The hype surrounding the upcoming release of Iris Long's new album "Rebirth Melodies" was due to several factors.
First was that it was the piano version of the already successful "Rebirth" album.
Second was that it would be accompanied by a complete piano songbook which was of great interest not only to pianists but also to other instrumental musicians as well. Even to those who weren't musicians but were Iris Long fans, especially the Black Stars, the songbook was a great collectible.
Third was that it was an album intended to be released internationally right from the start.
Fourth and the biggest factor of all was that the album was first announced alongside the bombshell about Iris Long being appointed as official composer for an as of yet unknown film.
These were the reasons why it broke pre-order records for instrumental albums in the country's music history.
Despite the hype and the record-breaking pre-order sales, many music industry experts still predicted that "Rebirth Melodies" wouldn't be able to directly compete against the usual pop albums because it was an instrumental album. They reasoned that the majority of people weren't that interested in purely instrumental music.
In the past, the only instrumental albums that could directly compete in the music charts were the official soundtracks of popular TV drama and movies. Even albums by the country's most celebrated classic instrumental musicians rarely entered the music charts.
"Rebirth Melodies" wasn't any of these, not an official soundtrack of a popular TV drama or film, and Iris Long wasn't a celebrated classic instrumental musician either. So the music industry experts' skepticism about the album made sense.
Finally, the release day of Iris Long's album "Rebirth Melodies" arrived. Following the music industry experts' skepticism, many radio stations declined to play the album's piano songs. Only a handful readily played them, including DJ Song's radio show.
Its daily streaming power was on its way to catching up to the original "Rebirth" album. People liked to listen to "Rebirth" and "Rebirth Melodies" simultaneously to compare. The two albums technically contained the same songs, but listeners were quickly discovering that "Rebirth Melodies" had a completely different vibe from the original album.
Iris Long didn't just transcribe the original songs as they were but rearranged them to evoke purer and rawer emotions from the listeners.
In the original "Rebirth" album, the presence of Iris Long herself and her amazing vocals added a big entertainment element to the listening experience. Her skillful and emotional singing was the album's most important quality.
In "Rebirth Melodies", however, this element was not present. There were no vocals, so the listeners were left only with their pure emotions evoked directly by the piano music.
As for the piano songbook, people had the option of buying it separately or with the album, no matter if the album was a physical or a digital copy. Since the songbook was published in book format, it was listed as such and was also available in all major bookstores. It quickly became a bestseller, breaking records for the fastest selling sheet music in the country.
The industry experts were stunned. Then some classic instrumental musicians expressed their displeasure with how "Rebirth Melodies" continued to break records.
One of the most accomplished classical pianists in the country who was treated as a national pride for decades was recorded saying, "I'm utterly disappointed that instead of learning to appreciate proper classical music, our younger generation today are choosing to listen to some pop singer's simplistic piano transcription. This is further proof of the degradation in the education of our youth today. They don't know how to discern real art from sham. I feel insulted not only for myself but for all the real pianists in the world that a mere pop singer is pretending to be one of us."
This comment by such a famous pianist caused headlines.
The Black Stars were, of course, enraged. And since the pianist also criticized young people, even those who weren't Iris Long fans felt offended by his comment.
"He's just jealous because despite winning many awards, his albums never sold well. Why? Because he's just playing the same classical music over and over. Even his own compositions sound like the ones composed by Beethoven, Mozart and the other greats. No originality at all. He just plays the piano really well. At least, Iris Long creates her own music AND plays well."
"Your time is up, old man. Stay in the past where you belong! This is the era of our generation. And if we choose to like Iris Long, we'll like her! Backward people like you don't have any right to tell us what to do!"
The pianist didn't expect such a backlash from his comment. He felt upset and humiliated. As a result, his fellow classical musicians quickly banded together to defend him.
Although Iris Long personally didn't say or do anything against them, these classical musicians still blamed her for disrespecting one of the most respected pianists in the country. They demanded an apology from her.