Perfect Life

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The rise and fall of national strength determines the spread of culture.

Li Qian is not a master of Chinese studies like Cao Zhan, but he still knows that it is said that during the Tang and Song dynasties, including until the Ming Dynasty, during those hundreds of years and thousands of years, in Korea, Japan and other countries, They are all proud of being able to speak Chinese and write Chinese characters, which is considered to be educated and one of the symbols of high society. And when the gunboats of Spain and the United Kingdom were rampant, they quickly moved closer to the West in just a hundred years. Even the whole world, including China, worshipped the Empire on which the sun never sets and began to take pride in learning English. , as a measure of whether a person has received higher education, whether he has studied English.

In the contemporary era, with the rise of the United States, the whole world uses the US dollar, and the whole world envy the American people's life of "a big house, a lawn, two children and two big dogs", and they covet. ruler.

Around two thousand years in this life, and two thousand years in another time and space, China's national conditions are different.

To put it simply, the economy, culture and other aspects should be more developed, and their political status in the world is also quite high. Just talking about the economy, China in this time and space, as early as the 1980s, has become the fourth largest economy in the world after the United States, Europe, America, and Japan. By 1992, with the rapid development of the economy, the total national product The value has already jumped to the third place in the world, second only to the United States and Japan. It is said that it will soon surpass Japan and become the world's second largest economy.

However, even so, the Chinese culture is still firmly compressed in East Asia and Southeast Asia by the extremely strong English culture. Even, although the domestic economy is developing rapidly, the influence of the Chinese language outside the country , even in North Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia and other places, are gradually shrinking and declining.

The places that have been deeply influenced by traditional Chinese culture for thousands of years have been tacitly committed to doing one thing in recent decades, even rising to nearly a hundred years, that is: de-Sinicization!

The result of "de-sinicization" not only means that in Japan and other countries, more than 99% of the people have long been unable to speak Chinese or write Chinese characters, and they do not even know that their country has been influenced by Chinese culture. Influenced for thousands of years, and one of the more terrible results is that, at the same time as the weakening of the influence of Chinese culture, is the growing popularity of English culture.

English culture has not only occupied the dominant position of popular culture in the whole world, and has the highest discourse power, but also has a trend of increasing and deepening influence. Even in China, the influence of European and American culture is all the same. is getting bigger.

The most important reason why Chinese culture is still prevalent in Southeast Asia until now is because there are a large number of Chinese living in the area, and they are still using Chinese, not because the influence of Chinese culture itself is large enough.

And even there, many young Chinese now like to eat steak, drink red wine, watch Hollywood movies, and listen to English pop songs more and more.

To put it simply, in today's world, English culture is the mainstream, and Chinese culture is non-mainstream.

Refining this concept to the pop music world, the result is that a European and American superstar whose albums and records still sell well in non-English-speaking countries, although this kind of sales may not be the main thing for her personally. , and in non-English-speaking countries like China, his albums are basically invisible on the sales charts, and they cannot be compared with the album sales and personal influence of singers in their own countries, but after all, it is can be sold.

On the other hand, a superstar in the Chinese music scene, such as Liao Liao. She is definitely the top superstar in the Chinese music scene, but in the United States, excluding Chinatowns in various places, because it still retains a strong Chinese cultural atmosphere and has relatively close ties with China, the more popular domestic albums are often In addition to being sold here, only the generation of immigrants who were born and raised in China and later came to the United States, as well as some extremely, extremely niche fans, would sell them out of curiosity. to listen. In addition to the first time, no matter how popular her album is in China, it has nothing to do with the American people.

Therefore, if you want to buy Liao Liao's albums in the United States, you have to go to Chinatown to buy smuggled goods, or you have to go to some specialized audio and video stores that sell to a small number of fans of hunting, otherwise, you can't even buy them at all!

This is the difference between mainstream and non-mainstream.

Jerry Cullen, the top star in the world of pop music today, his albums are mainly sold in Europe and America, of course, but in China, he has published seven albums and several mv videos, etc. According to the statistics from the Guan Bookstore, in 1998, more than 70,000 copies were sold. In the same period, the total sales of the past four albums and one single ep and four MVs of the same name under Liao Liao's personal name in Dongguan Bookstore in 1998 were only nearly 800,000 copies!

And this was only obtained when she had strong sales of her new album last year. If the factor of the new album is excluded, the sales during the most influential sales period of "Women's Flower" will be removed, or only Calculating the sales of past albums, it would be good for her to have 200,000 to 300,000 copies. You must know that in China, Liao Liao is the home game and Jerry Cullen is the away game.

In the United States, it was Jerry Cullen's home game and Liao Liao's away game. The sales data of Jerry Cullen and Liao Liao... Li Qian can't get the sales data of the United States, but he knows clearly that until now, Liao Liao has been popular in China for four or five years, but There is still no American record company in the past to talk to Minghu Culture about the licensing issue in the United States, so, as you can imagine, in addition to the smuggled goods sold to the Chinese in Chinatown, her official sales may be a year. Can there be one or two thousand?

That's it for heaven's sake!

English-language albums can be sold in a non-English-speaking country like China, and the sales are not bad, even worth the sales of an ordinary second- and third-rate singer, but Chinese albums, even if they are popular to Liao Liao, are still very popular in the United States. If no one sells it, not even many fans will know that there is Liao Liao!

For example, Li Qian and Liao Liao go out shopping together in their spare time when they are making soundtracks. When they walk into an audio-visual store that seems to sell imported albums in various languages ​​and countries from all over the world, Liao Liao is miraculously in the Asian region. I found my own "The Sound of the Wave" and "Women's Flower" on the shelf, and that feeling was full of surprises.

Then, Li Qian asked the clerk. The clerk helped him check the information and told Li Qian: In the past few years, a total of 43 albums under this name have been sold!

Compared with this, it is "False Monk". Since the first sales record last summer, it has sold more than 120 copies. In this store, this album was even sold out. , and last year, it was once recommended by the manager of this store. According to the store clerk, many rock fans who like to hunt for curiosity passed on this album by word of mouth after buying it, which made it popular in the very small circle of rock fans. , has an excellent reputation. Recently, American newspapers have reported on the popularity of "Once You" in Asia, and even attracted many fans who like to search for the album. The merchant placed an order, and it is said that the album has been shipped and will arrive in a few days.

After leaving the video store, Liao Liao felt a little depressed.

In fact, for Liao Liao, she has been working continuously for four or five years, producing an album every year, especially after the concert tour just last year. This year, she is going to take a break. She is not going to arrange work or make a new album. , do not hold concerts. So when I heard Li Qian say that she wanted to make a new album for her, and she still brought her to the United States to make this album, she was really a little resistant, but she couldn't help but looked at Li Qian and seemed to value this matter very much. I was excited, so I never gave up and refused.

After coming to Los Angeles, Li Qian and Xie Mingyuan stayed either in the Rolling Stones office or in a rented recording studio, occasionally returning to the hotel, and even discussing the timbre of the instrument to use for dinner, Liao Liao But she wasn't interested at all. The two of them went to work, and she just carried a backpack and went out to wander around as a tourist!

After coming here for so many days, there were no reporters, no containment, and no fans. It was rare to have such a clean day. To be honest, Liao Liao had a great time playing. Until now, she suddenly understood Li Qian. Why bring her to America to make this album.

When eating together in the evening, Liao Liao couldn't help but complain to Xie Mingyuan, which made Xie Mingyuan laugh.

He said: "In China, you are the top, but you left the country and came to the West, Europe and the United States. To be honest, your influence and your sales are really not as good as mine!"

After a pause, he said smugly: "I recorded several albums of violin concertos in 1991, and they are still selling, not many, but they sell tens of thousands of copies every year. Speaking of which, maybe I The best-selling Chinese musician in the Western world!"

Liao Liao couldn't help rolling his eyes.

However, I have to say that since then, she has not run out to play very much, and has begun to frequently participate in the recordings that Li Qian and Xie Mingyuan are busy with.

After more than 20 days of busy work, finally, a total of eleven soundtracks for "Titanic" have been recorded. And, after hearing it, James Cameron expressed great satisfaction.

So, most of the soundtrack is actually over, and the only thing left is to connect the soundtracks of the final release version and the director's cut version. This point, Li Qian has already said hello in advance, and Xie Mingyuan will take over all the slightly trivial tasks that follow, and will be responsible for the final connection with the film.

And then, the main energy of their three-person group, of course, was quickly transferred to the work of Liao Liao's first global album. But... things are a little more complicated.

Li Qian had already come up with a few songs before, and Rolling Stone Records was responsible for inviting some famous American lyricists and musicians to help fill in the English version of the lyrics. However, they did not accept the good lyrics that could satisfy Li Qian. However, it has received many purchase requests from record companies and singers.

That is to say, the songs written by Li Qian were immediately followed by many people as soon as they entered the American music scene. Many singers have expressed their desire to buy the right to use a certain song from Li Qian, including Christina Dunn, a top star in the European and American music circles and a pop star.

And the song she likes, if Li Qian writes the lyrics, it will be called "ys-love-lure".

In another time and space, the original singer of the song is called Whitney Houston.

And in that time and space, as soon as this song came out in 1992, it won the championship for 14 consecutive weeks on the most authoritative music chart Billboard in the United States, and later won the 36th Grammy Award. The "Best Recording of the Year" and "Best Female Pop Vocal" awards are not only one of Whitney Houston's well-known masterpieces, but also a classic work of soul music.

Of course, in that time and space, this is not Whitney Houston's original, its first version appeared in 1975, Whitney Houston can only be considered a cover, but in this current time and space, this is obviously a original.

Li Qian is a fan of Christina Dunn, and Liao Liao is also her fan. Of course, Zhou Ai and He Runqing are her fans. After all, they are world-class superstars. It is said that she heard this song from a friend of hers, and she loved it very much at the time. She even wrote the lyrics for the song before her friend, and then... no doubt, she liked it even more.

Her agent contacted Li Qian through Rolling Stones Records, expressing that she wanted to buy the right to use the song. Considering that Li Qian already had a partnership with Rolling Stones Records, and the song was released internally, she just wanted to It's just to find someone to fill in the words. She does this because she is loved by others, so her agent has repeatedly said that the price is negotiable.

Ordinarily, for the music scene in Europe and America, Li Qian and Liao Liao came here for the first time and came up with a song to make a good deal with a top superstar and even become friends. I like it very much, and I am going to use it as one of the important works of Liao Liao, which can still be regarded as a good deal.

After all, although Li Qian's understanding and mastery of European and American music in another time and space is not as good as that of Chinese music, there are still many classic works in his stomach. Although such a song is missing, it is a pity, but the impact is not great.

But after thinking about it, Li Qian still chose to refuse.

After all, with the foundation of a major production like "Titanic" that will surely sweep the world, with "my-heartgo-on" as the title song of the album, and Liao Liao, who borrowed the big ship Dongfeng, in fact, to some extent It is said that there is no need for the "support" of any European and American singers. Not to mention, the publisher of her first English-language album will be Rolling Stone Records.

Therefore, afterward, Li Qian turned away all the buyers. Previously, he entrusted Rolling Stone Records to find someone in the industry to help fill in the songs with English lyrics. No matter whether the other party's words have been filled in, they have all been taken back.

Although the English level of the two generations is not high, and the remaining foundation is mostly from American TV dramas and Hollywood blockbusters, Li Qian still decided to "fill in the lyrics" by himself.

In the original negotiation with Rolling Stones, Li Qian asked Liao Liao to use five English songs and five Chinese songs for this album, but Rolling Stones expressed firm opposition. The cultural side has won six English songs and four Chinese songs at the cost of reducing its own commission and ensuring the interests of the other party.

Therefore, in addition to the tunes of the three songs that Li Qian has come up with before, what Li Qian needs to "create" in the next period of time also includes the lyrics of the other three English songs. The lyrics of the previous three English songs , and four Chinese songs.

Four Chinese songs, easy to handle.

To make this album for Liao Liao, the intention is of course to push Liao Liao to a higher place, but Liao Liao is the top queen of the Chinese music scene, even if he does not consider anything about bringing Chinese culture to the world, first of all Her album is absolutely not without Chinese works. If all ten songs in Liao Liao's fifth album are actually English songs, Li Qian is very worried that once the album is released simultaneously in the world, he, Liao Liao, Will I be hung up and scolded by the angry youths in China!

It's not scary to be scolded or attacked, but what is scary is that many times public opinion will be driven by a small number of people. It was originally a purely commercial behavior, and later it will even be linked to topics such as "nation" and "country". Take the bait, and at that time, it will be troublesome.

Although until now, in the years that Li Qian has experienced in this time and space, he has not seen these very bad thoughts from the more affluent and more confident Chinese people, but in his previous life, he saw it with his own eyes. many similar incidents.

Therefore, with Liao Liao, he would not allow such a thing to happen.

For the four Chinese-language works, Li Qian easily came up with "Rap Mask", "Chaitoufeng", "Forgotten Time" and "Paradise".

These four songs have very clear intentions.

"Rap Face Makeup" is a typical Peking Opera style work. It is from the perspective of young people, looking at their own national culture, expressing their love and their hopes.

"The Chai Tou Feng" is a work from a fever album that Li Qian heard in his previous life and liked very much. The original singers were Guan Dongtian and Mao Amin. The whole song also follows the style of Peking Opera. The lyrics of the first "Chai Tou Feng" are integrated, almost echoing one question and one answer. The whole work is full of fun from the lyrics, to the music, to the arrangement, and then to the singing.

For Liao Liao's first album for European and American audiences, these two Chinese works in the style of Peking Opera not only show Liao Liao's love for his own motherland's national culture, but also his desire to pass them on to Western fans. At the same time, it also truly integrates the style of Peking Opera, which can make European and American fans feel refreshing. Many people say that Peking Opera is outdated, but this kind of thing that has been passed down for a hundred years and is still loved by Chinese people, Li Qian has always Don't think it's outdated.

There is a saying that "what belongs to the nation is what belongs to the world", which Li Qian agrees with.

For the current European and American music market, all Chinese-language works are definitely niche. It is conceivable that Peking Opera is definitely more niche. Therefore, Li Qian does not expect these two songs to gain popularity in Europe and the United States. Li Qian doesn't think it will be very popular in China, even if it is sung by Liao Liao. After all, its previous life was only recorded on a fever disc with very small sales and a very narrow audience.

However, whether it is considering the promotion of national culture to the outside world, or considering the issue of domestic public opinion that must be handled well when releasing this album, which is mainly composed of English songs, Li Qian believes that such two The song, for sure, is appropriate.

Moreover, when he was studying opera with a teacher before, he had promised Mr. Cheng that he would speak out for Peking Opera as much as possible, promote Peking Opera as much as possible, and strive to make the younger generation also like Peking Opera. Now, such two songs have appeared. In Liao Liao's first global album, it can naturally be Li Qian's answer to the old man.

Even, considering that his acting skills are not very good~www.wuxiaspot.com~ Li Qian also considered that when recording this song, he should invite his senior brother Fang Shaobai, the current domestic Peking Opera The leading figures in the old world must make sure to ensure the high standard of this song.

Therefore, among the four Chinese works, there are two such songs, and the national culture is already there. Even, with the sad and poignant works like "The Chai Tou Feng", there is even love in ancient China.

Then, "The Forgotten Time", Tsai Qin's classic work, what it needs to release is Liao Liao's classic oriental singing. And the song itself represents the current life and emotions in China.

As for "Paradise"... If the first three songs, "Rap Face Makeup", "Chaitoufeng" and "Forgotten Time", represent Liao Liao, the Chinese queen of China's interpretation of the length of history of her country, Taking time as the dimension, what this "Paradise" represents is the breadth of China.

In China, in the eyes of a Chinese singer who releases albums for fans around the world, China not only has a splendid and long history and culture, but also not only the current delicate human emotions, but also a vast territory and magnificent mountains and rivers in a single English The Chinese songs that appear in the album may not have to be popular, but they must have thickness and stand up to scrutiny!

Of course, for European and American audiences, these things are precisely what can arouse their curiosity and curiosity the most.

On the contrary, it is the other six English songs that must catch the ears and hearts of European and American audiences.

After all, this is still a global album after all!

***

This chapter should have been longer, but there is not enough time, and if it is not finished, it will be delayed after twelve o'clock, so I have no choice but to write it again tomorrow! (To be continued.)

Chapter 165 This is a global album! :

...(Perfect Life)