Musician Ye Bei once resisted the term "school folk song diva", and she felt, why not accept my new things?
At the beginning of her fame, she flew to cities across the country and woke up every morning, sometimes not knowing which city she was in. In the stadium of tens of thousands of people, "The Age of White Clothes Fluttering", "Youth Without Regret", and "After the Rain in B Minor" were frequently sung.
It was the golden age of campus folk songs. In the 1990s, Ye Bei, who was still studying at the China Conservatory of Music, went to a bar to work as a resident singer and met Gao Xiaosong and asked her to record a demo. Later, she became the only female voice in Gao Xiaosong's 1996 music collection "Youth Without Regret". Her music has also become a youthful memory of a generation.
Ye Bei felt that she was very happy, and in her early 20s, she found something she loved so far, music. But she's also been in conflict, times are changing, popular things are changing. She once asked herself, what if one day, I stopped being in business?
Her choice was to slow down. Ye Bei's last album "Falling in Love with You on the Wandering" was released in 2017, and before that, she was silent for 9 years. In 2019, she took this vinyl record to Lake Baikal, where she sealed the record in the ice as a souvenir.
On May 17, the APEC Women's Leadership Forum was held in Shanghai. As a guest, Ye Bei recalled her growth over the years at the forum.
"I think, this is a notebook full of thoughts, a diary for my growth." When pop records gradually evolved from tape to online music, Ye Bei still spent a lot of effort to make this vinyl, composing lyrics and compositions by herself. She said it was a lavish gift to herself.
After experiencing the conflict between the market and the heart, she gradually figured out that the most important thing to grow is to integrate with the self rather than to cater, "Only if the heart firmly knows what your talent is, and spend more time on repeating one thing, it is the most effective." 」 Artistic expression is a sense of mission. ”
Now, Ye Bei said, her only label is, a musician.
On May 17, Nandu reporters talked to Ye Bei and talked to her about her growth over the years, changes and her self-reconciliation.
Talk about the status quo
Nandu: What have you been doing in recent years?
Ye Bei: Make a song. A record was released the year before. The previous years were learning to know themselves, and I was a little tired of my life: running around the country, catching up with announcements, singing the same songs. The reason I chose to slow down was that I felt that if I lived like this, it would not mean much.
Nandu: Do you like the busy state when you become famous?
Ye Bei: Of course, I feel very fresh, and not every talented musician can catch up with the bloom in his life, which requires a lot of time and place, and when you are in that state, you are still very happy. But after a long time, the work was on a regular basis, and there wasn't particularly much creativity, so I wanted to slow down and seek some more interesting ways.
Nandu: Have you found a more interesting way to slow down all these years?
Ye Bei: I think yes, I found a very interesting way. People who can express themselves are very happy in this world. For me, to slow myself down is to make my whole mind more stable, and in that state I will be more sensitive to the connection of the small universe, and the signals I will capture will be sharper, and the fun for me will be greater.
Nandu: What is your daily life status and schedule like now? Will there be a specific creative time?
Ye Bei: I don't force myself to arrange, everything I do is based on interest, such as creation, if I don't have a job today, I may spend four hours a day sitting at the piano, and some time is used to read, and reading is also a good way to know myself and enjoy.
Nandu: What books do you like to read?
Ye Bei: Literature, poetry. Take, for example, Paul Celan.
I think the happiest thing about me is that I don't have to go to work, I never go to work, and the best way for me is to write essays, write melodies, write lyrics, write poems, read, watch movies. I don't have a writing task, all writing is from the heart.
Nandu: Do you set goals for yourself, such as how often do you want to make an album?
Ye Bei: Basically it is operated according to the will, and only one album has been released in the past 9 years. In the future, when I want to turn expression into a real finished product, it is a way to document my growth.
Nandu: So you found something you really liked from the time you were in your 20s.
Ye Bei: At that time, it was not found, it was this matter that found me, I think it was good luck.
Talk about campus folk songs
Nandu: More than 20 years ago, you were called the "Queen of Campus Folk Songs", and now that the campus folk song boom is gone, how do you see this change?
Ye Bei: In fact, I have no qualifications to look at this change, because this label is not given by us, it is given by society. Do you need other labels when you're older? Of course it is needed, right.
For me, as long as it is confident and bright, can continue to shine, whether the previous label is accepted, or whether it is forgotten, it does not matter, the most important thing is to continue to dig out what they want to express in their hearts, and whether this expression process is very enjoyable and burning.
Nandu: Have you ever been restricted by the term "school folk diva"?
Ye Bei: I used to think it was a restriction, and I once resisted this word, for example, I was once very resistant to campus folk songs, and once very resistant to singing those three songs, I thought, why not accept my new things.
Later, I felt that this restriction was set by yourself, and when you don't care about this thing, you can actually express other things, and you don't have this sense of conflict.
Nandu: How do you find out what you want?
Ye Bei: The path that God has arranged for each of us is different. For me, born in a good family, debuted in college, there is no special choice in front of me, it is a road forward, I do not have the ability to choose.
I don't know if this direction is right or wrong, but as long as you don't dislike this thing, you can walk along. But in this direction, you are constantly aware of whether you have fallen into a state of numbness to work.
If you fall into numbness, remind yourself. Only when you burn yourself very specially and are very dedicated to doing something can you find your own high point. That's it for me.
There is a saying in meditation that is very correct, "Life is practice." All we can do is not let time go by without leaving a trace.
Nandu: Do you meditate a lot?
Ye Bei: Not every day, but often, my way is to meditate, to make my mind calm down and talk to myself.
Nandu: In recent years, I have spent a lot of effort to make works, but the market response is not particularly good?
Ye Bei: Actually, there is no such thing. Every record I make, the platform gives me a high return, I do things seriously, the relative return is there, but it is true that the industry is not good, there are not so many performances.
Nandu: Would you like to go back to your hottest time, running announcements, and there are many performances?
Ye Bei: No, I will not accept that kind of work now. I prefer to do quality and effective work rather than exchange my work for money.
Talk about music
Nandu: In this era, how to better express it with music?
Ye Bei: It doesn't matter what kind of music is fashionable and unfashionable, pop electronics or pop hip hop are just a means, and the most important thing is whether that form of expression has touched you.
Nandu: In recent years, like Old Wolf and Gao Xiaosong, they are also doing some new attempts, such as talk shows, etc. Would you like to try like this, such as going on a variety show?
Ye Bei: In fact, these things are not designed, but when this work comes to you today, you have to think, do you really want to do this?
Nandu: Have you ever received a similar job offer?
Ye Bei: Yes, I participated in some, and I also rejected some, and I was more judges. I think that what stage and what stage of the idea, do not go too far against your own feelings, sometimes feel that there is no need.
Nandu: What are your plans for the rest of your life?
Ye Bei: There is no setting, as long as it is fun, you have to eat delicious food and play fun.
Nandu: What is your next creative direction?
Ye Bei: I don't have any direction in my creation, but I am just improving the quality of my creation.
When you create this song now, what exactly do you think, is it through a quantification, such as after creating dozens of songs, suddenly able to stand in a higher dimension and think about what value to create.
The most touching works of all eras in the world are still related to love, it is not an individual act, this part is constantly groping, after all, everyone has not lived "tomorrow", we have no experience, everyone's future road can not be designed, life is unscripted.
Written by: Nandu reporter Zhan Chenfeng