HuaYu97: Starting as a Singer

Chapter 286 [286] The musician who made the greatest contribution to the Chinese music scene in the new century

As artists signed with a record company, Lin Junjie and Adu are able to experience audio-visual feasts that many fans cannot.

Record companies possess high-end sound systems and scientifically designed acoustic environments, ensuring sound quality.

After a song or album is produced, record companies sometimes gather their internal staff to listen to the music and evaluate its popularity.

Lin Junjie and Adu were engrossed in watching the music video for "Heroes of the World" appear on the screen.

A car's wheel rim drove into the frame.

As the music began, the peculiar clapperboard and Peking Opera dialogue immediately caught their attention.

They had never heard this kind of novel music in pop songs before; Qi Yuan was truly a musician with innovative ideas.

For the spoken parts of the Peking Opera, Qi Yuan found a Peking Opera master of national caliber in Beijing to sing them, and the effect was fantastic.

As more and more instruments joined in, including clappers, single-headed drums, large and small gongs, and erhu, Lin Junjie and Adu felt their scalps tingle.

It's absolutely amazing! It uses a lot of Peking Opera instruments and incorporates hip-hop vocals, and the combination is so perfect.

Just like the lyrics that Qi Yuan sang with a cocky attitude.

'New breakthroughs and new musical styles are what create new heroes.'

This music is so new.

When Wang Lihong appeared, his English rap also greatly impressed Lin Junjie and Adu.

Wang Lihong's rap is not weak; the English rap at the end of "Descendants of the Dragon" is particularly impressive.

What impressed the two most about the song "Heroes of the World" was the acrostic poem and the arrangement.

The hidden message "霸王祈愿" is really impressive, and the guitar solo that follows is of a very high standard.

This song deserves the name "Heroes of the World," and Qi Yuan deserves the title "Overlord Qi Yuan."

After "Heroes of the World" ended, Chinese-style songs such as "Mistake in the Flower Field", "Susan Says", "Drunken Red Cliff" and "A Thousand Miles Away" were successively released.

Every single one of them is of incredibly high quality.

Lin Junjie noticed that Qi Yuan's MV female lead maintained a consistently high standard of quality.

In the music video for "Drunken Red Cliff," Lin Chih-ling looks stunning in the photos taken by Chi Yuan.

Zhang Ziyi in "The Flower Field Mistake" and Yuan Quan in "Susan Says" each have their own characteristics. The former has a natural face for the big screen and is particularly photogenic, while the latter has a first-class temperament.

Lin Junjie said enviously, "Taiwan's population is not much larger than Singapore's, so why are there so many beautiful girls there?"

Adu also wants to ask this question.

Qi Yuan's album music videos are clearly a collection of beautiful women, featuring only beautiful women.

The female lead in the music video for "Hua Tian Cuo" is actually Yu Jiaolong from "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". This movie was released in Singapore, and Adu and Lin Junjie both watched it.

Qi Yuan is really amazing; he can even get movie actors to shoot music videos.

Upon hearing the B-side of the album, the two were equally impressed by the hit songs such as "Love Wrong," "Today You're Marrying Me," "Drifting to the North," "Gray Avatar," and "Seven Mile Fragrance."

The two Cantonese songs that were included as a bonus, "Exaggeration" and "Love and Sincerity," were also considered very good by the two.

This album is of such high quality that if you split it into two albums, both of them could be called masterpieces, and if you combine them, they would be the masterpiece among masterpieces.

……

Like Lin Junjie and Adu, there are many musicians who are paying attention to Qi Yuan's fourth album.

In Hong Kong and Taiwan, producers, songwriters, and singers from various record companies got their hands on this album immediately.

Many industry insiders fell silent after hearing this.

What kind of musical geniuses are these? They've actually managed to blend Peking Opera and Kunqu Opera with modern pop music and make it work!

Songs like "Hua Tian Cuo," "Gai Shi Ying Xiong," and "Susan Shuo" are exceptionally powerful, both catchy and sophisticated.

The godfather of Rolling Stone's pop music appeared on a Taiwanese variety show and commented on Qi Yuan's music.

"Qi Yuan is a very talented young man. Together with Tao Ze, he officially introduced R&B to the Taiwanese music scene and played an important pioneering role in the development of Chinese R&B style."

Unlike Tao Ze, Qi Yuan's R&B is fully localized, conveying a deeper cultural sentiment.

What is most commendable is that after achieving success, Qi Yuan did not become complacent and successively set off the hip-hop trend and the Chinese style trend.

I believe Qi Yuan is the musician who has made the greatest contribution to the Chinese music scene in the new century. Currently, no singer of the younger generation can surpass him; perhaps Jay Chou can.

Lee Tsung-sheng is not only a singer and music producer, but also a music critic.

Later, he released a personal music review album, commenting on albums by artists such as Jay Chou, Sun Yanzi, and Amy Chang.

He also criticized the princess's album, believing that its music was showing signs of fatigue and the lyrics were pretentious.

Lee Tsung-sheng and Chi Yuan have a good relationship. They previously collaborated on "Lately I've Been Feeling Annoyed," and Lee has always had a very good impression of Chi Yuan, praising him highly.

The host asked curiously, "Isn't your evaluation of Qi Yuan a bit too high? It's public knowledge that Qi Yuan plans to enter the European and American music scene in the future. How do you think Qi Yuan's level compares to that of American musicians?"

After pondering for a while, Li Zongsheng replied, "To answer the first question first, my evaluation is not high. Qi Yuan's level is top-notch in the Chinese music scene."

Regarding the second question, I believe that Qi Yuan's skill level would be among the top tier even in the United States, where the music industry is highly developed.

The song he wrote for Li Wen, "Oops! I Did It Again," doesn't sound like it was written by a Chinese person at all; it sounds more like it was written by a white person who has lived in the United States for twenty years.

If Qi Yuan can maintain this level of English singing, I think his chances of succeeding in the US market are quite high.

This episode attracted a lot of attention from fans and media after it aired.

[Li Zongsheng: Qi Yuan is the musician who has made the greatest contribution to the Chinese music scene in the new century]

Lee Tsung-sheng is optimistic about Chi Yuan's prospects in the US.

There were also media outlets that incited conflict.

[Li Zongsheng commented that Qi Yuan's level is only considered to be in the first tier in the United States, not top-tier, and it may be difficult for him to succeed in the US market.]

The Chinese music scene lags behind its Western counterparts; Qi Yuan would only be considered a late-tier artist in the US. We still have a long way to go to catch up with the US. This article details how children are raised in the US and China, starting with a children's summer camp in the US…

……

"?!!"

Qi Yuan, who was busy with book signings, saw the article about the summer camp and felt that the atmosphere was too strong.

Li Zongsheng was just publishing a music review, but those public intellectuals with their pens somehow managed to veer into a debate about the nature of music.

In his previous life, Li Zongsheng also suffered from this kind of thing. He commented that there are a thousand musicians of Tao Ze's level in Seattle.

His original intention was to say that the American music industry is very powerful, and he was talking about the overall level of the Chinese music scene and the American music scene. However, a group of media misinterpreted it as saying that you could find a thousand people of Tao Ze's level on the streets of America.

Lee Tsung-sheng was probably speechless. That was not what he meant at all. If someone wanted to use his words to make a fuss, there was nothing he could do.

Qi Yuan had just put down the newspaper when Zhang Hao rushed over: "Yuan, the first-day sales figures for your album are out! Guess how many copies you sold?"

(End of this chapter)