Why bother writing songs? Fast forward to the "Don't Laugh Challenge"

Chapter 152 The Scent of Summer's Deepening (2)

As he left it there, Kang Zhihong kept nodding in approval.

He paused to comment as he listened.

"Hey, this part has a good idea, creating a sense of dislocation through a high-profile transition."

"The little design details here are also very clever."

"The string section is quite good."

But overall, how should I put it?

After listening to both albums quickly, Kang Zhihong frowned and said, "First of all, I feel that these two albums are acceptable. It can only be said that they are EP albums produced by more than a dozen top producers. They are all condensed essences. If we really look at it from a professional point of view, they are all good songs."

However, some viewers and fans who are familiar with me probably already know what I'm going to say.

As Kang Zhihong spoke, the comments section also responded.

"But it's here."

"But, right?"

"It's a good song, but as I listened to it, I had to say, I don't like it."

"Well, it doesn't quite meet my expectations. It's the kind of song that I might listen to, but at most I'll just add it to my playlist and listen to it whenever I find it. Sometimes I might even skip to another song. It's not the kind of song that I really want to listen to, so I specifically search for it or find it in my playlist."

"It's so boring."

Kang Zhihong smiled as he looked at the reactions in the comments: "Yes, some viewers may already know what I'm going to say, but there's a but!"

These songs are all good songs, that's true, but!

They are all so good that they are almost ordinary. Professionally, they are flawless, and the melody design is also good. They are not simple; on the contrary, some sections are designed with great artistic beauty.

However, by focusing too much on these things, we lose sight of what a song should truly focus on: its emotional expression, the resonance of the melody with the listener's emotions, and how catchy the melody is.

These songs are lacking in these aspects.

Kang Zhihong took out a scoreboard, wrote a string of words on it with a marker, and said: "If I had to give these two albums a systematic score, I would only give them 70 points. They are passing, but they are still a bit far from excellent. They don't quite live up to the expectations that come from the collaboration of more than a dozen top producers."

However, here's a "however": often, it's precisely because so many excellent producers come together that this kind of album is produced.

Kang Zhihong asked, "Does anyone know why?"

However, his interaction did not get the answer he wanted, and none of the viewers in the live chat got to the point.

But it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter if the answer is to the point or not, the most important thing is to have interaction. Kang Zhihong didn't expect his amateur fans to be able to answer the questions.

So, he continued, "It's because there are so many outstanding people, and everyone has different perspectives. An outstanding producer must first have a very strong personal style. In fact, you can usually tell who made the song and they all have a general direction of expertise. This is an ironclad rule. Over the years, I have only seen Xia Shen who does not conform to this rule."

However, Xia Shen is special. Producers like him are rare, perhaps only one in ten years. He is an extremely rare and exceptional case, so he should not be used for comparison.

In my opinion, these two albums were both made and broken by their star-studded teams. Perhaps one or two top-tier producers would be enough for one album, but with too many people, conflicting opinions arise, making it difficult to showcase anything truly unique. Furthermore, since everyone's skill level is roughly the same, it's actually difficult for anyone to convince anyone else.

The viewers in the live chat also suddenly realized what was going on.

"I see."

"understood!"

"Wow, there are so many intricacies and explanations to it!"

"You can only say that professionals are indeed professionals, they are just different, they found the essence of the problem in one go."

Then, Kang Zhihong continued, "So, we've already done the reaction to the two new albums from the Xi Die series. Next up is the two competing albums from Deep Space Entertainment that we're all looking forward to."

Believe me, everyone has been waiting for a long time, right? These two albums are quite important for Xia Shen and his Deep Space Entertainment, because they represent Xia Shen's transformation from a completely public figure to someone who takes responsibility for a company and the entire group. The key to this transformation lies in these two albums, which may be related to the future of Deep Space Entertainment.

Yes, that's right. Connections are that significant; sometimes a bad start can have far-reaching consequences. Alright, I won't waste any more time and will get straight to the point. First, there's Li Yunhe's new album from Deep Space Entertainment, *Hua Feng Wei Yang*!

Kang Zhihong directly searched for Xia Shen's Penguin Music homepage, which boasts 700 million fans, and then saw one of the two new albums released by Xia Shen as a producer.

"Oh? That's interesting." Kang Zhihong was taken aback when he saw the album title: "We can see that this album seems to be a Chinese style album."

You might be wondering why I was shocked. The reason is simple: Xia Shen had previously created Chinese-style songs, and they were of extremely high quality, proving that he possessed a certain level of knowledge in Chinese-style music.

However, the problem lies with the singer, Li Yunhe. How should I put it? A very small number of viewers may know him. He is not a newcomer. All the singers in this competition are from Xidie Studios and already had a certain degree of fame.

Li Yunhe is actually best known for R&B and has very little experience with other genres. This time, his style is completely different from his usual style. It has to be said that this is an extremely bold attempt. If he doesn't perform well, he may suffer a major setback. However, with Xia Shen involved, I am willing to believe in our country's first world-class producer.

Okay, let's listen to it now.

As they were talking, Kang Zhihong directly opened the album.

Then, they chose the first main song, "Rare Characters".

Upon opening, the first sound is a desolate whistling of sand and dust, followed by the sounds of flutes and guqin.

Then came the string music of the erhu.

Even the drums, in a simple intro, are traditional instruments!
This caught Kang Zhihong's eye, and he immediately pressed pause: "Not bad. So far, the intro alone has surprised me. It's all played on traditional Chinese instruments, and it uses a pentatonic scale and a fusion of popular music. It's actually quite ingenious."

He nodded and continued playing.

Then, human voices entered.

"Our Chinese characters, written with a single stroke, leave behind a picture, representing five thousand years of history, which the world has come to know."

“Every stroke of the Chinese characters tells a story.”

Snapped.

Another pause.

Kang Zhihong: "Our Chinese characters have a history of 5000 years. Every stroke tells a story. This phrase is very well said. It immediately draws the viewer into a historical scroll. In fact, it makes a lot of sense. Nowadays, too many people ignore our traditional culture."

And have you noticed that this song has a very special feature? It starts with a chorus, then the chorus comes in, and then the verse follows. It's a structure of starting strong, then calming down, and then starting strong again. This immediately grabs the listener's attention. This design is very clever.

*Snap*, and it started playing again.

Sure enough, after a strong chorus, the verse begins directly, and the tempo slows down considerably.

Kang Zhihong listened and nodded: "It's just like today's short videos, where you start by editing a catchy clip to keep the audience engaged."

The lyrics continue: "Kneeling and holding torches, pious as the light of the Way, the fields in all directions are filled with grain and granaries. The ancients used images and sounds to distinguish good from evil, and demons and monsters."

Kang Zhihong listened and nodded.

The audience also interacted.

"Holy crap, Teacher Kang gave it a really high evaluation. Is this Xia Shen's true ability?"

"It really is a good song. At least it caught my ear from the beginning. The melody is layered and the verses are a bit bland, but the way it starts with a chorus breaks the monotony."

"I can only say that professional music critics are professional. If I were just listening to it myself, I would never be able to hear all these nuances."

"The lyrics are also good. They aim to promote traditional culture and tell the stories of some uncommon characters."

However, just as the first verse ended and the second chorus began...

Kang Zhihong frowned: "Something's not right, how could this be?"

(End of this chapter)