Author | Xianjiang
Source | Very music (WeChat public account ID: musiclore)
© Original article, unauthorized reproduction
In the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, China, there is a unique small fox, Chinese named Shuffle Fox and English name Corsac. Under this name, a Chinese musician released a song called "Reverse", which received 2 billion views, and he is CORSAK Hu Mengzhou.
Hu Mengzhou, who studied classical piano since childhood, once wanted to become a pianist like Lang Lang, and once formed a punk band, and later was admitted to the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and participated in "The Voice of China" after graduation, but he has never made up his mind to become a musician.
In 2016, Hu Mengzhou traveled to Amsterdam in the Netherlands, on the way to Belgium to attend One of the world's largest electric syllable festivals, Tombrowland, he was shocked by the hundreds of thousands of spectators on the scene, "it turns out that music can connect so many people".
A thought took root in Hu Mengzhou's heart, and he began to imagine that he could one day stand on such a stage, and the audience listened to his music and danced.
Today, five years later, Hu Mengzhou's life has already turned a new page, and the dreams he once dreamed of are being realized one by one.
"I don't think these five years have been in vain."
I think music is a really fun thing for me, it's really good, I like it so much.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="11" > hesitation</h1>
Hu Mengzhou's fan, code name is "Little Fox".
In 2020, the video of Hu Mengzhou's early participation in variety shows was turned over by the "little foxes", and a "Hu Mengzhou archaeology" fever was set off on the b station, and a little fox left a message, "Is this the one I know him?" Another little fox left a message, "Old Hu, what have you experienced in the past few years?" ”
The song that was hotly discussed by the little foxes was "Who I Am You", and the original song was Huang Lixing.
In 2013, "The Voice of China Season 2", Hu Mengzhou debuted, won the turn of Wang Feng, Na Ying, Yu Chengqing three mentors, Hu Mengzhou said in an interview afterwards: "I really came with the mentality of playing, I did not expect the three teachers to turn me around, after all, I sang Huang Lixing's "Who Am I" is not a mainstream song, and it is really happy to be recognized. ”
In 2013, Hu Mengzhou was on the stage of "The Voice of China Season 2"
Hu Mengzhou said that participating in the draft was purely accidental, and it was a friend of his who should have gone to the competition, but he was absent because of a temporary incident, and he happened to help in the program group, so he took the place of his friend.
Before that, Hu Mengzhou also participated in another variety show, "China's Got Talent", in which Hu Mengzhou even played the piano belt and drums, and also showed a double piano ensemble. From the early videos, we can already see Hu Mengzhou's instrumental skills, and in his memories, his youth has been given to music.
"I've actually done too many music-related things."
Hu Mengzhou began to learn classical piano at the age of 3, and held his own solo concert in junior high school, and his dream was to become a pianist like Lang Lang.
From high school to college, Hu Mengzhou spent time in the temple of art. Because of his outstanding performance, Hu Mengzhou was favored by the teachers of Shenyang Lefu Art School in high school, and after graduating from high school, he was admitted to the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.
During his studies, Hu Mengzhou formed several bands, played punk, and also played jazz and folk music. In college, Hu Mengzhou studied orchestral music and conducted an entire symphony orchestra.
"I think music is a really fun thing for me, it's really good, I like it so much."
Despite this, after participating in the draft, Hu Mengzhou did not choose to become a professional musician, but went to participate in the TV series.
"I hesitated, because there was an opportunity to perform, I always liked music, but at that time I didn't say that there was a particularly good opportunity for you to be a singer, or that you could go to be a songwriter.
In 2014, Hu Mengzhou made a TV series and came to Beijing to start his acting career as an actor, saying that in those two years, he did not touch music at all, but was bent on going in the direction of being an actor.
Until one day, he heard the song "Waiting for Love" by Avicii and Martin Garrix.
"After hearing it, I felt a special vibration, and I felt that the original electronic sound could be so grand." Because no matter whether I studied composition or production before, I was popular. For the first time, I felt that electronic music could be a good direction for the future, something that would become very big. At that time, I began to study how to do electronic arrangements and learned to do it myself. ”
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="29" > dreams</h1>
Bohm, Belgium, is a small town with a permanent population of less than 20,000 people, but the Tombrowland Electric Syllable Festival, which is held here, attracts more than 100,000 people every year.
In the summer of 2016, Hu Mengzhou came to Bohm for the first time.
That year's Tombrowland Electric Syllable Festival, the number of participants reportedly exceeded 180,000, and well-known musicians such as deadmau5, Eric Prydz, Alesso, Tiesto and Alan Walker appeared successively, bringing passionate works to the audience on the beautiful stage.
Hundreds of thousands of spectators immersed in the rhythm of electric music and indulged in carnival, which shocked Hu Mengzhou, who participated in the Tomorrowland Electric Syllable Festival for the first time.
In 2016, the Tomorrowland Electric Syllable Festival was live
"When 100,000 people sang a song at the same time, the feeling of goosebumps, I felt that one day my own song could be played on the stage of an electric syllable, and then the people below would sing along, which was my biggest dream at that time." 」
After returning to China, Hu Mengzhou immersed himself in composing and composing 180 songs in 2017, including "Reverse".
While Hu Mengzhou is determined to chase his musical dreams, the environment of the music industry is also quietly changing.
In 2016, driven by streaming media, the global music industry stopped falling and rebounded, and China became one of the fastest-rising music markets. Moreover, in media reports, China is also "the next electronic music market that is exploding", and in 2016 alone, more than 30 electric syllable festivals were held in Chinese mainland.
Because of its optimism about China's electronic music market, in 2018, TME cooperated with Sony Music to co-found the electronic music label Liquid State, and Hu Mengzhou also became one of the earliest signed musicians of Liquid State.
Either option has its own gains and losses, and in the reports of that year, Hu Mengzhou gave up the opportunity to sign a contract with a film and television company as an actor. Recalling the decision at that time, Hu Mengzhou said that he was still reluctant to music, and the actor's experience made him understand what he wanted and what he did not want, and therefore, the idea of choosing music was more firm.
"Through those two years of trying, I firmly believed that I wanted to be a musician, even if it would be a little longer, or a little bitter, I would definitely go in, this is what I like." 」
In this way, Hu Mengzhou transformed into CORSAK.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="43" > luck</h1>
Signing to a record label has been one of the biggest help for CORSAK in allowing him to create under a high standard of industrial production.
"The record label has its own set of industrial standards, which has helped me a lot, I used to be a wild man, and now I have the opportunity to learn industrial creation. And it's not just domestic, there are a lot of overseas distributions, and I have a lot of opportunities to cooperate with overseas big names. We went to creative camps together, and I was learning every time, thinking about where the industry standards are, where am I lagging behind? In this way, you yourself have a very clear self-awareness and know where to improve. ”
After signing up with Liquid State, CORSAK quickly reaped the rewards.
At the beginning of 2018, "Reverse", composed by CORSAK and sung by Ma Yinyin, began to become popular half a year after its release. A year later, Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME) and Liquid State issued CORSAK with a certificate of 500 million views, and today, Reverse has been played more than 2 billion times.
TME and Liquid State issued CORSAK with a 500 million views certification certificate
"Reverse" is corsak's first song officially released under the Liquid State, and the first song is on fire, which is what many musicians dream of.
"It's luck." CORSAK said, "When I wrote this song in 2017, I didn't have any distractions, didn't think about it to fire, and didn't write it to go to fire. "Just," because the music helped me at my low point, and then I wanted to heal it of this emotion, this warm emotion, to express it with my own outlet. ”
The desire to express it eventually became a good work, and the whole creative process was very smooth.
"At that time, I didn't have any money, so I had to write my own words, write my own words, and make up my own. Didn't expect it to go well, about two or three hours to come out. Everything I think is very natural, there is no hard component, the arrangement is also very smooth, maybe it will be done in two or three days. ”
Even the release of the song is an afterthought, "After the song was released, with the results, I realized that I had already posted the song." I didn't think it was a thing at the time. ”
As an international record label, Liquid State has collaborated with international big names such as Alan Walker and Alesso, and CORSAK has the opportunity to work with them.
Since his debut, CORSAK has participated in Alan Walker's song "Different World" and released a new song "Going Dumb" with Alesso, which has helped him gain the attention of the international electro-voice circle.
Alesso and CORSAK collaborated on "Going Dumb" on Times Square in New York
In the four months since going dumb was released, Spotify has received more than 22 million views, making corsak the most played work on the platform.
Working with these internationally renowned musicians has benefited CORSAK a lot, and he understands why they are big names.
CORSAK summed up two lessons: one is that the melody is good, and the other is that the arrangement is simple.
In CORSAK's concept, "Melody must be the most important thing in a piece of music, it is more important than the lyrics, it is more important than the arrangement, it is more important than the rhythm." Of course, in fact, it is all important, but if you must divide, the melody is the most long-lasting vitality. For example, my own favorite Alesso, his songs I believe will still be listened to 100 years from now, because his melodies are very beautiful and timeless. ”
As for the arrangement, CORSAK believes that the "rhythm" of the works of the big-name electronic music people is very simple, and the arrangement is not complicated, but if you study it carefully, you will find that each of its timbres is very precise, and it is not right to be a little more or less. ”
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="62" > blank</h1>
In the summer of 2019, CORSAK came to Bohm, Belgium, and this time, he was no longer an audience, but as a musician on the stage of Tomorrowland, realizing the dream he left here three years ago.
With the realization of his dreams one by one, CORSAK, who no longer "hesitates", has set himself a small goal: one day make a style called CORSAK.
"In fact, I have been trying now, such as "Reverse", if you want to go back and summarize it now, it is actually a bit of a classical Chinese mood, plus the sound of the electric sound in it, and then it is a Future Bass. But it is a very unique Future Bass, it belongs to China's Future Bass. ”
The addition of Chinese elements to music works has become popular in the domestic music circle, and many of CORSAK's works have also used Chinese scales and ethnic instruments.
But corsak also has its own thinking about the so-called "Chinese style".
"We are Chinese growing up in the new era, you think I grew up listening to Chinese opera every day, I actually listened to Hong Kong and Taiwan music, plus classical music, and then Tang poetry and Song ci and opera, these things have actually been integrated in my blood, I don't think it means that we must go to a hard opera, or add a national music to it to be called Chinese style." 」
CORSAK believes that the characteristic of Oriental culture is that it leaves blank.
"Words we write are particularly abstract and imaginative, unlike some lyrics in Europe and the United States, which are very realistic. Our music will not be as full as in Europe and the United States, in the East, we are accustomed to the melody is a tone, it may have to go around a few bends, it floats out for a while, there will be more long tones and long lines of things, that means that your arrangement will also leave enough space and imagination. ”
CORSAK gave the example of the Chinese guqin.
"It's all about playing a tone and then stopping. Play a tone, let it fly for a while, circle around the beam for a while, and then play the next tone. ”
In addition to "blank space", CORSAK is also very concerned about "emotion".
"One of the genres I'm currently trying is called Emo Bass, which can carry more emotions in the electronic sound, sad emotions of lost love, inspirational emotions, faint sadness, or very sweet emotions, I can carry this emotion." 」
Although CORSAK believes that electronic music can carry many different emotions, he also believes that there is no need to limit itself to a certain genre.
"I want music to provide more emotions and to make a sound for more people, not only for those who I listen to today in order to pursue hi or I am happy today." 」 I don't think that the electric sound should wrap itself up, but should be more inclusive to accept more of the other genres. ”
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="77" > confidence</h1>
The past five years have been the five years in which CORSAK Hu Mengzhou's career has changed the most, and it has also been the five years with the greatest changes in the Chinese music industry.
In 2015, the National Copyright Administration issued the "strictest copyright order in history", and Internet music was fully legalized, and subsequently, the copyright awareness and payment awareness of Internet music users were growing.
According to the data, since the establishment of TME, the number of paid users of online music has increased from 12.2 million five years ago to 60.9 million today, and the payment rate has increased from 2.1% to 9.9%.
Changes in the industry have brought more confidence to CORSAK Hu Mengzhou.
CORSAK Hu Mengzhou said that five years ago, I never heard that listening to music costs money, and now, whoever has an album will be willing to buy, willing to support him, willing to charge a green diamond.
"Your talent pays off and can turn into a positive cycle. Of course, this is a very good thing, and I think I am personally one of the very big beneficiaries. ”
The Internet is changing the industry and the way music is created and appreciated, for example, in CORSAK Hu Mengzhou's view, the rise of short videos has changed the way people listen to music.
"Five years ago, maybe people were still looking for songs, for example, I like this singer, what songs he has come out I will listen to, I will go and deliberately look for them." 」 But now after the short video comes out, it is more of a song to find people. ”
The impact of short videos on songwriting also made CORSAK Hu Mengzhou, who is a creator, feel empathy.
"Now the song will be more direct, the intro will be shorter, it will go straight to the subject as soon as it comes up, and the first 10 seconds will quickly grab you and make you listen to it, without cutting the song." Songs will get shorter and shorter, like myself, some of my songs are even more than two minutes long, less of that length of padding or rendering, this is actually good and bad, but you have a way to tell the story in a shorter period of time, is also an ability. ”
When it comes to the future of music, CORSAK Hu Mengzhou believes that the market will become more and more vertical, and it will be difficult to produce music that everyone likes, but it will bloom.
"Because everyone's preferences are becoming more and more unique, with the improvement of our overall aesthetics, everyone has his own music classification that he likes very much, and each music classification will definitely have a good musician to do, and in this direction, it will be more refined and advanced." The future must be full of flowers. ”
But no matter how you do it, CORSAK firmly believes that in music, the most important thing is always the content.
"Like propaganda, visuals, etc. a series of packaging behind it, it's a bit like a 0 in the number, the content is the front 1, if there is no 1 in front, it will always be just 0." But if there is a 1 in the front, the 0 added to the back will be the icing on the cake. ”
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