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Li Jian referred to what the writer Maugham said: People who lag behind the times always have a special charm. There is no need to rush to catch up with the times, follow the speed of one's own heart, slow is a kind of prudence charm, but also a degree of self-confidence. Slow also means tenderness and hope. For people and the world, Li Jian has always updated his understanding: human nature does not need evolution, what people need is inspiration and protection. He believes in the charm and appeal of human nature, and is willing to continue to sing and write about it.
The charm of the "laggard" actually comes from the sober self-knowledge of the laggard, from not being afraid of new directions, and knowing how to move towards a broader realm. This is in line with Li Jian's experience in recent years: people have many possibilities, and they must go out and communicate with the world. Creation may require a room, but people are not animals in a room.
Some stages of life can hand over the answer sheet, some answers may always be on the road, the panorama of life is as endless as the ocean, in the dream spectrum of the times, Li Jian is willing to be the dream explorer who walks slowly.
"Who said that this is a day that will be mentioned in the future, and it is also a day when it is mentioned and silent."
"I always say I forget time, but I can't always forget time."
Recalling the production of the album "All the Time", Li Jian discussed the concept of "time" at the time, but he now finds that time itself is an unpredictable variable. Pulling between memory and forgetting, what people yearn for most is still to return to the right life. "The feeling that my life is still going on, that it is going in all directions, may be more appealing."
Li Jian, who insisted on doing music, fitness, and reading during the epidemic prevention and control period, gave up what things because of this? He thinks that his life before and after the epidemic is not much different, but that special period has given him a new observation: what kind of creature is man?
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So some feelings have different frequency bands, such as happiness. Entertainers, singers, artists, athletes... Until the discipline of any identity, man cannot lose his pleasure as a human being. Now Li Jian likes to convey happy energy, and he says that this is the singer's job.
The happiness is also reflected in some details of the work arrangement, and he revealed that in the 2023 performance plan, several new songs will be released appropriately. Because he found that the audience would be sincerely surprised and happy to hear the new songs that had not been released at the concert.
There are also more and more diversified stages, from online to offline, from indoor to outdoor, to nature. The scenery has changed, the musical color. The mood also changes, go to different places to do music festivals, the same song will have different memories and feelings. But outdoors, like the Valley Music Hall, if you catch the storm, there will be nothing you can do; Performing in the Dunhuang desert, the wind and sunshine are good, and it is not ruled out that extreme weather such as sandstorms will be encountered. Many times to do an adventurous activity, it is necessary to accept and embrace randomness.
"Why is life higher than art, because life is unrehearsed and full of accidents, so people will have endless desire to explore and express themselves in the face of life."
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In 2022, Li Jian raised a cat, and while spending energy and time, he also gained happiness, and had a new experience in getting along with another creature: "If you want to really experience the feelings that pets bring you, you must raise them yourself, rather than by watching TV, going to other people's homes to tease cats, and the immersive feeling is different." For example, it is very close to you when it is hungry, and it is more distant when it is full, which is similar to people, when it asks you, it will be warm to you, and it will stay away from you if it wants nothing from you. But many animal behaviors are unpredictable, unpredictable than humans, and certainly even more unpredictable in people. ”
Li Jian said that he has a desire that is not easy to achieve, but is happy to explore: to raise all kinds of animals in a place similar to a South African estate: hippos, giraffes... Loving animals, he met a huge manta ray during a dive, and later wrote in the musical notebook of "Beautiful Life": I think the animals in our eyes and the us in the eyes of animals are the same in a sense... When I saw the big fish hovering around me again and again, it carried a friendliness and gave me a warm, both intimate and strange feeling. The appearance of creatures freely in nature is also the highest realm in music.
So, that observation clearly has the answer, "I think man is an animal of heaven and earth, not an animal in a room - man needs to break boundaries, integrate into nature, and also need to find balance, and the person who likes to be alone the most cannot do without friends." Just as a bird can't fly all the time, it has a time to roost."
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For some creators, the post-pandemic state of creation has changed. Li Jian is no exception, his 2022 can be divided into two parts: the first half of the year work schedule is full, and the second half of the year is basically in a state of rest. He felt that in the past, when he was at leisure, he always had to hurry up to create, but during this time, he slowly let his heart follow the situation and did not force himself more and more. "As long as you're doing something and thinking, it's not a waste of time."
He said that singers can't be in too much of a hurry, and every detail of the work is a small factor that makes up his future vision. "Nothing happens overnight, including inspiration. Desires and desires can be achieved overnight, but the process of satisfying desires is long. ”
Li Fitness has a rare sense of order, and the sense of order includes preserving boundaries and not following the crowd. Just like he still insists on not using smartphones, because he feels that life is convenient enough and does not need some meaningless convenience, "In fact, I miss when people communicate with email and pay with credit cards, I am very nostalgic for that stage, the convenience of life later has made people show a negative state, I think people are endlessly pursuing, the desire to explore and the train does not know where to go, it is actually very dangerous."
Writer Yu Hua once described Li Jian's music as follows: "In today's noisy and tumultuous world, his quiet things are very moving. "Quiet, transparent and free, is the evaluation of him by the outside world, and it is also the listening feeling brought by Li Jian's music. Just as he understood tradition as the foundation of music, musical forms can be ever-changing, art basically has a constant standard, he believes that there is something too new, too eye-catching, behind the exposure of the exhaustion of the imagination.
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Just like lyrics, Chinese lyrics can convey more meaning than you can imagine. Li Jian also has his own standards for what is good Chinese lyrics: the expression is novel, or it can express the silent corners of people's hearts, and say what people want to say. "I think Xiong Peiyun has a good saying: blindness in the light. You haven't heard the expression, but you can sense what he wants to say. I think if you combine such colloquial language in some lyrics, maybe Chinese the mood of the lyrics will be higher. ”
His views on many issues also reflect a static and moving undertone. "But I don't think that the current music lacks power, it's just that the expression of singers and songs has been diluted and dispersed by Internet information, and there is no surge of energy." When asked how he views music less and less critical, Li Jian quipped: "This situation itself should be worthy of criticism." But criticism should have a broader meaning, and criticism does not have to be sharp, but it can also be moisturizing and silent. Criticism can be a strong voice or a soft-spoken word that makes you uneasy for a long time. He likes to warn more than criticize, because warnings can enter people's hearts gently and resonate in silence.
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Whether it is looking at the creative trend of the times or following the creation of the heart, after the birth of a work, it begins its own destiny, which is something that the author cannot fully control. Of course, Li Jian also has his own preference for certain works, "there is no creator who does not care about the evaluation of others", just like the recent re-reading of Zweig's "The World of Yesterday", he found that great writers are not unhappy with things, not sad for themselves, often because of a few cold words, let their emotions be extremely low. "Fortunately, I feel relieved to have a large number of trusted listener friends."
But the only motivation for him to insist on creating is whether this creation can satisfy himself. This is also the hidden happiness that can only be experienced as a creator: "For example, if you listen to a record and get 50 points of happiness, listening to a live performance may be 80 points, but the one who can get 100% happiness must be the performer, which is a strong progressive process of pleasure." ”
This is a waiting process, but also to protect art from being erased by industrialization, "Any trained singer can actually produce a batch of records in a certain period of time, but that kind of music is not enough to surprise and surprise himself." Only wait for the moment, accumulate a large enough energy, and then release it."
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However, the inevitable industrialization of business operations in modern society, how to choose and balance between the two? Questions such as these may not be answered. Li Jian remembered "Van Gogh of China" he had seen, a documentary about peasant painters in Shenzhen's Dafen Oil Painting Village copying world-famous paintings. He can feel the emotional contradiction and shock of the protagonist in the film: when he is close to the truth, he knows that his efforts have been deviating from the truth, and as an audience, he also has this question: "If Van Gogh painted a hundred of the same sunflowers, is that "Sunflower" still artistic?" ”
Perhaps it takes courage to approach the truth as to face oneself, "The painter reproduced so many Van Gogh's works, and burst into tears when facing the real work, he knew the distance between his copying and the real art, understood what is the color of life, and after recognizing it, he knew how to express himself with a more life-like painting."
In a broader creative dimension, the truth still needs to be tested by the times. Li Jian believes that this is also a topic that cannot be answered by itself, whether it is a writer or a singer, any artistic expression in the context of the times, is just an attempt by blind people to touch the elephant, you can only express the tip of the iceberg of life, because the panorama of life is as endless as the ocean. "Because life is constantly changing, all you can do is express the truth in your perception."
Life is higher than art, because there is no strict starting and turning of life, but there are always some solid things that will not easily disappear, such as idealism. "But I prefer to understand it as faith — a faith that you vaguely find that you know you can't see at the moment, but a faith that you are willing to believe in, a faith that makes your life better, that has agency." It doesn't matter if it can't be realized, because that's what ideal means to exist. ”
ELLEMEN
What do you think about technology, or its impact on music?
Li Jian
I think modern people have fallen into a fanatical superstition and confusion about technology, and it seems that only by constantly creating higher, faster, and stronger technology can human beings evolve better. But in fact, the evolution of human nature and the evolution of science and technology do not occur simultaneously, I think human nature does not need to evolve, human nature needs to be inspired and protected.
People are always caught off guard at the ethical level of technology. I once asked a friend who is engaged in AI work, he said that the world's top biosimulation technology can only simulate cockroaches, and the existence of technology may be to give humans a choice, and it is impossible to directly replace humans. Of course, AI in the music industry will put a lot of people out of work, but it will always be a gap with people, with a real soul.
ELLEMEN
Modern people are prone to "self-discipline anxiety", how do you think to achieve true self-discipline?
Li Jian
I also gained a few pounds during the Spring Festival, and now that I start working, I will pay attention to moderation in advance, which is self-demand and more of a respect for the audience. I think self-discipline should come from responsibility, but I think that nothing should easily fall into an extreme, sometimes the extreme is very cruel, people just always have to balance desire and reason.
ELLEMEN
Besides cats, what other animal would you like to have?
Li Jian
I may want to get a bigger cat, but I like more fierce cats, such as caracal cats and lynx. But if there is no limit to crankiness, will you still want to raise a tiger? But most animals are more comfortable in nature.
ELLEMEN
Describe yourself as an animal?
Li Jian
I may still be a feline, but most of the cats are social animals, and I should be a solitary animal, like a tiger or a lynx. But comparing people to animals doesn't really make sense. Why? Because you don't know animals at all, we haven't explored what we say and do with pets so far.
ELLEMEN
Can you recommend a book you liked recently?
Li Jian
Recently, I read a book of more than two hundred pages in one breath, which is "Twilight is Coming" written by British writer Diana Asir, which is about the writer's perception of human aging. I think the process of human aging is far greater than the process of growth, anyone is powerless in the face of aging, you can only accept, but this is a philosophical proposition throughout life, there is no answer, the only answer is to find the answer.
There is also a passage in the book that says that work is man's greatest invention. Because it means that society can coexist in an orderly way, relying on and helping each other, and also making so-called leisure more meaningful. I paused when I read this passage and thought it was well written.
ELLEMEN
What are your reading habits?
Li Jian
I think it's a good habit to buy literary magazines, of course, today there are fewer and fewer places to sell magazines, and you can only subscribe.
When I was a child, once I had money in my pocket, the first thing I did was to go to the newspaper store in Harbin to buy newspapers, including magazines such as "Language News", "Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry", and "People's Literature", which was one of the great pleasures of childhood life. I love to visit newsstands, but there are fewer and fewer newsstands in Beijing. In Europe, newsstands are a beautiful part of the city, and I think this beautiful scenery should be regained and not lost.
Photo by Li Xiaoliang (Astudio)
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Interview, written by Shu Cat
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