At the venue, reporters actively asked questions, but this time Zhou Jianhui took the initiative to step down and hand the stage to Cao Xuan.
"Are you releasing an English album this time? How many songs are there in total? Are they all composed by you yourself?"
"It's not even an album. It's a CD that contains three songs. It's an attempt. I took the lead in creating the songs.
Of course, there was also some help from others, such as the lyrics, which were not my mother tongue after all, so I also consulted some foreign language experts and even communicated with several musicians in the United States to make certain modifications and adjustments."
Cao Xuan kept his expression straight and spoke eloquently in front of dozens of reporters.
Earlier, he might have been a little embarrassed about "creation", but now he is thick-skinned and doesn't care at all.
As for the latter, Cao Xuan didn't tell lies. He didn't remember many English song lyrics very clearly. It was necessary to find professionals to check for any gaps and fix them.
This does not affect his "talent". After all, he is just looking for someone to proofread, not even co-creation. He is still the only author of the lyrics.
Chris Tsao
Reporters also understand, but there are also people who are worried. Cao Xuan's talent in Chinese songs is unparalleled. Everyone believes in his talent, but can he still be recognized for writing English songs?
"Excuse me, what are the styles of the three songs this time?"
"Two rock songs, and one can be considered a lyrical pop song. It's my first time trying an English album. I want to try more styles and broaden my abilities."
"Will it be released simultaneously in China at that time?"
"Yes, it will be released simultaneously not only in China, but also in Asia and the United States. If the follow-up results are good, it may be launched in other countries such as Europe, Australia, and the Americas."
"It's your first time to release an English song, are you confident?"
"Personally, I am quite confident. Although the production period of this EP is not long, I started creating it very early and I made a lot of preparations."
What Cao Xuan said is not a cliche. He did make careful and long preparations for the "creation" of the English album.
Cao Xuan has extremely rich experience in shedding wool.
He understands very well that wool cannot be harvested haphazardly. It must be harvested with a plan and purpose. High-quality wool must be prioritized. At the same time, it must be consistent with the personality and make choices.
If it conflicts with his own positioning, he will not be tempted by the song no matter how good it is.
For example, Boss Huang's "Shape of Lure".
Is this song good?
Sounds good!
Red?
red!
Boss Huang even won the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Male Vocalist for this song.
But Cao Xuan couldn't copy it, because this song is a pornographic song. Take a look at the lyrics.
【I am deeply trapped in the love in your name】
【The sheets smell like you】
【You make me fall in love tirelessly】
[I fall in love with your wonderful body]
【……】
Even so, the Chinese translation is relatively euphemistic. Even so, I am afraid of getting a 404 review when writing a novel, let alone rapping about it.
Although Cao Daguan has a bad reputation and his personal position is relatively "dissolute", he is not that risk-taking.
More importantly, as a Chinese superstar, Cao Xuan represents the image of China to a certain extent after going abroad. The scale of creation can be relaxed appropriately, but it doesn't matter if it is a little edge-of-the-seat, and it cannot be too straightforward or exaggerated.
Therefore, the songs that Cao Xuan can "create" have a clear scope of his own planning.
He was not allowed to sing large-scale pornographic songs, and he tried not to say bad words. Even in terms of faith, Cao Xuan had to have strict taboos and could not write casually.
Moreover, many English songs have relevant cultural backgrounds. Cao Xuan should be cautious. Some songs should be discarded directly and cannot be written, while others can be "investigated in depth" and then made appropriate adjustments before they can be released.
This aspect is not a trivial matter. If you are not careful, you will step on a thunderstorm, and it will not be a family mistake.
Cao Xuan went abroad to make money, not to seek death. He would rather earn less than touch risky things, especially those involving China. This is the fundamental bottom line.
This results in Cao Xuan's songs basically focusing on love or various positive thoughts.
This is also beneficial, it is easier to spread, and it also helps to establish a good personal image.
In addition, even if the lyrics are not taboo and meet the requirements, Cao Xuan still has to consider whether the positioning of the song itself is consistent with his current position.
For example, Justin Bieber's "Baby" became an instant hit, making Justin Bieber one of the top stars in Europe and the United States, and even a global superstar.
But it is not particularly suitable for Cao Xuan to sing this song.
The positioning of "Baby" is that of a young boy who has just begun to fall in love. His first love died young, and he has the ignorant innocence and innocent longing of a teenager.
If it is a creation, it can also be transformed into understanding and substituting the state of mind, but singing is not necessary.
Cao Xuan is already an old man, and his rumored girlfriend is ten years younger. It is really difficult for him to sing like a young boy.
Can you imagine Tengger releasing a new album, in which he sings the left hand and the right hand in slow motion? It can be played in a variety show, but if it is released as an album, the outside world may not think that he has been taken away...
Because of this, for the first English EP, Cao Xuan conducted detailed research on English albums and carefully selected them. All of them relatively met his requirements, were very popular, and achieved quite good results.
The most important thing is that it is in line with current fashion trends.
Electronic music will be very popular in later generations, but it has not yet begun to become popular on a large scale. One step ahead is a genius, but ten steps ahead may lead to death.
New trend styles are not so easy to develop, even if it is Chinese style, Xiao Zhou of the original time and space was already the little king of Asia at that time, and now Cao Xuan is even more famous as the king of Asia.
Moreover, the reason why Chinese wind energy is so popular is that it itself contains a large number of Chinese elements, combined with fashion, it can arouse people's resonance, and it has the popularity appeal of the king, so it finally breaks out of the circle.
Even so, the birth of Chinese style was accompanied by a lot of controversy.
Cao Xuan is now just an unknown person in Europe and the United States. If he wants to start an electronic music storm and be the first to eat a crab, the biggest possibility is to be stabbed to death by a crab.
Electronic music is not good, and hip-hop can't play with the black people, so rock and lyric music has become Cao Xuan's main first choice. He personally also prefers songs with these two themes.
Songs related to Lincoln, Adele, Dream Dragon, Justin Bieber and other related styles are Cao Xuan’s focus.
There are three songs in this EP, two rock songs are from Lincoln and Dream Dragon, and one is a famous song by British singer James Blunt.
The first song "numb".
Linkin Park's masterpiece, one of the future theme songs of NBA and League of Legends, QQ Speed and Counter-Strike have all used this song as the background sound, and it has widespread influence around the world.
This song was released in 2003. Cao Xuan was hesitant. Later, he inquired through Warner and confirmed that Linkin Park did not write it, so he released it as an "original" song.
The meaning of this song is very good. On the surface it is about confusion about love, but in fact it is a metaphor for love.
First, he expressed that he felt helpless and troubled in real life, and then he thought that he would no longer waste time and immerse himself in pain, but would break free from the predicament and welcome his new self.
It is deep and inspirational, and the lyrics and melody are very positive, which perfectly meets Cao Xuan's requirements.
The second song "Natural".
The representative work of Menglong Band, its Chinese name is "Gifted" or "This Is Natural".
The style of music and its excitement and explosiveness are full of explosive charm, and it is known as the divine song of nuclear explosion.
The lyrics are very realistic, but also inspirational. Even in this world where the weak and the strong are the strong, we still keep climbing up, living in darkness, and igniting the light.
Cao Xuan personally likes this song very much. The lyrics are ambitious and full of domineering. He feels that such lyrics can easily resonate with young people.
If the previous song "Numb" was more mainstream, then this song "Natural" is relatively extreme, but it is easier to attract die-hard fans.
The third song "Lure're beautiful".
The famous song sung by British singer James Blunt, the Chinese name is "Beautiful You".
This is a melancholy love song, with a little freshness and romance, but also an unexpected sadness and coldness, which makes it very emotional to listen to.
This song was released in 2005 and topped the major music charts in the UK and Europe. In the same year, it entered the US Billboard and won the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart.
James Blunt also won the 2007 Grammy Awards for Best Male Pop Vocalist, Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Album for this song.
Although it did not win the final award, the influence of this song can be seen.
In fact, Cao Xuan originally planned to make his first EP all rock music. Later, he felt that it would be easy to be stereotyped as a rock singer, so he specially changed it to a lyrical pop song.
He originally wanted to pick Adele's songs, but later he felt that it was still a long time before Adele debuted, so he had to pick the songs that were ranked first, otherwise it would be a pity to miss them.
The three songs are all global popular classics. Except for the second song "Natural", the remaining two have won the first place on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, and "Natural" is not low in the ranking. They are both kings.
level songs.
Here I would like to introduce Billboard, the most authoritative pop music ranking list in the American music scene, and also the most valuable ranking list in the international music scene.
Bulletin boards have unparalleled influence in English-speaking countries and also have extensive influence on other language-speaking countries.
There are many Billboard charts, the most authoritative ones are the two [Billboard Hot 100 Singles] and [Billboard Top 200 Albums].
The former is a statistical song ranking, calculated based on a combination of radio on-demand and sales statistics, and the ratio is almost 50:50.
Later there will be streaming media and download data, but now it is basically radio stations and sales.
The latter is to calculate album sales, which is similar to Japan's Oricon Chart. Whoever sells more will be ranked higher.
The two charts are published once a week, and the top one is the Billboard No. 1 single/album.
Of course, in addition to the weekly list, there is also an annual list, but the calculation is more complicated. It is not necessarily calculated based on sales and on-demand, and the data is not released to the outside world, so many people recognize it and many people don't.
Of the two lists, the Billboard Album 200 only counts pure sales, so it may be easier to falsify data.
Therefore, the most authoritative of Billboard is the [Billboard Hot 100], which is most recognized by the industry and the outside world.
All pop singers are proud to have their works listed on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart. Top singers even count the number of number one songs and the number of weeks they have been number one as important statistics.
There is a saying in the American music industry that as long as your song can enter the top 40 of the Billboard, you can retire.
This means that as long as you can enter the top 50 of the Billboard, it proves that your song is popular. According to the U.S. royalty law, as long as your song is used, you have to pay. You can just sit at home and count the votes.
This is of course a relatively exaggerated statement, but it can also prove the power of bulletin boards.
However, it is difficult to win the Billboard title, especially for Asian singers. Psy's "Gangnam Style" was so popular that it was ranked second at its peak.
BTS has reached the top, but one thing is that in the later period of Billboard, streaming media has become more and more important, and the Internet has closely connected the world.
If you were to hit the charts in 2002, you would have to order and purchase the album in the United States for it to count, but later generations can help you hit the charts while lying at home using computers and mobile phones, gathering the power of fans from all over Asia, and naturally sweeping everything.
This is not to belittle, but BTS’s Billboard No. 1 ranking is indeed watery, at least compared to Psy’s time, it is greatly weakened.
Cao Xuan is not even as good as Uncle Psy now. He relies solely on his songs to win. At most, he can rely on a little help from overseas Chinese, but it is also very limited.
That's why Cao Xuan came up with three top-level songs, so that he could have a chance of survival. Even if he doesn't win the Billboard title, his ranking won't be too bad.
If he plays steadily with inferior songs, Cao Xuan probably won’t have to worry about the overseas market and can return home as soon as possible...
Cao Xuan naturally wants to win the Billboard Championship, but he knows that it is very difficult, so his goal is to be in the top ten.
First, build your reputation and accumulate a group of fans. Once you are famous and have a firm foothold, Warner will increase its support. Then is the time to truly compete with those European and American big names.
