"Just try to do what you have to do, and I'll leave the rest."
This is a sentence said by Shi Xitong, her boss and program base manager Huang Zitao, before Shi Xitong left the stage in the semi-finals of "Rap New Generation". This is not an ordinary comforting word, but a promise made by the domineering president to the talented Rapper. Unexpectedly, in less than a week, Tao Zong fulfilled her promise.
This is Shi Xitong's debut solo EP album GIFTS. This is the GIFTS given to her by Huang Zitao, and it is also the GIFTS that Shi Xitong returns to her fans. After all, in the vote of the QQ Music New Generation Popular Rapper List, Shi Xitong is the rapper with the highest recognition and the top of the list.
Although it has an authentic oriental soft and cute appearance, Shi Xitong's voice line has a very European and American core of music. On the one hand, this comes from talent, but on the other hand, it also comes from Shi Xitong's early experience and skills accumulated on multiple online music platforms, through continuous cover singing, and the interaction between the two has finally achieved a highly recognizable "European and American voice".
This EP album "GIFTS", the first song of the opening "Graffiti Wall", fully reflects the charm of Shi Xitong's "European and American voice". If you don't know enough about her, listening to such works and voices, you definitely think that it is a new order of a European and American actress, and you can't find any flaws that are enough to violate it.
In fact, from the song "Graffiti Wall", it can also reflect the unique personal characteristics of Shi Xitong in today's domestic hip-hop circle environment, and the reason why she is liked by many fans and can become the popular Rapper of the new generation of QQ music.
That is, many female Rappers in China at present, in fact, in the creation of works, although there is a theme of independent women, at the level of expression, many times it is more domineering, or even more male Rapper expression. The overall embodiment is that the music output is very explosive and intense.
But Shi Xitong is not so, behind the timbre presentation of "European and American voices", works like "Graffiti Wall" actually have a very soft and cute little girl temperament, she conveys not only the personality of independent girls, but also includes the unique small temper and small emotions of little girls, and the personality is cute.
This temperament is actually invisibly close to the temperament of European and American female singers such as Ariana Grande and Selena Gomez. This is also the biggest feature of Shi Xitong and the general form of rapper, even if she has professional Rap technology and literacy, but it also integrates more diversified musical temperament, including pop, dance music, R&B and Soul and other more inclusive expressions.
In fact, the same is true musically. Like "Graffiti Wall" under the structure of Trap, in fact, there are still very electrified dance music characteristics, rhythmic swaying, also speaking and singing, also singing and dancing, Zhang Chi has a degree.
The rhythm base of "CLOSER" is partial to Neo-Soul, and Shi Xitong's interpretation is a fusion of Soul and R&B singing. This is also her charm, many Rappers have a good Rap foundation, but in melody processing, but always blurred details.
But in works like CLOSER, Shi Xitong can not only sing a good melody, but also handle it with ease even for styles such as Soul and R&B that require more skill rendering. Throughout the work, Shi Xitong expressed that lonely sense of courtship to the fullest, expressing the context of the Chinese and English double expressions, connecting nature as one, without any trace of conversion. She can not only sing the Chinese out of the English context, but also still reflect the tenderness of the oriental girl in English, which is quite praised.
The same is true of "HOPE", on top of trap architecture, plus a little rendering of folk music, just right and not noisy.
In this work, in addition to the conversion between Chinese and English, The conversion of Shi Xitong between rap and R&B singing voices not only has no trace in technology, but also because the two completely different musical expressions are just right to synchronize the changes in mood, and also truly expand the expression extension of rap music. That is, through rap to directly express the chest, through the melody to sort out the emotions, the two into one, is the biggest charm of rap music, but also the biggest charm of Shi Xitong.
In fact, the sensitivity and grasp of the melody is the reason why Shi Xitong is particularly outstanding in a group of Rappers, to know that in this year's "Rap New Generation" program, Shi Xitong not only made a deep impression on the stage, she actually played another "tool person" role, that is, for many works in the program, providing a lot of harmony. A rapper can sing a good melody and sing a good harmony, do you say that she is not good?
The album's final work, "Best Gift Ever", also comes from the collaboration between Shi Xitong and his old partner Yu Zhen. As the most powerful work of this EP album, the arrangement of "Best Gift Ever" is spirited and atmospheric, and the complementary interpretation of Shi Xitong and Yu Zhen is suddenly one, suddenly divided into two, each of them is wonderful in interaction, and it is extremely compatible in musical presentation, and Hook's creation has become the finishing touch, making the attitude become pleasant.
After listening to this "GIFTS", we believed in Huang Zitao's Bole attributes, and it was not luck but vision that we could collect such a talented girl early on.
Of course, the whole album not only "indulges" Shi Xitong's young talent, but also provides a strong production guarantee, making the "European and American voice" more international. I have to say that Shi Xitong did what she should do, and Huang Zitao also did the rest of the things quite well!