The rise and fall of national strength determines the spread of culture.

Li Qian is not a master of Chinese studies like Cao Zhan, but he still knows that it is said that in the Tang Dynasty, the Song Dynasty, including the Ming Dynasty, for hundreds of years and thousands of years, in Korea, Japan and other countries, they were proud to be able to speak Chinese and write Chinese characters, which was considered a cultured thing and one of the symbols of high society. In the Spanish and British gunboats, they quickly moved closer to the West in just a hundred years, and even the whole world, including China, worshiped the empire on which the sun never set, and began to take pride in learning English, and whether or not they have studied English as a sign of whether a person has received higher education.

In modern times, with the rise of the United States, the whole world is in charge of dollars, and the whole world envies the American people's life of "a big independent house, their own lawn, and two big dogs", and they covet it.

Around 2,000 years in this life and around 2,000 years in another time and space, China's national conditions are different.

To put it simply, the economy, culture, and other aspects are more developed, and their international political status is also quite high. By 1992, with the rapid development of the economy, China's GDP had jumped to the third place in the world, second only to the United States and Japan, and it was said that it was about to surpass Japan and become the world's second largest economy in the near future.

However, even so, the Chinese culture is still firmly compressed in East Asia and Southeast Asia by the extremely strong English culture, and even although the domestic economy is developing rapidly, in addition to the domestic economy, the influence of the Chinese language, even in North Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia and other places, is gradually shrinking and declining.

In the past thousand years, the places that have been deeply influenced by traditional Chinese culture have been tacitly committed to one thing in recent decades, and even more than 100 years, that is: de-sinicization!

The result of "de-sinicization" not only means that more than 99% of people in Japan and other countries no longer speak Chinese or write Chinese characters, and they don't even know that their country has been influenced by Chinese culture for thousands of years, but also that the weakening of the influence of Chinese culture is accompanied by the growing popularity of English culture.

English-speaking culture has long dominated the world's popular culture and has the highest discourse, but also has a tendency to become more and more influential and in-depth - even in China, the influence of European and American culture is becoming more and more great.

The most important reason why Chinese culture is still prevalent in Southeast Asia is that there are a large number of Chinese living there, and they still use Chinese, not because the Chinese culture itself is influential enough.

And even there, many young Chinese nowadays are more and more fond of eating steak, drinking red wine, watching Hollywood movies, and listening to English pop songs.

To put it simply, in today's world, English culture is the mainstream, and Chinese culture is non-mainstream.

Refining this concept to the pop music scene, the result is that a superstar in Europe and the United States, his albums and records, in non-English-speaking countries, can still sell well, although this kind of sales may not be the main part for her personally, and in non-English-speaking countries like China, his albums are basically not visible on the sales charts, and the album sales and personal influence of singers in his country are not comparable at all, but after all, it can be sold.

On the other hand, a superstar in the Chinese music scene, such as Liao Liao. She is definitely the top superstar in the Chinese music scene, but in the United States, except for Chinatowns in various places, because it still retains a fairly strong Chinese cultural atmosphere and has a relatively close connection with China, the more popular albums in China are often sold here. Outside of the first time, no matter how popular her album is in China, it has nothing to do with the American people.

Therefore, if you want to buy Liao Liao's album in the United States, you must either go to Chinatown to buy smuggled goods, or you have to go to some special video stores that specialize in selling to a small number of curious fans, otherwise, you can't even buy it at all!

This is the difference between mainstream and non-mainstream.

Jerry Cullen, the top superstar in the world pop music scene today, the main sales places of his albums are, of course, Europe and the United States, but in China, he has published seven albums and several MV videos, etc., according to the statistics of Dongguan Bookstore, in 1998, a total of more than 70,000 copies were sold. During the same period, the total sales of Liao Liao's past four albums, a single EP and four MV discs of the same name in Dongguan Bookstore in 1998 were only nearly 800,000 copies!

And this was only obtained when she had a strong sales of a new album last year, if you take out the factor of the new album, take out the sales of the most influential sales period of "Woman Flower", or only count the sales of past albums, it would be good for her to have two or three hundred thousand copies - you know, in China, Liao Liao is the home team, and Jerry Cullen is the away side.

And in the United States, it was Jerry Cullen's turn at home and Liao Liao's away. Jerry Cullen and Liao Liao's sales figures...... Li Qian can't get the sales data in the United States, but he clearly knows that until now, Liao Liao has been popular in China for four or five years, but there is still no American record company that has come to Minghu Culture to talk about licensing and distribution in the United States, so can you imagine that in addition to the smuggled goods sold to Chinese in Chinatown, her official sales may be 10,000 or 20,000 copies a year?

That's it!

English albums can be sold in a non-English-speaking country like China, and the sales are not bad, even comparable to the sales of an ordinary second-rate or third-rate singer, but Chinese albums, even if they are as popular as Liao Liao, in the United States, there is still no one to sell - not even many fans will know that there is such a person as Liao Liao!

For example, now, in his spare time to make soundtracks, Li Qian and Liao Liao went out shopping together, and when they walked into a video store that seemed to specialize in selling imported albums from all over the world, languages, and countries, Liao Liao miraculously found his "The Sound of the Waves" and "Woman Flower" on the shelves in Asia, and the feeling was full of surprises.

Then, Li Qian found the clerk and asked, and the clerk helped check the information and told Li Qian: In the past few years, a total of 43 albums under the name LIAO-LIAO have been sold!

In contrast, "Fake Monk" has sold more than 120 copies since its first sales record last summer, and the album was even sold out at this store for a time, and last year, it was once recommended by the store's manager - according to the clerk, many rock fans who like to hunt for curiosity have spread the word of mouth after buying this album, making it an excellent reputation in that extremely niche rock fan circle. Recently, because American newspapers have reported on the popularity of "Once Upon a Time" in Asia, it has even attracted many fans who like to hunt for curiosity to ask about this album, and this store has placed an order with the importer and exporter, and it is said that the album has been shipped and will arrive in a few days.

Out of this video store, Liao Liao's mood was a little low.

In fact, for Liao Liao, she has been working continuously for four or five years, with an album every year, especially after the concert tour just started last year, this year she is ready to rest, not ready to arrange work, not to make a new album, and not to hold a concert. So at the beginning, when I heard Li Qian say that she wanted to make a new album for her, and she also brought her to the United States to make this album, she really resisted in her heart, but she couldn't help but look at Li Qian who seemed to attach great importance to this matter and was on the rise, so she never refused ruthlessly.

Including after coming to Los Angeles, Li Qian and Xie Mingyuan either stayed in the office of Rolling Stone Records or stayed in the rented recording studio every day, occasionally returning to the hotel, and even discussing the timbre of what instrument to use for dinner, Liao Liao was not interested in the slightest, the two of them went to work, and she went out to wander around with a backpack alone - the right to travel!

Coming here for so many days, no reporters, no siege, no fans, rare days that are so clean, to be honest, Liao Liao has a lot of hapi, until now, suddenly, she suddenly understood why Li Qian brought her to the United States to make this album.

When they were eating together in the evening, Liao Liao couldn't help but complain to Xie Mingyuan, which made Xie Mingyuan laugh.

He said: "In China, you are the top, but after leaving China and coming to the West, Europe and the United States, to be honest, your influence and sales may not be as good as me!"

After a pause, he said with a little pride: "I recorded a few albums of violin concertos in 91, and they are still selling, not many, but they can sell tens of thousands of copies every year, speaking of which, maybe I am the best-selling Chinese musician in the Western world!"

Liao Liao couldn't help but roll his eyes when he heard this.

However, I have to say that since then, she began to run out to play less, and began to frequently participate in the recordings that Li Qian and Xie Mingyuan were busy with.

After more than 20 busy days, finally, a total of eleven soundtracks of "Titanic" were recorded. And, after listening to it, James Cameron said he was very satisfied.

Therefore, most of the soundtrack has already ended, and all that remains is the docking of the soundtrack with the final release version and the director's cut version. At this point, Li Qian had already said hello in advance, and Xie Mingyuan would take over the next slightly trivial work, responsible for the final docking with the film.

And then, the main energy of their three-person group was, of course, quickly shifted to the work of Liao Liao's first global album. Merely...... It's a little more complicated.

Previously, Li Qian had come up with a few tunes, and Rolling Stone Records was responsible for inviting some famous lyricists and musicians in the American music scene to help fill in the English version of the lyrics, but they did not receive many good lyrics that could satisfy Li Qian, but instead received many purchase requests from record companies and singers.

In other words, as soon as the tunes composed by Li Qian entered the American music scene, they were immediately targeted by many people. Many singers have expressed their desire to buy the right to use a certain song by Li Qian, including a top superstar and pop diva in Europe and the United States - Christina Towne.

And the song she likes, if Li Qian fills in the lyrics, she will call it "I-will-always-love-you".

On another plane, the song's original singer was called Whitney Houston.

And at that time and space, as soon as this song came out in 1992, it won the championship for 14 consecutive weeks on the Billboard, the most authoritative music chart in the United States, and later won the 36th Grammy Awards for "Best Recording of the Year" and "Best Pop Girl" awards, which is not only one of Whitney Houston's well-known masterpieces, but also a classic work of soul music.

Of course, in that time and space, this is not Whitney Houston's original, its first version, appeared in 1975, Whitney Houston can only be regarded as a cover, but in this time and space, this is obviously original.

Li Qian is a fan of Christina Towne, Liao Liao is also her fan, of course, Zhou Yan and He Runqing are all her fans, after all, they are world-class top superstars. It is said that she heard the song from a friend of hers, and loved it so much that she even wrote the lyrics for the song before her friend, and then ...... She undoubtedly liked it better.

Her agent contacted Li Qian through Rolling Stone Records, saying that she wanted to buy the right to use the song, considering that Li Qian has a cooperative relationship with Rolling Stone Records, and the song is released internally, she just wants to find someone to fill in the lyrics, she does this to win people's love, so her agent has repeatedly said that the price is negotiable.

Supposedly, for the music scene in Europe and the United States, Li Qian and Liao Liao have just arrived, and come up with a song to deal with a top superstar, or even become friends, this is definitely a cost-effective investment - even if this song is one of the important works that Li Qian personally loves and is ready to use to praise Liao Liao, this can still be regarded as a very cost-effective one.

After all, although Li Qian's understanding and mastery of European and American music in other time and space is not as good as that of Chinese music, there are still many classic works in his stomach, and it is a pity that there is one less one, but the impact is not great.

But after thinking about it, Li Qian still chose to refuse.

After all, with a big production like "Titanic" that will sweep the world as the foundation, with "My-heart-will-go-on" as the title song of the album, Liao Liao, who borrowed the east wind of the big ship, in fact, to a certain extent, no longer needs the "support" of any European and American singers. Not to mention, the publisher of her first English-language album will also be Rolling Stone Records.

Therefore, subsequently, Li Qian turned away all the buyers, and previously commissioned Rolling Stone Records to find someone to help fill in the English lyrics of the songs in the industry, regardless of whether the other party's words have been filled in or not, they are all returned.

Although the English level of the two lives before and after is not very high, and most of the remaining foundation is still from American dramas and Hollywood blockbusters, Li Qian still decided to "fill in the words" by himself.

In the original negotiations with Rolling Stone Records, Li Qian asked Liao Liao's album to use five English songs and five Chinese songs, but Rolling Stone Records expressed firm opposition, and then repeatedly negotiated and fought for it, and in the end, Minghu Culture won six English songs and four Chinese songs at the cost of reducing its own commission and ensuring the interests of the other party.

Therefore, in addition to the tunes of the three songs that Li Qian has already taken out before, in the next period of time, Li Qian needs to "create" the lyrics of three other English songs, the lyrics of the previous three English songs, and four Chinese songs.

Four Chinese songs, very easy to do.

To make this album for Liao Liao, the intention is to push Liao Liao to a higher place, but Liao Liao herself is the top diva of the Chinese music scene, even if she doesn't think about anything to promote Chinese culture to the world, first of all, she can't have Chinese works in her album - if the ten songs in Liao Liao's fifth album are all English songs, Li Qian is very worried that once the album is launched simultaneously in the world, himself, and Liao Liao, will they be scolded by the angry young people in China!

It is not terrible for someone to scold or attack, but what is terrible is that in many cases, public opinion will be driven by a small number of people, and it is just a simple business behavior, and later it will even be linked to topics such as "nation" and "country", and at that time, it will be troublesome.

Although until now, in the past few years that Li Qian has experienced in this time and space, he has not seen these very bad trends of thought from the current richer and more confident Chinese people, but in his previous life, he had seen many similar events with his own eyes.

Therefore, in Liao Liao, he will not allow this kind of thing to happen.

Four Chinese works, Li Qian took them out very easily - "Rap Face", "Hairpin Phoenix", "Forgotten Time", "Paradise".

The intention of these four songs is very clear.

"Rap Face" is a typical Peking opera-style work, which looks at their own national culture from the perspective of young people, expresses their love, and their hopes.

"Hairpin Phoenix", is a work in a fever album that Li Qian heard very much in his previous life, the original song is Guan Dongtian and Mao Amin, the whole song also follows the style of Peking Opera, and skillfully integrates the words of Lu You and Tang Wan's two "Hairpin Phoenix", almost a question and an answer, the whole work is interesting from the words, to the song, to the arrangement, and then to the singing.

For Liao Liao's first album for European and American audiences, these two Chinese works in the style of Peking Opera not only show Liao Liao's own love for the national culture of his motherland and his desire to pass them on to Western fans, but also really integrate the style of Peking Opera into it, which can make European and American fans feel refreshed when they listen to it - many people say that Peking Opera is outdated, but this kind of thing that has been inherited for a hundred years and is still loved by Chinese people, Li Qian has never thought it is outdated.

There is a saying that "the national is the world", and Li Qian agrees very much.

For the current European and American music market, all Chinese works are definitely niche, and it is conceivable that Peking Opera must be even more niche, so Li Qian does not expect these two songs to gain a wide range of love in Europe and the United States, and even works like "Hairpin Phoenix", Li Qian does not think that it will be very popular in China, even if it is sung by Liao Liao. After all, it was only recorded in a fever disc with very small sales and a very narrow audience.

However, whether it is considering the promotion of national culture to the outside world, or considering that when releasing this album based on English songs, it is necessary to deal with domestic public opinion issues, Li Qian believes that such two songs must be appropriate.

Moreover, when he was apprenticed to learn opera, he promised the old man to speak out more for Peking Opera, promote Peking Opera as much as possible, and strive to make the younger generation like Peking Opera, and now, these two songs appear in Liao Liao's first global album, which can naturally become Li Qian's answer to the old man.

Even, considering that his own drama is half and half lala, and his level is not very good, Li Qian also considered that when recording this song, he should ask his senior brother Fang Shaobai, a leading figure in today's domestic Peking Opera industry, to ensure the high level of this song.

Therefore, among the four Chinese works, with two songs like this, there is already a piece of national culture. Even, with a mournful and poignant work like "Hairpin Phoenix", even ancient Chinese love is available.

Then, "Forgotten Time", Cai Qin's classic work, what it needs to release is Liao Liao's classic oriental singing. And the song itself represents the current life and emotions in China.

As for "Paradise"...... If the first three songs, "Rap Face", "Hairpin Phoenix" and "Forgotten Time", represent Liao Liao, the Chinese diva's interpretation of the historical length of her country, which is based on the dimension of time, then what this song "Paradise" represents is the width of China.

In China, in the eyes of a Chinese singer who has released an album to fans around the world, it not only has a splendid and long history and culture, nor only the delicate emotions of the moment, but also a vast territory and magnificent mountains and rivers - the Chinese songs that appear in an English album can not be popular, but they must be thick and stand up to scrutiny!

Of course, for European and American audiences, these things are precisely the ones that can arouse their curiosity and curiosity the most.

On the contrary, it is the other six English songs that must capture the ears and hearts of European and American listeners.

After all, this is still a global album after all!

***

This chapter was supposed to be longer, but there wasn't enough time to finish it, and it would be past twelve o'clock to write it again, so I had no choice but to write it again tomorrow! )