HPDBC Chapter 85 Music Craze and Public Aesthetic Criticism
Chapter 85 Music Craze and Public Aesthetic Criticism
In the second week of the competition, a small incident allowed Lin Feng to see a deeper possibility.
One of the entries featured several young people dressed as migrant workers, passionately singing "Mice Love Rice" in a makeshift shed, using plastic buckets as drums and brooms as guitars.
Although the tune was severely off-key, the simple, rustic joy it conveyed was incredibly impactful.
The video unexpectedly went viral, and its votes soared into the top ten.
"Brother Feng, look at this," Wang Peng showed the video to Lin Feng. Besides "hahahahaha" and "experts are everywhere," there were also many heartwarming comments:
"What my brothers are singing isn't just a song, it's life!"
"Keep going! Music can be found in the lives of ordinary people too!"
"Why am I feeling inexplicably moved...?"
"Vote already! Support everyone who loves life!"
The video's popularity seems to have touched a chord in the hearts of many ordinary people.
The participants in the competition have quietly expanded from mainly students to a wider range of people in society.
The hashtag #EveryoneCoverMiceLoveRice# was frequently mentioned on newly emerging blogs and forums.
"We might have... accidentally created a social issue?" Xu Qiang scratched his head, somewhat incredulous.
Lin Feng stared thoughtfully at the scrolling entries and comments on the screen.
This has gone beyond simply promoting a song; it has become a low-barrier-to-entry entertainment and expression extravaganza for everyone.
The simplicity of the song itself becomes its greatest inclusiveness, giving anyone the courage to participate and interpret it in their own way.
He recalled the information Shen Jingyi had compiled about the participants and teams who had performed exceptionally well in the competition.
The "Broken Guitar" band from Xichuan Conservatory of Music, the a cappella group from the School of Arts, and several individuals with particularly distinctive arrangements or performances... these are all potential seeds for the future "Campus Original Musician Support Program".
When the three-week submission period ended, the final data surprised everyone:
The special page received over 200 million visits, received more than 2100 valid entries, and garnered a total of 143 million online votes.
This number was astonishing in the context of the Internet in 2004.
The judging process was in full swing. Lin Feng invited Tang Lei and Yang Chengang, along with two professional judges invited by Xunji Audio, to carefully listen to and score the shortlisted entries.
Ultimately, the winners were determined by a combination of online voting (40%) and professional evaluation (60%).
The awards ceremony was held at the final stop of Yang Chengang's "Campus New Voices" tour in Chengdu.
That night, the auditorium at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, which can accommodate two thousand people, was packed to capacity once again.
The winners include highly skilled a cappella groups, exhilarating campus rock bands, and quirky video creators full of ingenuity.
They went up on stage one by one to receive the trophy and prizes from Yang Chengang, amidst waves of cheers.
The first-prize winning a cappella group from Rongcheng Art Academy collaborated with Yang Chengang on an impromptu performance of their award-winning piece on stage. The professional vocal arrangement and the original singer's sincere emotions intertwined, creating a wonderful chemical reaction.
Many audience members spontaneously turned on their phones, and the faint light from the screens once again formed a sea of stars, swaying gently to the music.
Lin Feng stood backstage, watching the excited and proud young faces on stage and the enthusiastic audience below. This "cover song contest," which began as a commercial promotion, had achieved success far exceeding expectations.
It not only boosted the popularity of "Mice Love Rice" and Yang Chengang, but more importantly, it ignited a passion for participation, allowing countless ordinary people to find their own joy and shining moments in the simple melody.
Meanwhile, the radio show "Mice Love Rice" has maintained high airplay rates and has even begun to be mentioned in entertainment news and variety shows on some local television stations.
Yang Chengang then performed at two more large-scale campus concerts, both of which were sold out. Everything seemed to be going smoothly.
However, storms always follow calm.
Just as the cover song competition was a huge hit in Chengdu and everyone in the digital studio was basking in the joy of the event's success, Wang Peng walked in with a newly published copy of the "Music Culture Review" weekly report, his brow slightly furrowed.
"Brother Feng, take a look at this."
Lin Feng took the newspaper and saw an article in the "Music Critic Fang Zhe" column on the second page. The article was titled "The Inflation of Melody and the Cheap Carnival of Aesthetics: A Cold Reflection on the Popularity of the Internet Song 'Mice Love Rice'".
The article uses sharp language, attributing the popularity of "Mice Love Rice" to "the erosion of musical art by fast-food culture in the digital age."
The author criticizes the song's melody as extremely simple and repetitive, lacking harmonic variation and musical tension. The lyrics are straightforward and simplistic, like "a primary school student's sentence construction," devoid of any literary beauty or intellectual depth.
It is believed that its viral spread caters to the public's lazy aesthetic of "refusing to think and only seeking instant gratification," and is "the inflation of melody" and "the cheap carnival of aesthetics."
The article concludes with a concerned statement: "When such works dominate mainstream listening and become the object of pursuit for young people, where will our music go in the future?"
"That's really harsh!" Xu Qiang leaned over to read it, somewhat indignant.
"Is it a crime for a song to become popular? Can't people just enjoy listening to it? Do they have to listen to those highbrow, esoteric songs?"
"Different perspectives." Shen Jingyi took the newspaper and read it carefully. "From a professional music critic's point of view, the questions he raised about the artistry of the music and the depth of the lyrics are indeed part of the evaluation system. Popularity and artistic value are different."
"But the market likes it! Are those 100,000+ downloads fake?" Xu Qiang protested.
"Whether the market likes it or whether it has higher artistic value are two different things," Lin Feng said calmly.
"The emergence of this commentary precisely demonstrates that the influence of 'Mice Love Rice' has transcended the realm of ordinary pop songs and has begun to touch upon some industry controversies regarding 'pop music standards.' This is a good thing."
"Good news?" Wang Peng asked, puzzled.
"Controversy and attention are what create buzz and vitality. A song that no one discusses is truly dead. However, we cannot allow criticism to be one-sided."
Lin Feng quickly came up with a solution.
He contacted music critic Fang Zhe, as well as several other influential music critics, music academy professors, and senior music editors at radio stations, on behalf of Fengchi Digital Studio and Xunji Audio.
We're planning to have an informal tea party, more like a salon, this weekend.
"A salon? What's the theme?" Shen Jingyi immediately understood Lin Feng's intention: to actively guide public opinion.
Lin Feng pondered for a moment: "Let's call the theme 'Creation, Dissemination and Changes in Public Aesthetics under the Digital Music Wave: Starting with the Popularity of a Pop Song'."
There will be no specific debate; everyone is encouraged to speak freely about how the standards for music creation, dissemination, and evaluation have changed under the new technological and market environment.
The Digital Music Club provides a platform for everyone to exchange ideas and hear different opinions on phenomenal works like "Mice Love Rice".
"Brilliant!" Wang Peng praised. "We elevated criticism of a single song to a discussion of an industry phenomenon. Instead of avoiding it, we actively participated, demonstrating our vision and thoughtfulness."
"Yes. Choose a stylish teahouse or bookstore as the venue; the environment should be quiet and elegant. Make the invitations formal. The discussion can be recorded and transcribed; the key points can be provided to our partner media, or we can publish a review article ourselves."
"Understood, I'll take care of it right away." Shen Jingyi noted down the key points.
This was no longer a simple public relations response, but a clever agenda-setting and brand image enhancement.