Li Wan: Our artists have become very trivial,

Rarely confronts the profound human condition

　　"China News Weekly" reporter / Xu Pengyuan

　　Published in the 1031st issue of "China News Weekly" on February 14, 2022

　　Out of professional experience and vigilance, music critic Li Wan never believes in the so-called popular judgment of data. He prefers to rely on simple feelings in life.

Therefore, in his opinion, today's Douyin Divine Comedy can only be counted as a niche popularity in exclusive channels, which does not mean it is mainstream.

　　He is not disgusted with this kind of music. Compared with the existence of the Divine Comedy, the overall trend of lightness and selfishness in global music is the reason for his pessimism to a certain extent.

In his heart, there is an "obsession" with music: this should be an art of the highest expression of human spirit and emotion, but the reality in front of us is that our artists are and have become trivial.

"Luo Dayou has become a weightless singer"

China News Weekly: What is your general opinion on Chinese pop music today?

Li Wan:

The present music has a characteristic, it has no center and is very complicated.

This is related to the Internet. The more important point is the miniaturization of key technologies and equipment. In the past, only companies used funds to stack up to achieve things. Now they can be done by individuals, and everyone can become a sound engineer.

But this is only one side. Another very important thing is the differentiation of values ​​and concerns. This differentiation is a bigger differentiation.

The upside is that what we call free expression is well represented, and the downside is that the things people pay attention to are extremely small.

　　Why are these later songs so light, and why aren't there anything that the public likes?

The reason for this is not that there are no more record companies spending huge sums of money to build attention, but that our artists have become extraordinarily trivial, rarely confronting the profound human condition and the times.

The broad coverage of human nature, the care for human beings, the cohesion brought to everyone, the triggering of everyone's thinking, the influence of the times and the influence of life, these things have been greatly disintegrated.

Art is not food. The quality of food depends on taste. Art is a crystallization of human spirit. Its greatest dimension is not in word of mouth, but in spiritual thought.

　　What is a great singer?

Sing for the people, sing for the land, sing for the destiny of mankind.

There are no more people with such aspirations.

I think this has gradually grown into a social trend after the reform and opening up, and everyone has settled in their own lives.

The good side here is the recovery of the Chinese people's healthy minds, and the bad side is that it all goes into personal feelings.

　　Especially since 2000.

I often mention the aphasia of rock music. In the past, the music with strong spirituality has gradually lost its own feeling. All important rock singers don’t know what it means. Some have disappeared, some have been dumb, and they are still singing. Some of them have become commercial popular, and some of them are unintelligible.

This sign is particularly strong.

　　Of course, there are also resurgences, such as Cui Jian's new album in 2021, which I think is a rebound, returning to the theme of "Rock and Roll on the New Long March Road".

But Luo Dayou's new album, in fact, after running away, has reached a value recognition - ordinary life, ordinary people's behavior, singing of good life and human relations.

I think he's become a weightless singer.

China News Weekly: Looking back at the previous pop music, although there are musicians like Cui Jian, a larger proportion of pop songs are actually love songs.

Why these years, it seems that there are even fewer good love songs, and no superstar people have come out?

Li Wan:

One reason is that there is a lack of common denominators. Only a considerable number of people can empathize with each other.

We found that after 2000, the differences in love and love were also huge, and there were very few things in the same feeling.

I had this view around 2000, there is no mass pop music anymore.

Including the most popular things, such as Jay Chou, who was the most popular at the time, that was also a minority. Those who like Jay Chou are those people. People outside may know him, but they are not his fans, and they are not in that empathy.

　　Another is the collapse of the old record industry.

In fact, for a long time, big singers are indeed made. Pop music is an industry, and singers and songs are products.

But big industry fell apart after 2000, and there is no such way of production anymore.

　　In addition to these two, if there is a third one, it is that the fan culture has become extremely solid, the mode of small interest groups has been strongly solidified, each person considers himself a small group, and each person advertises his own uniqueness. The so-called superstar was denied in the identification.

"The Divine Comedy of the Internet is a

A well-implemented cycle"

China News Weekly: What do you think of the so-called Internet Divine Comedy?

Li Wan:

I don't dislike things that come from grassroots or spontaneous things. Heroes don't ask where they come from, and good things can come from anywhere.

But it is true that the current online Divine Comedy has a more timely feeling, is particularly short-lived, and belongs to a certain channel, and is particularly not public.

It is a social media thing, and its greatest value is social value.

This kind of thing does not mean that it is completely isolated from art, but the greater value is the entertainment of a timely temporary place, and the instant pleasure.

China News Weekly: Does it represent the mainstream music aesthetics and music demands of the masses?

Li Wan:

I can't say that. It can be said that it is part of the mainstream, but it cannot be said that it is the mainstream.

It is a flow, and it is a cycle that is better realized in terms of capital value - now it is a money society, everything is a certain kind of industry, it is about input and output, and reproduction is realized through repeated cycles.

Don't think of this kind of popularity as a big popularity, it is also a small-scale popularity of a certain exclusive channel. The current status of music is that there are countless niche popular.

China News Weekly: From the earliest online songs to today's Douyin Divine Comedy, do you think this type of music has changed?

Li Wan:

Internet songs can't be said to be a genre, it's just a carrier. Some creators and some consumers are accustomed to spreading it in this way.

Don't be deceived by this illusion, it is just a communication channel, all types of music may appear on it, and as time goes on, this feature will become more and more distinct, and finally it is the normal picture, just like online literature .

　　Of course, due to the use of network communication, the communication properties of the network will form a norm, resulting in some characteristics of the art form.

The internet is a fast-food culture, so these songs might be quick hits too.

The performance is even more so, those artists on the Internet may perform well online, because the audience facing the live broadcast room is different from the audience facing the stage, it is facing a person in a virtual space; the stage is different, the stage is different. Facing the crowd, you can see that their stage style is very strange. For example, there is a female singer holding the microphone and always tapping with her hands.

It's like a drama actor acting in a movie. If you can't get rid of the style of the drama, you think he is bad.

But you can't deny her just because of her stage image. This is to confuse things in different situations.

"We don't have Beethoven or Mozart in our time"

China News Weekly: In an article, you wrote this sentence, "Pop music is losing its response. Below the thin air, there is a bottomless abyss. The bottom is continuing to fall, and the birds are continuing to fall." Does this mean a pessimistic attitude towards Chinese pop music?

Li Wan: It

is pessimistic.

But in fact, I am not pessimistic, because throughout history, complete pessimism has always failed. There is neither complete pessimism nor complete optimism. It is a fluctuating thing.

　　It's just that we are in such a period now, although I write about Chinese music, it's actually my opinion on the whole human music.

This has to be said a little further to make it clear. There is a basis for my belief in music. Music is the supreme expression of human spirit or emotion.

But this kind of supreme art is not valued by everyone in our era, not only in China, but all over the world.

The best music in the world is nothing more than entertainment, there is no higher level, there is no Beethoven, Mozart in our time, even Michael Jackson's songs are regarded as love letters to mankind, but that era has passed. there is none left.

The most popular singer in the English-speaking world, such as Taylor Swift, her songs are also good songs, and can't give you anything higher.

Many people don't feel that this thing is needed, and we don't feel it so much. The human spirit is not in that state anymore.

China News Weekly: Will this situation continue?

Li Wan:

We broke something, but at the extreme, we are actually slowly accumulating.

There are many signs. For example, we broke the album for a while, and the single became a popular thing, but since last year, the emphasis on the album has become something that some singers are doing very hard, you see the Golden Melody Award commended Those are pretty high quality.

"Journey to the Forest Road in Southwest Hebei" by Universal Youth Hotel, "3811" by Tan Weiwei, "No One Knows" by Tian Fuzhen, "For You" by Wan Fang, Eason Chan, Karen Mok, Wu Qingfeng, Li Quan... Still doing a kind of weight .

The people I cite are basically all of them with a certain popularity—except for the Universal Youth Hostel, which doesn’t seem to be very popular, but it is also considered a popular among the niche—their albums are more artistic than four or five years ago. quality.

　　"China News Weekly" Issue 5, 2022

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