Cover News Reporter Zhang Luyan
Yao Qian Never lost his curiosity.
On November 26, at the lecture on "Life is a Song" in Fangsuo Chengdu Store, the word he repeated the most was "curiosity". When he was interviewed by a reporter from the cover news, this word still maintained a high frequency. After a rough calculation, it was mentioned ten times. Every time he mentioned it, it carries different people and things, which constitute his past, present and future.
There is Lin Xi in Hong Kong, and Yao Qian in Taiwan. The most well-known identity of his is the title of the gold medal lyricist. Zhang Xiaoyan praised him for "understanding the hearts of women the best". Female singers became famous when singing his songs, and women listened to his songs to empathize.
However, as time goes by, he gradually stopped writing love songs: I am already 56 years old and still pretending to be 28 years old. I feel a little pretentious. I am willing to face my age and write about the confusion that I should have at the age of 56.
I can no longer disguise myself as 28 years old
As an exclusive symbol, I write songs and gradually move away from Yao Qian. This is the choice he made.
"I am 56 years old and still disguised as 28 years old. I think I feel a bit pretentious, such as songs like "Taste" and "I Will" that were inspired by feelings at the time. Now, the public's expectations for me are still like that. I have also disguised as writing a few times, and I feel uncomfortable and dishonest. Such writing of reverse growth has made me very tired and a little resistant."
In Yao Qian's opinion, it is quite inappropriate for me to write about my feelings in my twenties. He recalled a phenomenon that in some occasions, he met once popular stars who were dressed up and still looked like they were popular. He didn't think so, but in fact, others already felt that it was inappropriate.
"As a creator, writing this thing must be inspired by feelings. You must believe it yourself before others can believe it. Compared to writing lyrics, I am more willing to write articles. It is more self-expressing than responding to the expectations others have for me. I am willing to face my age and write about the confusion that should be 56 years old." Although the lyrics are written less, it never means stopping. Yao Qian said that if there is something that stimulates him and makes him ignite curiosity, he is still willing to try.
"I recently wrote songs with Chen Li and Huang Qishan . Huang Qishan is working together for the first time. Her new song "Safari" interprets independence in rock and roll. I think it's very interesting and willing to try it. Chen Li is just a girl in her 20s, but she is very special. She has her own musical things."
is curious about him, not just a necessity today. As a way to light him, it runs through his entire life. In his memories, he has a unique nickname called Mr Why.
"When I was just making a record, I went to Hong Kong for a business trip for a few days. Later, my boss said that the other party complained to him, saying that Yao Qian should be called Mr Why, and he would ask him why hundreds of times a day. At that time, I didn't realize that I asked so many whys, and I didn't know why. Now I understand because I am curious."
In his opinion, curiosity can make people open and extend themselves.
"Once she made an album with Jianya Cai . She already had a solidified impression and had a high recognition. She suddenly released an electronic record. In fact, for music fans, it may not be accustomed to it, but I think it is very good for her personally. She stretched out again, retaining curiosity and enthusiasm for the world, and constantly opening up her energy is the best stage for a person."
And at the beginning, curiosity allowed him to get nourishment from the outside world.
He said that the reason why he can "understand the heart of a woman best" is because he likes to listen to stories. "I often joke. Boys want to listen to girls. I make money by women. I am willing to listen to them. I will use the stories that touch me to write lyrics."
Yao Qian at that time was still in a period when writing love songs could touch himself. Faye Wong The song "I Will" was inspired by him when he read gossip magazines.
"Once, I took a plane and flipped into a group of photos in gossip magazines. They took photos of Faye Wong going out early in the morning and going to the public toilet in the alley. Such a female star was willing to do such a thing. I was very moved when I saw it. I was willing to forget my name for you, and the lyrics of the first sentence popped up."
Writing made me no longer repeat my own yesterday's self
If it weren't for fate, the first person I got was the record company admission notice. Now Yao Qian, perhaps the prefix or label, might become a film industry or a publishing house.
He said that since he had memories, he has loved reading. When I was a child, there was a children's magazine in Taiwan called Mandarin Daily. He loved reading it very much, but his parents had limited salary and could only subscribe to it intermittently:
"Every time I stopped, my parents would tell me that there would be nothing next month, and we would order it when we have money. One day, the order was stopped at that time, and the newspaper deliveryman passed by the doorstep of his house. I looked at him. He stopped and handed me the newspaper for the surgery. I quickly took the newspaper and finished it quickly, and then returned it to him quickly."
He talked about his youth. Whenever he did a good job in the exam, his parents would reward him with story books. He couldn't read enough, so he took care of his classmates to borrow it. After a while, he read a lot of books and sowed the seeds of literature and art. Writing essays has always been his strength. Later, he grew up slowly and submitted articles in magazines and won awards even when he was competing for essays. Although
has always been in love with literature and art, his resume, his preferences conflict with reality and he once called him a call.
After graduating from university, because of his pragmatic relationship, his first job was a display staff member of the automobile company. He didn't like it. Because of the special nature of his career, his life was irregular, and his health problems, he went home to recuperate for half a year. During this period, he went hiking alone, from Tainan to to Taitung , and repeatedly thought about a question:
What kind of person do I want to become?
After thinking about it carefully, he understood his answer. The three industries he wanted to do, namely: publishing, music, and movies, so he took action and moved to Taipei in order to successfully apply for the job. Later, the first offer I got was from Haili Records, "If the first one was a film company or a publishing house, I should be there. I am the kind of patient person who can survive in an industry for ten years."
stayed there for twenty years.
In the past twenty years, there have been ups and downs and downs in the music industry, but there are undoubtedly his strong marks. When he realized that his age and creation were inappropriate and that writing songs could not ignite his curiosity, he chose to gradually fade away and found another outlet: writing.
"I am particularly grateful to the people who came to me to write columns at that time. Writing allowed me to understand myself again. After reaching a certain age, writing lyrics of the previous type will no longer stimulate me. I don't want to repeat my yesterday's self anymore. I want to face the confusion of my current age and record it."
In his opinion, compared to writing songs, writing gives him a different expression:
"They have the same things, they are all records, something that happened. Love is originally a subjective feeling, but with the form of recording, there is already an onlooker feeling. The difference between writing and writing songs lies in the style. The lyrics are limited, and its expression is also true. It is relatively free to write. It gives me more angles to express the world in my eyes. "
is also writing, and he also has unique features belonging to Yao Qian. For example, writing, compared to the rapid typing of the keyboard into words, he has a unique writing habit, which is that he likes handwriting input method. Even if he holds an iPad, he still writes words with his fingers.
"Handwriting will make me slower. I found that fast and slow are different. Fast is the rapid reaction at the moment. There is a pause and an extra process of thinking and thinking. For me, it is just right to slow down. I write something while pausing, checking and looking back."
Compared with the pause of handwriting and the pause of writing songs, the pause of writing songs also gave him more thinking. In the process of writing, he and the highly-watched label of writing songs are gradually reconciling.
"When I first started writing, I was a little resistant to writing lyrics Yao Qian. I hope I have a new process, not always tied to writing songs. When I first published a book, the publishing house asked me if I could find some singers to recommend it. I knew they would be willing to help, but I was more resistant."
Later, in writing, he gradually realized the resonance between writing and writing songs. Sometimes when writing certain articles, he found that the feelings given to himself were very similar to those when writing songs. "They are all ways for me to express my emotions. Whether writing songs or writing, it is a kind of self-expression and cannot be separated."
At the same time, he also realized the deep meaning of resistance, which may come from the fear in his heart and is unwilling to be bound by the inherent labels. So he simply faced this fear. When the first five books had little to do with music, the sixth book simply used "If This Can Be a Song" as its name.
"This year, I realized that the reason I resisted it was because I was afraid of it. The experience of writing songs once brought me a lot of affirmation. To a certain extent, maybe I was afraid of losing. After I knew it, I felt very at ease. Then I would face you, accept your relationship with me, and after facing it, I could continue to talk about music more freely."
loyal to my own sense of existence
yao Qian said that he is a person who can pay the price for curiosity.
In mid-November, he was in New York, just in time for the musical " Hamilton" performance. He used hip-hop techniques to tell historical stories. It was very interesting, but there were no tickets. He thought of various ways, but he didn't even buy scalpers tickets. He only waited an hour and a half in advance to see if anyone refunded the tickets, but there was still no one. Later, two station tickets were opened. He stood for four hours and still felt it was worth it:
When I posted it, others said, "Ah! How did you buy tickets?!" I also showed off, and only spent $50, and the station tickets were much cheaper.
Just like listening to musicals, he is also fascinated by other art categories, such as collections. If writing songs and writing is his way of outputting, collecting and traveling is his way of absorbing nutrition.
He started collecting artworks very early, and in the eyes of others, he had a remarkable achievement. "I am curious about this thing, and I want to understand it in depth. If it touches me, I will think of collecting one. Later, these things became popular and appreciated. Others think that your collection was successful, but in fact, it was just curious at first."
In his opinion, writing is more about facing oneself, while art is a comparison object, looking at the world, this era, and their thinking through the perspective of others.
He has a collection, in his own yard, which is the British sculptor Antony Gormley. It is a portrait with a head on the ground and heels facing the sky. He joked that he spent half his life to buy it, and he had to write songs for it every year: the moisture is heavy, the portrait will rust, and he has to ask a professional restorator to clean it up every year. In order to maintain it, he has to write three songs every year.
If collection is relatively static, travel is more dynamic. In his plan, in recent years, he has made two long trips every year, and the locations of the trip are unprecedented attempts, such as going to Antarctica, Mount Kilimanjaro, and India, which is planning to travel next year:
people have a safe range. If you are trapped in the comfort zone, people will get used to it and have no curiosity, which is equivalent to being still. Once you break it, your life is extended. Because of curiosity, I try a lot of new things and often feel like I have lived for several lifetimes.
He talked about his experience of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro to Africa:
I am very curious, why climbing is a very tough behavior? Then I tried to climb the highest peak in Africa. In fact, my altitude sickness was very serious at that time, my head hurts very much, and my whole body was in pain. I basically climbed to the top of the mountain crying, but that experience also made me realize why I was tenacious.
Compared to staying in hotels before, now he goes to many places, and he still tries to live in homestays. Often others cannot recognize him, he doesn’t say it. He feels that there is a way to see the world and others, which is very interesting:
people often say that they are present, which is to let others see themselves, but in fact they ignore themselves and look at themselves. I think that the presence can be loyal to themselves. Your curiosity makes you try various things, and this process is a process of not understanding self-confirmation.
