Celebrities face to face
Interview | Zhang Zhenyue
On the last day of our trip to Taiwan, we made an appointment to have a separate interview with Zhang Zhenyue. When determining the interview site, Zhang Zhenyue's staff sent a string of coordinates, not the address of a large hotel or a high-end office building, but a string of coordinates composed of longitude and latitude.
Like a code, we searched for this string of coordinates and found this pavilion halfway up the mountain. It's not a sight, the gazebo has no name, no one around, but the view heals. In this healing pavilion, we met the somewhat mysterious Zhang Zhenyue.
Tagawa: I heard that you are often alone here, doing nothing, just emptying.
Zhang Zhenyue: Yes, I'm actually used to doing things alone. It's fun to go surfing or cycling, or even to camping, to the beach, and to watch the sun rise from the horizon. Summer this time is the most comfortable, almost five or six o'clock in the morning when the water, because after eight o'clock the sun rises, it starts to heat, so I like to be alone with myself, many people think that going to the movies alone to eat will be very lonely, but I think it is very cool when I am alone. This may also have a lot to do with the environment in which I grew up when I was a child, because when I was a child, I lived in a fishing village, plus my family was an indigenous relationship, my father would often take me to the outdoors, go to the beach to catch fish, go hunting in the mountains, so in the face of the natural environment, I can find a very comfortable state.
Before interviewing Zhang Zhenyue, we looked at his life status in the past few years. Take the bus, buy groceries, take the kids, walk the dog, surf, camp, ride a motorcycle, dj. Thinking back to the rebellious teenager who sang "The First Experience of Love" and looked a little difficult to manage, today he not only lived a life that ordinary people yearn for, but also lived a life that stars yearn for.
Zhang Zhenyue: I think honest creators should lower their identity and not be on top because they have a certain position now, and they can't write things like this. Try to live and get along with everyone as much as possible, to contact different classes, so that you can find a lot of different things.
Tagawa: Do you think love is your biggest source of creation?
Zhang Zhenyue: No, because I don't have all love songs, I don't have love, I can't talk about love anymore.
Tagawa: I can still have love with my wife.
Zhang Zhenyue: Yes, but I can't write much. It should be said that most of these stories are actually the stories of some friends, heard from their mouths. For example, I will ask my friend, you have recently lost love, oh, do you want to tell me? My creative method is very simple, that is, you write a large paragraph of article, almost two thousand words, not too little, subjective and objective to write.
Tagawa: Is objectivity the objectivity of my own imagination, or do I seek the opinion of a third party?
Zhang Zhenyue: Objectivity is something that everyone can understand, for example, "It turns out that love is not as simple as we imagined", that is more objective, everyone can understand. But "I hate you, I hate you, I just don't like you drinking", this is more subjective. There must be something objective and subjective in the song, sing some subjective things first, but when it comes to pulling the audience back later, you must have some objective things to make everyone feel empathy and have resonance.
Tagawa: What do you think is the biggest change that you have brought to you now that you have children and have a stable family?
Zhang Zhenyue: I always felt that before my child was born, I was a very impatient person, I like children, but I don't like children who love to cry, but after the birth of a child, I found that I didn't hate crying so much, although his crying was sometimes very sharp, and the frequency eardrums were about to break.
Tagawa: What if you can't stand it? Are you just going to walk away?
Zhang Zhenyue: I prepare earplugs, wear earplugs, he will at least halve the volume, I will be more comfortable.
Tagawa: Do you feel anything when you are alone? What are some of life's problems that you solve when you are alone?
Zhang Zhenyue: Actually, there are quite a few, for example, when my mother passed away, I felt that I was really unhappy, very uncomfortable, I took many days off, drove to Hualien, went to Taitung for two or three days, slept in the car, or set up a tent on the beach, this is my best way.
Tagawa: Actually, you are a person who needs to be healed by nature.
Zhang Zhenyue: Yes, this is actually quite correct. I feel that my soul can never be separated from the mountains and the sea.
Tagawa: Did the death of your mother have any impact on your outlook on life?
Zhang Zhenyue: I think life is meant to experience these things, and these things will hone your own personality. Speaking theologically, your soul will actually get better and better. I'm 45 years old now, and I've been through all these things and I'm going to think I'm pretty open-minded right now. I often tell myself that if God took everything from me today, whether it was fame or fortune, I would feel very cool, starting from scratch, it was also another kind of re-learning.
Tagawa: Will you face death more calmly now?
Zhang Zhenyue: We (Ami) will feel that everyone in this world, life or death is the same, we don't think that death is nothing, but another beginning, and you were born from your mother's belly is the same reason. At that time, I saw my wife in the delivery room, the child was born at once, I would feel that the child was very hard, how good it was in the mother's belly, and did not have to breathe, did not have to eat, did not have to use anything. As soon as I came out, I had to learn to breathe, the nurse had to suck the amniotic fluid out of his throat, and I felt that the child was in pain, and it seemed to be similar to death. The aborigines are very open to the matter of life and death, and there are not too many taboos.
Tagawa: I'm actually quite curious, have you ever thought about what songs you would put on the funeral?
Zhenyue Zhang: No.
Tagawa: Give you 30 seconds to think about it.
Zhang Zhenyue: I should have a playlist of my own, I don't want to put a song, a song is boring, I want to put a playlist, almost 100 like this.
In the past two years, because of the popularity of rap networks, Zhang Zhenyue began to appear frequently in hot searches. But before that, for nearly a decade, he had rarely been heard from except for a longitudinal line and an album that was not popular. In the treacherous entertainment industry, how can he live his appearance without interference?
Zhang Zhenyue: The main thing in this industry is that you have to find your own position, if you don't find this position, the people behind you will soon get up.
Tagawa: Do you think you have the money to play and fail?
Zhang Zhenyue: Yes, for example, "I Am Haiya Gumu", to be honest, it actually does not sell well.
Tagawa: But the rating of that album is very good.
Zhang Zhenyue: That's not a good seat, the industry may feel very good, the recording is very good, but the average person can understand whether the recording is good or not.
Choreographer: Yi Fan
Editor: Liu Mengqi, Tear Paper Little Sister