Chapter 81

The relationship between Li Qian and Xie Bing, of course, was not as the gossiping men and women had imagined. ≥≥ Point ≥ Small ≥ Novel,

Xie Bing was very beautiful, there was no doubt about it. Her charming smile, her beautiful eyes, her soft Wu dialect, and her graceful demeanor... these good words used to describe her would not feel out of place at all, and even felt like an understatement. Because these words were a true reflection of her. This beautiful girl, of course, everyone loved to look at, and Li Qian, at least, found it quite pleasant and enjoyable to interact with these pretty girls.

But that was all there was to it.

Li Qian was not a pervert, nor did he have a harem collection fetish. Even if he thought that having multiple wives and concubines sounded quite appealing, he was not so shallow as to want to embrace every pretty girl he saw.

As a man in his thirties, he had his own self-awareness and self-control.

Therefore, in his mind, from a professional standpoint, he was the producer of the "Wuxing Wu Su" album. He wanted to help them make this album, to promote them while also earning a sum of money and gaining valuable experience for his future career. From a personal relationship standpoint, to be honest, as a man with a mental age of nearly forty, he often subconsciously treated these lively, youthful girls as juniors or children—this was a common problem among many mature older men.

Regardless of what ripples might arise in Xie Bing's heart, for Li Qian, taking her to watch a play served two purposes: one was to fulfill a promise, and the other was to show concern for her, as she was alone in Jinan during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Although Wang Jingsnow was also in Jinan, she was cold and distant, not the type to show care or concern. Therefore, Li Qian felt it necessary to show some care to this young girl... as mentioned earlier, this was a common problem among older men.

After the play, the concern was conveyed, and for him, the matter was over.

In the afternoon, after watching a good play, they had dinner together in the evening, and then Li Qian rode his bicycle to take Xie Bing back to the rented house. Without waiting for the shy Xie Bing to say anything about going up for a drink of water, he turned and rode away. Before leaving, he didn't forget to say, "You must practice 'Farewell' well, or I'll scold you later!"

Thus, Xie Bing, who had a lot to say, had to hold it back.

...

After the Mid-Autumn Festival, everything returned to normal.

Although the holiday was not long, the few days of relaxation quickly dispelled the fatigue that the girls had accumulated from weeks of continuous recording. Although they had lost some of their previous good state, after a couple of days of adjustment, they quickly found their rhythm, and the recording process became smooth again.

The first to be completed was "Love Me!" with lyrics and music by Cao Zhan and arranged by Li Qian, followed by "Love Birds."

Finally, it was the Russian folk-style "Moscow Suburbs at Night" (it's worth noting that in this world, this song had never appeared before).

By the time all three songs were recorded, it was already late October.

Then, finally, they reached the last stage of the album's recording: "Farewell"!

...

In the plan Li Qian, as the album's producer, had set for Wuxing Wu Su, each song on the album had a clear direction and a specific target audience.

From "Let's Row the Boat" aimed at elementary and middle school students, to "Happy Baby" aimed at middle and high school students, to "Sisters and Brothers Stand Up" aimed at high school and college students, and the main consumer group of pop music under the age of thirty, to "The Heartbreak Line" aimed at all young men and women, combined with the already determined "Charge! Charge! Charge!" and Cao Zhan's upbeat "Love Me!", these six songs together formed a relatively complete hit system—these songs were aimed at making young people spend money.

However, an album clearly couldn't be entirely light and cheerful. Although it wasn't absolutely impossible, if the entire album was made in this style, once it became popular, Wuxing Wu Su's future development path would be directly nailed down.

Therefore, they needed some more alternative songs.

For example, "Love Birds," "Candy Haw," and "Moscow Suburbs at Night."

These three songs would also become popular and could even achieve great success, but they wouldn't be as lucrative as "Sisters and Brothers Stand Up" because they each had their unique charm and a more niche audience.

The former could bring sales, the latter could bring good reviews.

But if that was all, the album would be too chaotic.

Regardless of whether it was top-heavy or not, at least as an album, it would appear to have a relatively chaotic style, even a split feeling, making it impossible to create a perfect album from an overall style perspective.

Therefore, a song like "Farewell" was needed to anchor the album.

With "Farewell" in place, Wuxing Wu Su would no longer be a simple idol group that only sang fast songs to make money. The last four songs, represented by "Farewell" and "Moscow Suburbs at Night," would bring them a very good professional reputation, and only then could they truly achieve a double harvest of good reviews and sales!

In the 21st century, people liked to talk about "bige" (high-end), which essentially meant style.

And "Farewell" was there to boost the "bige."

However, everything has a positive and a negative side.

"Farewell" was a powerful and excellent song. To put it bluntly, in the timeline Li Qian had experienced, it was a super work that could be listed alongside "The Yellow River Cantata" and "The March of the Volunteers." However, the latter two had the theme of national survival, a grand theme, and their standards were extremely high, making them highly esteemed. "Farewell," on the other hand, was purely an expression of personal sentiment, which made it seem lighter in weight.

But in terms of musical quality, "Farewell" was no less impressive.

To put it bluntly, without the promotion by the state, those two grand works about national survival would probably only be listened to and appreciated by a few people in times of peace, while "Farewell" could be passed down for a hundred years through the spontaneous reputation of the people.

But precisely because of its extremely high status and quality, the appearance of this song would inevitably cause a great shock to the domestic music scene in this timeline. As the first group to perform this work, Wuxing Wu Su would inevitably face more, stricter, and even nitpicky scrutiny, criticism, and questioning.

Therefore, from the very beginning of the recording, Li Qian was extremely strict with the five girls, and he first concentrated on recording the fast songs, leaving "Moscow Suburbs at Night" to the end to further cultivate their emotions and feelings.

But the reality proved that it was still very difficult.

And this had nothing to do with their singing skills or their voices. It was purely a matter of insufficient emotion!

In Li Qian's view, this song was difficult to sing but also easy to sing. It was difficult because it was a slow song, a very meticulous slow song, with extremely strict requirements for the singer's breath control and singing skills. But it was easy because the most important thing about this song was not the singing skills or the breath control.

It was the emotion.

Just as the famous evaluation of Su Shi's poetry goes, "Scholar's poetry must be sung by a strong man from Guanxi, with a copper lute and an iron clapper, singing 'The Great River Flows East.'" Was it because the courtesans in the brothels lacked skill or singing ability? Clearly not! In the Song Dynasty, the courtesans in the brothels were the professionals! But Su Dongpo's bold poetry, if sung by a few young, delicate girls, would just sound wrong!

To sing "Farewell" well, it was simple.

A person with a certain level of singing skills, over forty, preferably over fifty, who had experienced some things, who had experienced parting and death, if you gave them this song, even if their breath control was unstable, even if they were a bit off-key, even if their voice was hoarse, it wouldn't matter. The sense of age and the sense of time would make "Farewell" a song that could make you cry after just a few lines!

But Wuxing Wu Su, with an average age of only twenty-one... clearly lacked that sense of沧桑 (cang桑, the feeling of having experienced much in life)!

So, one day, two days... by the third day, Li Qian simply called them out of the recording studio and back to the rehearsal room.

"I know you are all young, and I know it's not easy for you to grasp the emotion of this song, so my requirements for you are not high. You are all young, but I believe you have some experience with the emotion in this song! So now, I will talk, and you will recall..."

"You all left your parents when you were teenagers, went out to Shuntian to pursue music. Now, please recall, do you remember what you looked like when you left home? What your parents looked like? Do you remember the colors of the pillowcases and bed covers your mother packed for you? The little bear, or dog, or even an ugly little crocodile on your bedside table?"

"When you returned home after the holidays, what about the times when you couldn't go back? Did you occasionally recall a dish your mother made for you? When you encountered difficulties or troubles, when you shed tears alone, did you think of something?"

"And, and... do you remember the flower beds you could see from the window? The children running, laughing, and playing by the flower beds? Do you remember the schools you attended from childhood, the large patches of weeds that grew on the playground after the summer vacation?"

"You must all have good friends, childhood friends, and close girlfriends. Do you remember what your good friends said before you left home? Did you get drunk together? How long has it been since you last saw them? Can you still recall the silly things you did in those silly years?... Ok, I see some of you are starting to get teary-eyed. Now, recall it, grasp it, and sing it!"

...

Recording the first part of the five songs, Li Qian and Wuxing Wu Su took about twenty days.

Recording the second part of the three songs, they took about sixteen days.

But when it came to recording "Farewell," just repeatedly refining their breath control and repeatedly stirring their emotions, Li Qian spent a full fourteen days!

However, the benefit was that when they entered the recording studio again, the effect was immediately apparent.

When the girls, still in their early twenties, sang "Outside the long pavilion, by the ancient road" with their young, clear, and simple voices, Li Qian, standing outside the transparent glass wall of the recording studio, found himself feeling a lump in his throat and tears in his eyes.

The song "Farewell" might seem to ordinary listeners to be in two parts, but it is actually in three parts: upper, lower, and upper. After the upper and lower parts, there is a repetition of the upper part, "Outside the long pavilion, by the ancient road," creating a sense of repetition and emphasizing the imagery of the long pavilion, ancient road, fragrant grass, evening breeze, willows, flute sounds, sunset, and mountains, forming a progressive emotional expression of sadness.

Each word conveys sorrow, each character conveys emotion.

Li Qian, based on the different vocal qualities of the five girls, assigned them different parts—there was no choice, "Let's Row the Boat" was mainly for children, and a chorus was sufficient, but "Moscow Suburbs at Night" and "Farewell" were destined to attract countless critical eyes. If they continued to use a chorus, not only Wuxing Wu Su but even he, the producer, would be criticized harshly!

Moreover, that would seem too timid!

Fortunately, after two months of continuous adjustment and recent deep emotional exploration, Li Qian finally succeeded in making the five young girls sing to at least a satisfactory level!

...

November 9, Saturday, 4:30 PM.

After recording five times, with at least three of them meeting or even exceeding Li Qian's standards, Li Qian pressed the intercom and smiled at the five girls behind the glass wall, saying, "Ok, I now announce that the studio recording part of your second album, 'Sisters and Brothers Stand Up,' is officially complete!"

He paused, and before the five