Zhou Shen's interview reveals "pessimism": Why do singers become terrier kings? The current situation of artist survival in the era of traffic
Recently, Lantai's "The Voice" fell into a vortex because of a recording of mentor Li Min before his death, which also caused many people to re-pay attention to many singers who came out with the show, including Zhou Shen.
There has even been a saying that "The Voice owes Zhou Shen a champion", but in fact, after being eliminated by "The Voice" for 9 years, Zhou Shen has already reached the position of a first-line singer.
Recently, he gave an interview, in which he appeared to be somewhat "pessimistic":
I don't know how many stages there are, so I will cherish each one.
Moreover, Zhou Shen also mentioned that he has made a lot of efforts to be able to get on more stages, including the play terriers that Da Zhang Wei and Xue Zhiqian tried before.
It can be seen that even the stars who are in the spotlight are not without pressure, especially in the face of a stage that may be lost "at any time", it is even more trembling.
Perhaps, only they know how important a hard-won opportunity or stage is to all artists.
1. Zhou Shen: Cherish behind every stage
Zhou Shen's statement in the interview is pessimistic, in fact, this may be because of his not privileged family situation.
He was born in 1992 in a very remote mountain village in Hunan Province, leaving only Zhou Shen and his sister to rely on each other because both parents went out to work.
But since he was a child, he fell in love with singing because of his unique voice, but he was not understood by his classmates, plus he was thin and short, and he was once ridiculed by his classmates.
Zhou Shen went to study in Ukraine after graduating from high school, citing that such a country was less expensive, and he also followed his parents' expectations and chose a good medical major for employment.
But half a year later, he decided to go to the Conservatory, and was finally admitted to the Bel Canto Singing major of the Lviv State Conservatory in Ukraine.
During his college years, Zhou Shen became popular because he sang "Let It Go" in 9 languages, and then returned to China to participate in the selection of "The Voice".
His song "On the Baikal" first stage, touched many audiences and was also recognized by the on-site mentor.
However, after that, although Zhou Shen tried his best to maintain his style, he was also criticized and criticized during the competition, and eventually led to elimination.
But fortunately, he was immediately taken in by the musician Gao Xiaosong, and the other party also created his debut album "Deep Deep" for him out of his own pocket.
And it was the song "Big Fish" in this album that made Zhou Shen popular overnight, and since then he has started the road to chasing dreams.
During this period, he participated in programs such as "The Masked Singer Will Guess" and "Chinese New Singer", and received many invitations from film and television works to sing the theme song.
Since then, Zhou Shen has continued to make announcements, especially when he participated in "Sound into People's Hearts" in 2018, when he performed on stage for the first time and sang the difficult famous song "Time to say goodbye".
In line with the principle of "not wasting every stage", he strives to be the best in every performance, saying:
"While everyone is willing to listen to me sing, I want to seize every opportunity for everyone to hear."
The following year, Zhou Shen formed a "deep love" group with "Song King" Li Keqin in the variety show "Our Song", and finally relied on the classic "Half Moon Serenade" to crush the former mentor Na Ying team and won the championship.
After having popularity, he also frequently appeared on variety shows, as a mentor, played terriers, and even because he participated in too many variety shows, he was questioned by the outside world to "forget his roots" and became a "variety show coffee".
But until now, Zhou Shen frankly said in an interview that these are all to maintain the heat, in order to "exchange" for more singing stages, people understand the deep meaning behind this.
Indeed, throughout the surging entertainment industry, if there is no popularity, it is equivalent to losing the stage, and what are the very good seniors, because they didn't understand or didn't care about these at the beginning, they were already out of everyone's mind?
2. Those good singers who lost the stage
Some time ago, the original Internet singer Dao Lang returned to the audience's field of vision because of a new song "Rakshasa Sea Market".
As we all know, he became popular in 2004 because of a song "The First Snow of 2002", and then successively took out popular songs such as "Lover" and "Wolf in Sheep's Clothing".
It is not an exaggeration to say that Dao Lang at that time, with his unique voice and popular music style, was not even lower in popularity than well-known singers such as Mayday and Lin Junjie.
But after 2012, he was boycotted by industry insiders and had to choose to retire from the music scene under great pressure.
It was not until 8 years later that Dao Lang returned with his new album "Playing Words and Words", and then released the album "As I Smell" under his real name Luo Lin.
Until some time ago because of a song "Rakshasa Sea Market" out of the circle again, a few days ago, he also settled in a short video platform, without any publicity, and any works without more than 5 million fans.
But some people also reported that because "Rakshasa Sea City" was over-interpreted, Dao Lang's concert was forced to cancel, and the specific reason is unknown.
In addition to Dao Lang, there are many excellent singers who have become the hearts of the audience because they have "lost" the stage and popularity.
For example, last year, because of participating in variety shows, she was seen by the audience again, the former lead singer of Fei'er Band, Zhan Wenting.
She formed the Fei'er Orchestra with Chen Jianning and A Qin in 2002 and made her debut as the female lead singer of the orchestra.
Their debut album "F.I.R" became a hit, directly against popular singers such as Jay Chou and Jolin Tsai, and then became more and more courageous, frequently winning numerous awards for classic works.
However, by 2006, the record market was hit by piracy, and many singers changed their development direction, and Feier still persisted.
In addition, due to the long-term relationship between Zhan Wenting and team member Aqin, there was a gap between the three team members.
Finally, the two broke up in 2010, and a few years later, Zhan Wenting was "kicked" out by the group because of a problem with her voice, and replaced with a new lead singer Han Rui.
After that, her career suffered a huge blow, and she could only rely on cave walking performances to maintain her singing career.
In 2021, she returned and released a new album under her personal name, but the response was very lackluster.
And Jin Haixin, who was once known as "Faye Wong's successor", also became popular last year because of the song "Love Like Narcissus" was re-sung by big Internet celebrities.
At the age of 20, Jin Haixin gave up the opportunity to study in the United States and entered Sony Records, and his first album was the remarkable "Wake Up Your Ears".
Her voice is very popular, her appearance is pure and lovely, and even if she became popular overnight, people even praised her as "Faye Wong's successor" and had a bright future.
After that, Jin Haixin struck while the iron was hot and launched her second music album "So Proud", and the results were also quite good, and she also took over the song selection, arrangement, recording and other links in the album, which can be said to be hands-on and talented.
But what no one expected was that the traditional record industry suddenly encountered the impact of online music, coupled with the change in the senior management of Jin Haixin's record company, resulting in the loss of all opportunities to show its face overnight.
Although she later released the hit single "Sad Swing", she still couldn't stop the sharp decline in popularity.
In the next two years, Jin Haixin only occasionally participated in some singing activities, with a very low sense of existence, and the market was immediately replaced by a new generation of singers such as Zhang Hanyun and Li Yuchun.
The same situation also happened to the former "little diva" Xu Huaiyu and Wang Xinling, who were also affected by the environment, resulting in the loss of the opportunity to be on the stage overnight, and failed to produce more brilliant works, and were gradually forgotten by the audience...
3. What they did to "keep" the stage
Looking at the experiences of many of the above singers, it is not difficult to find that Zhou Shen's concerns are not unreasonable.
Whether it is a singer or an actor, in fact, they have to face not only the improvement of business, but also their own adaptability and coping in the ever-changing times.
In order to "retain" the stage and get opportunities, many singers have chosen to find another way.
For example, Da Zhang Wei, who was originally the lead singer of China's "youngest rock band" Hua'er Band, was only 15 years old when he debuted.
In the second year of their debut, the Flower Band sold 450,000 copies with their debut album "Next to Happiness", which was hailed as "a miracle in the Chinese music scene at the end of the century".
But soon, due to the conflict with the agency, the band fell into a bottleneck, and it was not until 2004 that he joined the new company and successfully became popular with the album "You Are My Romeo".
But soon after, Flower fell into a plagiarism incident, plus the band chose to fly solo, paid huge liquidated damages, and was mistaken by the outside world due to excessive weight loss... Da Zhang Wei fell into an unprecedented low ebb.
In desperation, since 2013, he has participated in the recording of the variety show "Variety Big Coffee Show" to open up a new way and open a new path for his "joker".
He made a difference in the circle with his imitation performances, and at the same time contributed a lot of sober golden sentences in the show, which was recognized by the audience again.
But as soon as he turned around, Da Zhang Wei put his enthusiasm into his favorite music again, and then released the hit songs "Double Shuang'er" and "Silly".
It can be said that today's Da Zhang Wei is indeed a common "variety show" in domestic entertainment, but this may not be his original intention, it can only be said that it is a helpless move.
And with Da Zhang Wei has the same experience, there is Xue Zhiqian: he debuted in his early years because of his participation in "My Type Me Show", and then attracted attention because of a song "Serious Snow".
But because of the brokerage company, Xue Zhiqian was delayed for 7 years, and his singing career almost died.
In order to make money to "supplement" his music dreams, he transformed into an actor, opened hot pot restaurants, online stores, and became a "terrier king" on social platforms because of his funny talent.
At that time, Xue Zhiqian's soft text quotation had far exceeded that of the first-line big V, and the copywriting creativity was extremely exciting.
After that, he also walked on variety shows without accident, and successively appeared on shows such as "Infinite Song Season" and "Crossover Singer", earning a lot of money.
Xue Zhiqian also said bluntly: "I earn 10 times as much money as a singer as a comedian!" ”
But then he said bluntly in an interview: I have great ambitions and want to become a first-line singer in music.
Indeed, in the era of traffic, only when their own business value is improved can they get the opportunity to show themselves, so as to gain recognition and respect.
Yang Zi was once temporarily replaced before filming because she was born as a child star and had low commercial value, so she said, "I hope more people know me, so that I will have more opportunities to act." ”
Therefore, many actors also chose to take other paths first in order to retain the stage: on variety shows, being judges, and even rubbing the heat, etc., all kinds of things.
For example, Wei Daxun and Bai Jingting, who have been questioned all over the question, waited for the opportunity because they embodied value in variety shows, and only then did Xing Kelei and Meng Yanchen be born.
Xiao Shunyao, who gained attention some time ago for playing the flute flying sound in "Lotus Building", debuted for many years, but was named the "worst artist" because his works were repeatedly filmed and not broadcast.
In Chasing the Light! Brother", Xiao Shunyao is very good in all aspects, but his popularity is not high, and when asked why he came to participate, he said bluntly:
"I want to get more traffic through this show, because I chose to be an actor, I lost a lot of roles some time ago, and I need this show to bring me traffic so that I can compete fairly with them."
Zhang Wanyi, who has become popular with "Sauvignon Blanc", also said in an interview that he does not reject acting in idol dramas and becoming a traffic, because this "can assist me, let me have more opportunities to choose, and get my favorite roles." ”
It can be seen that the pressure of competition in the entertainment industry is so great that artists can only gain traffic and therefore get the opportunity to appear on the stage if they develop diversified.
And these stages are so hard-won, please cherish the "purple micro stars" who have easily obtained the stage now.