Looking around at the list of the most popular singers in today's domestic audiophile music circle, Miss Chen Jia is undoubtedly among the best. In the circle, because Chen Jia is known for her well-behaved and intelligent, everyone affectionately calls her Jiajia. As an authentic Beijing girl, Chen Jia not only has an outstanding image and sweet temperament, but also relies on the musical literacy she has learned from childhood, which makes her singing voice into her heart. Perhaps, in the eyes of some audio fans, Chen Jia is only one of the many inheritors of Teresa Teng. As everyone knows, that is only one side of Chen Jia, when she really showed herself, we were pleasantly surprised to find that Chen Jia's singing voice belongs to Chen Jia, Chen Jia's talent is surprising, she has her own opinions and interpretations of the song, and will not live in the shadow of her predecessors because she once sang Teresa Teng's songs.
No, Jia Jia just launched a Cantonese album "It seems that the old man is coming", the album selected the first classic song, there is no longer a song of Teresa Teng. As a non-native singer, Chen Jia can sing the mood of each Cantonese song with her own deep feelings, which is very rare. At the famous music producer Liao Zhimao's Guangzhou Lechuang Space Lexi Recording Studio, I gave an exclusive interview to Chen Jia. Below, let's listen to Chen Jia's little-known stories behind those records.
Q: As a non-native singer, what are the difficulties in singing to achieve such a good interpretation?
A: Because she liked to listen to Teresa Teng's songs since she was a child, her Cantonese songs learned to sing with tapes since she was a child, but at that time, because there was no correction of Cantonese pronunciation, and the sound quality of tapes and players in that era was relatively vague, singing only stayed at the level of perception and imitation. Later, as he grew older, and signed a record company in Guangdong, the records launched were also "audiophile discs" that paid attention to sound quality. Therefore, in recent years, the albums recorded in recent years have begun to deliberately try to interpret Cantonese songs, and ask Cantonese music producers to correct the pronunciation of Cantonese, although this, because Cantonese is not the mother tongue, it is not a day or two correction to really sing Cantonese songs, which requires years of speculation. Success in everything is not accidental, more need to be the right time and place, fortunately, in recent years with a Team in Hong Kong to shoot videos about Chinese culture, often together for ten days and a half months together, so there is a better language environment and Hong Kong colleagues to learn Cantonese, after a lot of listening, communication and learning, the feeling of Cantonese has been greatly improved than before. The harvest of listening to Cantonese is re-absorbed and reflected on for Cantonese singing. (It can be seen that Jiajia is a singer who is good at learning and has a meticulous mind.) ）
Since then, in the recent series of "See Teresa" series of records, one or two Cantonese songs will be subconsciously interpreted, and in the repeated corrections, the understanding of Cantonese lyrics has been deepened, plus the songs of Teresa Teng have been sung since childhood, and these songs have long been familiar with the tune and mood, and it is natural to interpret them. Unexpectedly, audio fans and music fans also praised the Cantonese songs sung by Jiajia, so Jiajia was more confident in launching a Cantonese album. However, the songs selected for the album "It Seems to Be the Past" sung this time are not very familiar, so in fact, in order to prepare for this album, I began to learn to sing these songs from the tune. After singing, all the songs were recorded and handed over to the producer, Mr. Liao Zhimao, for review. Then, under the guidance of Teacher Liao, the deviation was corrected, and it underwent a repeated process of polishing and correction.
Because, including the record company and the sound fans, they all had great expectations for this Cantonese album, and until the week before the upcoming Spike recording, the tension in their hearts lingered, and the pressure was so great that they could not sleep all night. After recording in Guangzhou for two or three days, it was even more into a state of complete insomnia. This situation is unbearable for the singer, and everyone knows the importance of rest to protect the voice, at what moment, the recording can not go on. Therefore, I had to go directly to the hospital to prescribe sleeping pills, and after a break, I barely finished recording the songs of this album. (From this incident, we can see that Jiajia is an idealist with extremely high self-requirements and the pursuit of perfection in everything, in order to achieve the best results, the inner harshness on himself and the hardships in it are unimaginable to outsiders.) ）
After returning to Beijing, no matter whether I eat or drive, I listen to my own samples almost at any time, and I know clearly that my singing is not comfortable enough. While listening, summarize the learning process, and know your own shortcomings before you can sing more and more slippery. After two months of tempering, I decided to go to Guangzhou to re-record two particularly unsatisfactory songs, so I had a second request to enter the studio. This time, not only was the singing more in place, but the voice state was also better because of the relaxation, so it was originally planned to re-record two songs, and in the end it was almost the whole re-recording. This experience was also the first time in his singing career. After all, records and concerts are not the same, concerts are instant play, and records will be repeatedly played by fans, so the requirements for record recording are higher and stricter, singing should be perfect, and post-production does not want to leave regrets. (Jiajia's attitude of interpreting a record so carefully deserves our applause.) ）
Q: Singing in a non-native language, it is already a high achievement to achieve such a high level of pronunciation and emotional expression, what are the songs on this album that I am more satisfied with?
A: The songs of this album are all classic Cantonese works that Cantonese music fans are quite familiar with, in fact, they like the songs of the whole album after singing. For example, "Who Resonates", "Silence is Golden", etc., the tune, range and meaning of these songs are actually more consistent with me, but the first time I sang it, I did not sing well, and when I recorded it for the second time, I improved my grasp of the song more greatly. "Moon And a Half Serenade" is a song that I originally liked very much, and the tension of these songs is also very strong, and it is generally quiet and soothing in the fever disc, but the singing of this song is different, just like jumping on a Mercedes-Benz train, and when it slows down, it is already the end. In addition, "The Wind Continues to Blow" is also a very favorite song, including the Japanese version, this time the Cantonese version, and will also be sung in the future Chinese version. (A singer can sing three versions of a song, which is probably unprecedented in the audiophile record circle.) ）
Q: You learned to play the piano since you were a child, got good grades, and later joined the choir, so how much influence did these musical experiences have on your career as a professional singer?
A: In fact, life is also a continuous learning process, practicing the piano has long been an indispensable habit, recently filmed some videos of self-playing and singing. However, learning classical performance and popular accompaniment are completely two systems, so it is also necessary to practice techniques such as improvisational accompaniment. In addition, in order to maintain the state on the stage, the dance practice is also maintained. Moreover, because I have not systematically learned vocal music since I was a child, in addition to maintaining my own vocal conditions and long-term singing habits, I now need to take vocal music classes and learn correct singing techniques to improve my singing level.
In fact, all the experience of learning music is a process of shaping people's comprehensive literacy. For example, there have always been many people who say that I imitate Teresa Teresa, but they only see one of them. Now I am actually a comprehensive presentation of learning music in the past, not just imitating. As the vocal music teacher commented: Teresa Teng has become a nutrient for you, and there is no conclusion as to how to blossom and bear fruit after absorbing nutrients. In addition to Teresa Teng's songs, she has also sung many songs, and has not circled herself on the road of imitating Teresa Teresa, which is only the definition of some music fans themselves. In addition to the "See You Teresa Teresa Again" series, there will be more plays that present another side of themselves, so that everyone can more fully understand Jiajia. Many of the possibilities in the future will actually need to be determined by the market.
In fact, in addition to being good at singing Teresa Teng, I also have some original work that deserves everyone's attention. For example, this time I came to Guangzhou, and several of the works recorded were my own creations. These are some famous and classic Japanese songs, and I refilled the lyrics of the Chinese and sang them myself, which I believe will bring a new experience to the fans. In fact, in the early days, my own composition and lyrics have also been published a lot, and everyone can hear it on the online music platform. For example, "Song of the Evening Wind" is my own songwriting work, and "Looking Back" is a good friend Sindra's lyrics, a song I wrote. Then, there are also video programs on Sinology culture, and there are about 10 songs composed for ancient poems. Then I also composed and composed "Tree in my heart", "The Moon in My Heart", "Goodbye July" and so on, all of which are my favorite works. (It turns out that Jiajia not only sang well, but even ignored such a powerful creative talent, disrespectful!) ）
Q: When did the cooperation with Tianyi Culture begin? In addition to singing, will you also be involved in the production of records?
A: Since 2017, the "See You Teresa Teresa" series began, in fact, the frequency of record publishing is not high, and it is probably one per year so far. My production team and I have always insisted on meticulous craftsmanship, and strive to present a perfect state of singing and recording of each record. The production of each record is not achieved overnight, I will participate in the selection of songs in the early stage, I will study with the producers which songs can subvert the original arrangement, post-production myself pay more attention to the quality of vocal singing, etc., and finally the mix is still a professional thing to do. For example, Mr. Liao Zhimao, who has been working with me for a long time, is a very good music producer; for example, Mr. Li Gui, who is responsible for recording several albums, is a very good recording engineer.
In fact, I prefer to listen to the popular style of mixing and dubbing, the accompaniment part will be more abundant, and the overall sound will be more layered and full. The audiophile recording instrument does the maximum subtraction, so everyone focuses on the vocals, which tests the singer's singing level even more.
Q: Speaking of sound effects, how does Jiajia view the audiophile record market?
A: Audiophiles are so precious, and everyone understands that if it weren't for this group of lovely enthusiasts who insisted on buying physical CD records and playing music rituals, maybe the CD market would be even more bleak. In fact, the biggest pleasure when I was young was that every day when I came home from school, I would visit all the record stores on the road, and I would enjoy it every day, which was a CD era. Later MP3, the rapid development of the current streaming media, the CD to the point of falling water, many friends are looking forward to listening to music on various streaming music platforms, and basically will not pay attention to the physical CD, which is a very regrettable, sad thing. What about audiophile records? I don't actually pursue any of the so-called audiophile elements, but hope that my records can present the most natural, comfortable, and musically appealing musical feelings to the listeners. Good production not only needs good sound quality, but also needs to make more attempts in the orchestration instrument, presenting a richer, fuller and more energetic musical atmosphere.
Regarding the audiophile records, I also had a meaningful discussion with Jiajia, Teacher Liao, and Miss Tianyi Records Library, which is limited to the length of the article, and I will share it with you next time.