After five years, Ah Yan's third solo album "Becoming such an adult, it is not shameful" has finally slowly unfolded in the ears.
Five years, enough for a person to look like?
If in "My Stupid Idealism", ah yan's stubborn figure between realism and idealism can still be seen, then in this album, ah yan uses a more inclusive and frank posture to tell: how these two selves shake hands and talk and coexist.
Loose, from the shell to the feathers
Five years later, Ah Yan still retains the freedom of the self-deprecating and playful life that is understated. She borrowed the words of "Dr. Zhang said", through the accurate and contemporary language of expression, depicted the physical and mental state of the urban crowd, and retained a sense of self-examination and self-sustainment - just like the "stay-at-home family" who created a space for themselves in the title song "Lonely widows and widows", perhaps in the eyes of others as a lonely "alternative", but they enjoy the pleasure of being alone because of the rich spiritual world, and adhere to such a way of life. And when the word "mourning" was gradually attached to the sentimental meaning other than the original meaning, Ah Yan wrote "A Very Mournful Song", giving a beautiful counterattack to the standardized routine of success learning.
The difference is that this freedom is not the shell of the egocentrism of youth, under the dissolution of time, it dissolves into a soft "feather" to touch the world lightly. So Ah Yan can calmly face his thoughts of "Late, Can't Be Safe"; can he exude his irrepressible cherishing in the face of "The Other Me in the World"; can he express the love of "To Mom and Dad" without reservation, and say the "Thank You" that is ashamed to mention. In the case piano and the pure piano sound, the emotion also returns to the most rustic appearance.
This soft "feather" also caught the floating self when catching others. As early as the first two precursor songs "Not elsewhere" and "Despite this, still", Ah Yan sang the truth that he had to face in his growth - growth, but not necessarily to grow up to be what he expected. When you are young and crazy, you may always be fascinated by the pleasure of upward confrontation, but now Ah Yan chooses to accept the real self downwards, and frankly spits out a sentence: ""Okay", with bright funk cutting and energetic arrangement, dissolving the faint and diffuse melancholy.
Late ripening, just in time
If you pay a little attention, you can see the change in Ah Yan. Walking through the vast sea of people and wading through the flow of time, Ah Yan has a clearer and more complete vision of his own creation. She connects ten songs into a whole through the main line of "late ripening", and the unified subject of all the songs is the contemporary urban crowd that should have matured but is not ready for her. From his own female perspective, Ah Yan completely recorded the process of "maturity" from the inside out.
Five years of accumulation and transformation have enabled Ah Yan to walk freely between notes and characters. With her keen perception, she records the vicissitudes of the urban jungle and the dappled inner scenery of the late-maturing youth, and there is just the right sense of warmth and humor between the lines. And she is so changeable and unpredictable that neither the singing voice nor the brisk electric rhythm can give her an accurate definition. Perhaps this is also a kind of musical late ripening, but compared with Ah Yan's understanding of life, it is so timely.
Fulcrum, soft and firm
These unique works have more ways of interpreting them because of their inclusiveness. Whether it is in production or interpretation, she places the possibility of breakthrough and fresh stimulation.
In addition to "The Other Me in the World", the arrangement and production of the other nine songs on the new album are all personally written by Chen Shanni, a well-known producer and creator cherished by fans. Her skillful control and inspiration give each song a rich aural level and emotional dimension, and unify the diverse styles of music in Ah Yan's unique inner expression. After a long phone conversation, a long email letter, and a song of repeated polishing, "Princess" and Ah Yan finally translated the exuberant expression in the work into an appropriate musical language, blurring the boundary between mainstream and independence, and flowing into the voice of the moment that moisturizes people's hearts, the voice of women.
So it's no wonder that so many female singer-songwriters with different textures have joined the album. The Japanese girl band Chai, who is famous in the international independent music scene with the spirit of self-confidence in the "neo kawaii", meets ah yan who is ghostly from time to time, which makes the tangled state of mind of admitting mistakes in the song "Okay La" also appear naughty and frank; Xu Jiaying's affectionate and delicate voice line in "Nevertheless, it is still" is like a good medicine, with a calm and healing effect; and Ah Yan and Guo Caijie, a pair of Gemini stars immersed in love and light, show the innocent friendship between the girls to the fullest. The "popular physique" of the music world that Ah Yan constantly reveals is precisely because of the gravity of her magnet-like works, which brings together the soft and firm strength of different female musicians into a strong fulcrum to pry the world of their own music and the listener's locked heart.
Metamorphosis, from the inside out
Ah Yan's change was gradual, thorough and decisive. Such is a feature that can be seen at a glance in her new look. Changing the image of the girl next door in the past, the playfulness of the cold and slightly dew powder of the short silver hair, the slender figure is prominently highlighted by the casual attire, which is stunning and more confident. So vivid, so dazzling, as if it were a declaration that ah yan's growth and transformation not only happened in music, but also existed in life.
It's a warm and cool album, an album that makes people think and heal people. It doesn't need to reproduce the story of everyone, but it can accurately hit everyone who listens to the song. Ten songs, like ten storage bottles, are loaded with the courage that Ah Yan has gathered on the road of "late ripening"—the courage to face confusion, the courage to start over, the courage to accept yourself, the courage to make fun in suffering, the courage to occasionally waste firewood, the courage to express love...
And when you put all the subtle courage together, you can calmly say the words when you examine yourself: "There is no shame in being such an adult." Please give this sentence, this album, to every "big kid" in the late ripening.