Revisiting Tang Lei: Singers who don't want to be Internet celebrities are also a good teacher

"Fluttering and shaking a lifetime, how many beautiful woven dreams, just hurry you left, leaving me with a lifetime of worries..." The sincere lyrics and the beautiful and sad melody make "Lilac" a generation's youth memory. This classic song was composed by Tang Lei, and like most Internet singers of that period, Tang Lei gradually disappeared after becoming popular.

In July 2005, Tang Lei was interviewed by a reporter from Qilu Evening News, and the relevant report was "Tang Lei: "Poor Shaking" in the Atmosphere of "Lilacs"". 16 years later, in the summer of 2021, he suddenly became active again in the public eye through the short video platform, and people were surprised to find that this elegant folk singer was actually a college teacher with a teaching experience of 7 years.

————————

The "original Internet celebrity" is back

When I visited Tang Lei at the beginning of September, I cancelled it several times because of time conflicts or busy coursework, and it was not until the eve of the National Day that the interview time was finally finalized, "There are still classes at four o'clock in the afternoon, and we can only talk between classes." In the autumn rain, the reporter met Tang Lei in the rehearsal building of the Conservatory of Music of Jinan University, white T-shirt, jeans, slightly longer hair pinned with a hairpin, and a first-year student was greeting him: "Teacher Tang, I watched your live broadcast again last night."

Now, live broadcasting is an important part of Tang Lei's life, according to the live broadcast history of the Douyin platform, since June this year, Tang Lei has broadcast nearly 140 times, at least two hours each time, sometimes for five or six hours, and even until 2:30 a.m. at the latest. Most of the live content is singing, telling the story behind the creation, connecting to the PK or communicating with other musicians. As the first generation of Internet celebrities, this is Tang Lei's way of returning to the Internet, and in just three months, his Douyin fans have risen from the initial 30,000 to nearly 500,000.

This attracted many merchants to come to the door and invite Tang Lei to bring goods live, some selling tea, tobacco and alcohol, some selling beef and mutton, and selling agricultural products, but they were all rejected by Tang Lei one by one. Tang Lei's purpose is clear - to be able to cultivate his true fans, to be able to really live like a musician, rather than "making some useless things". "I really worked very hard to do live broadcasting, and kept showing my face, just hoping to equate 'Lilac Flower' with Tang Lei, and then be able to promote more music." Twenty years after the popularity of "Lilac Flower", until today, Tang Lei, who has passed the age of confusion, will receive the evaluation of "singers are not red" and "a song singing for a lifetime" when he broadcasts live every day, and will also hear criticisms that question his excessive consumption of "Lilac Flower", but in fact, in these years, he has never stopped creating, has been writing new songs and albums, but the response is very small.

In recent years, the network copyright has gradually standardized, Tang Lei wants to use this to make music up, the process encountered a lot of problems, "I found that the whole network every day on the line of the new songs there are about 6,000 songs, a month is about 180,000 songs, and the name of Tang Lei to send songs is equivalent to throwing a small stone into the sea, even the ripples will not be flooded." During the epidemic last year, Tang Lei created the anti-epidemic song "Cherry Blossoms in the City", which was well received in the industry, and later he found a well-known musician to re-produce the song, which was uploaded to the Internet but only received more than 20,000 hits. ”

"Later, my friend told me that this era is different now, and I can no longer make music in the same way as before. The songs that are very popular now come out of short video platforms, so I also started to learn these mediums. In his opinion, the three words "lilac" are greater than "Tang Lei", "even sometimes people often call my name 'Ding Lei'." Not only am I facing such a problem, this is actually a natural flaw in the group of Internet singers who debuted in that year. ”

The age of the dead record

"Lilac" is not only catchy in melody, but also the sad mood conveyed by its lyrics is also very moving, in the period when the Internet has not yet been popularized, this song resounds throughout the streets and alleys and mobile phone ringtones, netizens are also keen to give this song a mysterious and romantic story. There are many versions of the story behind "Lilac" on the Internet, the most widely circulated of which is the version of Zeng Mengjie, the bitter girl published in "Reader", and the version of rural volunteer female teacher.

In fact, the song was created in 2000, when the 22-year-old Tang Lei was still a senior student, during his studies he formed a band and served as the lead singer, lead guitar and songwriter, the background of the creation of "Lilac Flower" comes from the personal experience of friends rather than Tang Lei himself, the content is indeed a sad love story, Tang Lei is very sad after hearing it, coupled with his own confusion about feelings and the future at that time, gave birth to this song. Before the official release of "Lilac Flower", Tang Lei recorded demos in a simple rental house, participated in a radio competition called "Campus Music Pioneer", which did not win at the time, but later he passed the sample to netizens during QQ chat, passed ten hundred passes, the song quickly became popular, and later someone made a flash animation with a rural female teacher as the protagonist for the song, and the touching plot made the song more popular.

Tang Lei is not from a music class, but a science and engineering man, studied computer science during college, and did IT in Shenzhen for 4 years after graduation, until "Lilac" became popular on the Internet, Tang Lei participated in the variety show "I am a Chinese star" in May 2004 and won the championship, before officially entering the music industry. After winning the championship, Tang Lei successfully signed a contract with an agency and recorded and released his first album, recalling the scene at that time, he sighed a little: "At that time, we didn't even realize that the Internet singer turned out to be a sign of the advent of a new industry." At that time, the traditional record industry had begun to die. ”

"Because we all grew up listening to physical albums, we all have a dream in our hearts, I want to make a record, so that I am a serious singer." 」 Then those of us who debuted from the Internet did not consolidate this position and went in the opposite direction. After "Lilac Flower", at the end of 2005, another self-titled album of "Tang Lei" with "Chrysanthemum Fragrance" as the main song was released, and the third album "Window Sill of Falling Flowers" was published in 2007. By 2010, Tang Lei had no record label, and he began to do it himself, even selling a house in Guangzhou to publish his fourth album "Love Without a House". "The investment in making the album was very large, and I went to the singer's club everywhere, and I remember running at least dozens of cities and radio charts at that time, but there was no impact. Only later did I realize that after 2008, I would no longer see shops selling CDs on the road. ”

For many literary and art creators, many people mind being labeled, but Tang Lei feels that it is "honored" to be labeled, "The words, songs, and singing are all made by myself, and some people say that it is my label, and I feel very proud." There's nothing wrong with singing a song for a lifetime, and without this song, I might still be doing IT for the rest of my life. In the face of the questioning of the live broadcast, Tang Lei responded with a smile, "Lilac" let him enter the industry and become a singer with a certain reputation, which is a lucky thing, "Before I didn't know to use this way, I worked hard for 17 years, I now know, is to use this song to let everyone know me." "Now, 'Lilac Flower' is not only a song in the memories of a generation's youth, it also appears in many music examination textbooks and has become a repertoire for children to learn." Of course, there are also some people who may be sarcastic or unkind, and I will use it as a spur to do it towards the goal. ”

A college teacher of the "practical school"

The School of Music of the University of Jinan was officially established in 2011, and in 2013, when the 65th anniversary of the University of Jinan was celebrated, Tang Lei returned to his alma mater to sing, and Zheng Zhong, the dean of the Conservatory of Music, invited him to establish a modern music major by hand. In the classroom on the second floor of the rehearsal building, a small room with keyboards, guitars, basses, drums and other equipment is available, Tang Lei usually teaches here, and he is currently the director of the Department of Modern Music at the University of Jinan and a professor. From zero to one is the most difficult, in the past 7 years, Tang Lei has slowly built up a team, set up a training plan, set up a discipline plan... At present, the Department of Modern Music of the University of Jinan has trained three graduates, "The University of Jinan is the only school in Shandong Province with a complete discipline of the Department of Popular Music in addition to mountain art." ”

Tang Lei considers himself a practical tutor, and in the same way, the teachers invited by the department do not have to be academic, but they must have a high enough level of performance. "Our teachers are all experienced and very grounded teachers, and pop music is also to cultivate applied students." Tang Lei said that Liu Jia, a keyboard teacher specially hired by the college, is Xu Wei's current keyboard player, "After a while, we will use the form of a concert in rehearsal classes, and this set of equipment is definitely the best set in Shandong Province, all of which are concert-level instruments." Tang Lei pointed to the equipment in the rehearsal room, full of confidence.

In the class of popular singing class, Tang Lei not only teaches students to sing, he also often teaches students to play and sing, bringing them the latest information, "I think that the relationship between teachers and students is not only to teach skills, but also to expand students' horizons, create opportunities for students, and let him not take detours." Any teacher can teach singing, why do I have to do this? A lot of people probably teach better than I do. Tang Lei will tell students about his experience as a music producer, so that students can understand the difference between the requirements of the record industry for singers and the requirements of traditional vocal teaching for singers, "Traditional teaching for the pop music industry, there are not many parts that need to be improved, we hope to pass on the concept of practice to students, expand their knowledge, do not become a frog at the bottom of the well." At the very least, I hope that our students can really eat with their instruments or singing skills. ”

Source: Qilu Evening News