Author | Wan Yi Edit | Fan Zhihui
Are anyone still looking forward to a resurgence of Chinese R&B?
As an important branch of urban music, contemporary R&B music caused a wave of overseas in the 90s due to Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson and others. Later, at the end of the last century, an album with a dark blue background called "Tao Zhe" opened a new chapter in the R&B scene in the Chinese music scene, and songs such as "Wangchun Breeze" and "Beach" in it are still outdated to this day.
In the millennium, singers such as Jay Chou, Wang Leehom, Fang Datong, and Hu Yanbin successively became famous for R&B style songs, making R&B music style a prominent study in the Chinese music scene for a while.
Going back to R&B, or R&B, according to the Library of Congress, R&B was used in the '40s to refer to all African-American music, and the scope was very broad. In the decades that followed, the definition of R&B also changed with the times, and it was not until the end of the disco pandemic in the 70s, when Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, and others added more electronic elements to the popular dance music styles of the time, forming the prototype of contemporary R&B. Alicia Keys, Usher, Mariah Carey, Beyoncé and others are among the representatives of contemporary R&B.
As hip-hop became popular, Janet Jackson, Lauryn Hill, The Neptunes, Timbaland and others further blurred the line between R&B and hip-hop. Even because hip-hop and R&B were often inextricably linked, in 1999, both Billboard and the Grammys merged the two into one genre, beginning a long reign in the R&B/hip-hop genre.
On the basis of R&B/Hip-Hop, and then incorporating rock, electronic, dance music and other style elements, as well as more synthesizer sound effects and modern music technology such as Auto-Tune, R&B is more futuristic, more rhythmic and soft vocals, thus forming the alternative R&B we often hear now. Although it was expelled from R&B purism by R&B for downplaying elements of soul and gospel music, which was discussed in the Guardian in 2012, it is undeniable that PB R&B has gone mainstream under the influence of Frank Ocean, Miguel, The Weeknd and others.
In addition to the fusion of style and technology, another characteristic of R&B today is its straightforward expression. Although themes of romance and love have always existed in R&B music, many of today's R&B songs have replaced euphemisms and ambiguity with more blunt and explicit expressions.
In China, after the millennium, new people emerged, and online songs flourished with color bells, followed by folk, hip-hop, electronic music, etc. into the public's field of vision, and the momentum of a hundred flowers quickly overshadowed the solo show of R&B. You sing all kinds of music genres, but R&B seems to be no longer prosperous.
But today, R&B is not unsuccessful at present, the contemporary R&B represented by Fang Datong, Yuan Yawei, Zhou Bichang, and Yu Jiayun still has a place in the mainstream Chinese music scene, and the Mesozoic Dynasty, Ding Shiguang, Akjiang, Gongge, Tao Leran, etc. are also worth paying attention to. iResearch's data also shows that R&B genres have a sizeable audience in first-tier cities and digital music users under the age of 35.
What's more, Gen Z R&B musicians are also beginning to grow. They have studied music since childhood, and they are both aesthetic and prosperous in both the East and the West. In the mainland, 20-year-old Lu Yanliang has been nominated for the Golden Melody Award, 26-year-old ØZI in Hong Kong and Taiwan has won the Golden Melody Award for Best Newcomer, and Gareth.T Tang Lingshan's debut song has received millions of views on YouTube; 23-year-old Liu Sijian, 24-year-old Shi Xinwenyue and others have emerged through variety shows, combining R&B and rap music to express their truest selves with more rhythmic music.
These new generation musicians were exposed to music education at a young age, received Western music aesthetic education in their teens, and completed most of their exploration and learning of music through the Internet. They are not afraid to reveal their true selves in music, and the rise of these Gen Z musicians seems to announce that the spring of R&B is coming.
This time, NetEase Cloud launched the "Chinese Urban Music Promotion Week", we joined hands with NetEase Cloud Music to focus on the new generation of R&B, and Music Xiansheng had the honor to have a conversation with Lu Yanliang, ØZI and Liu Sijian about their musical lives and views on Chinese urban music.
Of course, if you want to know more, search for "urban music" in NetEase Cloud Music to get a full guide to Chinese urban music listening and discover more new generation Chinese R&B musicians worth paying attention to.
Lu Yanliang: "I don't know what effort is"
I don't know how many people pay attention to Lu Yanliang, an arrogant eighteen-year-old boy, because of his sentence on variety shows that "I want to get a Grammy before the age of 25." How many people listened to his music, but found that he was really not arrogant, but just a straightforward young genius.
Recently, Lu Yanliang has been on the hot search because of the music variety show "Youth π Project" to Na Ying's Geng Zhi greeting "You are like my mother", so that more people recognize this rising music star who has received rave reviews in the industry.
Lu Yanliang's musical talent began to show from kindergarten. At that time, the school played a broadcast, and there was a piano in the classroom, so Lu Yanliang groped and played it, and after his parents learned about it, they took him to learn the piano. However, because it was too hard, Lu Yanliang played for two years and did not stick to it.
But his musical journey didn't stop there. As a resident student, Lu Yanliang will play a lot of songs in MP3 every week before returning to school, and since he was a child, he will feel that Fang Datong's songs are "foreign", and gradually switched from Chinese songs to listening to the Billboard list.
Fifteen or sixteen-year-old Lu Yanliang began to desperately want to make his own music, so he searched for tutorials on the Internet to learn by himself, and also learned the use of the host software Logic from a senior. Lu Yanliang, who has an absolute sense of sound, even if he does not have a deep music theory, can rely on listening to music since he was a child. In music class, he was the only student who did not use notation and instead used logic and arrangement thinking to complete his homework, but this angered the music teachers from the United Kingdom, and there were always disputes over it. When he mentioned that the music teacher also gave him a score of 1 (out of 7) for his homework at that time, Lu Yanliang is now a little angry.
After accumulating a lot of listening experience and learning to make songs, Lu Yanliang's feeling of listening to songs is no longer the same, and he has gradually formed his own aesthetic. What impressed him was that in the sixth grade of elementary school, Tyler, the Creator released an album "Igor" that topped the Billboard chart, but Lu Yanliang did not think it was impressed, but when he came back to listen to it in his second year of high school, Lu Yanliang felt "too good".
The creative process is joyful, but perfecting the work is the hardest. For Lu Yanliang, he hopes that whenever he hears it, he will feel "great, without any feeling of fluidity, it is amazing and enduring". In order to achieve such a standard, "passing your own level", it is necessary to spend a lot of time repeatedly grinding. Making an album is even more different, to consider the release, song ordering, schedule, finding people, spending money, there are too many things to distract from music.
Compared with when he wrote "Fresh Soul", because he realized that he still needed to improve in many aspects, Lu Yanliang felt that he had to work much harder now. Recently, he has been learning guitar, practicing guitar or keyboard every day, and going to the United States every year for a period of time to study music.
However, Lu Yanliang never believes that music is something that requires effort, "I don't know what effort is." In his opinion, he writes songs because he is happy to write songs, and if writing songs will be painful, he will not do it.
Talks
Music Herald: When it comes to R&B/urban music, three words/pictures that immediately come to mind?
Lu Yanliang: Chill, romance, rhythm.
Music Herald: What was your earliest or deepest impression of R&B?
Lu Yanliang: The one who influenced me the most at the beginning was Daniel Caesar. When I first listened to him, I thought, God, the song can still be written like this. I think it's great because he does alternative R&B, and the atmosphere is not really the same as traditional R&B.
The other is D'Angelo, who is the originator of the nineties rhythm, and the other party has a deeper influence. When I listen to his songs, I will find that the original rhythm can do this, every instrument of his is not useless, he is in it to create the rhythm. These two people took me into the world of rhythmic music such as R&B and soul, and many times they were also my inspiration.
Music Herald: I'm curious, genres like Daniel Caesar, H.E.R., or music like yours doesn't seem to be particularly popular in Chinese music, why do you think that's it?
Lu Yanliang: I think it's because Daniel Caesar's songs are more atmospheric and in fact, in the Chinese environment, everyone has no atmosphere aesthetic. Daniel Caesar and their melodies are scattered and there are no particularly brainwashed lyrics to make everyone remember the whole song. A lot of them use various details such as the layers of effects or arrangements, white space, etc., so I think it is a challenge for Chinese audiences.
Music Herald: Who do you think has influenced your musical tastes the most?
Lu Yanliang: I think maybe it wasn't alone, but that group (singers) had a great influence on me at that time. My aesthetic began to take shape, in fact, I listened to Frank Ocean and Kanye West more in my second and third years of high school. I was particularly obsessed with Frank Ocean, and I thought that his musical temperament and the emotions he conveyed in his music were what fascinated me the most.
At the beginning of his music, I actually didn't sound that amazing, but after listening to it a lot, I listened to him again, and I felt that [him] was very amazing, very moving. I often cry when I listen to his songs, which is great, especially in many situations, I think he is great, and his songs can convey very strong emotions, such as "Self Control".
Musical Herald: What do you think best represents your R&B work?
Lu Yanliang: I think it's "Fly" at the moment. Because I think "Fly" does a lot of fusion, this song does a good job of rhythm and pleasantness, as well as the balance of structure.
Music Herald: What are the musicians your age that you admire?
Lu Yanliang: Shi Xinwenyue is very good, he has put a lot of things together to form his own style. He is not just a single label, I think it is from the texture of the arrangement, the melody, the singing, and the concept that he wants to integrate into the locality, which makes his music very unique.
Music Herald: Do you agree with the statement that after Tao Zhe and Fang Da, Chinese urban music declined? Why?
Lu Yanliang: I don't agree, because in fact, if there is another Fang Datong and Tao Zhe, I feel that it will be meaningless.
They actually already represent a certain style, Tao Zhe may be a very typical American R&B, and then he wants to do rock himself, I think he is also looking for his own things; Fang Datong is more rhythmic, and you can hear a lot in the early days, such as the shadows of D'angelo and Musiq Soulchild. He and Tao Zhe are actually two completely different musical styles, but they are two people who have sinicized foreign music very well. Then Jay Chou actually does not have so many R&B attributes, he actually combines R&B and hip-hop, and then weakens the basic characteristics of the two, coupled with Chinese style, to achieve himself, Wang Leehom is almost similar.
I think these four people are great people, but if there are four more people, I think it is quite boring, because music is always changing and changing.
Music Herald: There seems to be a lot of Chinese and English in your works, do you think there is anything particularly difficult about using Chinese to do this kind of R&B?
Lu Yanliang: Because in fact, foreign expressions are very open, and once Chinese substituted, some expressions will cause some shame, you have to consider your words and sentence arrangement, this is the first point. The second point is that Chinese is a language that bites very hard, unless you speak Chengdu dialect is closer to the taste of English, but ChineseChinese Mandarin itself is relatively hard, and then you have to use Mandarin to do the rhythm, which is originally a difficult thing, unless you sing Fang Datong (like that).
Music First: But I feel like adding a transliteration or a lot like Fang Datong, there is no PB R&B feeling.
Lu Yanliang: Yes, I think so too. Because I think Fang Datong is very powerful, that is, his skills and musical aesthetics are very good, and the rhythm is also very good. I think he's great, but there's no need to be like him. I don't have to practice transliteration and modification of tones, I think the wild feeling is good. But I also want to practice my voice, to be able to speak scientifically in various positions.
I myself have summed up a lot of Chinese creative experience that retains the R&B feel. For example, many bites can be less like Chinese, singing "p" as "b", and softening some lip and tooth sounds. For example, there is a passage in "Fly" that says, "I wanna keep it low key, everyone will have their temper", if I sing normally, it will be very strange, swallowing the "h" of the word "will", it will sound closer to English.
This is not to say that it is flattering, but because R&B itself is created in the English language, I think Chinese should go to the source.
Music Herald: What do you think is the ideal relationship with your fans?
Lu Yanliang: I think it's enough that they like me through my music.
Music Herald: Would you mind that by going public with something you really are, you might lose fans?
Lu Yanliang: I don't care, because I'm not an idol. First of all, I actually reject the idols culture, and I think it's a little too much. I am a freelance creator, and I don't have to interfere with my life. If I can do that my song is the only thing that moves everyone, it is what I am most satisfied with. [I want everyone] to like me as a person, because of my vision, the overall image that these form is not because of a preference for beans, feeling exclusive, or not allowing private life.
Music Herald: If there is a child who loves music and asks you how you won the Golden Melody Award at the age of 20, what advice would you give him?
Lu Yanliang: My God, I don't make songs for nomination, I don't know how to give advice, just make songs well, this is luck or fate. I don't think the award really matters, it's just something that adds value, just you deserve it, not that you need to get it. If you don't get it, it's not that you're not qualified, it's that they don't have the vision, just think so. When I said at 18 that I wanted to get a Grammy at 25, I didn't even know what it meant.
Music Herald: Do you have any plans for the second half of the year?
Lu Yanliang: I should fly to the United States in mid-July to do my second album, and then I will try to release it if I can finish it this year.
ØZI: "I think R&B is very sexy"
Since his mother was a singer, ØZI was immersed in the musical atmosphere from an early age, and naturally established a keen sense of music and a creative concept.
He began to learn a variety of instruments at the age of 4, formed a band at the age of 10, composed English songs at the age of 14, and before winning the Golden Melody Award for Best Newcomer at the age of 21, ØZI also rejected olive branches thrown by JYP and the well-known hip-hop label "Yan She". Along the way, ØZI's biggest challenge comes from within.
NOW, OZI RECALLS HIS WINNER AT THE TIME, ONLY TO LAMENT THAT HE DIDN'T KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT HIMSELF AT THAT TIME. In those years, he continued to output, proving that he could produce and shoot, which made him feel very tired and did not know what else he could give musically; ØZI, who has been studying at an international school since childhood, also began to wonder about the cultural belonging of his music. He even had the idea of not making music because he "didn't want to be dishonest with the audience and he didn't want to be dishonest with himself."
THE DEEPEST IMPRESSION WAS ONE DAY IN LOS ANGELES, WHERE ØZI WAS SITTING ON THE LAWN EATING ICE CREAM AND WAITING FOR FRIENDS, AND NOT FAR AWAY WERE TWO STREET PERFORMERS IN JAM (IMPROVISATIONAL ENSEMBLE). All musicians who have been jammed must understand the joy of music echoing each other and emotions flying with it. FOR A MOMENT OZI CRIED, AND AT THAT MOMENT HE FELT HE NEEDED TO CHANGE, AND HE TOLD HIMSELF, "I NEED TO DO SOMETHING, FOR MYSELF".
AFTER BEING STUCK IN LOS ANGELES FOR FOUR MONTHS DUE TO THE PANDEMIC, ALL OF OZI'S PLANS WERE DISRUPTED, SO HE LEARNED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS TIME TO GET CLOSER TO HIS HEART AND EXPLORE HIS INNER DARKNESS AND LOW TIDE. During the time of putting music aside and exploring new things, ØZI discovered two things: first, he had to do something else and novel in order to have new inspiration; SECOND, OZI FOUND HERSELF UNABLE TO LIVE WITHOUT MUSIC.
Without music, "I'm not me". Today, ØZI has realized that his biggest motivation for making music is to find the simplest happiness in creation.
If ØZI's first album was to prove itself in order to be recognized, and the second album was something that ØZI himself would normally listen to, then today's third album "ADICA" is the most authentic ØZI. He believes, "In the era of true and false, the most real is the best looking." The person you admire the most is someone who is consistent in appearance and completely being yourself. Now idols, spiritual leaders are such people, even if controversial. ”
When asked if he was afraid that others would know his dark side, ØZI also felt that it was not dangerous, but "so free", "I still have a lot of things to share, I still have feelings that I haven't finished writing, I still have family, soul, many things have not been discussed." ”
Talks
Music Herald: When it comes to R&B/urban music, three words/pictures that immediately come to mind?
ØZI : Sex, night, Henessey。
Music Herald: What was the first urban music/R&B song you heard in your memory? Since when did you start loving and creating R&B music?
ØZI: Seven Days by Craig David. It seems that since elementary school, I have enjoyed listening to all kinds of R&B, whether Western or Mandarin. I think R&B is very sexy.
Music Herald: What is the meaning of R&B music to you?
ØZI : The DNA of all pop music incorporates R&B elements, which define the sound of pop music.
Music Herald: The song that best represents your R&B? Why?
ØZI : The Missionary, right? Not sure why.
Music Herald: Who are the most admired/wanted to work with your peers? Why?
ØZI : I've been working with Måneskin lately, and I really appreciate their music.
Music Herald: If a child who loves music asks you how you won the Golden Melody Award at the age of 22, what is your advice?
ØZI : Your talent will not betray you, be brave and create.
Music Herald: Do you think there is anything special about Chinese urban music compared to the West in terms of musical theme, style or creative atmosphere?
ØZI : Chinese music pays great attention to the content of lyrics, while Western music pays more attention to the overall atmosphere and listening sense.
Music Herald: Do you agree with the statement that after Tao Zhe and Fang Da, Chinese urban music declined? Why?
ØZI : Not very agreed. Now the new generation of R&B/hip-hop musicians accounts for the largest proportion, and I think this kind of music is now the mainstream of young people.
Music Herald: Are there any particular difficulties in composing urban music with Chinese compared to composing in English? Ever thought about trying to write more Chinese songs?
ØZI : Not really, but the authoring logic needs to be switched. Lately, I really want to create more Chinese songs.
Music Herald: Why is social media rarely used? What is the ideal relationship with fans? How do you interact with them?
ØZI : It's not that I rarely use it, but that people use it too often. I hope to interact with fans more in live performances.
Music Herald: Do you have any plans for the second half of the year?
ØZI: I want to release a lot of new songs for many overseas performances.
Liu Sijian: "How to say it is still Justin Bieber in Chengdu"
At the time of the interview, Liu Sijian was still feverish. Interestingly, on the first day, because of the fever and inspiration burst, he wrote four songs in one go, "People burn through, and I feel that writing things is smoother."
When creating the album recently, Liu Sijian originally thought about whether to try something different, but then decided to do what he wanted to do the most, "presenting it in the most comfortable state". He found that the things he wrote were basically emotionally delicate, and he couldn't help but ask himself, "What the hell am I thinking every day?"
Compared with male musicians of the same age, Liu Sijian feels that his creative angle "may be strange". He wrote "The Butt Is Too Cold", singing "The seat heats up and turns on"; wrote "Middle Class Child" and sang "We Have No Choice"; Wrote "Antibodies" and sang "I think I have antibodies to the world, antibodies to happiness, antibodies to sadness". Liu Sijian believes that singer-songwriters should sing their true feelings, or empathize with what they sing, in order to convey their power to the audience.
For the last album "Totem" (totem), Liu Sijian also has ingenuity. Liu Sijian feels that now under the general environment, "many people make music like a dream, and they are not sure what state they are in and whether they are awake." I felt that something needed to give me a clear idea of why I was doing this. "Each of Liu Sijian's songs is like a totem, that is, a prop for the protagonists in Inception to confirm whether they are dreaming. The reason why most of the song titles in the album are one or two words is also to echo the concept of "totem".
Liu Sijian began to learn piano at the age of 5 and persisted for ten years under the supervision of his parents, which made him more sensitive to tunes and better musicality. In high school, although he no longer practiced the piano, he still maintained the habit of listening to songs. In his third year in the United States, in 2017, Liu Sijian began to clearly feel that everyone around him was listening to rap. He mentioned that at that time, music teachers would play their own vinyl records in class and share their favorite music. Being so immersed in it makes Liu Sijian's aesthetics more Westernized.
Compared with works abroad and a year or two after returning to China, Liu Sijian obviously feels that things written in China will use more five-tone tones, because it is indeed better, and how to hear it is better, "just like the black keys of a piano, it is good to play randomly." On the contrary, if I had been abroad before, I would hardly have thought of doing this. But after a while, Liu Sijian also found that this would lose the personality of the song, so he deliberately used it less.
When Liu Sijian was 10 years old, Justin Bieber's "Baby" was on fire, and it was because of this song that he began to contact English songs and gradually developed the habit of listening to English songs. Justin Bieber has also become Liu Sijian's favorite singer, although he does not pay attention to Justin Bieber's news, but has always listened to his songs, and will buy peripherals, "I have liked it so much since I was a child, probably he is the one."
Initially, he also wanted to imitate Justin Bieber's "husky, metallic" voice, so he used more breathy tones, but later he found that singing like this was not very good. Now, at the end of the show, he always sings a cappella ending song by Justin Bieber, jokingly calling himself "Justin Bieber of Chengdu".
With such interest, Liu Sijian began to cover some favorite songs on the K song software, and then groped for mixes or original songs by himself. Later, just putting the sample on the Internet received a good response, which also encouraged Liu Sijian to continue creating, and at the age of 20, he appeared on the original music variety show "I am a singer-songwriter 2", becoming the youngest singer-songwriter in the competition.
Talking about the biggest difficulty on the music road, the young Liu Sijian said very bluntly that he had "no money". During the epidemic, Liu Sijian was trapped in Shanghai and had no performance income. Staying at home every day, although Liu Sijian is creating, he is still watching movies and playing games, which consumes his musical enthusiasm.
Now that everything is back in order, Liu Sijian just finished a round of tour last month, which also made him feel his progress, and he seemed much calmer this time, who would have been extremely nervous in the past. Seeing that the audience could feel the subtle expressions in his works and sing them together made Liu Sijian very moved. This is also Liu Sijian's first time signing a sale. I feel that because I don't talk much, my voice is small, maybe I am still talking, the other party has left because I didn't hear it, and I was embarrassed to bother.
But Liu Sijian also has some troubles, listening to the song began to have an "occupational disease", will involuntarily examine, compare, will wonder why this song is not written by me, "this feeling I hate very much, but I can't control it." What recently made Liu Sijian feel this way was an old song "Psycho (Pt. 2)" released by American rapper Ross 6 years ago, "because that song is very simple, but it is very good." ”
Talks
Music Herald: When it comes to R&B/urban music, three words/pictures that immediately come to mind?
Liu Sijian: The bedroom, the microphone, the kind of road when the sun is about to set. I think R&B is a relatively comfortable atmosphere for a person, and then for me it may be an evening moment, because the day is mainly sleeping.
Music Xiansheng: What do you think is special about Chinese urban music compared to the West in terms of theme style or creative atmosphere?
Liu Sijian: I think there is a very obvious point first of all, that is, there is no way to be as blatant as the West. Chinese expression may be relatively subtle, but in fact, a little more subtle is a little less R&B flavor. But there is no way to avoid this, because it's really weird Chinese you write like that.
From the perspective of my own lyrics, Chinese many words have to be portrayed, not particularly vernacular, but R&B still has to have a more casual and relaxed atmosphere, but Chinese lyrics you also have to do so that the lyrics are not so like boiled water, composition, sometimes it will be more difficult to balance this thing.
Music Herald: Have you ever thought about creating in English?
Liu Sijian: Yes, but I can think that writing the whole song in English can't avoid going to the bedroom again.
Music Herald: What do you mean?
Liu Sijian: The content will be a little more explicit.
Music Herald: So when you say the bedroom in the three words R&B at the beginning, you actually mean the more explicit aspect of the content?
Liu Sijian: That's right, because after all, there is an atmosphere.
Music Pioneer: Do you have an R&B musician of the same age that you admire?
Liu Sijian: I think I won't talk about Matt (Lu Yanliang), everyone is recognized as doing a better job. And like ODD, I think his stuff has its own flavor in it, and it also has a bit of R&B elements.
Music Herald: Do you agree with the statement that after Tao Zhe and Fang Da, Chinese urban music declined? Why?
Liu Sijian: I think this thing still has reincarnation, and I feel that it will come back in the past two years. This has to do with the environment.
Like during this period of the epidemic, everyone obviously wants to listen to the kind of music that is more popular and temperamental, the kind of songs that are faster and more dry. After the recent release, everyone's life feels a little easier, and I think it is natural to lean towards this trigram again.
In addition to this, I feel that the pure hip-hop around the world is also shifting to some more melodic and softer styles, so I will feel that maybe I will turn to this side again in the past two years.
Music Herald: Do you have any plans for the second half of the year?
Liu Sijian: Will release an album. Strictly speaking, it was the first album. This is the first time I've been making music for the first time in so many years that I feel like I'm finally going to write the things I wanted to write when I started making music.
Resources
1.https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2012/dec/29/did-hipsters-ruin-r-and-b
2.https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jun/29/how-r-b-got-its-groove-back
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