Old records are gramophones in the tide of the times.
"The champagne is flying all over the place , the glamor of the champagne is swaying back and forth, and the sound of jazz music is enough to dance the samba." Zhang Fan's song "Flying All Over the Place" in the 1930s and 1940s became the "Ten-mile Foreign Exchange" in Shanghai's elite The epitome of society's drunken life and death;
"There is phlegm in the throat, tears in the eyes, and fire in the heart." Cui Jian's "Nothing" and "Rock and Roll on the New Long March " once sang about the confusion and distrust of society among the youth of the 1980s and 1990s. Torture;
In 1992, Gao Xiaosong had a sudden inspiration, and a song "My Deskmate You" was hastily written on the back cover of a book. The fresh and simple campus ballad crossed the Taiwan Strait and blew up in the mainland;
Under the spotlight, The singers use their voices to give them the best interpretation; and behind the scenes, which few people know about, the music creators are the ones who really give life, flesh and bones to pop music.
However, compared with the lively "front stage", the "backstage" of current popular music creation seems increasingly deserted.
What are they singing?
In the 1920s, Chinese pop music was born during the war years.
China's first pop music was "Drizzle" sung by Liming Hui, the daughter of the father of Chinese pop music Li Jinhui. Nowadays, it sounds like an ordinary country tune at first glance, but at the time it was completely foreign and trendy. Although the singing method is a folk tune with a sharp and straightforward voice that Lu Xun mocked as "chicken cat tune", the music played adopts the Western jazz that was quite popular in Shanghai at the time.
At that time, folk customs were beginning to emerge, and the lyrics describing the love between men and women made those who heard it blush. As time goes by, "little love songs" and "little emotions" have long become common themes in modern pop music.
Digital Reading Bacteria used crawlers to crawl the lyrics and music information of 400 well-known Chinese singers with a certain degree of popularity and high popularity of their songs on the QQ Music, NetEase Cloud Music, Baidu Music, Migu Music and Kuwo Music platforms, and Conduct word frequency analysis and statistics on lyrics and available songwriters.
can see the whole picture at a glance. High-frequency words with different parts of speech in pop music are connected in series to form a miniature emotional picture.
This is a story about "people" in this "world", about "you", "me", "him (her)". Because there is a "heart", there is a "dream", so there is a "love". Repeatedly between gains and losses, sometimes "happy" and "happiness", sometimes "lonely" and "silent". Sometimes there are lovers who are "sweet" and "beautiful" and then shed "tears" after parting "hands".
However, the results of word frequency analysis show that people are actually more concerned about the emotions of "oneself". The frequency of this word frequency is much higher than that of third-party personal pronouns "you", "he", "she", etc.
Interestingly, the male personal pronoun "he" mentioned in a female tone is much higher than the female pronoun "she", and most of the lyricists are men who "understand women's hearts best".
Looking at the words alone, "joy", "happiness" and "gentleness" may make people think that the lyrics of these singers are mainly positive, but in fact many of them are bitter love songs, which turn into "loneliness" the next second, which makes people think that the lyrics of these singers are mainly positive. People sigh with emotion, "It's a pity that it's not you who will accompany me to the end."
"Based on the present, looking forward to the future, and looking back on the past," the lyricist also writes about the passing of winter and summer, and the passing of time. But spring is more popular when the branches are green and the swallows return.
Maybe it’s because memories come flooding back at night and I’m tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep. Many of the stories in the lyrics take place at night. Countless listeners shed tears listening to the love songs at midnight.
Among the high-frequency words, city place names are also quite distinctive, and they are all metropolises.
is on the list of lyricists, and nearly 80% of them are Taiwanese lyricists, but the most popular city in the lyrics is Beijing. Overseas Paris, Tokyo and New York are frequent characters in the lyrics. Even now, they are the most fashionable and trendy places in many people's minds. Many album planning texts and music videos often use overseas recording, filming, and location shooting as promotional points.
Tao Jingying wants to "walk to New York", Hou Xiangting wants to "go to Paris together".Literary youth's favorite Chen Qizhen Teacher Chen also likes to write place names in lyrics, "You pack your luggage and go to England next week"; "You taste Paris at night, you walk through snowy Beijing", etc. Two hits; "Turkey Where You Bury Memories" is even more romantic in today's Internet celebrity songs.
Elva Hsiao has an album called " 5th Avenue ". The songs in the album are closely related to urban themes. The promotional photos were taken in New York's Central Park. At that time, many girls pretended to be immersed in their homework under the desk lamp, while their minds were already following the lyrics in the subway, "Night and day, spring, summer and autumn and winter", or "Buy a one-way ticket and fly far away, stay in the fifth place." Street, or go to Champs-Élysées and send you a postcard with my kiss attached."
Unlike the lyrics, which are full of precise meaning, the information conveyed by onomatopoeia is vague and hazy. It is often composed of single syllables, with a rising intonation, revealing a light and cheerful feeling of rhythm and melody.
In the 2013
013html Spring Festival Gala, Sun Li and Li Jian sang "The Wind Blowing the Waves of Wheat" and amazed everyone. There are a lot of monosyllables "en" and "la" in the lyrics, and nasal humming is used instead of singing long lyrics, which gives people a soft and quiet feeling. In Soda Green's song " starts with a fallen leaf," Priscilla Ahn's lively Woo syllables complement lyrics such as "My body is full of flowers" and "Food is falling from the sky."Onomatopoeia is also very suitable for expressing outbursts of emotion, bringing the listener to a climax, and allowing the singer to show off his voice transposition skills. In the popular RB love songs in the past, you can find a large number of onomatopoeia transliteration clips.
If you could sum it up in one sentence, how many song lyrics could escape such a trap? ——"Oh~ these years, the love-hate entanglement of urban beauties."
The lyrics of the songs you like to listen to are all written by them
In the early days of the development of pop music, there was no such "thousands of songs."
In the 1980s, the lyrics of the older generation of artists still accumulated a strong traditional cultural heritage. Huang Zhan's "Shanghai Beach" and " Cang Hai Yi Yi Xiao " are bold and bold, with neat contrasts and distinctive personalities. Luo Dayou 's first album "Zhi Hu Zhe Ye" has strong social criticism. It made a profound reflection on the social development of Taiwan at that time, and reflected on the phenomenon of losing tradition and blindly pursuing modernization. It has a strong humanistic color.
Our ancestors said this a long time ago,
Now look at what our youth are talking about,
But think about what you want them to do.
- Luo Dayou's "Zhi Hu Zhe Ye", written by Luo Dayou
Su Rui integrated the European and American singing style and shouting rock singing into the song, making Taiwan pop music break the original soft singing style. Mainland people also like this powerful singing style. When the queen Na Ying made her debut, she imitated Su Rui's singing style and style and released a copycat album in the mainland under the name "Su Bing".
In 1987, commercial songs with catchy melodies began to become the mainstream of the music world. Simple, popular, catchy, and easy to sing became the new music production standards. And it is reflected in the lyrics, that is, the slang of the lyrics.
In the second half of 2018, netizens were asking: Where did Fang Wenshan and go?
In July last year, Jay Chou's new song " If You Don't Love Me, Pull Down " was released online. The earthy lyrics "Brother's breasts, if you still want to rely on them" quickly became a hot meme on the Internet.
Looking back at Jay Chou's early songs, the beautiful Chinese-style lyrics and the lyrical and melodious tunes always complement each other. "Blue and White Porcelain" amazes everyone, " Orchid Pavilion " is full of ancient charm; "Fireworks Easily Cold" lyrics are exquisite and clear. The
plain embryo outlines the blue and white brush strokes, which are thicker and lighter. The peony painted on the
bottle is just like your first makeup.
——Jay Chou's "Blue and White Porcelain", the lyrics are written by Fang Wenshan
Lanting Linting,
running script is like flowing clouds and flowing water,
is pushed down the door in January,
is as careful as your footsteps.
- "Preface to Orchid Pavilion" by Jay Chou, written by Fang Wenshan.
The prosperous sound escapes into the empty door and disturbs the world.
The dream is cold, and there are several love debts in my life.
- Jay Chou's "Fireworks Easily Cold", written by Fang Wenshan
Fang Wenshan, a gold medal lyricist who is good at Chinese-style lyrics, and Jay Chou, who has a unique singing voice, have become a "golden partner". There are many lyricists in the Chinese music scene, but there are only a few who have their own genre.
In the list of top 50 composers, Hong Kong, , Taiwan, and each account for half. If you have paid attention or copied the lyrics book when you were a student, you must be familiar with names such as Yao Ruolong, Yao Qian, Li Zhuoxiong, Yi Jiayang.
Lin Xi, a benchmark figure in the field of lyrics in the Hong Kong music scene, ranks first with a frequency of 854.
Lin Xi is a lyricist who emerged in the late 1980s. In 1986,
won the grand prize in Hong Kong Television's "Non-Love Song Lyric Writing Competition" with his song "Once", and began his career as a lyricist. His style of writing has been described as "writing about life with small features", and his descriptions of friendship, love and interpersonal interactions are profound.
The lyrics of " The Sunset Is Infinitely Beautiful " express a lament about the passing of time; Lin Xi's "Red Beans" written for Faye Wong is full of lovesickness in every word; "Like an Old Friend Comes" combines the poetry of the lyrics with Take the fight to the extreme.
The sunset is infinitely beautiful,
It is almost dusk,
The pleasure of peaking,
It is a moment of regret.
- Eason Chan "The Sunset Is Infinitely Beautiful", written by Lin Xi
I haven't boiled the red beans for you,
into a lingering wound,
and then share it together,
will understand better,
the sadness of lovesickness.
- Faye Wong's "Red Bean", written by Lin Xi.
We both passed by and had a dream together. They were supposed to be a couple.
When a person is young, he is unconscious in his dream and wants to go back when he wakes up.
Three meals, one night, and a pair of pairs, who will it be?
As long as you don't get it, as long as it is in the past, it is always the most correct.
- Anita Mui "It seems like an old friend is coming", written by Lin Xi
The lyrics are based on poetry. Implication, exquisite and fine workmanship are a major feature of Lin Xi's lyrics.
Hong Kong musician Huang Weiwen, who is as famous as Lin Xi, ranked third. Compared with Lin Xi, his style of writing has a different flavor.
Some of Huang Weiwen's works have a bold and spicy feel. In "Beautiful Guilty", the lyrics are as plain as words and powerful; among his love-themed lyrics there are many delicate and melancholy works like "June and December", but there are also sharp and sharp works. For example, "(You Have No Good Ending)" has explicit lyrics and is light and uninhibited, making it stand out among the crowd of bitter songs.
The design of hiding the head and showing the tail is too despicable. It pretends to be put into a dungeon and deliberately leaks the scent of .
plays on the bedside until the last inch is a forbidden area. He even slept in the same place even though he knew the scene of the murder.
Be careful not to be too beautiful, too beautiful is guilty, your desire is too fragile.
Be careful not to be too beautiful, too beautiful is guilty, and you are guilty even though you are innocent.
- Eason Chan's "Beautiful Guilty", written by Huang Weiwen
The person you love and cherish the most in your life will also destroy your life,
has no compassion at all,
waits to appreciate you being raped by a certain man,
stabs you in the heart.
- Li Huimin's "(You Have No) Good Results", written by Huang Weiwen.
The entanglement between Lin Xi and Huang Weiwen, and their competition in lyrics, is also a very interesting thing in the music world. In "Tears Become a Poetry" written to Stefanie Sun, Lin Xi said, "It doesn't matter if my tears become poems." Huang Weiwen wrote in Jolin Tsai 's new song "Love's Roman Death" that "tears are not enough to write poems."
In addition to the two Weiwen writers from Hong Kong (Lin Xi’s real name is Liang Weiwen), and Taiwanese lyricists are no less generous. Yao Qian ranked fourth just behind Huang Weiwen.
Yao Qian's name may be unfamiliar, but classic songs such as Faye Wong's "I Do", Rene Liu 's " So You're Also Here ", Karen Mok 's "Radio Love Song", Tanya Tanya 's "Stranger" etc. The lyrics are all written by him.
Yao Qian, who was born in Taiwan in 1961, is known as the "star-making trader" in the Taiwan music scene. He poached Taiwan from a small local record company and was still singing Taiwan guava songs at the time of his debut. Coco Lee, who tailor-made songs for her and repositioned her style, created CoCo Coco, which later became a hit.
html In the 190s, "Bole" Yao Qian also single-handedly made Elva Hsiao famous. In 1998, the 19-year-old Elva Hsiao became an instant hit with her first album of the same name. Now looking at Elva Hsiao's albums during the Yao Qian era, they are still strong from concept to quality.In addition to professional lyricists, many singers are also good at writing lyrics. Mayday's Ashin and "Soda Green" lead singer Wu Qingfeng are good at writing lyrics. At the end of 2018 alone, Wu Qingfeng wrote lyrics for songs such as Lin Yilian 's "Shawen", Jolin Tsai's " Weirdly Beautiful ", Tanya Chua's "À La Folie", Zhang Bichen's "Less Than Rain", Rocket Girls 101's "Light" and other songs. written.
In addition, among the 50 lyricists on the list, 26 are from Taiwan’s pop music scene, and 5 are from mainland China. In the lyrics ranking list, they are all born in the 1960s. There are only a handful of lyricists born in the 1980s, and their average age has reached 51 years old.
The old-faced pop music composer
music and lyrics are inseparable twin sisters. Similar to the current situation in the music world, the mainstream of music composition is still supported by some old faces.
On the composition list, Hong Kong music composer Raymond Lai, who was born in 1969, topped the list with 175 times, which means that among the available music works of 400 pop singers, Raymond Lei participated in the composition of at least 175 original pop songs. . In addition, Huang Yunling , Li Zongsheng , Chen Xiaoxia , etc. are all well-known older generation songwriters in Hong Kong and Taiwan who are over 50 years old.
Most of these fifty songwriters are born in the 1960s and 1970s, and their average age has reached 48.96 years old. The oldest Taiwanese composer Liu Jiachang is 79 years old. He has composed music for the older generation of Hong Kong and Taiwan artists Teresa Teng, Feng Feifei, You Ya, Zhen Ni, and soundtracked Qiong Yao's films "A Dream Behind the Curtain" and "Deep in the Courtyard". In addition, he has also He has written and directed many films.
Good music requires good lyrics and music, but original Chinese music always seems to be facing an unsustainable situation. Songwriting has long failed to keep up with popular music.
html In the 1950s, demand for song creation exceeded supply in Hong Kong and Taiwan’s pop music scene. Hong Kong's creative power mainly relies on composers and lyricists who came south from Shanghai, such as Yao Min, Li Houxiang, Chen Dieyi, etc.; Taiwan covers Shanghai or Hong Kong songs, such as "Ye Lai Xiang" and "Endless Love" wait.Going back further, from 1974 to 1980, Hong Kong was influenced by "Western music with lyrics", and the tendency of "appropriationism" became more and more serious. Western popular songs were often stolen, lyrics were written and then released. There are too many "covers" and too many "lyrics", and the "use-ism" in the early years is also one of the reasons for the lack of original power.
975-1981 Taiwan The listening group of folk song movement and popular music has gradually transitioned from those in their thirties to those between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five. Popular music began to look for new content and new sounds. During this period, a large number of original singers who were different from professional music producers emerged, and folk song creation formed a strong trend. Young people in twos and threes holding guitars and playing and singing gently on the grass became a microcosm of the Taiwan campus at that time. Since then, "original singers" have become a new trend in the pop music world. The former folk song restaurant has produced a large number of singers for the Chinese music scene.
There are more than 40 singers in the top 50 list, including Jay Chou, Wu Qingfeng, JJ Lin, , etc., and they are also composing lyrics and music for other artists.Jay Chou's songs helped Jolin Tsai become a queen; Mayday wrote many songs for Liang Jingru; Yang Naiwen 's " Baroness ", Zhang Huimei 's "Lost", Rainie Yang 's " Take Me Away ", etc. The lyrics and music were all written by Wu Qingfeng; JJ Lin wrote too many love songs for female singers, and later he even released his own album "She Said" and sang them again.
In comparison, the creative power of the new generation is much weaker. In addition to Wei Lian, Xu Jiaying, Ai Yiliang and others who came from talent shows, there are also Jay Chou, Wang Leehom, and JJ Lin who compose music for others. There are not too many great singers.
It is worth noting that there is a huge disparity in the number of songwriters in the pop music scene between Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Mainland. Among the top 50 composers on the list, 34 are from Taiwan pop music scene, and only 6 are from mainland China. Li Ronghao, Hu Yanbin, have been in the industry for many years, Zheng Nan, is Huayan's main writer, and has composed many songs for S.H.E and Lin Youjia, and others.
Although many composers of the older generation are still active in the music scene, the overall decline is still difficult to conceal. Some veteran artists with numerous works are producing fewer and fewer new works, and some have stopped writing and switched to hosting, becoming active in various music variety shows.
Taiwan well-known musician Zhang Yu, who had a hit with "Good Intentions" in 1993, has gradually reduced the number of albums since 2004, and switched to the route of host and reviewer. On June 31, 2018, Zhang Yu posted an Weibo announcement, "the first indefinite suspension since he started in the industry."
Nowadays, business continues to surge with traffic, and the young bodies under the spotlight change one after another. People wonder why the Chinese music scene has been waiting for the next king for so long, but they have never stopped to think about where the next lyricist and composer will be.
author | Zhang Mengzhen
designer | Zhao Penglu Guo Xiaojing
data analysis and compilation | Ye Zhen Zhu Yuefeng Cui Jinyu Zhang Qiuhong Yin Zishan
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