely embarrassing just now..." Taylor touched her burning cheeks and adjusted her breathing.
In the past, she had experienced dramatic things like catching a cheating boyfriend, but this was her first time experiencing being the "other woman."
The shame was maxed out.
Leon patted her shoulder. "Relax, I told you Robbie and I broke up amicably."
Sitting directly in front of him was Columbia Records Chairman Stringer.
The man was as refined and amiable as ever, unaffected by the notoriety of "Street Jesus," chatting happily with fellow big shots.
He turned back to look at Leon, pointing at Def Jam President Steven Bartels beside him, and teased, "This guy has never beaten me at golf. He wants to save face at the MTV awards, but I don't think you'll give him the chance."
Leon spread his hands, knowing it was just a joke. He only received two nominations.
Columbia Records had an absolute killer weapon at this MTV awards ceremony.
"This task is too heavy; better leave it to Miss Adele."
Saying this, he cast his gaze to the corner on the right side of the first row, where a British country girl with an old-fashioned bun sat honestly.
She wasn't communicating with anyone, trying hard to adjust her breathing to look less nervous.
However, it was this passerby-looking chubby British girl who created the biggest miracle in the music industry after the millennium.
After the release of 21, it topped the album charts in 18 countries worldwide, surpassing Michael Jackson's legendary album Thriller in the number of regions won.
As of June this year, the album had sold 2.5 million copies in the US and broke the 21st-century record sales record in the UK.
Many industry insiders believed that if Adele's image were a bit more outstanding, there would be even greater room for improvement in this achievement.
But a part of people, including Leon, held the completely opposite view.
Adele's phenomenal success was inseparable from her rags-to-riches story and ordinary appearance, which was also part of the singer's persona.
The award ceremony officially began. The first two awards were about behind-the-scenes work: Best Editing and Best Cinematography.
These two awards could only be considered appetizers. Katy Perry, who received the most nominations, lost to Adele in both categories.
After the chubby British girl went on stage, she seemed overwhelmed, almost bursting into tears several times, mechanically reading out a string of thank-you lists.
"Thank you, Beyoncé! Her works are my musical enlightenment. Working with her at Columbia Records, I learned a lot..."
Beyoncé below the stage smiled while shaking her head. "You deserve it, sister!"
Stringer turned back and teased, "The situation I worried about most has appeared. Adele used up all the acceptance speech the company prepared for her. I'm very curious about what she will say if she wins awards next."
The subsequent Best Art Direction was also awarded to Adele. Rolling in the Deep winning three consecutive awards shocked the whole audience.
As happy as she smiled, Katy Perry was that embarrassed.
Losing to the same person in three consecutive award selections.
Finally, in the most irrelevant award, Best Special Effects, she got the chance to get on the podium, standing alongside Kanye West, who featured in E.T.
"Congratulations, Katy!" Taylor stood up and acknowledged the other party from a distance, her expression very delighted.
"You and she are also good friends?"
"Of course, Katy is a very cool girl~" Taylor asked, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing..."
Leon knew Taylor was a famous "social butterfly" in the entertainment circle and didn't bother to care about her interpersonal relationships.
But he really didn't have any good feelings for Katy, who started her career by playing with leftist traffic.
Although he also relied on the leftist base, in the beginning, this group of leftists took the initiative to stick to him.
Katy's purpose was much clearer. During the dark years when she was abandoned by Columbia Records, she successively released many rotten songs with eye-catching titles.
Such as I Kissed a Girl, Ur So Gay, etc...
These works achieved huge influence among woke people, becoming the cornerstone for her current rise.
The lengthy award ceremony was really boring. Leon hooked his head and chatted with West Coast big shot Dr. Dre about serving as a flying mentor in The Rap of America.
"Are you free to come to New York next Wednesday? The recording of The Rap of America is expected to wrap up next week."
"No problem. Just say the word, and I can cancel the dinner with Tim Cook (Apple's new CEO)," Dr. Dre said in a teasing tone.
Mentioning the show The Rap of America made his heart ache.
If he had requested to buy shares when he first heard this idea, Leon would definitely not have chosen to refuse for risk control.
But it's too late to say anything now. Everyone inevitably has to pay the price for their shortsightedness.
Now he could only take the $500,000 flying mentor appearance fee and watch the value of this show rise to hundreds of millions of dollars.
This little appearance fee meant nothing to a billionaire like him.
"It would be even better if you could stop by for an exclusive interview with Vibe. It only takes two hours." Leon shamelessly took advantage of the situation to ask for more from Dre. Vibe's recent sales were a bit sluggish, relying entirely on exposing The Rap of America behind-the-scenes to hold on.
It wasn't easy for Dre to come to the East Coast; it would be a waste not to use him. Just needed him to sit in front of the camera, strike a few poses, and tell those gangster singer rags-to-riches stories that had been told to death a few times.
"Can I still refuse when you've brought it up?" Dre smiled bitterly. The young man in front of him was no less greedy than him, an old businessman.
"Look, look, Beyoncé is coming on stage!" Kendrick suddenly screamed excitedly, light in his eyes.
Beyoncé's status in the black community is like Venus. Probably only Mariah Carey in the 90s could knock on the door.
Many black singers have publicly stated in the media: "I'm jealous of JAY-Z, but not of his power and wealth, but that he has Beyoncé, the most perfect woman in the world."
If a reporter walks on the street with a microphone and interviews any black person he meets, asking "Who is the greatest female singer in the world?"
The vast majority will say Beyoncé's name.
Although she only received one nomination in this MTV award ceremony, the cheers during her performance were a magnitude louder than Katy Perry's.
Beyoncé wore a silver high-cut bodysuit, black wrapping her iconic athletic long legs, and her upper body was wrapped in silver sequins.
Baby baby
I can hear the wind whipping past my face
Boy your lips taste like a night of champagne
This song Love On Top was the only highlight in her fourth studio album 4.
This album, which was originally placed with high hopes, let alone reaching the level of Adele's 21, couldn't even reach the passing line in her past album catalog.
Watching his wife singing, dancing, and shining on stage, JAY-Z could clearly feel the burning gaze of other black men.
He curved the corners of his mouth with a face of enjoyment, as if saying: "Jealous of me, all of you..."
When singing to the emotional depth, Beyoncé stood on the stage and pointed to the guest seats from a distance, interacting with the "Honey" in the lyrics.
JAY-Z shook his head with a face of enjoyment, stood up, clapped his hands, and beat the rhythm.
Soon he found something wrong.
"Not right..." Even though he had drunk a lot of champagne, he wasn't drunk, and his vision wasn't blurred.
He could clearly notice that although his wife's gaze was looking in this direction, it wasn't focused on him. He turned his head in confusion, his expression stunned like a wooden chicken.
Behind him, Leon also stood up and beat the rhythm.
Body swaying with the music, a face of enjoyment.
"Fck... this is unlikely..."
For the first time, JAY-Z suspected if his eyes were playing tricks on him. Turning back to look at the stage, Beyoncé's interaction segment was over.
"Sht... I must be seeing things."
After the performance ended, the award segment proceeded as usual.
Hearing the host call his name, he quickly ended the chat with Dre, straightened his lapel, and made a peace sign to the camera.
"The winner of the Best Direction award is... Leon Smith, Mike Cloud, Demons. Congratulations to both~"
As soon as the voice fell, the accompaniment of Demons rang in the theater hall, and the big screen played the scene of Beyoncé wearing a white latex suit in the MV.
"Holy sht, I can't believe this is real..." Old Mike held his head and froze in place until Leon walked to him and patted his shoulder.
Having struggled in the photography industry for more than thirty years, working his way up from a bottom-level photographer step by step, he finally became a blue-collar MV director in the music industry.
He often had a premonition that his career had reached the end and there would be no room for further advancement.
More than once, he had the idea of quitting the ranks of MV directors and doing what he really loved—joining Brazzers to shoot pure love action movies.
Leon saw through his thoughts and intentionally left more time for the other party to speak during the award segment.
Winning this award, Old Mike had undoubtedly stood on the front line in the MV director industry.
Keeping such a director in Apocalypse Music would be greatly beneficial for the company's future development.
Old Mike was so excited that even his voice was trembling, kissing the trophy non-stop. "I didn't expect to have the chance to touch this trophy. I mean, I'm almost sixty years old."
"I just want to thank three people. One is the great Louis Daguerre, who used magical light and shadow magic to preserve beautiful moments permanently."
"Another is my boss, Mr. Leon. What else can I say about him? Amazing young man. Without him, Miss Beyoncé wouldn't have appeared in the MV, dedicating this great performance."
"Finally, I want to thank Beyoncé!"
A sincere speech moved the whole audience. Guests stood up one after another to pay tribute to this old director.
In this industry, there are not only glamorous public figures; blue-collar directors like Old Mike who live behind the scenes are the majority.
Only JAY-Z's expression became more and more distorted, his features souring into a ball.
Although only a segment of the MV was played on the big screen, seeing his wife wearing a white latex suit and hood, revealing only bright red lips, sticking to another man in this situation.
It was like repeatedly flogging a corpse; no one could stand it.
The mere six-minute award process felt like torture to him.
"You and Miss Beyoncé are quite intimate." Taylor pouted. She didn't miss a single frame of the extremely provocative MV just now.
"It's just work." Leon explained, "Miss Beyoncé is the one who truly brought me into this industry. Don't think too much."
"I didn't." Taylor quickly calmed down and skipped this part.
"Kiss scenes," "intimate contact," and even "nude scenes" are topics that no entertainment industry couple can avoid.
Even a superstar like Kate Winslet showed her body to billions of viewers worldwide in Titanic.
If such things have to be taken seriously, entertainment industry couples would become extinct immediately.
Next, the result of the Best Hip-Hop Video award was quite surprising. Black female rapper Nicki Minaj defeated big shots Lil Wayne and Kanye West to take the trophy.
"Why does this short and ugly bitch deserve it?" Phil shouted and sprayed non-stop, not caring about other people's disgusted eyes at all. "No matter how you look at it, she is a low-end substitute for Cardi."
"Damn Bro, I agree!" Kendrick echoed. "I still think Cardi is hotter. If I had to pick one tonight, I'd choose Cardi with my eyes closed!"
The track for female rappers isn't crowded. Record companies have been exploring this track for a long time. Currently, only Nicki Minaj and Cardi B can survive.
The two sides are on par in popularity, but Cardi B is better in terms of lyrics and MV scale.
The old geezer's words also knocked Leon from the side: You should give Cardi more resources and let her release her debut album smoothly.
The host opened the envelope and read the nominations for the first heavyweight award tonight. "Nominees for Best Pop Video are: Adele Rolling in the Deep, Bruno Mars Grenade, Katy Perry Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.), Pitbull Give Me Everything, and Britney Spears Till the World Ends..."
Just listening to the names on the list, one knew how fierce the competition was. Everyone stopped chatting, eyes locked on the main stage.
"The winner is... Britney Spears, Till the World Ends! Congratulations!"
"It's actually her?" Leon stood up, clapping while searching for Britney's figure, and saw the familiar blonde image in the corner of the front row.
Every American teenager born in the 80s and 90s had pasted her posters in their bedrooms. Many even gave their first time to Britney on paper.
At her peak, "Britney" was the synonym for American pop music.
Britney excitedly hugged her relatives and friends around her, tears uncontrollably bursting out of her eyes.
After experiencing a series of bad things such as getting married, becoming a mother, divorce, and family backstabbing, her popularity fell off a cliff, and her career was interrupted for a time.
The sweetie became old cabbage.
The industry unanimously believed that for a singer taking the youth idol route, her career had ended here.
Under such unfavorable circumstances, Britney announced her return to the music scene with the new album Circus in 2008.
Even if it was far from comparable to her peak, it still achieved good results.
Industry experts were slapped in the face. They underestimated the consumption power of white males around thirty.
"Congratulations, Britney~" Taylor, who has good popularity, hugged Britney. The on-site cameraman quickly turned the lens to capture the scene of the new and old American sweethearts hugging.
"Thank you, dear. You look stunning tonight." Britney said, "Is this your boyfriend? The famous Street Jesus?"
"Yes, this is Leon."
Leon leaned forward half a step and hugged Britney politely. "Congratulations, Miss Britney. I grew up listening to your songs..."