hollywood billionaire

Chapter 337 Stay (Part )

Jimmy Iovine founded Interscope Records in 1989 and stepped down in 2014. He has been in charge of Universal's flagship label for 25 years. Although he is no longer within the group, his influence cannot be ignored. It is no exaggeration to say that all the slightly famous artists in the current Interscope lineup were all discovered and created by Jimmy Iovine.

The stickiness between these artists, their management teams, and Jimmy Iovine is undoubtedly much higher than that of the current CEO, John Janik, an executive who was parachuted in from Warner Music Group.

Therefore, although many people within the company cannot understand why the label would deliver golden cooperation opportunities to Han Music again and again, John Janik himself has also received many angry and questioning comments from other contracted artist management. The team complained anonymously, but the same thing still happened again and again.

After all, Interscope, and even Universal Music as a whole, couldn't find anyone willing to offend Jimmy Iovine. You know, as the helmsman of Apple Music, Jimmy holds one of the most important terminal channels for the recording industry in the next ten years. Offending him would be equivalent to losing one-third of the music traffic in Western society.

Furthermore, Zedd signed with Interscope in 2012. The reason why his music career has taken off is all due to Jimmy Iovine’s unwavering support. Whoever the latter wanted him to collaborate with, Zedd and his manager Dave Rene, who is also the A&R vice president of Interscope Records, would never refuse.

Because, not only Zedd, but also the reason why Dave Rene, who joined the industry in 2008, took a few years to sit as the senior vice president of Interscope's powerful department is also closely related to Jimmy Iovine.

The combination of various factors has led to a series of cooperation with Jimmy Iovine. Han Yi, who is also the largest individual donor to Iovine and Yang Academy, wants to cooperate with his own artists with ease.

The most important thing is that this cooperation itself is a fair transaction that is mutually beneficial and win-win. Gray, the production group that Han Yi signed before Kojima Records, is now Zedd's most trusted behind-the-scenes gunman with a busy performance schedule. "Candyman", "Home Alone", "Starving", "Adrenaline", and the champion single "The Middle" which is still in its infancy and will emerge in the future and kill everyone, are all led by the Trevasa brothers. Project, it can be said that in the next two to three years, Zedd will have to rely on Gray to output new songs.

Under this general premise, the potential partner for the new single "Stay" is naturally none other than Madison Beale.

Han Yi can even say with great confidence that as long as he doesn't give it, no one can take it away.

At this moment, the helmsman of Han Music is focusing all his attention on the upcoming debut of "Stay" with a very rare and dull expression in him. It seems that I wanted to use this method to separate myself from the conversation just now, which could not be called relaxed and pleasant in any way.

If a problem cannot be solved, put it aside temporarily. This has always been Han Yi's philosophy. Your emotional life is a mess and you won’t be able to figure it out for a while. The only solution is to shelve these relationships that are constantly being cut and messed up. He devotes himself wholeheartedly to the career that makes him full of motivation, hoping that this part of his life will be more high-spirited about gaining and less depressing about giving up.

In the previous life, "Stay" was released in March 2017. It was a single that Han Yi played repeatedly. Not only because of its impressive melody, ingenious arrangement and just the right listening experience, but also because of how consistent it was with Han Yi's life experience at that time.

Graduate students were admitted to many prestigious schools, but were unable to continue their studies due to family changes. Saying goodbye to Xiao Ru and the Los Angeles where he had lived for four years, he returned to his hometown and was alone, unable to find the direction to move forward or the motivation to escape from the quagmire.

Han Yi, who was lost at the fork in his life, found another possibility of existence from the song "Stay".

What if he stayed?

If he stayed in LA, where would his life go?

The most exciting moments in life are always hidden in the mist that remains unexplored.

Seven years later, he returned to seven years ago, kicked away the boring and suffocating known reality, and gathered the fog that had been pushed away in front of him again.

He got a second life, and this song "Stay" also got a second chance to shine.

This time, with Madison Beer as the mouthpiece, what kind of surprises can it bring to the world?

Like other singles Zedd has released since signing with Interscope Records, the main goal of "Stay" is to achieve the "trinity" effect - occupying all aspects of streaming platforms, commercial radio stations and music festival stages, and playing in different playback scenarios. Next, we must provide the most extreme sound experience.

Therefore, Zedd and his production team very cleverly chose the key of F flat, laying a good foundation for this single. Many people believe that the key of F flat can provide the best bass part in a nightclub subwoofer. Any lower will cause distortion, and any higher will lose the sense of impact and the accompanying sense of pleasure. Most of the popular so-called "crowd movers" are composed in the key of F flat. For example, Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", Lou Bega's "Mambo No. 5", Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive", and of course Paramore's famous "Misery Business".

Just like the visual special effects pursued by Marvel blockbusters, a shocking auditory experience is also the most effective way for pop music to increase listener retention and completion rates.

F, G, A flat, B flat, C, D flat, E flat, F, eight tones, constitute the commercial music framework of "Stay". Chord progression is also an old routine that makes most practitioners’ ears ring when they hear it: 671, which represents the VI, VII and I chords respectively, can be said to be the most common entry-level chord progression routine in electronic music. In this single in the key of F flat, VI-VII-I exists in the key of D flat major, E flat major and F minor, forming a very attractive matrix.

If this description is too technical, then here is a similar analogy - in order to attract as many customers as possible, the main dish Zedd promotes is a cheeseburger that everyone can accept. Two slices of bread, a smear of cheese, a piece of meatloaf, and a few vegetable leaves. Maybe some people don't like it, but no one can't get used to it.

However, the reason for the mediocre dishes is to lower the aesthetic threshold and increase acceptance, not to make "Zedd" a subpar restaurant with less than three stars on Yelp. Consumers can accept eating burgers with meals, but your burgers must be fresh, novel, and have irreplaceable selling points in order to become an upstart chain with long queues like In-N-Out and Shake Shack.

And freshness and novelty are exactly the sincerity reflected by Zedd in the song "Stay".

Between two pieces of plain baked bread sprinkled with sesame seeds, he spread caviar made with ingenious thinking and exquisite skills.

It’s the kind of surprise that comes with the first bite.

"Hmmm, hmmm, hmmmmm..."

As the introduction to the whole song, what appears in the first measure is the humming voice recorded by Zedd himself. He made this melody into a low, repeatable loop.

In the process of modern music production, loop is not an avant-garde thing that only pioneers use. On the contrary, it is one of the most basic and indispensable components of pop music. Recording a piece of sound material to create a fixed sound pattern and outline the general shape of the work allows the listener to quickly establish a sense of familiarity in two or three minutes, helping the song to be better remembered. This is the most important thing about looping. mission.

The drum loop created by legendary record producers Albie Galuten and Carl Richardson for the classic track "Stayin' Alive" from Saturday Night Fever was the first to be used in commercial music. Loop material, at that time, this drum set loop needed to be recorded to a two-track analog tape, and then the tape was placed between the winch and the press wheel and played repeatedly. Since the entire tape was nearly thirty feet long, the producers had to put it on a seven-inch plastic reel for added weight, and then hung the tape from a microphone stand so it could be read without wear and tear. The cycle is realized below.

Today, loops no longer need to be created with such complicated analog tapes. With just a tap of the keyboard, any instrument or sound can be made into the texture of a song. But even so, Zedd's method of directly using vocals to create loops and looping an entire song is still quite rare. Because this vocal length of one section is actually the entire bass line of "Stay".

That's right, halfway through the first verse, before the jumping marching drum joins the arrangement, for a full twenty-eight seconds, apart from Madison Beale's voice, Zedd is the only one who loops every two seconds. loop crooned.

So concise, yet so powerful, combined with the semi-curved giant screen behind Madison Beer, the scene of dawn in the Nevada wilderness, and the screen that is set among the loess, reflecting the color of the sky, with unknown meaning. A flat mirror gives rise to a sense of desolation and loneliness. With the music arrangement so simple, with only one loop of bass line, and no other instrumental accompaniment, Madison Beale's voice became the absolute focus of the music fans' listening matrix. Only high-level vocal skills, coupled with deep emotional transmission capabilities, can make the audience feel the rich connotation of the song under the minimalist shell, instead of feeling boring due to monotony.

In other words, if you want diners to eat only staple food, then the quality of this staple food must be excellent enough.

Although he is not yet eighteen years old, Madison at this stage is already able to handle this challenge brilliantly. Her vocal control has been honed extremely well in live performances time and time again, and she is able to control the dynamic range of songs with great ease. The clever use of tone, intonation and breath also adds a personal depth of expression to the lyrics. The delicate and silky voice perfectly integrates with the overall mood and narrative of the song. With the assistance of the array sound, the image of the implicit, persevering and affectionate watchman in the song "Stay" is vividly outlined. Xiao It flowed slowly along the eardrums like a stream and into the hearts of everyone present.

Including Han Yi.

"Stay", a song closely related to his life path before his rebirth, originally resonated strongly with him. Whenever he played this song, the fate that he missed would always come to his mind. Wire.

And now, when this line of fate is slowly unfolding before his eyes in such a real and vivid way, the perception this pop electronic classic brings to him seems to have a whole new layer of content.

"Quietly wait for the river of time to flow through you,

I hope this wind of change can change your mind.

I can find a thousand reasons for you, but I know that you have your own path. "

In the original song, Alessia Kara's voice was too thin, too sharp, and had too much of an uninhibited independent singer temperament. Her interpretation of "Stay" is more like a free and easy woman saying goodbye to her ex who is about to embark on a journey. All she wanted was for him to stay with her for a little longer before the sun rose the next day.

More like a summer romance that was destined to end.

But Madison Beer's performance is obviously more profound and lingering. Her voice travels around Han Yi like silk, like the last caress of someone with the deepest love, with uncontrollable passion and a sense of love. Deepest condolences.

This is a fragile woman standing in front of the love of her life, wearing only a thin gauze dress, leaning feebly by the door, watching the man pack his luggage and embark on a journey where he doesn't know if there is any way back.

She wanted to stay, but she couldn't.

Because true love does not lie in forced restraint, but in still waiting firmly after letting go.

"You want to stand out and show your ambitions,

But we don’t need to grow up so quickly,

We can stay young and energetic forever.

Curling up together on the sofa,

Rum and coke,

Drinking cup after cup until dawn. "

"I can give you a thousand reasons to stay...

But you know, you will still leave. "

Hearing this, Han Yi's eyes were blurred and his expression began to become a little dazed. There are few pieces of music that can give him such a strong sense of immersion, but "Stay" does it easily.

These lyrics may not have any profound insights, but in Han Yi's view, they represent the tangled reality he is facing.

"Wait a minute, that's all you have to do.

slow down your pace,

The farewell bell is about to ring, so please stay. "

"Just wait a few more seconds, that's all you have to do.

Put your hand in my hand,

As time passes quietly, I hope we can hold each other tightly. "

Four lines and four faces multiplied and fissured in countless possibilities in the multiverse, and then merged into one place at a magical node. Han Yi didn't know how to react, or even what to think about in his mind. In the illusion, choose which section to continue.

Who wants him to stay, and who exactly does he want to stay?

Han Yi's eyes were wandering, sometimes lingering in front of the stage, sometimes searching in the dining area, and sometimes turning beside him. It wasn't until the first chorus was almost over that he finally focused his eyes on a face.

A gentle, delicate and caring face, walking towards him.

A most familiar face.

　During this period, I am busy with two music festivals at the same time, one in the United States and one in Thailand. I am crazy busy and my health is not good, so the number of words per day may be a little less. Let’s wait until this period of busy work is over. Hey, everyone feels that they are tired from chasing, so you can rest a little. Read it in one sitting

　　

　

(End of this chapter)