Author | Wan Yi Edit | Fan Zhihui
Not long ago, after being commented by music critic Liang Yuan on the stage of the fourth season of "The Voice of God", the little ghost Wang Lin Kai questioned the latter, "Can I stand on the stage and play, can you?" "It once became a hot topic, and it was crazy by netizens.
In the latest episode of the program, the little ghost Wang Linkai faced Liang Yuan's evaluation and choked Liang Yuan and said, "Can you manage it?" ", once again successfully brought its related topics to Weibo, B station and other platforms hot search.
At the same time, the other protagonist of the incident, music critic Liang Yuan, has also been on the hot search. As of May 22, the topic "Liang Yuan Returns to Little Ghosts" has been read 480 million times on Weibo, and the topic "Can You Manage Little Ghosts" has been read more than 80 million times on Weibo.
However, unlike the previous situation in which music critics were caught in controversy, this time Mass Entertainment is relatively more in agreement with music critics' views and forms an opposition to fans. And fans once again raised the classic question about the perennial controversial music complex "The Voice of God": Is this the script?
Singers and music critics scare each other, is it a script?
Time first pulls back to the show scene.
In the latest episode of the "Voice of God", after the little ghost Wang Linkai and Hu Yanbin sang "You Are Not Really Happy", Liang Yuan commented that the little ghost sang "relatively flat" and "did not impress me", both of which were responded by the little ghost with "the headphones were not well brought and did not hear too clearly". After a number of musicians turned the topic to "maybe the happy expression of the little ghost is different", Liang Yuan stressed that this is only a discussion about music, hoping that the two sides can exchange music frankly.
In response, the little ghost was shocked, "Can you manage it?" At this time, Liang Yuan was already a little angry, "As a person who has been in the industry for a longer period than you, I dare say that I can manage it." My job is to care that musicians like you can't have that attitude. The imp smiled confidently and said, "Sorry, I have to have that attitude." You can't change me, do you understand? ”
Perhaps because "The Voice of God" has repeatedly appeared in the dispute between singers and music critics, or maybe it is purely not believed that their idol is rude, some fans suspect that this is the script given by the program team, and the little ghost himself is not like this, but Liang Yuan denied this statement on his B station channel.
But beyond the controversy in the show, from a third-party perspective, this conversation is indeed a true reflection of the current situation in the music industry.
First of all, the little ghost questioned the qualifications of music critic Liang Yuan's evaluation, and there have indeed been many doubts about music critics in recent years. For example, Ding Taisheng previously complained about rapper VAVA in "The Voice of God", and was replied by VAVA "You are teaching me to do things"; In "Summer of the Band", Ding Taisheng commented that Liu Wei was a "variety show bastard", which was refuted by Liu Wei that he "only used the keyboard to express his attitude, and did not use professionalism to point me the direction", which was considered "popularity" and "rubbing traffic".
There is also the B station Up master "Professor You Talking About Music", who was recently evaluated by B station netizens as "revitalizing the B station music area with his own efforts", because of his many video works to oppose Ding Taisheng's views and question Ding Taisheng's ability, thus setting off a battle between the two sides. But in addition to the response, Ding Taisheng also questioned his title of "professor", pointing out that the "Beijing Modern Music Academy" is a training institution and is not qualified to evaluate the title of professor. At present, "Professor You Talks about Music and Music" has not responded positively to this.
Leaving aside the controversy over You Jingbo's claim to be a professor, music critics such as Ding Taisheng and Liang Yuan are often questioned whether they are qualified to evaluate music. To broaden the topic a little more, in the age of music at your fingertips, do you really need music critics?
As far as Liang Yuan in this incident is concerned, he is indeed qualified to evaluate music, because he is indeed a senior practitioner in the music industry. According to his Zhihu answer, Liang Yuan has working experience in Weibo Music and TME, serving as the director of TME and the person in charge of 2496 vinyl music.
Judging from the controversial video alone, Liang Yuan's statement is also objective and factual, and does not involve personal attacks, or even to the extent of criticism. Perhaps this is why online public opinion is more inclined to Liang Yuan.
In fact, Liang Yuan has had arguments with singer fans on Zhihu since many years ago, and has repeatedly confronted fans, including fans of Xu Song, Hua Chenyu, and Zhang Zining, who have argued with him because of Liang Yuan's criticism, which has continued until "Heaven's Gift". And Liang Yuan's comments in the show will cause such a big controversy, probably because the little ghost's reaction is too "prominent".
In the face of criticism, the little ghost who pursues individuality directly expresses dissatisfaction, but does not give a well-founded refutation of the musical performance itself, but directly questions Liang Yuan's qualifications to evaluate him. Combined with the controversy such as "Thai pants spicy" before the little ghost, "no culture" and "no culture" have become the new labels of the little ghost.
Secondly, the second industry phenomenon reflected in this controversy is that many artists have now swelled to the point that they cannot judge themselves objectively, and fans of rice circles cannot tolerate idol criticism.
"Sometimes words of praise for you can be malicious." According to Hu Dahan, a member of the fourth season of "The Voice of God", Hu Dahan, recalled on his B station channel, after the conflict, when the little ghost was backstage, there were even people next to him who praised, "You really have the style of a general just now."
Hu Dahan also recalled that in the little ghost responded "Sorry, I have to have such an attitude." You can't change me, do you understand? ", the fans screamed non-stop." Every time Wang Linkai used this rude way to deal with Liang Yuan, the audience was applauded."
It was also in the applause of the audience that the misunderstanding between the singer and the music critic deepened, and it was bound to be even more difficult to convince the other party.
The rise of the "new four heavenly kings", can music critics manage it?
The recent controversy in the Chinese music scene, in addition to the mutual fear between the little ghosts and music critics, is the "new four heavenly kings" newly selected by netizens, which can be described as "interesting".
Previously, the little ghost's enthusiastic speech during the performance often ended quickly with "too cool", which also made "Thai pants spicy" popular on the Internet, and the little ghost was also rated as one of the "new four heavenly kings" by netizens. The other three are Capper, a rapper who came out of the circle because of an extremely earthy but extremely popular song "Snow Distance", Jiang Yunsheng, who was scolded for "Really Not Sleeping", which was called "vulgar rap" by netizens, and Hua Chenyu, who can confidently reply "otherwise" when fans praise "the eternal god of the Chinese music scene".
Because Hua Chenyu's musical strength is much higher than the other three, some netizens smiled bitterly, "Hua Chenyu's crime is not here", but in fact, Capper was also the champion of "Youth Rap Project", and he is not without strength in rap.
And the reason why netizens juxtapose the four people together is actually pointing to a problem - the aesthetic barriers and information isolation between niche idols and mass culture. The public can't understand why such singers still have so many fans touting, and singers who fall into honeypots and fans who are rice circles don't understand why their idols are always "targeted".
Liang Yuan mentioned in the B station video that the blind arrogance of artists and their teams has become a fairly common phenomenon in the industry. "I think there are very few old guys who have arranged music for this ensemble who don't feel that their (artist's) agent and agency team are not a dog. Not to mention the agent, some even dare to point fingers at the music in costume styling, makeup and hair... And they feel specialized. ”
But artists have not always been "blindly arrogant".
In the traditional record era, record companies and agents hold absolute right to speak, such as Xu Huaiyu, who recently became popular, became popular with songs such as "I am a Girl", but even when it was the most popular, Xu Huaiyu could not decide what songs he could sing.
Some performance practitioners in Taiwan, China, once told Music Herald that the words said by artists in traditional record companies during performances are arranged, conveyed to the artists by the staff through headphones, and retold by the artists, so as to maintain the good image of the artists. In that case, it would be impossible to have such a dilemma as today's little ghost.
Now that the voice of record companies is declining, many head musicians often set up their own studios after becoming famous in order to obtain greater benefits. The staff is independently selected by the artist, and the agent is more often a trusted relative and friend, and cannot give objective and mature advice, let alone carry out professional career planning.
But these alone are not enough to make a person blindly confident. If the star-studded stars of the team and fans provide these artists with a steady stream of bubbles, then the low-hanging fruit business opportunities turn these bubbles into rock-solid protective walls.
Nowadays, idols are divided and fans are circled, as long as artists have a group of crazy and loyal fans and good-looking traffic data, even if their strength is not recognized by the public, or their public image is not good, they can find their own commercial value in the market and obtain a stage for performance.
Therefore, they can laugh at those who look down on ordinary people who do not earn more than themselves, and who despise dissidents will never have the stage and affection they have. In the ivory tower piled up with endorsements and performances, they have the capital and confidence to live out their "personality", and all criticism is an invalid attack.
In the past, Capper, who was serious about making songs, would also be confused and disappointed by the popularity of such a casual work as "Snow Distance", but now, Capper can say this to his fans after singing "Snow Distance": "Those who say that we sing soil, those who say plagiarism, those who say that we pull on the spot, and people who say that I have a rice circle, they can't write such songs in their lives, and they can't hear you sing in this life!" ”
In addition to the loss and expansion of artists, the excessive maintenance of fans is also one of the reasons for the disgust of the public.
For example, after being besieged by fans, Liang Yuan posted several Weibo posts on Weibo for the Little Ghost controversy, so that the incident continued to remain hot. Ding Taisheng, who has been controversially commented, previously swept away many traffic singers in the Chinese music scene with his previous song "Seventy-two Changes in the Phenomenon of the Music Circle", but he was also praised because he not only helped everyone speak their hearts, but also helped everyone to be scolded by the rice circle.
The conflict between musicians, fans and music critics is not unique to domestic entertainment, and it is not uncommon overseas.
For example, Taylor Swift's 2011 release "Mean" (Mean) was written to well-known music critic Bob Lefsetz. The lyrics sing, "You point out my flaws as if I don't know it," and "One day I'll live in a bustling metropolis, and all you're left with is meanness."
In 2020, Pitchfork editor Jillian Mapes angered fans simply for giving Taylor Swift album Folklore an 8 out of 10. Fans not only posted Jillian Mapes' home address, phone number, and photos of their home on Twitter, but also harassed him.
At the end of March, Ed Sherran also spoke out that music criticism was meaningless. In the era of physical records, music critics can provide in-depth interpretation of record planning and guide consumption for fans who want to buy albums, but what can music critics do today?
In 1976, the well-known American music critic Albert Murray said, "Perhaps the first function of criticism is to mediate between the work and the reader and listener who does not know the situation." As a mediator, the critic interprets the elements of creation and interprets its aesthetic expression to make it more understandable. After pointing out its methods and characteristics, critics can also give some views as professional observers, evaluate its performance, and its impact on individuals and society. In this process, the commentary is generated according to taste, that is, a high sensitivity to the optimal proportions of the basic elements involved in the work and the degree of compatibility of the additional elements".
Although almost half a century has passed since Albert Murray's words, they still resonate in today's era of "everyone is a music critic."
MIDiA Research, a British entertainment think tank, also believes that in today's era of music flooding and not knowing where to listen, music critics will play a more important role, in addition to algorithms, for music fans to play a greater role in music recommendations.
In fact, there are many music critics who are now doing the work of combing through music history, helping fans understand today's music culture phenomena, and analyzing songs, such as Love of the Land, Master Villain King, Nagging Feng, Hopico, etc. Controversial music critics often criticize music, and music variety shows amplify their influence, which is approved by netizens and is difficult to escape the "chase" of the rice circle.
What is puzzling is that today's "new four heavenly kings" enjoy the wealth and cheers of fame, but they cannot face the public's doubts, nor can they calmly listen to the criticism of others whether it is reasonable, but can only question each other, "Can you manage it?" ”。
But as creator Yahtzee Croshaw says, "The cruelest thing you can do to a creator is to tell them that the work is flawless." ”
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