Text/Captain
At a small concert at Beijing Candy Live in 2014, Hong Tao, the director of "I Am a Singer", appeared in the audience. After singing a few songs, the cool singer on the stage suddenly asked the audience: "Do you want me to participate?" ”
The audience replied in unison, "Don't go." ”
The singer smiled, laughing like the first melting of ice and snow, without the indifference that refused to be thousands of miles away, she said: "You love me." ”
She was relieved, because the singer, who looked cold, charming, and unsmiling, was actually very timid, and there was a shy heart hidden under her icy face. She knew that as a singer, she should stand on a bigger stage and sing to more people, but she really didn't dare:
"I know that once I'm on TV, it's probably not just people staring at me, there may be a lot of cameras, but I've been uncomfortable with this kind of thing since I was a kid."
I thought that the matter would end here, which Cheng thought four years later, her promotional photos appeared on the official micro of "Singer", and the program side officially announced that she joined the show as the second replacement singer.
In the photo, she is wearing a very casual, striped T-shirt and jeans, still a cold and indifferent face, the years have not left anything on her face, she does not seem to have been taken away by the years. More than 20 years of time seem to have just passed by her.
The singer debuted in 1997, only 6 albums in more than 20 years, the style spans rock and pop, she looks like she does not eat human fireworks, sounds noble like a baroness, people always think she is too cold and unkind, but she herself always sighs and retorts, she is just too timid, too easy to get nervous.
This time, she plucked up the courage to participate in the competition, she said, because she needed money to take care of her family, which was simply a female version of "Park Shu".
Her name is Yang Naiwen, which is a unique scenery in the Chinese music circle.
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Born in Taipei, Yang studied music from an early age, was a member of the local choir and choir, and also learned many instruments, such as piano, pipa, three strings, drums, flute and so on.
In the fifth grade of primary school, Yang Naiwen's family moved to Australia. Growing up in a foreign country, Yang Naiwen of the Girlhood irrepressibly fell in love with rock and roll. At that time, she liked to listen to Radiohead's music the most.
However, this young girl who had been associated with music all the way chose biology and genetics when she chose a major, and Yang Naiwen was particularly happy at that time, she thought: "This major should be the last department in the school that needs to speak in front of everyone, right?" ”
But Yang Naiwen did not finish college, and after a year she decided to take a break from school and return to Taipei: "Because I want to go back to singing, after all, I was born in Taipei, I still miss it, I can eat, drink and have fun, and I also want to get away from my parents and have a private space." At that time, I told my parents that after more than ten years of study, I would take a break from school and go back. ”
At first, the decision to return to Taipei was only the rebellion of the young girl, who knew that this trip set the road of life after that.
△ Yang Naiwen with Zhao Chuan, Zhou Huajian and other photos
Back in Taipei, Yang Naiwen began to sing in bars and Livehouses, and occasionally worked part-time as a model, so as a heroine, he participated in Huang Lixing's group L· A· Boyz's MV shoot.
At that time, Magic Rock Records was looking for a unique and unique new voice in the music world, and Yang Naiwen's unique temperament was just right for Magic Rock's appetite, so a few years later, Yang Naiwen returned to Taiwan after completing his studies and successfully signed a contract with Magic Rock Records and officially became a singer.
In 1997, Yang Naiwen released his first album "ONE". The album was personally written by Yang Naiwen's then-boyfriend, the famous musician Lin Weizhe, and tailored for her.
△ "One" album cover
The unique biting pronunciation, the charming voice line and the arrogant posture soon became popular with Yang Naiwen.
After "SILENCE" and "Should" were also figured by Lin Weizhe, three albums down, Yang Naiwen has won the title of "Rock Queen".
But the good times did not last long, at this time, the magic rock music had become thinner and thinner, and the relationship between Lin Weizhe and Yang Naiwen had also come to an end. However, in four years, career and love all fell to the bottom, and during that time Yang Naiwen was almost depressed and almost disappeared from everyone's sight.
Later, she called those years her "black hole period": "Basically, it is to feel that I have fallen many times and then picked myself up." There must have been thoughts in the middle, then retire first, or want to find another job. ”
It was already 2006, her third year after signing with Silverfish, and the album Baroness released.
△ Cover of the album "Baroness"
The title song "The Baroness" in this album is tailor-made for her by Yang Naiwen's "fan brother" Wu Qingfeng, the song is magnificent, and with Yang Naiwen's unique voice and pronunciation, it is even more sharp, as if to say that the queen who came through the thorns has been reborn.
However, at this time, the music scene has long been different from the past, although this song has been widely praised, but Yang Naiwen, who is shy and not good at words, has not received much attention, and she no longer has the original heat.
She didn't care about this at all, still silently making music, polishing the song word by word, one "ZERO" for six years, and one "Centrifugal Force" for three years.
△ Album "zero" cover
Slow, slow, but also steady.
She didn't ask for much, so over the years, even if it was just a singer who was not popular, she didn't show any decline, and even became more and more leisurely.
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When Wu Qingfeng was in high school, he especially liked Yang Naiwen, and during the preparation period of the third year of high school, he often sat by the classroom wall and stared at Yang Naiwen's poster, and later he always recalled that time:
"That year she wore a vest like that and spent my junior year of high school with me. As far as high school students are concerned, they will feel super cool and super liked, and they don't need a reason, she is the kind of goddess that everyone will worship. ”
Until now, Wu Qingfeng has always put Yang Naiwen on his lips, and even in this competition, he specially chose Yang Naiwen's "Silence".
In fact, this song is of great significance to Wu Qingfeng, and it is this song that makes Wu Qingfeng understand Yang Naiwen and also makes him understand his own ideas about music.
Of course, this song is also of great significance to Yang Naiwen himself.
In 2000, Yang Naiwen was 26 years old, less than 3 years after his debut, and won the 11th Golden Melody Awards with his second album "Silence" to defeat Several powerful singers such as Faye Wong, Zhang Huimei, Fan Xiaoxuan, and Karen Mok.
The guests of honor that day were Jacky Cheung and Mui Yanfang, and when Mei Yanfang read out that the winner of the award was Yang Naiwen, who was nominated for best female singer for the first time, the audience boiled over. So Yang Naiwen took the stage in a cheer, picked up the trophy and said six words: "Thank you, thank you." ”
This unprecedented short testimonial made Jacky Cheung and Mei Yanfang, who were accustomed to seeing big scenes, stunned.
It was also from this time that Yang Naiwen became a symbol of not talking much and being cold.
The storm of this award ceremony lasted for a long time, some people said that she "played a big card", some people said that she was "too cold", and many years later she also deliberately explained:
"I'm not a speech person, and I'm more nervous about talking like a bunch of people at a big concert, especially in front of a bunch of people, which other singers might be good at." Maybe it's because I'm a shy person, but it's hard for me to imagine thanking everyone I know on stage from start to finish. On the album, too, the company would ask me if I wanted to write a credits list. I thought for a long time, to thank whoever was who, but finally decided to write: thank you to everyone. No names were given. ”
Speaking of which, Yang Naiwen's "coldness" still stems from her "timidity", she will be nervous about what she does, and it is easy to blush when she says anything:
"Don't tell you that I almost do a lot of things and get nervous, so a performance like this will definitely make me nervous." I've joked before, telling people that you can't imagine how nervous I am. Sometimes when I called the bank and asked them something, I started to get nervous and started to break into a cold sweat. I don't know, maybe it's a natural personality. And when I talk on the phone, my voice is particularly quiet, and the other party will still suspect that it is me. ”
It turns out that the "cold" and "inhumane" in the eyes of outsiders are the protective colors that she hides this timidity.
The so-called things must be reversed, or so it seems.
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However, yang Naiwen suddenly wanted to make a change after more than forty years of timidity.
In 2016, she participated in "The Masked Singer" for the first time in the mainland to participate in a variety show.
At the beginning, her team was even ready to hold a mobilization meeting for her, but she did not expect that as soon as the agent proposed it, she agreed, and the people around her were stunned by her happiness, and she herself was a little embarrassed to say, just wanted to challenge it:
"Because a while ago I just happened to encounter some things, I think there are some things that are not going well in life, just the day before I don't know if I read an article or a book or something, it said that everyone should challenge a thing that makes themselves afraid or afraid every day, and the next day when I receive this news, I want to say, OK, just go."
Impulsively agreed to participate, but really began to record her nervous palms sweating, she had some regrets, so she kept saying: "I was really scared to death this time." ”
She is such a timid and cautious person, always like to be at ease in her comfort zone.
Just like a long time ago, Yang Naiwen and Shunzi and another friend went on a trip to Paris, and just happened to encounter someone grabbing a bag at the train station, and the two friends around them rushed over without thinking, but Yang Naiwen was scared to stand where he was and did not dare to move.
But even so, she also had "out of line" times, such as many years ago when she and her colleagues and friends took a sleeper at night from Beijing to Shanghai, and several people did not sleep all night and squeezed into the carriage to drink a night of two pots.
Shy is her, lonely and proud is her, free is her, can not go through is her, rock is her, popular is her, cold is her, gentle or her.
The complexity of humanity seems to be particularly evident in Yang Naiwen, and whenever people feel that they already know her, she can always show new surprises. But for this, she herself said: "Seriously, you don't have to know me, it really doesn't matter, what do I have to know?" I'm a singer, listen to me sing! ”
At the end of the day, she still sees herself only as a singer, and wants everyone to think of her as a singer.
Yang Naiwen is not the kind of multi-talented person, and she can't play crossover, she is an ordinary singer, debuted more than 20 years ago, and will still blush when she says a word on stage. This time I plucked up enough courage to participate in the show, but also to make myself braver.
She has hardly appeared in entertainment news for so many years, and rarely appears in public except to promote new works, she is in the show business circle, but she is always separated from here.
All she could do was bury her head in music, and before the media interviewed her and asked her what profession she would like to pursue if she didn't become a singer, she said:
"I like to paint, but I don't sell it; I want to open a flower shop and I'm afraid of insects; I want to open a library and I'm worried about digitizing the future."
After going around in a big circle, she said, "Thinking about it later, maybe music is something I'll do all my life." ”
The years have been turbulent, the market has changed rapidly, and the hearts of creators have been disturbed, some of them cater to the constant changes in the market, some of them insist on their own hard support, and some people have long given up on finding another way out. The times are noisy and rushing, and there are not a few people who are lost in them.
But Yang Naiwen was in the middle of it, but he seemed to be particularly indisputable. It may also be that this kind of leisurely nature makes the years particularly fond of her.
The 45-year-old Yang Naiwen still adheres to his original intention, still believes in love, the brilliance in his eyes is the same as 20 years ago, and when he laughs, he is still like the first melting of ice and snow, like a spring breeze.