Xu Wei is like a philosopher who spreads his thoughts through music, always allowing the audience to find the true meaning of those extracted from life and life from his singing and creation. Perhaps, this has also made the simple impression that Xu Wei has left in the minds of many literary and artistic youths and music fans over the years.
When Xu Wei first came to Beijing 20 years ago to pursue his rock and roll dreams, he dreamed of becoming a rock star like Cui Jian, and realized that the road was not so smooth and needed to bear great pressure. But for a 25-year-old, it's still too much of a task. Therefore, he can only be alone in a lonely and dark corner, writing songs to express his inner bitterness.
In April 1997, Xu Wei's first solo album "Elsewhere" was officially released, and without any publicity, the cumulative sales volume reached 500,000 copies. Producer Zhang Yadong once patted Xu Wei's shoulder before the album was released and said: "You put your heart in your stomach, the Chinese rock circle can't do without you." Even the rock superstar Dou Wei and the musician Gao Xiaosong came to admire Xu Wei's rock talent. Dou Wei gave a thumbs up after listening to it, and called out, "Dude, you are a real cow!" ”
These rock lovers in the circle exaggerated Xu Wei to the ceiling, but reality poured a basin of cold water on Xu Wei: even if he signed a record company, he was still just a north drift that even had to be sent to live under the fence. In that era of rampant piracy, how could the sales of genuine albums be comparable to pirated copies, and the second album "That Year" released only sold 150,000 copies, which was completely unsold at the time. Faced with such an embarrassing situation, Red Star Society chose to terminate the contract with Xu Wei, which completely pushed Xu Wei into the "huge mouth abyss" of depression.
Young and crazy and enjoying a high reputation, he could not bear to look directly at his own sloppy appearance, and stood on the edge of the balcony on the fifth floor many times, asking himself: If you jump down, are you liberated? One thought becomes a Buddha, one thought becomes a demon. In those dark days, whether to stick to his musical dreams and how to integrate his own style into it were nightmares that entangled Xu Wei and were difficult to erase.
What allowed Xu Wei to find spiritual sustenance was his accidental trip to Mount Emei. By coincidence, Xu Wei received the baptism of Buddhism, and he understood that the world itself is not beautiful, and our lives cannot just stay on this flaw, complaining and cursing the street have no meaning at all. After xu Wei's creation no longer considered the popularity and singing degree of the song, how to inherit and promote our national culture became his new creative goal. "American rock music is like this, British rock music is like this, Chinese rock music must be integrated with your own culture, otherwise you have no meaning." 」 Xu Wei said so. So he drank tea and climbed mountains, studied scriptures, studied traditional culture, and did his best to keep himself in a state of "birth". The popular "Blue Lotus" contains a strong Buddhist flavor, and the profound artistic conception flowing in the song heals itself at the same time, and also infects countless listeners who are confused in this vast world. A song "Empty Valley Youlan", which integrates poems and Song lyrics, has been polished for nearly a year, and the lyrics also contain Buddhism everywhere, interpreting Buddhist Zen.
Xu Wei, who has successfully transformed into a successful person, has undergone major changes, and most of his songs write about warm things such as landscape, sunshine, wind and rain, and his style has also shifted from the darkness and despair of the early days to clarity and quietness. In the previous lyrics, almost every song appeared "night", but in the later works, "night" appeared only a few times, and the word that appeared in a large area was "silence", and sometimes it became "quiet" and "quiet". The repetition of the same word shows the depth of Xu Wei's gaze on himself. It can be said that in this process, Xu Wei gazes at his own sublimation, and Xu Wei uses the "vague space" of depression to create a highly romantic "lyrical subject": transforming the external and cruel reality into an inner, spiritual discovery and self-road problem. This allows us to see that he is always "on the road".
As he himself said: I don't want to look back, because if I stayed yesterday or today, it's actually a step backwards, and I prefer to look forward, and this is life, so I don't think there's any need to miss it, and I feel that no matter what experienceStay has had, it's a gift of life for me, and I'm grateful.
Fate is so magical, when he let go of his obsession, the once untouchable glory immediately came to him, Xu Wei was on fire, fire was in the streets and alleys, fire was in car audio. Ten years ago, he had dreamed of going to the end of the world with a sword, and ten years later, he had walked through the silent landscapes and rivers of the end of the world, and now that he had passed the age of knowing his destiny, he said: "After living for a long time, you will find that in fact, everyone is an ordinary person, and so am I."