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Two days later, the music world's biggest carnival, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, was wrapping up its three-day run.
Leon was set to perform on the closing day.
The biggest star this year, Kanye West, was the grand finale, scheduled to perform over twenty songs in a row.
Leon got up early and took a business van to the Colorado Desert.
The legendary extreme desert weather finally showed its true colors.
Freezing you to death at night, and guaranteeing to roast you awake by 9 AM—no alarm clock needed.
He and Robbie had been in a cold war for the past two days, with zero communication between them.
In this weird atmosphere, Leon moved back into a hotel.
He couldn't be bothered to decipher that woman's thoughts. All he knew was that Kate had fixed the Sam Mendes issue in just one day.
Under his ex-wife's hysterical and aggressive pressure, any explanation Sam offered seemed pale.
Helpless, he could only agree to change the original script and significantly increase Robbie's screen time.
Elevating her to the undisputed leading lady.
The Coachella venue was divided into four tents and two outdoor stages, all named after specific desert landscapes.
The Mojave Tent had the most impressive lineup of indie bands. Compared to the Sahara Tent next door, which had a nightclub vibe partying from morning till night, it was indeed less mainstream.
Actually, Coachella wasn't just a haven for rock, indie, and alternative music fans.
Because of Kanye West, this year's Coachella also attracted a significant number of Black audiences who weren't into rock music at all.
As the music festival with the highest commercial value, Coachella took "milking the fans dry" to the extreme.
Not only did they make money on tickets, but sponsorship ads were also maxed out.
In the beer garden, they sold rip-off Heineken for 9 bucks a cup.
Standing at the main stage looking up at the sky, you could even see small planes dragging Doctor Who ad banners flying around the venue.
Since Leon's performance was in the evening, right before Kanye...
Bored out of his mind in the backstage dressing room, he called over a few rock musicians who were stoned out of their minds to play Texas Hold'em.
Although the stakes were small, over a few hours, Leon still won nearly ten thousand dollars from these rich rockers.
He never let a money-making opportunity slip by.
At 6 PM, Kanye West was about to make his grand entrance.
Drawing a conclusion to this three-day extravaganza.
Before that, Leon's performance seemed more like a warm-up act for Kanye.
But the organizers clearly underestimated his influence in the hearts of music fans.
Before Leon even took the stage, the whole crowd was chanting his name.
A huge banner with "Street Jesus" graffiti was passed from the front row to the back, slowly unfurling.
The shock factor was just like the home court of the Bundesliga team Dortmund—the Westfalenstadion, known as the "Devil's Home Court."
Amidst wave after wave of cheering, Leon ran out from backstage wearing a white robe.
Rather than imitating Jesus, he looked more like Saruman the White from The Lord of the Rings.
He first sang his breakout hit Take Me to Church to warm up the crowd.
Immediately after, the stage lights dimmed.
Powerful, heavy drum beats struck.
Leon took off the white robe, standing shirtless.
Months of working out were showing initial results; his muscle definition was much clearer than before.
The fans went into a frenzy.
Extreme fans climbed onto their friends' shoulders.
Girls who were good students in college during the day were now swinging their bras at their idol.
Leon looked down to adjust his in-ear monitor, then turned and nodded to the band.
Whoa, oh, oh
Whoa, oh, oh
Whoa, oh, oh
The drums got stronger with each beat, hitting the fans' hearts like gunshots.
Leon picked up the microphone, head held high. "I wake up from the ruins, wiping the rust and sweat from my forehead."
"Breathing in the scent of chemicals, then breaking free from the cage..."
"This is the Apocalypse."
"I wake up, feeling the primal power!"
"It's enough to make me reborn!"
"Welcome to the new age!"
He extended the microphone toward the restless crowd below the stage.
Driven by the powerful drum beats, the sea of people surged like waves.
Rolling back and forth.
"I've fallen into the abyss!"
"I've fallen into the abyss..."
After the first chorus ended, Leon walked over to the band and patted the drummer on the shoulder.
Then, he stood next to a huge, strange instrument.
It was a Chinese drum taller than a person, an instrument very few Americans had seen.
This was a little design Leon came up with himself.
At first, he thought of doing this just for a gimmick, but when he tried it during rehearsal, the effect was surprisingly good.
The majestic and powerful Chinese drum—every strike erupted with a boom that hit the soul directly.
Far beyond what a drum kit could compare to.
Leon held drumsticks the size of fists, beating rhythmically to the backing track.
Using all his strength.
Boom—
Boom—
The fans had never seen such a spectacular design. Even Leon's die-hard fans were seeing him use this instrument for the first time.
With the experience maxed out, everyone screamed that it was worth the ticket price.
Next, Leon sang two more songs from the Demons album.
As his performance neared the end, he grandly introduced Kanye West, who was about to close the show.
"Let's welcome the greatest genius in rap history..."
"The flag bearer of hip-hop music, the street artist full of rebellious spirit..."
"Kanye West!!"
The audience erupted in a roar, but a significant portion of the fans were stunned, not knowing what was happening.
Those who didn't follow celebrity social media and podcasts closely obviously couldn't figure out the situation.
Didn't Leon and Kanye have Beef?
In fact, this was a design Leon and Kanye agreed upon during rehearsal.
To announce the ice-breaking on the stage of Coachella, the largest music festival in the US.
Kanye, wearing sunglasses, made a shining entrance against a backdrop of ancient Roman stone sculptures.
He sang over a dozen songs in a row.
Thanks to a constant flow of inspiration, his creative efficiency was amazing.
The rate of high-quality songs in a Kanye album was basically over half.
Getting more hyped as he sang, Kanye even started joking, handing the microphone to the audience and asking: "Do you want to snatch my microphone? Who is greater, Kanye West or Lil Wayne?"
The fans burst into huge laughter.
Obviously, Kanye was playing on the meme of himself and Taylor at the VMAs.
Taking this opportunity, he grabbed the microphone and shouted: "You know that incident was a misunderstanding. That night, alcohol ruled my brain, making me say those stupid things..."
"Miss Taylor Swift is perfect, everyone knows that!"
Saying that, he handed the microphone to the audience. "Don't you know?"
"Fxxk~!"
"I want to sleep with that little beauty!"
The high-as-a-kite fans had no filter, yelling into the microphone.
Kanye quickly took the mic back, unable to suppress the smile on his face.
After the mic-snatching incident in 2009, although Kanye apologized immediately, everyone could see that the apology was very perfunctory.
He had never made a strong apology in public.
However, to calm the situation, Taylor chose to accept it.
Saying she accepted it, but remembering the insult in her heart.
And this time, Kanye publicly apologizing to Taylor on stage was done at Leon's request.
This was undoubtedly a bombshell. The media at Coachella raised their long and short lenses, snapping photos frantically.
Undoubtedly, this matter would appear on the entertainment headlines of major media outlets tomorrow.
Kanye's speech wasn't over. After a moment of silence, he grabbed the mic and continued: "I also want to thank someone. We had some misunderstandings before too."
"Leon Smith! This guy is the hardest, most authentic Bad Ass I've ever seen!"
"He has a noble soul, he radiates positive energy!"
"Leon!" Kanye put his fingers to his forehead, making a salute gesture. "Peace!"
This public shout-out was tantamount to directly and publicly siding with Leon!
You have to know the "Second East Coast vs. West Coast Gang War" wasn't over yet; everyone was eagerly awaiting the East Coast's counterattack.
Whether through DISS tracks or physical means...
This matter had to have a result!
Kanye actually turned his back on his big brother Diddy at this time and showed favor to Leon...
However, considering his unique brain circuits, doing such a thing wasn't strange.
Seeing this, Leon looked satisfied.
Although Kanye still had a long segment of performance left, he had no desire to watch anymore.
The goal had been achieved.
He immediately returned to the hotel to rest.
An hour later, social media was flooded with the names of "Leon," "Kanye," and "Taylor."
Leon raised the corners of his mouth and quickly sent a message to Taylor: [Did you see that? Kanye publicly apologized to you.]
[Saw it, but frankly, I don't care at all~ I don't have time to pay attention to this; taking care of my cat is more important.] Taylor's tone remained lukewarm.
Leon lay in the bathtub, took a sip of red wine, looking satisfied.
This woman said she didn't care, but she was just being tsundere (playing hard to get).
In her heart, she was probably blooming with joy.
Five minutes later, Taylor sent a new message.
[About that new work you mentioned before, have you decided who to sing it?]
Leon was so excited he almost dropped his phone into the bathtub.
Orchestrating Kanye's public apology was all to catch this big fish, Taylor.
Otherwise, given this little beauty's proud personality, she was unlikely to accept performing a work written entirely by someone else!
Let alone collaborating with Beyoncé.
Leon quickly grabbed his phone and replied: [This is a work tailor-made for you. Without your participation, I'd rather let it gather dust in the corner than settle for giving it to someone else!]
[I finally know why you charmed Robbie like that...] Taylor replied.
Her implication was: Your tongue is really too flexible...
Two days later, inside the Apocalypse Music recording studio.
On this day, all employees in the company put down their work and rushed to the recording studio to watch.
Today, Beyoncé and Taylor, the two hottest Divas, actually appeared in this small company at the same time.
When the two met, they acted a bit reserved. Apart from mutual compliments, there wasn't much other communication.
But fortunately, Cardi B kept telling dirty jokes on the side to ease the atmosphere.
Beyoncé had a standard hourglass figure, with smooth curves and beautiful lines. Especially the strong contrast between her slender waist and full hips.
And Taylor was half a head taller than Beyoncé.
Blonde hair, blue eyes, skin so white it glowed.
Leon stood between the two Divas pointing things out, making Phil unable to stop cursing—
This bastard is doing what every man in the world wants to do.
Beyoncé had already participated in a recording session before, so Max didn't need to explain much to her.
Taylor was also extremely familiar with every step of recording.
Only making requests to Cardi B took a little more time.
To maximize the selling points of the two Divas, Max cut a portion of the rap section.
Cardi had no complaints about this; she was already very satisfied that Leon gave her the opportunity to collaborate with two top-tier stars.
Twenty minutes later, the three walked into the recording booth together.
Putting on headphones, entering the zone in a second.
Swaying their bodies slightly to the drum beats.
She got a body like an hourglass, but I can give it to you all the time
Beyoncé's performance maintained her consistent standard.
Perhaps recording with two other girls at the same time stimulated her competitive spirit; she performed even better than the first time.
Her body movements were also larger.
This also drove Taylor to get into the zone faster.
She followed Beyoncé's example, swaying her body slightly. "She might've let you hold her hand in school, but I'm gonna show you how to graduate~"
Facing the explicit lyrics, Taylor's performance was surprisingly good.
Her sharp eyes were like a fox hunting prey.
Although in terms of hard skills and vocal technique, Taylor couldn't compare to those powerhouse vocalists.
Her low notes were excellent, reaching down to A2.
Her mid-range timbre was good, live stability had improved, and her high notes were decent with the support of growls.
But this didn't mean her songs were easy to sing.
Taylor had a "small voice," which meant her handling of small details in songs was very precise.
This represented that her "singing IQ" (musicality) was extremely excellent.
Immediately after, Cardi B's rap part contributed the most explicit segment of the entire song.
"Cardi B fully loaded, swimming in the grotto~"
"Kitty cat always drooling~"
"Get this engine humming! Go, Batman! Bang bang~ Have it your way~"
Filled with all kinds of dirty slang and teasing, Taylor frowned first after listening.
Then two burning clouds rose on her face.
As the second chorus proceeded, she was clearly getting high on the music.
Twisting her body face-to-face with Beyoncé, their collaboration was much more natural than during the first chorus.
"WTF..." The staff present, especially the men, were stunned.
This kind of scene usually only appeared in fans' dreams.
When the two goddesses sang the climax of the chorus, they both hooked their fingers at Leon simultaneously.
Bang bang into the room (I know you want it)
Bang bang all over you (I'll let you have it)
"Why does Beyoncé's look at that kid seem a bit off?" Old-hand Phil kept expressing doubts.
Beyoncé's lust-filled eyes looked like she wanted to execute Leon on the spot.
"Very good~"
After the recording ended, all the staff present stood up and applauded.
Beyoncé and Taylor smiled at each other. "Looks like our collaboration effect is fantastic~"
"Your vocals are simply impeccable," Taylor complimented.
Leon's expression was more excited than anyone else's. As soon as the three female singers walked out of the recording booth, he couldn't wait to give everyone a hug.
Taylor was obviously not quite adapted, startled by this excessive enthusiasm.
While Beyoncé and Cardi were long used to it.
Especially Beyoncé.
being hugged so tightly all of a sudden, her eyes instantly turned silky as she whispered in Leon's ear: "Can you reward me?"