On August 21, 2020, Mizuki Nianhua was invited to participate in the New Weekly 2020 Corporate Social Responsibility Honorary Ceremony and was awarded the title of "Annual Public Welfare Promotion Ambassador". (Photo: Ah Can)
After ten years of dormancy, Mizuki Nianhua returned to the public vision and the center of public opinion because of a public comeback that was not successful.
"Mizuki participated in the second season of "Summer of the Band" and was called 'greasy' by professional music critics" – a seemingly simple and sensational message that sparked a lot of discussion, but how many people really cared about the truth behind it and the attitude of the protagonist of the event?
Mizuki Nianhua responded on Weibo for the first time, And Miao Jie's "We are indeed not young, but we still have the courage and enthusiasm to make ourselves proud" is their basic attitude. In addition, they have more to say, and they want to emphasize their own ideas about music, society, and life to make up for the lack of appearance in front of the public in the past decade.
The following is the dictation of Lu Gengjiao and Miao Jie.
Lu Gengjiao: Become immortal, and then die
When it comes to "Le Xia" (the second season of "Summer of the Band"), I think it is mainly a pity that I did not sing those prepared songs, such as our new song "Thanks for Life", and some cover songs, such as Zhou Yunpeng's "September" and Faye Wong's "Human World".
The program director told us how many rounds there were, so we had to prepare some different types of tracks. At the beginning, we didn't want to compete for the top three or anything, but we didn't expect to compete in the end - I think with our level, how can there be more than one round? There are a lot of works that have been tested by time! And whether it is from the form of the band or the literary temperament, we all meet the requirements of the stage of Lexia.
The most unexpected thing is that our participation also triggered the social topic of "middle-aged greasy", and it felt like we were forcibly dragged into a big topic. In fact, many people on the Internet feel that the word "greasy" has nothing to do with Mizuki, and most of them are attacking the views of the professional music fan.
Looking at this now, I still think, why? First of all, you don't like it, is it greasy? Do we look greasy, our music greasy, our singing greasy, or our style greasy? This discussion in turn triggered a backlash from middle-aged people – am I old enough to call me greasy? The discussion is focused on these places, and in fact, it has little to do with the music itself or our performances in Lexia.
I think compared to the two brothers who said we were greasy, Ding Taisheng was more pertinent, he said, "I think Mizuki's song is a good work, but it is not suitable for the stage of Lexia, it is more suitable for singing and songwriting or singer-song performance." What he meant was that our temperament was not suitable for Le Xia.
My understanding is that LeXia's audience and critics generally like a certain type or a certain system, such as modern pain, new pants, or more independent bands. While I don't quite agree with Ding Taisheng, he's at least talking about the music itself, rather than moving the topic elsewhere.
"Goodbye Youth" is a very literary and artistic work that conforms to the Lexia stage, and we did not sing a song of saliva. Since it meets the requirements of the stage, it is necessary to discuss the work in the same discourse system, discuss the lyrics, music, arrangement, singing, stage performance, and the performance of the band.
The adaptation of this song is also not simple - many people think that school folk songs are simple, so they link us to simplicity. In order to cooperate with the band, we changed a lot of chords and wrote complex harmonies, but there were many things they couldn't see or care about, and we didn't have a chance to continue to express.
In fact, at that time, the audience was very recognized and tolerant of our performance. At that time, Ma Dong shouted "Do you agree with what they (music critics)" and the fans shouted "no", but this paragraph was not cut in. Some people think that we are eliminated by fans, but in fact we are eliminated by music critics - if fans eliminate us, we recognize, it means that we are indeed eliminated by this era.
When we were young, we were particularly disgusted by being classified as "school ballads", feeling that our pursuit of music was limited. In fact, our works are based on folk songs, integrating pop, rock and even some world music and classical music, and works like Fly with Me are not the so-called "school folk songs" in terms of musical span or expressive tension. Later, we found that the public only wanted to give you a title or a law, and there was not much malice, so there was no need to compare with the public.
I still have many unfulfilled dreams about music, such as I have been practicing and learning, and constantly developing my own voice. My voice now is not like the voice of the school boys that everyone heard in the past, but a man's, which can express thickness and strength more. I'll consciously move closer to singers like Bob Dylan, Sting, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, and these changes will be reflected in the new songs.
We have basically not participated in variety shows since 2010, and many people's impressions are indeed stuck in our early days. This decade is mainly because I don't have this mind (to participate in variety shows), to be honest, I don't earn much money but I don't lack it, and then I do movies and do public welfare. I think we should prove to you that we still have a lot of works, Mizuki has not dispersed, and we can regain our enthusiasm. The result was that one round was gone.
In fact, style is not the most important, good or bad is the key. I especially appreciate Zheng Jun's sentence, he said that there is a lot of garbage in rock music, and there are many fine works in pop music. Rock seems to be one level higher than pop, rock at the top of the chain of contempt, followed by folk, pop, and at the bottom is the Internet Divine Comedy. Playing hip-hop now seems to be more cattle than rock'n' roll, why?
Miao Jie and I have always loved this brand, the portfolio and Tsinghua University, and we feel the responsibility to pass it on. We also thought about finding a few Tsinghua disciples to join, and when we are old and quit, let the young people pass on the name of "Mizuki Nianhua" from generation to generation.
I now miss 1994, when people did not rush to do things, everyone loved literature, people's happiness and satisfaction had nothing to do with material, and they were eager to fill the spiritual world, so they could produce a lot of very artistic things, like "Farewell to the Overlord", "Alive", "Sunny Days" were all filmed around that time. That year, I just fell out of love, and I wrote songs in the house every day, and I felt that the creative state was particularly beautiful, and the whole person was immersed in it.
Maybe Mizuki Washi was really fixed in the early two albums, and there are many people who are completely fixed in the period of "A Lifetime with You", in fact, "Perfect World" is also very popular - if "Life with You" is a hundred points, "Perfect World" also has 90-95 points, where do these songs go? For example, "When I Get Old One Day" is actually written quite well, and the number of people who listen to it will never be as good as "Life with You".
I want to write a song now called "Become Immortal and Die." I always feel that people don't want to live long, but to have the feeling of reaching the top and blooming in an instant. When you were young, you would pay more attention to your own feelings and pains, and now you tend to enlarge it and become empathy for feeling the joys and sorrows of others; in the past, it was mostly a personal expression of true feelings, and now other people's feelings will also touch you. This should be a kind of growth.
Miao Jie: Youth is
"I can still afford to lose, and I can always get back"
The views of music critics are actually very ridiculous, so we don't go to our hearts at all, and the outside world can't affect us.
Now looking back at Le Xia's performance, there are some places where we may be able to do better, such as we did some more orchestral arrangements, and now I think, why can't we use some very folk style arrangements? That's a solution, too, right?
The so-called "peak state" of Mizuki Nianhua, which is familiar to everyone, is nothing more than the Spring Festival Gala for three consecutive years from 2005 to 2007, singing the familiar "Life with You", "Perfect World" and "Miss". These are folk or even popular songs, but in fact the albums of our period, such as Rhapsody of Life, were already very banded and even rocked.
Nowadays, the appreciation of listeners is getting higher and higher, especially those who often listen to live and music festivals. At the beginning, I was most worried that the public judges might not be able to accept or get used to it, but in fact, the audience gave a very high score. On the contrary, I was surprised by the ratings of professional music fans, who should be professional and able to hear some doorways, and the result was that I underestimated the inclusiveness of popular music fans and overestimated the level of professional music fans.
This is a paradoxical thing, because I know what young people are like, and everyone is young. I am a post-70s, when I was in college, there were not many channels to listen to foreign music, and I could only buy a joke. At that time, in order to show that I had taste, what songs were crooked, such as listening to the records made by 4AD, telling my classmates that this was the "king of underground music labels", listening to the nine-inch nail band, the gate band, listening to Pink Floyd and then listening to Roger Waters, like Nirvana Band was already very biased for the public at that time, at that time I listened to and said: "What is this singing, so popular?" It's so vulgar! ”
Now look at Lexia's bullet screen, which song has a slightly smoother melody, and it is "Oops, it's so popular!" Is this called a band? Is this rock 'n' roll? ”。 That's the mindset when you're young. When you grow up, you will be more inclusive.
I don't think there is any kind of music in any form of music. For example, some people may think that country music is too simple, but this genre has also produced many masters and classics, and even many rock bands have produced some songs in the form of country music.
Regarding the "greasy" thing, I really didn't think that one day someone would associate us with this word, and it felt like a very fresh mention. I think we're all still very young. Zhang Yadong said: "Only by walking through youth can you really examine it, see it more thoroughly, and explain it more clearly." ”
Youth means a certain profligacy, and talking and doing things is actually a little pale, even unconvincing; as soon as a person approaches the so-called tail of youth, he will miss it infinitely. We choose to sing "Goodbye youth" not to celebrate how beautiful youth is, and sometimes we have to say goodbye decisively. People can't stay in the state of nostalgia for the past forever, and when you keep nostalgic for the past, it shows that your mentality is old and you always feel that the present is not OK.
What is young? To be young is to always have a future, and always look forward to what new and different gifts tomorrow will bring. I'm still full of joy in the world. Looking back now, the world is no longer the same as it was two years ago, and the world is always moving forward, not subject to some subjective opinions. You can't say that the world was better suited to your survival or that you were more accustomed to it, you can say that the world would be better than it is now.
Mizuki actually made a lot of attempts in the albums of "70.80", "Rhapsody of Life", and "Double Fantasy" - band, rock, classical, world style, but as soon as he took the new album as a promotion, the media said: "Our familiar campus folk style is back!" "We explained to people that these albums had nothing to do with campus or even folk songs, but there was no point in arguing about them, just like this Le xia, others didn't approve of us, and they didn't have to criticize him." We can't control what other people think, we can only control ourselves.
When we are crazy about releasing albums and going to the Spring Festival Gala, don't you still say that you have a song "A Lifetime with You"? Of course, there is really no way, one is that the inherent impression is too deep, and the other is that we are obviously not good enough when we try other things, right? If it is really well done, at least it can give fans some impressions. Because I see a lot of comments from the Le Xia audience, some people obviously haven't heard a lot of our songs, think that we "always sing folk songs, never think of making progress", and then think "you have never done rock and roll, why go to Le Xia".
I thought to myself, dude, if you have time to write such a big paragraph, why don't you listen to our album from around 2004, and since then we've been trying to break through, never thinking about lying in the so-called comfort zone. But he doesn't listen, he has that impression, and then he denounces you with that impression, which proves that we're not good enough to talk about other people.
Including in the past few years, I have been helping farmers, hoping to better repay the society and let farmers live a dignified and decent life, but there are too many pits in this process, it is such a thing of nine deaths, there are many people who do not know that I have done it for many years, then I will do my own thing in a down-to-earth manner. When you do something good enough, long enough, there are natural results, and there are some things that you have a very urgent attitude and want people to change their inherent thinking, which is not OK.
It is difficult for you to change a person who is only related to you because of a song, this person may be listening to "All My Life with You" and "In Other Places" to like you, and the probability is that you will always stay in that moment of liking. Since this is the case, there is no need to deprive the audience of these memories, and it is good to remember only this.
As soon as Le xia came out, many of our obscure old fans "exploded" and ran to various forums to quarrel with people. I also received a lot of private messages from strangers on social platforms, saying in large paragraphs about hearing our songs and sharing their stories from the zero years and because of what opportunities. Most of them, like us, are more stuffy and don't chase you all day screaming or leaving messages.
We used to think that if Mizuki was no longer active, the fans might disappear – but now we find that some memories, like first love, can't be erased. Although everyone's life has been moving forward, every day to face new people and things, do not remind you may not really remember, but when this name, this song appears and awakens a memory, it may still be heart-pounding. Like Faye Wong and Eason Chan sang, "Although I will often forget / I still love you", right?
We are actually very happy to be a part of some people's youth and life. This is also a big reason why Lu Ge and I feel that Mizuki's youth still exists, at least we are still here, regardless of the result, still singing for their youth, for their youth.
If one day I finally bow to reality, give up music, wear a suit, stand up on my stomach and do business, choose complete reality between dream and reality, and never dare to take risks again, this is what I define as greasy. I'm still young. If you like it, you can do it, and if you have a dream, you can achieve it, this process may pay a price, but I don't care, I firmly believe that the days are still long, I can afford to lose, and I can always get back.
✎ Author | Zhan Tengyu
Original title - Mizuki Nianhua: We have something to say about unfinished dreams
First published in New Weekly Issue 573
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