Cover news reporter Zhang Luyan
Yao Qian never lost his curiosity.
On November 26, at the lecture "Life is a Song" at the Fangsuo Chengdu store, one of the words he repeated the most was "curiosity", which in an exclusive interview with the cover reporter still maintained a high frequency, roughly calculated, mentioned ten times, each time mentioned, carrying different people and things, which constitute his past, present and future.
Hong Kong has Lin Xi, Taiwan has Yao Qian. His most well-known identity is the title of gold medal lyricist, Zhang Xiaoyan praised him as "the most understanding of women's hearts", female singers sang his songs to become popular, and women listened to his songs for empathy.
However, in the passage of time, he gradually stopped the pace of writing love songs: I am 56 years old, and I am still disguised as 28 years old, I feel a little arrogant, I am willing to face my age and write about the confusion that 56 years old should have.
I can't pretend to be 28 anymore
As an exclusive symbol, writing songs gradually moved away from Yao Qian, which was a choice he made.
"I am 56 years old, still disguised as 28 years old, writing 28-year-old emotions, I myself feel a little pretentious, such as "Taste" and "I Do" like songs, at that time belonged to the feeling and hair, today, the public's expectations of me are still that kind of song, I also disguised myself to write a few times, feel uncomfortable, dishonest, such reverse growth writing, let me be very tired, a little resistant." 」
In Yao Qian's view, it is quite inappropriate for himself, who has passed the year of destiny, to write about his feelings in his twenties. He recalled a phenomenon that on some occasions, he met a star who had been popular, dressed up, and still looked like when he was popular, and he did not feel that, in fact, others had already felt inappropriate.
"As a creator, writing this thing must be sent with feeling, you have to believe it yourself before you can make others believe, rather than writing lyrics, now I am more willing to write articles, it is more self-expression, rather than responding to the expectations of others for me, I am willing to face my age, write about the confusion of 56 years old." 」
Although the lyrics were written less, they never meant stopping, and Yao Qian said that if there was something that stimulated him and made him curious, he was still willing to try.
"I recently wrote songs with Chen Grain and Huang Qishan, Huang Qishan is the first time to cooperate, her new song "Safari", interpreting independence in a rock and roll way, I think it is very interesting, willing to try, Chen Grain is also, she is just a 20-year-old girl, but very special, musically has its own things." 」
Curiosity for him is not only a necessity today, but a way to light him up. In his memories, he had a unique nickname called Mr. Why.
"When I first made a record, I once went to Hong Kong for a few days on a business trip, and then my boss said that the other party complained to him, saying that Yao Qian, should be called Mr. Why, would ask him hundreds of times a day why, I didn't realize that I asked so many whys, and I didn't understand the reason for asking, now I understand, because I am curious." 」
In his view, curiosity can open people and extend themselves.
"Once with Cai Jianya to do an album, she already has a solidified impression, and the degree of recognition is very high, suddenly out of an electronic record, in fact, for music fans, not necessarily accustomed to listening, but I think it is very good for her personally, she stretched again, to maintain curiosity and enthusiasm for the world, and constantly open their energy, is the best stage of a person." 」
Initially, curiosity nourished him from the outside world.
He said that the reason why he can "understand women's hearts best" is because he likes to listen to stories. "I often laugh, boys want to listen to girls, I get rich from women, I am willing to listen to them, those stories that touch me, I use them to write lyrics." 」
At that time, Yao Qian was still in the period when writing love songs could touch him, and Faye Wong's "I Do" came from his inspiration to read gossip magazines.
"Once, I took a plane and flipped into a group of photos in a gossip magazine, and they took a picture of Faye Wong going out in the morning and pouring a spittoon on the public toilet in the alley, such a female star, but willing to do such a thing, I was very touched to see it, I was willing to forget my name for you, the first lyrics came out."
Writing allows me to stop repeating myself yesterday
If it weren't for fate, the first to get the record company's acceptance notice, and now Yao Qian, perhaps the prefix or label, would become a film industry or publishing house.
He said that since he had a memory, he loved to read. When I was a child, there was a children's magazine in Taiwan called Chinese Daily, which he loved to read, but his parents had limited salaries and could only subscribe intermittently:
"Before every stop, my parents would tell me that there would be no next month, and we would book when we had money." One day, just when the booking was stopped, the newspaper delivery man passed by the door, I looked at him, he stopped, handed me the newspaper for the operation, I quickly took the newspaper, read it quickly, and then hurriedly returned it to him. ”
He said that when he was a teenager, whenever he did well in the exam, his parents would reward him with storybooks, and if he didn't read enough of them, he would borrow them from his classmates, come and go, read a lot of books, and also sowed the seeds of literature and art. Writing essays has always been his strong point, and later, as he grew up, he submitted articles to magazines and published them, and he could also win awards in essay contests.
Although he has always been in love with literature and art, in his resume, his preferences conflict with reality, and he once drew a number.
After graduating from college, because of the pragmatic relationship, his first job was a car company showman, he did not like it, because of the particularity of the profession, life is irregular, physical problems, he went home to recuperate for half a year. During this period, he went hiking alone, walked from Tainan to Taitung, and repeatedly thought about a question:
What kind of person do I want to be?
After thinking about it carefully, he knew his answer, and the three industries he wanted to do were: publishing, music, and film, so he put it into action, and in order to successfully apply, he also moved to Taipei. Later, the first offer I got, from Hayley Records, "If the first one is a film company or a publishing house, I should be there, I'm the kind of patient person who can survive in an industry for ten years." ”
That's twenty years.
In the music industry in the past twenty years, there have been ups and downs, and there have been ups and downs, but there is no doubt that he has a strong stroke. When he felt that his age and creation were out of place, and writing songs could not ignite his curiosity, he chose to fade away and found another outlet: writing.
"I am especially grateful to the people who came to me to write a column at that time, writing made me understand myself again, after reaching a certain age, writing lyrics of the previous type can no longer stimulate me, I don't want to repeat yesterday's self, I want to face the confusion of my current age and record it." 」
In his opinion, writing gives him a different expression than writing songs:
"They have the same place, they are all accounts, a thing that has happened, it is originally a subjective feeling, but with the form of accounting, there is already a bystander feeling. The difference between writing and writing songs is in the style, the lyrics are limited, so is its expression, and the writing is relatively freer, it allows me to have more perspectives and express the world as I see it. ”
The same is writing, he also has the unique features of Yao Qian, such as writing, compared to the rapid typing of the keyboard into writing, he has a different writing habit, is like handwriting input method, even if holding the iPad, but also with the fingers a little bit to write text.
"Handwriting, will make me a little slower, I found that fast and slow are not the same, fast is the rapid response of the moment, slow has a pause, more of a process of thinking, thinking, for me, slow is just right, I write while pausing, keep checking, keep looking back." 」
Compared with the pause in handwriting, the pause in writing songs also made him think more, and in the process of writing, he and the high-profile label of writing songs are gradually reconciling.
"When I first started writing, I was a little resistant to writing lyrics that Yao Qian, I hope I have a new process, don't always be tied to writing songs, I also started to publish books, the publisher asked me if I could find some singers to recommend, I know they will be willing to help, but I am more resistant." 」
Later, in writing, he gradually realized the resonance of writing and writing songs, and sometimes when writing certain articles, he found that the feelings he gave himself were very similar to when writing songs, "They are all ways for me to express my emotions, whether it is writing songs or writing, it is a kind of self-expression, which cannot be separated." ”
At the same time, he also perceives the deep meaning of resistance, which may stem from the fear of the heart, unwilling to be bound by inherent labels. So he simply confronted this fear, and when the first five books had little to do with music, the sixth book simply used "If This Could Be a Song" as its name.
"This year, I realized that the reason why I resisted it was because I was afraid of it, the experience of writing songs, once brought me a lot of affirmations, in a way, maybe I was afraid of losing, after I knew, but I felt very at ease, then I will face you, accept your connection with me, face it, and continue to talk about music more freely." 」
Be true to your sense of existence
Yao Qian said he was a man who could pay the price for curiosity.
In mid-November, he was in New York, just in time for the musical "Hamilton" performance, using hip-hop techniques to tell historical stories, very interesting, but there were no tickets, he thought of various ways, even scalper tickets were not bought, only at the beginning, an hour and a half in advance to wait, to see if anyone refunded the ticket, the result was still not, and then opened two tickets, he stood for four hours, still felt very worthwhile:
When I posted it, people said," ah! How did you get tickets?! "I also showed off, only spent $50, and the stand ticket was much cheaper.
Just as he listened to musicals, he was fascinated by other artistic disciplines, such as collecting. If writing songs and writing is his way of output, collecting and traveling is the way he draws nourishment.
Very early, he began to collect works of art, and in the eyes of others, the achievements are remarkable, "I am curious about this thing, I will want to know more about it, if it touches me, I will think of receiving a piece, and then these red, appreciation, others think that your collection is very successful, in fact, at first it was just curiosity." 」 ”
In his view, writing is more about facing oneself, while art is a contrast, looking at the world, this era, and their thinking through the perspective of others.
He has a collection, in his yard, is the British sculptor Antony Gormley sculpture, is a head-to-earth, heel-to-the-sky portrait, he laughed at himself for spending half his life savings to buy, but also had to write songs for it every year: the humidity is heavy, the portrait will rust, every year to be cleaned up by a professional restorer, in order to maintain it, have to write three songs a year.
If the collection is a relatively static form, travel is more dynamic, in his plan, in recent years, two long trips a year, and the location of the trip, is never tried before, such as to Antarctica, to Kilimanjaro, and next year's planned trip to India:
People have a safe range, you are trapped in the comfort zone, people are used to it, there is no curiosity, equivalent to static. Once you break, your life is extended, and because of curiosity, I try a lot of new things, often with the feeling of how many lifetimes I have lived.
He spoke of his experience of going to Africa and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro:
I'm curious, why is climbing such a tough act? Then I went to try, to climb the highest peak in Africa, in fact, I was very high at that time, my head was very painful, the whole person was very painful, basically I climbed to the top of the mountain crying, but that experience also made me realize why I was tenacious.
Compared with the previous hotel, now run to many places, he also tries to live in the homestay, often others can not recognize him, he does not say, think there is a way to see the world, see others, very interesting:
People often say that the sense of existence, that is to let others see themselves, in fact, ignore their own self-view, I think the sense of existence can be loyal to themselves, your curiosity, let you try all kinds of things, and this process, is not understanding the process of self-confirmation.