Shanshui Group sang "You Don't Go" live. Landscape combination Courtesy of the picture
Under the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee, the sons and daughters of China have not only won the battle against poverty, achieved the goal of building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way, but also achieved major strategic achievements in the fight against the new crown pneumonia epidemic. At the same time, the music industry across the country has created a large number of musical works around the two themes of "poverty alleviation" and "fight against the new crown pneumonia epidemic", and frequently disseminated and performed on various new and old media platforms and performance stages. Unfortunately, the songs of "out of the circle" are rare. However, freely composed songs such as "You Don't Go", "ChiLing", "The Shepherd of the Cocoto Sea", "You Look So Good When You Laugh" have become "blockbusters" on the Internet, and have transformed into "Net Red Songs" that people frequently swipe and forward.
Why, exactly? A certain speaker in China's word circle recently mentioned the above abnormal phenomenon when giving a lecture on the China Literary Association Cloud Platform. The author has also conducted observation and research on this, and believes that major theme music works and "net red songs" have their own advantages, regardless of their strengths and weaknesses, and have played the social function of "making people's spirit burst into sparks", which meets people's increasingly diversified aesthetic needs to varying degrees. It is just that the password for the connection between the "net red song" and the public may be called the "out-of-the-circle path", that is, the new means, new concepts and new styles, new orientations and new atmosphere presented by the works in the process of communication, which are worthy of attention and reference.
First, new means
With the rapid development of streaming media technology, the era of short video has arrived. On February 3, 2021, the 47th "Statistical Report on the Development of China's Internet Network" released by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) showed that as of December 2020, the scale of online video users in China reached 927 million, an increase of 76.33 million over March 2020, accounting for 93.7% of the total netizens. Among them, the scale of short video users was 873 million, an increase of 100 million over March 2020, accounting for 88.3% of the total netizens. It's a huge number of people, and the changes are huge. Therefore, the channels and ways for the public to receive music information and appreciate music are increasingly based on short videos that integrate music and painting, resulting in the evolution of the means and forms of music dissemination.
According to the song "You Mo Go" creator and singer Shanshui Group, in early March 2020, this song appeared on the short video platform for the first time in the form of guitar playing and singing, just a small video taken with a mobile phone, which aroused the attention of many netizens; on April 29, the official version of "You Mo Go" was launched online, and the cover works released through short video platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou exceeded one million, and the audio was also uploaded to major music network platforms... Coincidentally, the song "Shepherd of the Cocoto Sea" was originally sung by a wandering singer on a short video platform, and the previous Internet red song "Desert Camel" was also popular in the live broadcast room, and eventually spread in a large area on Douyin, Kuaishou and spread on all communication platforms. It can be seen that one is a short video that visualizes the song, and the other is to cover the latest network communication platform, which has become a heavy tool for breaking the circle of "net red songs". It is no longer published on media platforms and methods such as radio, television, news clients, WeChat and concerts as the main communication channels. As General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, it is necessary to "adhere to the correct guidance of public opinion, attach great importance to the construction and innovation of communication means, and improve the dissemination, guidance, influence and credibility of news and public opinion." It stands to reason that the same should be true of literary and artistic works, including music, that are ideological as news reports.
Landscape combination. Landscape combination Courtesy of the picture
Second, new ideas
If you want to stand out, you must have ideas first. Most of the "net red songs" are spontaneously used by the most fashionable and most communicative new media platforms such as vibrato, kuaishou, and video numbers for the first time, and it can even be said that the new literary and art groups consciously disseminate, and the traditional media is only an auxiliary communication tool, not to mention that under the traditional thinking, it is fully presided over by some competent departments, which is both a development conference and a seminar, and the work came out on the "Wang Po sells melons, sells herself and boasts", and hypes and touts it. At the same time, the only purpose of the dissemination of "net red songs" is to "go out of the circle", which is to produce a wide range of social influence, expect to be recognized and loved by the majority of the people, with tens of millions and hundreds of millions of clicks, rather than from the affirmation and evaluation of music circle professionals and leaders of relevant departments.
It is understood that the song "You Don't Go" composer Shanshui Group, the song "Chiling" composer and arranger Li Jianheng, are all freelance musicians from Hunan, freely creating their own spread and promotion. The former continued to occupy the top of the charts of major music platforms in June in 2020, with more than 10 billion hits on the whole network; three months later, on September 7, the Zhangjiajie Mountain Folk Song "You Don't Go" creation symposium was held in Changsha. The latter was produced by Pengjie Jianheng Media in June 2020, produced by Mi Man Media, and sung by Li Yugang, and the new version of "ChiLing" was exclusively launched on NetEase Cloud Music, with more than 8 billion comprehensive hits on the whole network so far. It can be said that they have almost become the "top stream" of the network, occupying the commanding heights of the communication platform.
"The scope of transmission is sufficiently wide, and the population reached is large enough to produce effective communication." I remember that in a news business study class, a professor of a famous university specifically pointed out when teaching how to improve the "four forces" of news and public opinion in the new era that communication power is the first, and only with communication power can there be the "three forces" behind, that is, guidance, influence, and credibility. Therefore, the spread of "net red songs" is relatively large, and other "three forces", namely guidance, influence and credibility, cannot be underestimated.
Third, the new style
If the new technological means of transforming original songs into "internet celebrity songs" are the foundation and support, then the song works are fundamental. Only deep roots are leafy. That is to say, "net red songs" present a new style, a new orientation, a new atmosphere and even a new aesthetic pursuit in the creation of short videos and works, attracting the attention of the public, and creating empathy and connection with the public, although there is still room for further improvement from a professional point of view.
First, due to the continuous improvement of people's education and cultural quality, the public's cognitive ability to understand artistic aesthetics has made a qualitative leap, and its aesthetic concepts and aesthetic tastes and aesthetic abilities have also undergone fundamental changes, more and more advocating truth, goodness and beauty, and observing reality and affecting the current works, more and more preference for "super works of art" that can reflect the brilliance of human nature and touch people's ideological souls, rather than liking facial, conceptual, tall but illusory literary and artistic works. For example, the song "You Mo Walk", the creators took local materials, flexibly and cleverly used a folk colloquial phrase "you mo go" in the Xiangxi region as the theme, and structured the whole text in the form of male and female "you mo go, I don't go", inheriting the distinct local folk song genes. At the same time, the lyrics "Sing a song to keep you" "Gamble a spell, pull a hook, light a lamp, repair a house, give birth to a baby, raise a dog", "accompany you until the moon hides in the ravine", etc., simple, simple and simple, quite life and grounded, not only truly out of the pursuit and yearning of hundreds of people's lives, but also sketched out an idyllic map of happiness, but also in the "brother, sister" to tell the love "vow", the "brother, sister" that is as pure as crystal, The quality of a kind heart and the pure love values of positive energy are vividly expressed.
Second, the music is innovative, dare to break the boundary between tradition and modernity and scientifically integrate the two, both pop and folk songs, as well as pop plus opera, in the form and style of music diversification, differentiation, labeling, refreshing. For example, the main song of "Chi Ling" is a pop section, and the chorus is a Kunqu opera section, and the musical style and singing voice have changed dramatically, forming a strong contrast and relative harmony before and after. Another example is "You Mo Go" with the tone of a colloquial phrase "You Mo Go" commonly used by the Tujia people as the core sentence of the music, and on the basis of integrating the local vernacular into the melody, adding pop music elements, the whole song melody is smooth and catchy. In particular, the male voice is rough and masculine like the rising sun, the passion is like fire, the female voice is as soft as spring water, delicate, warm pulse, the male and female voices are high and open an octave, the contrast between the two is strong, the emotion is sincere; coupled with the prelude of the wooden leaf blowing, the middle of the playing, the whole music is rich in a certain sense of design, rich national characteristics and distinct modern meaning, with a strong auditory impact.
Third, there is a touching story behind the song. For example, the current hottest "Shepherd of the Cocoto Sea" sings a love story about two shepherds and beekeepers who are wandering on the grassland and love each other but sad to leave, the story is poignant and sad. Another example is that "Chi Ling" sings the heroic story of an old Kunqu opera bone named Pei Yanzhi during the Republic of China period, who performed under the barbaric persecution of the Japanese Kou and eliminated the Heroic Hero story of the Japanese in one fell swoop, showing the patriotic feelings of "being humble and not daring to forget the country". This also reminds me of the touching stories behind many popular classic songs.
Fourth, use music to tell stories, express the feelings of "big me" and "small me", and show a new pursuit of musical aesthetics. For example, "The Shepherd of the Cocoto Sea" tells stories in terms of "cohesion" in songwriting, especially the lyrics are well written and powerful, which not only makes a good contribution to telling a good story, but also plays a decisive role in the dissemination of the whole song. Specific to the lyrics: First of all, the singing object is precise - the shepherd of the Cocoto Sea, with strong pertinence and a single object, the singer sings every word to the "sweetheart" of "me", the shepherd. Secondly, the lyrics focus on the plot, pay attention to the rhythm, start and turn, layer by layer, from the narration when leaving to the dialogue after leaving, to the affectionate loud call and speculative inquiry, and finally to the heartbreak and helpless expression of infinite thoughts and love in the heart. Third, the whole passage adopts a simple narrative language, the author according to the development needs of the storyline to make words and sentences, the length is different, free and free, breaking the inherent format and form of traditional lyrics, to a certain extent, more in line with the needs and habits of the public to listen to the story and express emotions. Finally, on the basis of telling the story, the expression methods such as anthropomorphism, metaphor, and interrogation are skillfully adopted, and the rich and complex emotional world of the heart is directly or indirectly expressed through scenery and imagery. For example, "The rain of that night did not keep you, the wind of the valley accompanied me to cry", "The wine I brewed did not drunk myself, but the song you sang made me drunk", "Is it because there is a beautiful Narathi there, or the apricot blossoms there can brew the sweetness you want", and the imagery of the first main song and the second chorus of "Camel Bell", which is both emotional, reasonable and interesting, both just right, exquisite, and full of strong musical literary color and artistic imagination. Therefore, what is valuable about this song is that in addition to having the seven points of straightforwardness of general popular songs on the "core", there are also three more points like the implicit beauty contained in the classic song "In That Distant Place" (but not what some people say that these two songs are comparable), which enhances the charm of the song and enhances the taste of the song.
General Secretary Xi Jinping once pointed out: "A good work should be a work that can withstand the evaluation of the people, the evaluation of experts, and the test of the market." As a popular "net red song", changing with the times, going with the trend, with the help of the wings of network technology "flying into the homes of ordinary people", the author earnestly hopes that in the future time "can withstand the people's evaluation, expert evaluation, market test", lasting, always like the sunshine on the blue sky, the spring breeze, can enlighten the mind, warm the heart, cultivate life, rather than a flash in the pan.
Of course, the "net red song" has a month and a month, and the back wave "surges" to push the front wave, plus the song has a song edge, the song has a song life, tomorrow's tomorrow who can know?
(The author Xiao Wu is a member of the Chinese Music Association and the China Critics Association, vice president of the Hunan Provincial Music Criticism Committee, vice chairman of the Changsha Music Association, and the first batch of selected artists for the "Three Hundred Project" supported by literary and artistic talents in Hunan Province.) ）