Edit Introduction: In the past few days, the release of the new pioneer song of Jay Chou has caused a lot of discussions, and many platforms are trying to seize this traffic focus and attract more users' attention. However, what problems are reflected behind Jay Chou’s “traffic snatch war” initiated by a large manufacturer? Let’s take a look at the author’s interpretation.
The Chinese Internet has been boiling for Jay Chou in the past few days.
It all started a few days ago, Jay Chou’s new album pioneering song MV "The Greatest Work". At this time, it has been six years since the release of the previous album " Jay Chou's Bedside Story ". Although Jay Chou has released several popular singles during this period, the arrival of a whole new album still makes many fans excited.
Facts have proved that Jay Chou is Jay Chou. Although it has been less exposed in recent years, he is still the well-deserved Asian pop king. The short five-minute MV is enough to make everyone crazy.
html At 12 noon on July 6, the MV of "The Greatest Work" was launched on multiple platforms Jerweire Music 's official account, instantly becoming a traffic bomb, "visualizing" the popularity of Zhou Tianwang to everyone. On Weibo , the MV was launched less than half an hour ago. The topic #Jay Chou’s Pioneer Song# ranked first on the hot search list and was accompanied by a bright "explosion" logo. At the same time, many related topics have also been on the hot search list, and the popularity of MV has also increased rapidly. In less than a day, the number of views exceeded 100 million and the number of likes reached one million.In addition to Weibo, platforms such as QQ Music , B station, Migu Music , Kuaishou, Douyin , Video Number have also launched the pioneer song MV simultaneously and quickly became the focus of traffic. Less than 5 hours after the release, the MV released by the official account of Jerweire Music on B Station exceeded 5 million views, and the official milk tea special effects barrage filled the screen; the MV video video of Jay Chou’s official account "Class Zhou" exceeded 2 million likes, and the number of fans reached more than 32 million; on online music platforms such as QQ Music and Migu Music, the MV playback volume also reached one million levels.
For most people, the more intuitive "popularity" is reflected in private domain . "Jay Chou", "Preliminary Song MV" and "Greatest Work" in the circle of friends have become the most popular social currency. People are rushing to spread the news of MV and new special releases. In , the author 's circle of friends, many friends who do not post on the circle of friends have forwarded this MV for the first time and wrote "Ye Qing Hui".
Compared to Jay Chou's single release a few years ago, the release of the new music MV this time is obviously more massive. It is not only a carnival of fans, but also attracts attention at the entire network level. It seems that everyone is conveying a message: The real top star in the Chinese music scene is back.
1. Jay Chou, using a song to shock the music scene,
, This "celebration of the whole world" is not only due to the arrival of a complete album, but also from the "original flavor" shown in "The Greatest Work".
redirects the perspective back to the MV itself. In the prelude, the piano music of "secret" sounded, and the listeners' ears instantly returned to more than ten years ago. It reminds people of Jay Chou's most classic songs such as "Chapter 7 of the Night of ", "HTM2 Nocturne ", "HTM2 In the Name of Father ", etc. After the MV was released, "Chapter 7 of the Night" quickly became the hot search list on Weibo, and became everyone's first impression of this first song: "It's this taste!"
In the MV, Jay Chou was wearing a "retro suit" and transformed into a time and space traveler. With the sound of violin , he traveled back to 1920 and embarked on an "encounter" with the artists of the past. The song begins with the classic "Changing rap", and the arrangement is based on classical music. With the contrast of piano, violin, and organ , it is also accompanied by rhythmic drum sets, showing a strong Zhou style.
Starting from the chanting of "The boat goes quietly back and forth quietly", the melodious melody is touching people's hearts. During the interlude, Jay Chou and pianist Lang Lang 's "piano fight" also makes the song more exciting.
In addition to the highly unified style of the arrangement and composition level, the lyrics of the song are also worthy of study."The Greatest Work" is written by the famous lyricist Huang Junlang . After the song was released, he also posted on Weibo to analyze the characters and stories implicit in the lyrics for the audience.
"The Greatest Work" can be described as a joke. Huang Junlang not only mentioned famous artists such as Margrit, Dali, Mone , Chang Yu , Xu Zhimo , Van Gogh , Van Gogh , but also incorporated their works and various classic images and styles in the history of art into the lyrics. The MV directed by Jay Chou also has the care that can be seen with the naked eye. Not only has it built a retro and fantasy artistic world, but it also interpreted the artists and had a soul encounter with Jay Chou.
"The Greatest Work" is no longer just a singer's "boasting", but contains more meanings. The song has become a review of the specific process of modern art history with music. In the stylized melody and singing, the audience also witnessed and experienced the birth of art with Jay Chou, as if witnessing the creation process of the entire song. With the interweaving of inspiration and history, the greatest work of art was born.
Compared with Jay Chou's singles in recent years, "The Greatest Work" has obvious changes. It not only returns to the classic Zhou style, but also uses high-quality lyrics and music to satisfy everyone's expectations. Its degree of intimacy and completeness are amazing. It is natural to be able to "carnival on the whole network" with Jay Chou's name.
Amid the thousands of comments on the song, the audience shouted "Jay Chou is back", "Familiar taste", "Jay Chou returns to the throne of the music scene". More and more people have begun to analyze the entire song and further disassemble the connotation and ingenuity.
of course also has critical voices, believing that although "The Greatest Work" is above the passing line, it is still difficult to compare with many of Jay Chou's previous works. Some people bluntly say that the song is like "Deep Learning Jay Chou's AI Original Single", and although the style is strong, it is not amazing.
But whether it is "returning to the throne" or "almost meaning", a pioneering song MV can cause such a large discussion, Jay Chou's new specialty has been very successful on the factual level. On July 8, the pre-sale of the digital album "The Greatest Work" was launched on major platforms. As of that day, based on the data of QQ Music, Migu Music and other platforms, the pre-sale of the new album priced at 30 yuan has exceeded 2 million copies.
In the eyes of many people, this is not just an album, but also represents Jay Chou’s return as the king of music, as sang in "The Greatest Work": "The madness of generations, the king of music."
2. Platforms compete for Jay Chou
In fact, Jay Chou’s new special has caused a wave of heated discussion long before the release of the MV of the pioneer song.
On June 19, 2022, Jay Chou released the lead documentary of the album on a social platform, revealing that the new special will be officially released on July 15, which immediately sparked heated discussions across the Internet, and fans are ready to wait for the new special.
In these short twenty days, there have been constant storms around new specials, and there are endless news such as the leak of song lists and album demos. On July 4, when the album has not yet been released, the opening event of Douban "The Greatest Work" further attracted attention. Not only is the operation of opening scores before it is online, but the "low score" of 5.8 has also attracted dissatisfaction among fans.
In addition to various rumors and satellite events, major platforms are also constantly taking action during the early warm-up stage. B station is particularly loud. On June 29 after the new special news was released, Jie Weier officially entered B station, and launched the official 4KMV of two classic songs " Give Me a Song Time " and "Daoxiang "; on July 2, B station officially announced that it had reached a copyright cooperation with Jie Weier, and at the same time launched related second-creation activities to warm up the new special.
Another platform that has caused heated discussion is Kuaishou. On July 4, when the album preliminaries are about to be released, there was news that Kuaishou will terminate the contract with Jay Chou, and Kuaishou immediately denied this statement through media channels.In June 2020, Jay Chou officially announced his entry into Kuaishou. This is Jay Chou’s first Chinese social media account. In the introduction of the account of "Class Zhou", it is simply written "The only one on the entire network, only on Kuaishou", which shows Kuaishou’s emphasis on Jay Chou. On July 5, after
, after refuting the rumor, "Class Zhou", who had not released a video in the past two months, finally updated, and opened the platform to warm up with the sentence "It's tomorrow, friends from Kuaishou, are you ready?"
In the field of online music platforms, platforms with copyrights such as QQ Music, Kugou Music , Kuwo Music, Migu Music, etc. also launched the reservation entrance two days before the album was launched. In just a few days, the number of reservations on various platforms soared. The number of reservations on QQ Music's pioneer song has exceeded 6 million before it was released, and the number of reservations on Migu Music has also exceeded 1.5 million. Jay Chou's appeal can be seen.
bets on Jay Chou, and major platforms are ready to go. On the day the song
was released, this kind of "traffic competition" was even more obvious. As one of the largest social media platforms in China, after the release of the new song MV, Weibo quickly built a strong public opinion field, which included various related discussions around Jay Chou. The outcome of various stars and big Vs has further ignited the topic. According to the observation of Hedgehog Commune , more than ten Jay Chou's new songs on that day were on the Weibo entertainment hot search list, almost dominated the top 20, becoming the birthplace of various new topics across the entire network.
and other platforms also "Eight Immortals cross the sea, each showing their magical powers." Bilibili launched Jay Chou’s new special page, announced the holding of the second creation competition of "The Greatest Works", and invited Jay Chou to appear on the screen to promote it, further creating momentum for the MV. Combining the unique ghost animals, covers, and secondary performances of B station with Jay Chou’s new songs, a large number of second-creation works were produced and heatedly discussed in just two days. It can be clearly felt that B station hopes to further "amplify" Jay Chou's own traffic through the characteristics of the UGCh platform, and achieve a "music carnival" effect across the entire platform.
, while Kuaishou started from the interactive characteristics of the short video platform and launched the "Singing with Jay Chou" activity. Jay Chou's official account "Class Zhou" released an interactive video, attracting users to cooperate with Jay Chou as the accompaniment of the chorus. At present, there are 659 related works in the event, and the overall viewing volume is close to 100 million. In the few years since Jay Chou moved in, in addition to two new song releases and four live broadcasts, the traffic brought by Jay Chou is actually not as impressive as imagined. This new special release is a rare opportunity for Kuaishou.
, and the first release of this MV can also be seen by ByteDance's emphasis on soda music. On the MV launch interface of Jerwell's official Douyin, Douyin has attached a download link for soda music, saying "Download and watch Jaylen MV". Previously, the Hedgehog Commune was analyzing soda music article. Will ByteDance’s Music App be a “Tik Tok Divine Song Player”? It has been mentioned that the lack of Jay Chou's copyright has a very obvious impact on users. Several users have said that "I don't want to use a new music platform without Jay Chou." I wonder if the release of this MV in soda music will be a harbinger of Bytes' participation in Jay Chou's copyright competition.
Migu Music, which has always been low-key, has also made many moves this time. As an online music platform that has been in-depth cooperation with Jay Chou since the "dynamic zone" period, "owning Jay Chou's copyright" once made Migu Music a "treasure APP" in the hearts of many music listeners. This new special release of Migu Music not only opened the reservation channel early, but also made a big "support my brother" under relevant topics on Weibo to attract users to purchase new specials.
also worked hard to preheat the album. On the evening of July 6, Migu officially invited Fang Wenshan to carry out live broadcast activities on Weibo and Migu Music APP, and interacted with fans through discussions on the new special content. On the day of the album's release, Migu will also broadcast Jay Chou's related high-quality content 24 hours a day. Just like its slogan "We have been with you for 18 years", Migu hopes to achieve "mutual achievements" with Jay Chou again through this new special release.
has been at the upper hand in the copyright war a few years ago. Not to mention TME, which has been at the forefront of the copyright war a few years ago.As of press time, on QQ Music alone, the pre-sale of the digital album "The Greatest Work" has approached 2 million, making it one of the biggest winners. Jay Chou's "top traffic" is also intuitively revealed on the platform:
In the three days after the release of the MV of the Avant-up song, "Jay Chou" and "The Greatest Work" have always dominated the top QQ music hot search list. The music soaring charts in recent days have been "occupied" by Jay Chou. More than 90 of the 100 songs on the list, which is even more exaggerated than the "grand occasion" of Jay Chou's Chinese songs on Apple Music.
This reminds people of the NetEase Cloud Music , which has been criticized for the lack of Jay Chou's copyright. Although the "copyright era" has come to an end, the three words "Jay Chou" are like a curse, questioning NetEase Cloud Music's lack of "core assets" such as song copyright. Under this online carnival and traffic competition, some people joked that "NetEase Cloud cried in the toilet" and "a world where only NetEase Cloud was injured", which also reflects the commercial value of the three words "Jay Chou" from the side: for music platforms, this is a golden signboard.
At present, the "traffic cake" brought by Jay Chou is big enough. At least every platform has "earned" a wave of attention through this album release node. For listeners, Jay Chou has come to save the Chinese music scene, and for the platforms, Jay Chou has also become a good medicine to alleviate "traffic anxiety".
This seems to be a "win-win", but the carnival that penetrates public opinion and traffic is more like a "long-term drought and rain" vent.
3. The Chinese music scene needs live water, and the Internet platform needs celebrities
Starting from the second half of 2021, seeking new "traffic outlets" from celebrities has become one of the characteristics of major content platforms.
But the "stars" here do not refer to the so-called traffic stars, but are more inclined to the real "top stars": those old superstars who are top in their respective fields, have been famous for many years and have strong strength, not only have household fame, but also bear the common memory of several generations.
Feelings, strength, and retro have become the focus of many platforms at present. With the resonance of these characteristics, unexpected results can often be achieved. For the few superstars, short video platforms have quickly started to compete.
The invitation of B station to Jerry Weir to enter is one of the best examples: although Jay Chou himself did not settle in person, the B station official still made great efforts in publicity and promotion of Erchuang, which can make people clearly feel the importance he attached to Jay Chou himself.
B is still a novice in attracting superstars to join, while Kuaishou and Douyin have long been veteran players. On June 25, a Jackie Chan's global live broadcast debut was launched on the Kuaishou platform. In addition to the appearance of the kung fu superstar Jackie Chan himself, stars such as Nicholas Tse , Joey Yung , Huang Zitao and other stars also helped through the connection. Many well-known anchors on Kuaishou also participated in the live broadcast. Kuaishou tried his best and almost turned the live broadcast into a "gala". The final number of live broadcast viewers exceeded 50 million, while the number of online viewers was more than 3 million, and the number of likes was as high as 320 million.
This reminds people of the live broadcast of Andy Lau’s 40th anniversary of his debut on Douyin in July 2021. As one of the top domestic superstars, Andy Lau's popularity has not faded after 40 years of tests. The number of viewers in two hours of live broadcast exceeded 100 million, breaking the historical record of Douyin live broadcast at that time. These two live broadcasts can let us see the appeal of national superstars and have also become an important outlet for short video platforms to seek breakthroughs in the environment of weak growth.
, and the video account is the one that truly maximizes the traffic value of nostalgic stars. In May 2022, Jay Chou, the Video Account achieved a shocking "wide-network out-of-circle" with just two classic concerts. Not only did the number of viewers in each show basically exceed 20 million, but nearly 100 topics also topped the Weibo hot search list. The Video Account really made the concept of celebrity online concert popular.
This may also lay the groundwork for various platforms to compete for Jay Chou’s traffic: a concert can be replayed, so Jay Chou’s new music MV must be even more determined.
In addition to Jay Chou, the previous video account's Xicheng boy concert, Cui Jian online concert debut, Luo Dayou , Stefanie Sun online live PK, and the Backstreet Boy online concert debut that was flooded with friends not long ago, have all made short video platforms pay attention to the traffic advantages of nostalgic stars and national superstars. Through live broadcasts, online live and other means, celebrities have become the new traffic passwords for the platforms. The popularity of Wang Xinling and Liu Genghong reminds everyone that we seem to be getting nostalgic and need to seek comfort from memory.
However, the number of stars is limited after all, and at the same time, overdrawing of feelings is also happening. The occasional "destiny" of superstars may still cause heated discussion, but it will eventually lose its attractiveness with the dilution of freshness. In this way, Jay Chou's new special release after six years may be able to sweep the entire network, but when he loses his important node characteristics, the traffic support of celebrities will gradually become weak.
On the other hand, it is an observation of the music field: Jay Chou is indeed a "sweet rain", and the Chinese music scene is indeed "long-term drought".
In the carnival caused by Jay Chou’s new song, the most common argument you can see is “Jay Chou resurrected the Chinese music scene”, and the premise of “resurrection” is naturally “the Chinese music scene is dead”, which can better see the audience’s pessimism about the current music scene.
Recall two major events in the music industry recently: "Jay Chou's new special release" and "Cui Jian won the Golden Melody Award and became the first mainland singer". Although these news is exciting, it seems to be more like the news that should have appeared more than ten years ago. Time has come to 2022, but the new power in the music industry is still absent in the public context.
Although the market for various vertical fields such as rock , hip hop, folk , but for the pop music market, there has always been a lack of "vigor". Although the creative content is becoming more and more diverse, there is no longer the scene of the music scene blooming in the early 2000s. The mainstream Chinese music scene, which was subverted and revolutionized by Jay Chou and others more than a decade ago, is still the same. Everyone is still moving forward under a fixed framework, but lacks the genes for innovation and works that can make people shine.
The phenomenon of short video divine songs and traffic star works has disappointed many listeners. In the eyes of many people, a slightly deformed environment has emerged: the market is still expanding, but works that can truly lead the trend and listeners' aesthetics are difficult to appear. That joke is more like a realistic prophecy: "Jay Chou has indeed made no progress in so many years, and he is still the best in Chinese."
This is why everyone miss Jay Chou so much. He is not only a common memory of an era, but also a representative of the progressive power of the music industry. People are not afraid that Jay Chou cannot write good works, but are sad that only Jay Chou can bring us surprises.
, and even Jay Chou finds it difficult to satisfy everyone. In addition to the comments mentioned above about "no progress", the fact that "the new album only has six new songs" has also brought considerable controversy. Some people believe that such an approach lacks sincerity and is too perfunctory. The new album of the Pop King is hard to be called an "album", and it is more like a collection of works in recent years.
But the carnival brought by Jay Chou’s new special is still continuing. Whether for the platform or the Chinese music scene, excitement is far greater than sadness. However, while being excited, there are many issues we need to discuss, because everyone knows that Jay Chou is rarely bright in the current domestic music environment, but this is far from enough.
We need Jay Chou, but we can't just Jay Chou.
Author: Shi Xin; Editor: Shi Can
Source public account: Hedgehog Commune (ID: ciweigongshe), observation and research in the Internet content industry.
This article is authorized by the cooperative media @Hedgehog Commune. Reproduction is prohibited without permission.
question picture is from Unsplash, based on the CC0 protocol.
