Original article, unauthorized reproduction
Author | Nine Fish
"If someone encounters a song that gives him strength when he is in love, the song will also become synonymous with strength for this person in the future."
When talking to Wei Ruxuan about the creative details of the recently released new album "HAVE A NICE DAY", she immediately gave such an example to illustrate. In fact, throughout the interview, she left the deepest impression on us: a singer-songwriter who is very good at integrating abstract content and substantive life.
Including opening the list of songs for "HAVE A NICE DAY", whether it is "Grandma", "The Flower Seller", or "Nothing To Cry", "My Dish" and other song names can see this: this music album is her life "alive" appearance.
Wei Ruxuan's "Have A NICE DAY" album cover
After winning the "Best Female Singer" trophy at the 31st Golden Melody Awards last year, Wei Ruxuan said: "After winning the award, I can be more brave to be myself, without having to think about how to be more popular, more is to make music that meets my own tastes..."
Subsequently, she launched "HAVE A NICE DAY", which combines R&B, electronic, rock, jazz and other genres, and also uses three different languages of Japanese, Chinese and Hakka to interpret. Moreover, recently, the spatial audio version carefully remade by producer Chen Jianqi has been launched on Apple Music, and "HAVE A NICE DAY" has become one of the newly released albums in the Chinese music scene with a Dolby Atmos spatial audio version.
Some people feel that this is her resolute choice to go against the wind after being recognized by the mainstream, and some people feel that she is still the same her. But if you haven't had time to listen to "HAVE A NICE DAY", instead of judging from other people's "feelings", it is better to listen to what the author of the album itself, Wei Ruxuan, said.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="10" > a very small and large album</h1>
"Lucky 7, Blessings, Pines".
Wei Ruxuan chose the above three words to describe the album "HAVE A NICE DAY". "Lucky 7" is because it is her seventh solo album, "Blessing" means as literally as the album title, and "Loose" is what she used to describe her state when she was making the entire album.
After being asked, "After the Golden Melody Awards, is "HAVE A NICE DAY" a 100% Wei Ruxuan?" She also repeatedly mentions "loose":
"I feel very loose and very comfortable, that pine, is intuitively did not think a lot, for example, before someone said 'she bites the word is weird', 'she is so weird', and then I have been plagued by the word 'weird'. But if you compare one with this one, you can hear the feeling of 'loose'. In fact, every album in the past is 100%, but there will be some regrets in it. ”
Although as she said, every album is 100% herself, after Wei Ruxuan released "Occasions Where Crying Is Not Allowed", she was also mentioned with the suggestion of "Can You Write Simpler". Listening to the feedback of others, she will also reflect on whether some of her own words are too cumbersome.
She said that it wasn't until she found a way of creating and interpreting what she called "Weightlifting" that she figured out a balance between what she wanted to express and what she wanted to finally present. This balance is distilled into "loose" after it is placed in the production process and presentation of this album.
This can be found in the song ranking of "HAVE A NICE DAY" alone. Rather than being too harsh on the traditional song sequences of the so-called titles and intros, "HAVE A NICE DAY" pays more attention to how to let the audience enjoy the ten music stories about her from beginning to end.
The first song of the album was not "Have A NICE DAY", the title of the same name, but "Grandma". This arrangement is because it is a song without a prelude, and the opening is a sample of a Hakka nursery rhyme that Wei Ruxuan's grandmother often sang to her when she was a child. Opening this album with her own initial memories of music also laid the groundwork for this very personal and warm album from the beginning, and she also satisfied some "small selfishness" in passing:
"I wish my grandma had put a physical album on the player, and the first song would be 'Grandma', because then she wouldn't have to press it one by one."
The reason why the song "Very Small", which has a slightly melancholy atmosphere in terms of both arrangement and songwriting, was placed at the end, one is because it is the last song she wrote and completed, and the other is to convey one of the main concepts of the album through this ending: blessing.
"'Very Small,' is about the relationship between two people, which is a big and big subject in itself, but the song uses the 'small' perspective of two people to tell. Including in the arrangement, it is not very surging and more like a ripple slowly spreading in the bottom of the heart, the forward force is not large, but the staying power is very strong. ”
Using the most everyday and ordinary perspective to tell a jerky and complex topic, the song "Very Small and Small" is definitely a very typical Wei Ruxuan-style weightlifting representative work, as she herself said: "'Very Small, Very Small," in fact, very big and big."
In her opinion, in addition to the integrity of an album is linked to the completion of its own production, whether the performer really understands and conveys the feelings of the song is also a very important reference factor. She feels that if the concept of the album is regarded as a circle, the integrity of the album may be a shape that is incomparably close to the perfect circle, and everyone has their own uniqueness that they want to express, so it will not be a perfect circle, but the more this is done, the more it will have a high degree of integrity.
"Just by saying 'have a nice day', I feel that it is a very neutral expression, and I do not say that its context must be happy." It is precisely because of those sad and sad things in life that we will double down on cherishing happiness, but no matter what, we must maintain the confidence that we will make the day very nice. ”
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="25" > there are few similarities and no overlaps</h1>
Three of the ten songs in "HAVE A NICE DAY" are chorus songs: "The Flower Seller" with Korean female singer Hyun-woo Jung-jae, "My Dish" with Shadow Project, and "April is a Good Day to Lie" with Jude. From well-known overseas singer-songwriters to rap groups to last year's Golden Melody Awards Dark Horse, she described working with them as a wonderful experience.
When confronted with the question of whether the number of three co-op songs is a bit much for an album that is mainly individual, she said that she felt that it was not much at all:
In fact, this album was originally planned to hold two relatively large concerts at the Little Dome, the whole album is almost 45 minutes, if you think of it as a 45-minute concert, they are the guests at the concert. And when I was working together, in addition to the chorus part, I would also give the other party some propositional direction in the creation, so I didn't deviate from what the album itself wanted to convey. ”
Both Zhenya and Shadow Project are known to her on her own radio show. Whether it is the cooperation with the at first sight of The Rare Yu Zhenya, or the Shadow Project, which is highly overlapping with the song list, it is all promoted in a very natural form. And the acquaintance with Jude is because of the Golden Melody Award, she said that from the beginning did not know who he was, to appreciate his musical works, and then to later find him to cooperate, the whole process did not have any deliberate component, very relaxed and happy.
Speaking of which, it comes back to the concept of "pine" in "Have A NICE DAY". An album may be required to be as perfect as possible, but the concert relies more on the state of the singer on the spot, and the more relaxed the singer's state, the better the experience of the live audience.
"I think I have a lot of faces in the song, and a song doesn't mean that if you listen to it once, you immediately 'good', 'a few points', 'can' or 'no'! I don't think so, every song can be listened to repeatedly, and every time you can have a new harvest. ”
As she said, if you simply understand Wei Ruxuan from the song, it will indeed make people feel that she has many faces, sometimes she is eccentric, sometimes she is lively and cute, and sometimes she is kind and warm. But if you understand her from the level of a singer-songwriter, you will find that the adjective that best fits her may be the four words "true feelings".
In interviews, when talking about the transformation of her mother's identity, she would laugh and share with everyone the funny story of her sleeping and snoring when she was pregnant; when talking about the reasons for becoming a slash person, she would unreservedly reply that it was for a living; and when talking about music-related topics, she would always emphasize those four words.
A person who can do so without reservation in life will only be more serious in music creation. Just like the song "Beauty" on the new album, boldly use "your lower body bids farewell to the first half of life" to sing about the shape of your body changed because of the birth of a child, and then a sentence of "It's okay, beauty is a living person" to clamor with the solidified aesthetic of the so-called "thin and beautiful".
This may also be the main reason why Wei Ruxuan is difficult to imitate. Some people may have a similar timbre to her, and others may imitate her biting words, but it is difficult to release her emotions and stories into the creation of music works without reservation like she does. At the same time, in terms of attitude, always only loyal to their own inner standards.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="37" > "after the song" is just a new starting point</h1>
From the natural volume in 2003 to Wei Ruxuan in 2006, she spent 3 years, and from Wei Ruxuan to the Golden Melody Award song, she spent 14 years. At that time, after winning the award, when her fans, family and friends were happy for her, there were also some doubtful voices on the Internet, and whenever this happened, she always chose to prove the response, hoping that those who did not know her and her music could come to the scene to feel her music.
"HAVE A NICE DAY" also has a song about the title of "Queen of songs" - "The Great Award". Inspired by a strange dream made by Wei Ruxuan, the song tells the story of Wei Ruxuan's ups and downs about the ups and downs of the award, and then magnified to put it down, after the carnival ceremony, or continue to live as usual: "No matter which award you hold the night before, you still have to brush your teeth when you get up in the morning."
In fact, from these expressions, we can feel that whether it is before the song or after the song, Wei Ruxuan or that Wei Ruxuan. If anything has changed, take the new album "HAVE A NICE DAY", she is obviously more relaxed and bold than before.
In the "Grand Prize", with the jazz master Ye He Pu nylon guitar playing as the main axis, with drums, bass, piano and other accessories casual and brisk arrangement, she uses staggered forms of improvisational humming to interpret; you can record the demo of "Transformers" in the toilet; you can also play the fusion of electronic synthesis instruments and popular music elements in "Nothing to Cry", the whole song has no established musical structure, full of surprises.
When Wei Ruxuan talked about her next plan, she also mentioned the concert that was forced to be postponed due to the impact of the epidemic, she said that she really wanted to sing to everyone, and after releasing the new album, she wanted to do it even more!
Hopefully that day can come soon. But before that day comes, it's a good idea to listen to "HAVE A NICE DAY" to unwind.
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