The Surging News reporter Huang Xiaohe
In the past ten years, from the warm "Girl" to the wild "Wolf" to this sad "Suddenly" on the "Good Voice" stage, Wei Lian's style has changed a lot, he is a full range of musicians, can write, sing and produce, a clean and handsome face, and it is difficult to detect the traces of time. Self-deprecating others may not be able to reflect who he is at once, but whenever you hear his songs, your mind will instinctively think of the words "age of innocence".
Wei Lian on the stage of "The Voice of China"
"Debut for a long time, there is also a little bit of age, dare not say that they are very old, do feel some things, and then refine it in this song..." During the epidemic, someone filmed the story into a vlog, and Wei Lian refined it into notes and lyrics.
Cover of "Suddenly" Single (2021)
The lyrics of "Suddenly" read:
Suddenly, I figured it out
Suddenly I understood
Suddenly there was
Suddenly, it was gone
Suddenly, I hated it
That suddenly loves
Suddenly it became
No soul but still alive
In an exclusive interview with reporters, he said that "Suddenly" is written about people's true feelings about fate and is the fulfillment of human destiny.
Born on March 5, 1987 in Taiwan, Wei Li'an graduated from the Department of Foreign Languages of National Taiwan University. He entered the music scene in 2006 by participating in the campus singing competition held by Huashi "Happy Sunday" at National Taiwan University.
From lyricism to rock to electronic music, he has constantly broadened the boundaries, and in 2015, he won the Best Composer Award at the 26th Taiwan Golden Melody Awards with his single "Wolf".
The title song of Wei Lian's "Fearful" album "Wolf" won the Best Composer Award at the 26th Taiwan Golden Melody Awards
Debuting as a talent singer, all the way to the Golden Melody Award composer, and appearing on the stage of "The Voice", not only will surprise the mentor, but also make many viewers exclaim, "It's him!" ”
In fact, Wei Bird's (nickname) life state is very interesting, one foot is dreamy in music, and the other foot is in ordinary life.
He said he was like an outsider most of the time.
In his understanding, many situations will "suddenly" change, but there will always be something in the depths of everyone's heart that insists on the same, for him, life and music should be in the heart, pure natural and organic things.
"It's the best way for people to hear their work." Velian believes that this is what attracts him most to the "Voice" stage.
In the period when The Lee Wing-ho team and the Liao Changyong team played, Wei Lian became the general who played the first battle, because of the stage experience, Li Ronghao hoped that he could give a sample to the students behind him.
However, mature singers still can't escape the tension caused by blindly choosing a swivel chair.
Velian
"Singing the first song, I myself was a little afraid to watch... My friend told me that your voice was a little shaky when you talked to the judges, and I said yes... Maybe I didn't find it at the moment, it was really quite nervous, but it was also funny, I tried to concentrate on immersing myself in the song, 'The Voice' for 10 years, I remember when the show first came out, I would joke with my friends, let's play, you turn over, and then we sing to see if you want to turn around. This time I really stood up, and the psychological pressure was still quite large. Coming to 'Good Voice' is not an experience that everyone can experience, and I think it is quite touching. ”
During the interview, when it came to who was more deeply influenced on the road of music, Wei Lian firmly said that it must be the father.
He remembers that when he first entered high school, the gift his father bought him was a guitar. And the father's reason is also very simple: "Boys learn to play the guitar very well, pretty handsome!" ”
When I was in high school, I began to learn guitar writing, and then I went to college, when the record company came to ask Wei Lian if he wanted to be a singer, he thought for a long time, and finally the answer was yes, because he was young, it didn't matter if he tried it.
This psychological process is particularly interesting in retrospect, and before deciding to talk to his parents, Wei Lian made sufficient mental preparations; if his parents opposed, he was ready to fight and shout slogans. But to his surprise, his parents calmly agreed. Although Wei Lian's parents are both Highchi class and university teachers, they did not oppose their son to embark on the road of acting according to social norms.
"My parents said, well, anyway, you're an adult, and you're responsible for what you decide." Their lowest bottom line is to say, you don't want to be poor one day and we want to feed you, you can feed yourself. My parents are really great and enlightened! But will parents be worried? Actually, it will. ”
Wei Lian even remembers that when he was preparing to become a singer at the beginning, his father still went online to check, logged on to a website similar to Zhihu, and consulted "How can I be a singer" and "What should I pay attention to when I become a singer?" "I will also print several pages of A4 paper, extract it and use highlighter to draw the key points sentence by sentence."
In Wei Lian, it is particularly possible to feel how the parenting style of parents affects the child's ability to love in the future.
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Wei Lian came to the mainland to participate in "The Voice of China" this time, recording a 14-day quarantine vlog (00:09)
However, when it comes to the need to adjust and improve his personality, as a dedicated musician, Wei Lian believes that in private, he is "more self-centered" and sometimes forgets the feelings of the people around him.
He also feels that this may be related to family education, although parents are very open in some aspects, but in some emotional expressions, it is still more subtle. "So I may be affected in that regard, put those emotions in the music, and the people who listen to it will understand."
Of course, the implicit Wei Lian also has a different side, such as often posting supper posts on social platforms and drying delicious food.
He explained that at first, he didn't think much about it, because the work was late, it would be abnormal to eat dinner, "after work, at least eat a delicious thing, for yourself", but as soon as the picture was sent, someone was scolding, this point also sent this. When Wei Lian saw this reaction, he wanted to continue to send, "This is probably my naughty side, and I like to joke." ”
Wei Lian told reporters that the recent best dish is stewed chicken soup, which has been recognized by many colleagues, "chicken, shiitake mushrooms, garlic, and then add some salt, white pepper, simple, quite light." ”
Loved to eat in the sun
【Dialogue】
Turn back into a mere musician
The Paper: Famous singers return to the competitive stage to lay down their baggage, for you, what is that baggage?
Velian: It shouldn't be a burden... Kind of wanted to switch an identity.
I have been a singer for a long time, and I am also a songwriter and a producer, so I want to let go of the so-called identity of an artist or singer, become a simple musician, and use the identity of a musician to participate in this show, which I enjoy myself.
From entering the industry to now, it seems that my mentality has always maintained a certain outsider's perspective, somewhat withdrawn, and I am still more integrated into life.
The Paper: I saw other students in the background rushing to take photos with you.
Velian: I'm also quite flattered. I know that my songs are sung here, but maybe everyone doesn't know (my people), I didn't expect that everyone was very good to me backstage, really happy, and told them that they didn't need to call the teacher, like everyone, just sing well on the stage and have a good discussion.
The Paper: What are the "sounds" of relatives and friends who hear your "good voice"?
Velian: The most interesting thing is my family, my family didn't say a word, they wanted to say that their son was going to work again, but they also gave me encouragement, I told them I was going to record today, and then [they] said, then you cheer.
On the contrary, my friends are more excited, and after the broadcast of the last episode, I received a lot of messages saying that I like this song and you want to cheer! Because in fact, before coming to "The Voice", I hardly told anyone, and everyone came to cheer after the broadcast. I feel that I have more reassurance pills in my heart, and everyone is quite supportive.
The Paper: Why did blind selection choose this song "Suddenly"?
Velian: During the epidemic period, I was locked up at home for a long time, so I tried to talk to myself before and with myself, and there will be a lot of inspiration.
Sometimes when you do things to the end, you will find that it is completely different from what you imagined, and when people and things are shattered, there will be a certain feeling of epiphany, a little sad and helpless emotion, writing is the true feeling of people's fate, that is, to do their best.
Many things can not be controlled, suddenly is to see this thing clearly, of course, can also be transformed into positive thinking; after experience, thinking through and understanding are some of the driving forces for growth, suddenly figured out and grown up.
Wei Li'an joined Li Ronghao's team
The Paper: How long did it take to create Suddenly?
Velian: At the beginning, it was the melody of the first sentence of the song, and the back was quite fast, because there was no great purpose when I wrote it, and I thought that this melody was great, and then maybe how to develop with this theme.
I remember stimulating my inspiration, maybe some movie soundtrack, such as "Inception", will think about whether you can add a certain sense of picture like that to the song, or more oriental elements, quite like the feeling of our traditional ink painting, there is a lot of blank space, a lot of imagination space, you can apply to the experience or experience of many people.
As a child, I wanted to be an all-round musician
The Paper: Why has the style of music changed so much over the years? You can see your exploration of different directions in music creation.
Velian: For music, I sometimes like the new and the old, like to try new things, and I want to try all kinds of experiments from the first album. I remember when I first started writing songs when I was a child, I would give myself some goals, for example, I wrote a lyric song of a folk song, the next one I wanted to write a rock, and the next one to write a funk, is to give myself some different challenges, I think it is quite interesting.
When I was young, I wanted to be a full-fledged musician, not just a singer. If you want to be a producer, you have to understand all aspects of things thoroughly, present them in the music work, and every album will want to say that I can give myself some more challenges, and if I keep doing the same thing, it will feel a little boring and boring, so when I have some new ideas, I will be very motivated to want to complete it.
For example, last year, my new album had a new concept, that is, if I did a lot of sound sampling, put all the sounds in my life, what would it feel like?
This diversity may have something to do with my personality, and I am full of curiosity.
"Velian's First Full Album of the Same Name" CD cover (2010)
The Paper: You're like a scientist making music in a lab.
Velian: Yeah, I seem to be. Of course, I will also have emotional times, but also listen to the stories of friends to write songs, but I may get inspiration from friends, when I start to write songs, my rationality dominates, for example, how I use strings will be more interesting, more enthusiastic analysis, reasonable... You're the first person to describe it that way.
The Paper: I think your songs are more suitable for headphones to listen to, and in the record may highlight all the sound quality and ingenuity, and the competitive stage will be a bit of a loss.
Wei Lian: In fact, I mainly discussed with Teacher Rong Hao, he thinks this song is very good, he participated in the "Good Voice" three seasons of the program, it should be quite understand which song is more suitable, let's try it, my role is to be responsible for performing the song well on stage.
The Paper: There are a lot more "The Voice" original singers this year, and some of them are still playing music part-time and doing a good job, how to see the changes in young singers now?
Velian: As a member of the music industry, it's a very welcome thing. Original music has sprouted everywhere, quite vigorous! The children of the new era are only nineteen or twenty years old, writing songs can be written like this, singing like this, when I was nineteen or twenty years old, I couldn't do it, the future life is terrible, I really look forward to what kind of new works they can bring out in the future.
Wei Lian's first solo EP "Wait Slowly" (2009)
The most sung and hard-to-write song in the world is actually a children's song
The Paper: Many singers like to find cover songs from you, and some listeners also hear covers from others and then come back to listen to your original version, will it be a little regrettable?
Velian: I can't talk about regrets, I should be more confused at the beginning, how can this be?! It's also quite funny, I remember when I first debuted, it seems that I now have the idea that my own ultimate goal is that the works I write are very popular, even like children's songs. In fact, you don't think that the world's highest degree of singing, the most difficult to write song is actually a children's song, almost everyone can sing, for everyone has a great impact, this kind of song is the most difficult to write.
Children's songs also have this characteristic, how to hum you remember, but do not remember who wrote or who sang, the work is left behind, you remember me as a person actually does not matter.
But after a long debut, I found that it was not okay to say this, especially in the traffic era, people still have to let everyone know. They cover my songs, and there's nothing wrong with that, at least they love the songs, and I describe my creations as like my kids, and everyone loves them, because then I even have some sense of accomplishment.
Now through the stage of "The Voice", everyone finds that the person who originally wrote this song looks like this, and suddenly connects together, I think it is also a kind of fate, very fun.
"Please Marry Me" Single Cover (2020)
The Paper: Because of the change of communication channels, talented people are now easy to red, and it is easy not to be red, wave after wave is too fleeting, as a producer, what do you think?
Wei Lian: Whether it is a predecessor or a peer, everyone feels that the transformation of the entire industry is very fast and violent, and it is changing faster and faster, in short, for example, the popularity of the music style, may have been a cycle for the previous 10 years, and then 5 years, now it seems to be getting shorter and shorter, two or three years are different, and a year is also possible.
I myself feel that the previous era of popular kings has passed, the focus has become obvious, the audience preferences are different, there is no mainstream and niche, what you like to listen to, is just a phenomenon.
For music producers, it is even more different, in the past production and input was to see the market feedback, and now everyone is still groping forward. But I think in the end it is still necessary to return to the essence of things, whether it is listening to any carrier, what you listen to is still music, or works, so we still concentrate on doing our own works well and accumulating. When people start to get to know you, because you have accumulated some works, you can slowly talk.
Now some songs are also inexplicably hot, such as Ah Yan's "Love 105 °C You", a 2019 work but in 2021, so there are no rules now. If someone comes to you today and says, I'm talking to you about music, you're going to write what songs will be popular... Then this man should be a fortune teller.
There are no rules, it is good or bad, it is not good because everyone does not have a direction, the good thing is that you don't have to think about it, you can do whatever you like. I think the audience is also very smart, whether your creation is enthusiastic or not, they can hear it, or whether you have the heart or not.
For example, when I wrote the song "Suddenly", I really have that kind of emotion, including the performance on the "Good Voice" stage, and the whole person is also very involved in this emotion, and I think the audience and the audience have feelings.
The Paper: You competed with Li Ronghao for the "Golden Melody Award for Best Composer", and in the "The Voice" program, you finally chose him as your mentor, this fate is very wonderful!
In the Battle stage, Lee Wing Ho sent Wei Lian to be the first to play, because he felt that Wei Lian was experienced on stage
Wei Lian: The music circle may not usually have much contact, Rong Hao has recently released a new album, and they also care about each other in the distance, which is also a kind of mutual improvement, I want to say, Rong Hao has made something new, he is great, I have to refuel myself, so this time I can meet again, quite happy, I think musicians are quite temperamental!
The Paper: Although it is a pity that it did not win the award ("Sounds of My Life" was shortlisted for the Best Chinese Album Award), what do you want to say about this Golden Melody Awards?
Velian: Of course it would be a shame not to win the award, because there was one less affirmation for all the working partners involved in the album, but they were the best in my mind. When I released the album last year, my goal was that as long as I could send this album out, I was very sorry, and of course I was grateful for any other awards, and it was also a kind of icing on the cake.
This album is a very wayward album because it is very personal, but after its release, many people feel very touched. I think it can be done, so that everyone can see that Velian has grown, and there have been changes and no changes. Ask yourself, for the original intention of music, I think I should have done it, since the judges have seen it, have not won the award, for me, I don't care so much!
Another point, I didn't win the award, I wanted to say in my heart, God must hope that I will continue to cheer up, and spur me to make better things again.
Editor-in-Charge: Zhang Zhe
Proofreader: Luan Meng