After offending capital, my songs became more and more popular.

Chapter 265 A Tribute to a Specific Era: Don't Let Her Be Forgotten Again!

【…】

silence.

silence.

Still silent.

Just now!

In the online live stream room, a group of trolls were having a great time stirring up trouble.

now……

They couldn't utter a single word.

Are you laughing?

Why did you stop laughing?
Is it because I'm naturally not fond of smiling?
It's obviously not...

The reason they stopped laughing was entirely because Shen Ming'en had slapped them hard in the face!

The song "Grandma" has two versions: an original version and a patriotic version. Shen Ming'en sang the patriotic version first because he felt that it would be a disservice to the "Grandma" who was the "prototype" in the original story if he didn't portray the image of the "Grandma" who had a tragic background and was forgotten in a remote corner of the mountains. So Shen Ming'en decided to also perform the original version of the song.

Strictly speaking, the "Patriotic Version" is an adaptation of the "Original Version." Since the main framework hasn't been changed much, the verses sound the same.

However, when it comes to the chorus, if you only look at the chorus, the emotions that the two songs want to express are "completely different"...

One aspect is the "sublimation" of the character, transforming her from a woman in the deep mountains suffering from a tragic fate and feudal oppression into a "heroic mother" whose children have all gone out to fight in the war.
The other is utter misery...

It portrays a suffering character with a tortuous fate and a lonely old age from an extremely "realistic" perspective.

Listen to those lyrics...

On the other side of the mountain, their children sit in high-rise buildings, living well in the city. Even if their lives aren't wealthy, they at least have enough to eat and wear.

Yet, no one remembers her in the deep mountains.

On the other side of the river was her mother's village, but having suffered from feudal oppression for many years and being old and weak, she could not even cross the river and could only stay here alone.

The sun rises and sets as usual every day.

It’s getting dark…

The food I made got cold...

None of his children have ever returned.

An extremely bitter feeling permeated the hearts of every listener at that moment.

Putting yourself in their shoes, it really makes you feel heartbroken...

Anyone with even a tiny bit of empathy will feel moved to tears.

If the "patriotic version" of Grandma was an "elevation" of the image created in the previous verses, then the "original version" sung by Shen Ming'en now directly continues the main theme of "suffering," and shapes the "Grandma" with a soul by portraying the image of an "empty-nest elderly person" in the deep mountains.

The original "Grandma" was exactly like this...

She was a woman in an arranged marriage in the deep mountains, experiencing the exploitation of her husband, described in the lyrics as "the firewood for cooking bent her back, but it wasn't just the firewood that bent her back, but also the grandfather banging on the bowls and chopsticks and singing songs, not caring about anything," and the neglect of her children, "on the other side of the mountain, her children sit in high-rise buildings, forgetting her in a corner of the deep mountains"...

She worked hard all her life, raising one child after another with great difficulty. After they grew up, they all left the deep mountains to seek better opportunities in the city...

But once they had enough to eat and wear in the city, they didn't even want to go back to see their mothers.

This song is a "tragic song" from an old era. The song "Grandma" has been forgotten by her children. If Shen Ming'en only sang this "patriotic" version, perhaps there would be nothing wrong with it. Perhaps the world would never know that there was such a "grandma" who was forgotten in the deep mountains and suffered a lifetime of hardship...

After all, if Shen Ming'en only sings the "patriotic version," then the world will only have the "patriotic version."

But if that's the case...

This "grandma" from the original version has been forgotten for the second time...

Using this story, he sang a patriotic version of "Grandma" and gained considerable attention on the show "Spark Chapter," which was frankly very beneficial to Shen Ming'en.

In this situation, isn't it a bit heartless of him to make people forget about the "grandmother" from the original version, who already had a tragic fate?

Ultimately, Shen Ming'en still has a conscience!

After a few short chorus lines, the interlude begins...

"..."

The scene was initially quiet.

Immediately afterwards...

"Crack...crack..."

Gradually, people subconsciously raised their hands to offer some applause for Shen Ming'en.

Immediately afterwards...

And that's how the chain reaction started.

"Clap clap clap..."

At that moment, applause filled the live broadcast. As the camera of the "Spark of Music" program swept across each audience member, you could see expressions of "admiration," "praise," and "sympathy" on their faces.

The admiration and praise are for Shen Ming'en. With the same song, he portrayed two completely different characters through just a few lines of lyrics. Shen Ming'en deserves this applause.

And the sympathy, naturally, is directed towards the old-fashioned woman in Shen Ming'en's current version of "Grandma"...

[This narrative is incredibly well-written!]

In the online live stream, the chat exploded with comments at that moment!
Now I understand why Shen Ming'en didn't change the beginning; the character development was already good enough, there was no need to change it.

[The same character, with most of the lyrics being exactly the same, only a few lines in the chorus are changed, yet two such vastly different images are created... This is incredible lyrical skill!]

[I can only say, as expected of Hakim, he's really got something!]

Why are some of the haters silent now?

Why aren't you jumping up and down anymore?

[Isn't it said that the same lyrics can evoke two different feelings in different people?]

[Isn't the point that people listen to songs to do reading comprehension exercises and filter the audience?]

Why did you stop talking?

[A bunch of impatient fools, jumping to conclusions after just a few lines of the verse. What can they possibly accomplish with such a superficial attitude?]

……

It's a reversal... Many times, a reversal really happens in an instant.

The moment the original chorus of Shen Ming'en's "Grandma" came on, the haters vanished without a trace, as if they had never existed.

Instead, fans showered him with praise!

Even though the haters have completely disappeared, the number of viewers in the online live stream is still skyrocketing, and the level of discussion is absolutely "exploding" right now!

"Whoa whoa!"

Zhou Chuan, the chief director of "Spark Chapter", and Feng Yucan hugged each other at some point. Looking at the data that was "rising sharply" and "falling sharply", they were so excited that they almost jumped up!
However, as they jumped around, they looked at each other and seemed to suddenly realize that they shouldn't have been hugging each other, so they immediately separated and looked at each other with disgust...

Two idiots.

Amidst all sorts of reactions from various people, Shen Ming'en's performance continued, and he kept singing the B section...

To be honest, because the lyrics of the song were largely "repetitive" with the first "patriotic version," many viewers were too busy listening to the "differences" and arguing with the haters to really appreciate the song's deeper meaning.

Now, after listening to the complete verse and chorus of section A, the image of "Grandma" in my mind is no longer just that of a "heroic mother," but also includes the image of a woman from the old era who suffered from feudal oppression and was forgotten by her children in the deep mountains...

Everyone will definitely have different feelings.

The original version of the song "Grandma" is a narrative song that focuses on the fate of women in the old era. The lyrics use a cold and detached style to depict the suffering of individual lives under the oppression of feudal ethics. In terms of musical expression, it constructs a highly dynamic emotional space by combining regional cultural symbols with modern popular elements.

The value of the song lies in its refusal to offer cheap emotional comfort, but rather in its scalpel-like dissection of individual traumas within the folds of history.

While the patriotic version transforms suffering into collective glory through "symbol replacement," the original version stubbornly gazes at the hunched figure "looking into the distance from the doorway" deep in the mountains.

This "gaze" is not only a tribute to the fate of women in a specific era, but also a call to the souls of all individual lives swallowed up by grand narratives!

In this sense, the original version of "Grandma" was like a silent "cultural revolution"!
That's all!
This is enough to prove the value of this work.

Audiences don't mind listening to a good song a second time. When they truly immerse themselves in the story of the song, many people feel a sense of "heartache" and "empathy".

At that time, the comments section was filled with:
I cried while listening to this...

Women in that era really had it tough.

The oppression of women in the old era was truly appalling...

[It's all the fault of those idiots in the Qing Dynasty. Foot binding was a unique form of gender control in Han Chinese society since the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It not only caused foot deformities but also restricted women's movement and limited their space for activity!]

[I feel there's some psychological manipulation involved in this song, like the phrase "can't cross that river," which seems to be a metaphor for transforming physical disability into a mental constraint...]

[The mother's hometown village is so close yet insurmountable, a metaphor for the complete severing of a woman's identity under the patriarchal system!]

I never expected Shen Ming'en could write a song like this...

[The significance of this version is, in some ways, no less than that of the first patriotic version.]

Sigh, now I suddenly understand why Hakeem insisted on singing this version again...

[Based on what he said, this version should be the original. If it's a patriotic version, it's an adaptation. If we only listen to the patriotic version, the grandmother in the original version will truly be "forgotten twice"...]

He probably just doesn't want people to forget this grandmother again.

……

Many things, if done with sincerity, can be heard and felt by the audience...

Shen Mingen has always been a very honest person. He said before the performance that the previous "patriotic version" he sang was an adaptation, and the version he is singing now is the "original version".

Based on this, if we "reverse the logic," his "intention" is not difficult to understand.

It's simply that I don't want that "grandmother," who has endured so much suffering and been abandoned by her children in the deep mountains, to be abandoned and forgotten once again.

And the audience understood all of these "intentions" at that moment...

Even those who didn't quite understand it immediately grasped it after seeing the "explanations" in the live stream chat.

As it turns out, Shen Ming'en's "intentions" will not be in vain. He actively conveyed this idea, and the audience will definitely have a deep impression of this "grandmother" with a tragic background and never forget her!

"..."

During the second rendition of section B of "Grandma," many audience members listened quietly until the very last moment of Shen Ming'en's performance.

Until Shen Ming'en finished singing...

"Clap clap clap clap..."

"Oh!!!"

All sorts of cheers and applause filled the entire performance venue.

The weather was quite cold today. In the sub-zero temperatures at night, the biting wind made everyone feel shivering.

On this cold night, Shen Mingen and everyone else brought warmth to the "grandma" in the song.

Finally, Shen Mingen sang a very interesting line, "Grandma, I'm back," which immediately touched the hearts of many viewers.

This is why the cheers at the scene were so intense.

As Shen Ming'en finished his second rendition of the original version of "Grandma"...

The recording of the second episode of "Sparkling Melody" has officially come to an end.

Although Shen Ming'en only sang "Grandma" in this episode's theme of "family," he presented two versions. The "patriotic version" portrayed a "heroic mother" who deeply resonated with the audience, while the original version depicted a woman suffering from feudal oppression, evoking immense sympathy and prompting deep reflection.

Both versions of the work have different meanings and are very popular with audiences.

Immediately after the performance and the recording of the program ended, Shen Ming'en, along with the songs "Spark Chapter" and "Grandma," topped the trending lists on major platforms such as Douyin, Weibo, Xiaohongshu, and Zhihu!
These are the top trending topics on various platforms:
"#Shen Ming'en's 'Grandma'!"

"#Patriotic version of Heroic Mother, the original was filled with oppression, both versions are equally deeply moving!"

"#Don't let the grandmother in the song be forgotten in a remote corner of the mountains for the second time!"

……

Thanks to Shen Mingen's own built-in popularity, the two versions of the song "Grandma" gained considerable attention on various platforms such as Tencent, NetEase Cloud Music, etc. as soon as they were released.

On various platforms' new song charts and trending song charts, both versions of this song are rising in the rankings.

While the "patriotic version" might be more popular from a "promotional" perspective and thus generate more buzz, it's also thanks to Shen Ming'en's dedicated performance of "Grandma" a second time that the original version garnered millions of saves. Many people who listened to the "patriotic version" would then go and listen to the original version as well...

In this respect, Shen Ming'en can be said to have done something wrong to the real-life grandmother who lived deep in the mountains.

And now, he should be busy with his "anti-Japanese war dramas"!

……

(End of this chapter)