Realize the youthful expression of mainstream music

Teenagers are the most important creative subjects and recipients of new media art, and how to sing the main theme in line with the aesthetic taste and acceptance psychology of the new generation of audiences, so that mainstream music can tell Chinese stories well and spread the core values of socialism, while realizing the deep integration with youth culture, and "breaking the circle" of young people, is a practical problem to be solved in the aesthetic practice of music in the new media era.

In recent years, the rejuvenation of mainstream music has increasingly become the trend of the development of music culture. In 2019, songs such as "We Are All Dreamers" and "My Motherland and Me" sang in different forms such as galas, concerts, flash mobs, songs and dances, and MVs. For example, the youth version of the MV of "My Motherland and Me" shows the responsibility and responsibility of young people through the daily life scenes of ordinary people such as medical staff, firefighters, dance students, young volunteers, courier boys, and high-speed rail attendants, and realizes the cross-media, cross-platform, and cross-industry national communication of mainstream music in a real sense.

In 2021, the People's Daily will launch the "Youth" centennial theme MV on the new media side, focusing on the party's centennial struggle, in a style that young people like to see, select film and television materials and voiceovers of party history, form a musical and visual fusion with the song, and point out the theme of the song with a rap: "Looking at the light on the golden mountain from afar, shining in all directions, people's lives become shining little by little, step by step, roll up your sleeves and work hard, and realize the dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation" , using popular melodies familiar to teenagers to express the original intention and mission of the Communist Party of China. As soon as this MV was launched, it received a lot of praise from the majority of netizens, especially young netizens, and became a veritable phenomenal music product.

The creation of main theme operas and musicals also shows a trend of youth. The musical "Qu Qiubai" not only reproduces Qu Qiubai's revolutionary career, but also shows the "Autumn Baihua" love movement between Qu Qiubai and Yang Zhihua, digs deep into the emotional world of the protagonist, and highlights the youthful beauty of revolutionaries. The musicals "Xinhua Newsboy" and "Xingchen" tell the enthusiastic youth of different generations from the perspective of teenagers, and use pop music elements with modern texture and youthful vitality in singing, accompaniment, and dance. As Jia Ding, the artistic director of Xinhua Newsboy, said, "We emphasize the spiritual communication with young people, and hope that this work can play an important role in the growth of young people." ”

The youthful mainstream music grasps the pulse of the times in a more down-to-earth way, is close to the people's lives, and truly sings the music to the hearts of the masses. For example, "Good Morning Longhui" was originally a promotional song written for Longhui County, and when it was first launched in 2020, it had only 1 million views on Douyin's personal account, and it was not out of the circle; During the 2022 World Cup, this song was accompanied by netizens with a video of a star celebrating the championship, and achieved fission communication through Douyin, WeChat video account and other network platforms, and was later adapted into a mass chorus "Good Morning, Sunshine", and appeared on the stage of the 2023 China Central Radio and Television Spring Festival Gala, lighting up people's longing and hope for a better life.

Youth mainstream music also relies on influential music performance groups among teenagers to achieve open, friendly, immersive viewing and interaction, and gain the psychological identity of young audiences. At the 2017 CCTV May Fourth Youth Day Gala, the inspirational song and dance "Dreamer" full of youthful positive energy was loved by the audience: "Be the bravest and proudest dreamer, chase the wind and smile and dance, and believe that the dream will arrive one day." At the same time, the song and dance "Where Dreams Begin" was selected as the fifth batch of new songs with the theme of "Chinese Dream", which plugged in the wings of dreams for campus life, "This is where our dreams begin, full of sunshine and free flying", so that young people can feel the power of dreams and youth.

On the basis of giving full play to the advantages of traditional media communication, the youth mainstream music takes the initiative to connect with various new media platforms, and realizes cross-platform fission communication with diversified communication methods that young people like to see. At present, the number of views of the song "Good Morning Longhui" has exceeded 140 billion, mainly in the form of video soundtracks on the short video platform;

Nowadays, big data and other technologies have been widely used in major new media platforms to accurately outline the aesthetic personality of different audiences and accurately deliver music works that meet their personal aesthetic tastes. Mainstream music should also accurately meet the aesthetic demands of the people, further realize user segmentation, continuously expand the audience group, create an exclusive interactive platform more suitable for teenagers, let them become the secondary creators and disseminators of mainstream music, and improve the flexibility and adaptability of mainstream music production and supply. For example, the mobile new media aggregation platform "People's Daily" "People's Account" has released a number of adapted MVs for the song "To the Cloud", such as aerospace science and industry, people's soldiers, and scenery from all over the motherland, to further accurately meet the aesthetic demands of people in different occupations and different regions. At the same time, it is also necessary to establish a communication effect evaluation mechanism to optimize the relevant details of musical works in a timely manner according to the feedback of the audience, so as to further create cultural masterpieces.

The rejuvenation of mainstream music is an inevitable choice to "carry forward the main theme and spread positive energy" in the new media era, showing its vitality to keep pace with the times. However, at present, the phenomenon of relying on the so-called "traffic stars" in the mainstream music production of youth still exists, except for a few original music such as "We Are All Dreamers", "Youth", "Wanjiang", "Together to the Future", etc., more are in the form of covers, and forcibly graft pop music elements such as rock, rap, and hip-hop with the main theme stiffly, pursuing simple sensory stimulation and audio-visual effects, and even giving people a sense of crooked singing and spoofing. Some traffic stars have set up "collapsed houses", which has a great negative impact on the dissemination of well-made music works with a wide audience, and has invisibly dissipated the affinity and appeal of mainstream music. On the one hand, we must be vigilant against such creative tendencies and put an end to excessive entertainment; on the other hand, we must further strengthen the cultivation of creative talents, so that more music creators can give full play to their talents and potentials, and guide young people to buckle the first button in life with advanced ideas, friendly words, youthful melodies, and diverse styles.

Source: Guangming Daily

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