Domination in America, Starting from being a Boxing Champion

Christmas was fast approaching, and Link called Taylor to ask if she was coming to New York.

Taylor was originally from Pennsylvania. When she was twelve, her parents moved the family to Nashville, Tennessee, in the south-central United States to support her singing career, the capital of country music.

After Taylor became famous, the Swift family moved to Los Angeles, where they spent most of the year. She only came to New York to record music.

After the release of "Fearless," Taylor had become the most popular country music singer in the United States, and one of the hottest pop singers, with skyrocketing popularity.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Taylor's daily invitations and work had increased manifold. During the album's promotion, she had only visited New York once and had hurriedly left after staying for just one night.

He wanted to spend a two-person world with Taylor during Christmas.

It was only that Taylor said she had work arrangements the day before Christmas, so she could only come to New York after Christmas.

Thinking of her family at home, her parents to keep company with, and a younger brother who had just started elementary school, Link did not press further.

As long as she wasn't too busy and took care of her health.

With Taylor not coming back, Link's free time would increase.

Every morning, he would run near Central Park and do strength and speed training in the gym of his apartment.

After his last fight with Tyson, he had recognized his weaknesses.

The first was that his body weight was not enough, and there was a big gap in resistance to hitting compared to the heavyweights. This was something that couldn't be changed for the moment, as he was a super middleweight boxer, and 77 kilograms was the upper limit—he couldn't easily gain weight.

Second, his punch wasn't powerful enough; his right punch peaked at 1600 pounds, but the average was only 1360 pounds.

At the same training ground, Holyfield had a maximum punch strength of 1620 pounds, only 20 pounds more than his, but his right punch averaged 1480 pounds over ten punches, showing very stable performance and more killing power than his, making him slightly better in real combat.

Link continued to train, also aiming to increase his punch strength and striving to raise it above 2000 pounds. If he could reach this figure, he might become a 'one-punch man' in the future.

No matter what opponent he faced, he could resolve the problem with one punch.

After every day's training, he would drive to the recording studio to practice singing. Ivanka had made it clear that she wanted the album out before February, so he and Graham along with others had no choice but to work overtime and start the recording process early.

I'm never

I never

I'm never down

I never give up

Lying here, staring up

As I lie here, staring ahead

And you're looking down

In the recording studio, Link, wearing headphones standing behind the microphone, was singing a song from the new album "Chasing the Sun"

"Chasing the Sun" is one of the theme songs of the animated movie "Ice Age 4," a popular motivational song performed by British pop band The Wanted, which had topped the UK Singles Chart and reached number five on the U.S. Billboard.

The song incorporates elements of rock, pop, and indie music; it's uplifting with a great rhythm.

Link used to listen to this song's rhythm while practicing boxing steps, repeatedly practicing along with it.

Because it was a song he often listened to in the past, when practicing singing, he would often involuntarily recall scenes from his boxing training.

This feeling was strange, he used to listen to songs while boxing, and now when he was practicing singing, his mind was on boxing.

"Link, put more into it when you sing. Remember you're a singer, not a player. When performing a song, try to understand each lyric, each tune, and integrate your understanding and emotions into it, then express it with your voice. The more thoroughly you understand the song, the more perfect your expression will be, and your voice will be more impactful,"

From behind the soundproof glass wall, Graham Goodall said as he listened to the music and gave pointers.

"Understood!"

Link nodded, adjusted his singing technique according to the advice, and sang over and over again, continuing even when his voice became hoarse.

Graham mentioned that since he had not received formal musical training, his grasp of tunes was not precise. Therefore, before the official recording, he needed to sing each song from the album over a thousand times to form muscle memory and avoid mistakes.

——

"How is Link doing with his singing?"

Outside the recording studio, Ivanka walked in wearing a black ladies' suit dress, her golden hair tied up, lips painted red, her fair and delicate face showing no superfluous expressions, appearing like a formidable female CEO.

Graham came to his senses, put down his headphones and said, "Absolutely fantastic. Link is a born singer, with top-notch vocal capacity, unique understanding of the songs, and great emotional handling. It's hard to imagine he's a boxer. If he could dedicate more time and energy to singing, his future achievements could rival those of top-tier singers."

"Just a top-tier singer?"

Ivanka, with her arms crossed, seemed somewhat dissatisfied.

Graham looked at her in surprise. Wasn't it enough for Link to become a top-tier singer?

There are thousands of singers in the music industry, but only a few dozen can be considered top-tier. Considering that Link was a boxer, Graham thought it was quite an achievement for him to reach that level.

"Link isn't a professional singer, hasn't received professional training, and doesn't understand music theory. Being a top-tier singer is a fitting position for him," Graham said.

Ivanka looked at the person in the glass window and shook her head slightly, "Your goal is too conservative. He's only 20, already a world boxing champion, and has hundreds of millions of fans globally—surpassing all rookie singers.

Second, he is a songwriter; he could write a Billboard champion single 'Dream It Possible,' proving he is very talented.

The third and most important point is that he is very handsome, possessing the appearance of a top film star.

"With such credentials, do you think he can only be a top-tier singer?"

Upon careful consideration, Graham realized that Link indeed was excellent, possessing talent, looks, fame, and youth.

Furthermore, he was very hardworking, very serious during singing practice, and lacked the bad habits of young stars—he was flawless.

"Link is outstanding, but sometimes becoming a top-level singer also depends on the social environment and market trends,"

Graham hesitated.

"I understand. The purpose of my telling you this is to remind you that Link is not an ordinary singer but a genius. You need to mold him like an Emperor Superstar, be stricter with him. If he succeeds, you will also succeed and earn more honors and U.S. dollars. I think you would like that," Ivanka said lightly.

Graham's eyes brightened when he heard her words. Having been a producer for over twenty years, he was only a Gold-Record Producer, not at the pinnacle of music producers.

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The main reason was that he often worked under Sony Music with not-so-great singers, producing mediocre songs, unable to display his full talent.

Now having potential hits and a talented singer at his disposal, why not strive to achieve something significant here?

"Miss Thomp, I understand. I will definitely be stricter with Link,"

Graham said.

Ivanka glanced at Link and a triumphant smile appeared on her face.

After standing in the studio for a while, she left without waiting for Link to come out, reminding Graham not to tell Link about her visit before she left.

Soon, Link noticed that Graham's demands had become stricter, continuously interrupting his singing to point out numerous mistakes and asking him to correct them. Afterwards, Graham even handed him a stack of music textbooks to take home and study.

"Graham, it's just singing. Is it necessary to know so much theory?"

Link looked at the stack of books on the table, somewhat overwhelmed.

Graham, very serious, shook his head and picked up a piece of manuscript paper, saying, "Link, do you know how to perfectly cut out a hand shape from this piece of paper?"

Link looked at the A4 paper, thought for a moment, and used his fingers to gesture.

"First, draw the outline of the hand with a pen, then cut it out with scissors."

Graham shook his head and took out a larger piece of manuscript paper, about twice the size of a hand.

"To cut a perfect hand shape out of a piece of paper, the best method is not to draw with a pen, but to expand the paper. As long as the paper is large enough, you can freely create, draw as many hands as you like."

Link thought for a moment but still didn't quite understand what he was trying to say.

"Graham, please speak directly. Don't use metaphors with me."

"The principle is the same with singing. As long as your skill is high enough, any song can be perfectly presented by you. You might listen to songs by Celine Dion and Whitney Houston. They never sing in falsetto, crack their voice, or run out of breath.

They sing every song easily because their vocal skills are good enough; they don't need to exert too much effort to perfect a song," Graham explained.

Link understood. To put it in Huaxia idioms, just four words—effortlessly competent.

As long as one's singing technique is perfected, one can perform effortlessly.

"Musical theory is like a guide for musicians. The more you know, the fewer mistakes you'll make. Take a look at these; they won't harm you," Mr. Graham advised.

Link thought for a moment and accepted the suggestion.