MUSICAL MAKEOVERS
A reality show is giving bands a chance to rework pieces by their rivals in the business, Chen Nan reports.
In June 2017, one year after they graduated from the Zhongnan University of Economics and Law in Wuhan, Hubei province, the pop duo Landlord’s Cats — comprising two 24-year-old female members: singer-songwriter Wang Xinyi and guitarist Wu Peiling — released a song online called Next Stop, Chashanliu, which was inspired by their campus life.
Now, the pair, who started singing as a duo in their second year of university, has built a fan base with their easy-listening original material, and among their fans is Guo Beibei, who is lead vocalist and songwriter of Beijing-based band, Sir Deer.
Guo, who graduated from Beijing Forestry University and majored in horticulture in 2006, adds that the song reminds him of his days in university.
“I am impressed by their lyrics, especially when they sing, ‘My bus is stuck in a traffic jam for an hour and I have spent an amazing hour doing nothing’,” says 35-year-old.
“This is exactly what I did as a student traveling between my home and university.
“During that one hour, I listened to various kinds of music and used to daydream.”
In early June, the two bands — Sir Deer and Landlord’s Cats — were invited by the Chinese music streaming service, NetEase Cloud Music, to participate in the second season of reality show Music Friends, which pairs 12 Chinese singer-songwriters and bands into six groups and gets them to create a new version of each other’s songs.
For the current season, Guo picked Next Stop, Chashanliu and Landlord’s Cats went for one of Sir Deer’s most popular hits, Chunfeng
Shili (10 miles of spring breeze). In their version of the Sir Deer song, Landlord’s Cats have added violin and cajon to the music arrangement, which gives it a soft and sensitive female touch.
Speaking about Landlord’s Cats, Guo says: “We had not met before recording the show in Beijing, but like their songs, the two young musicians are very straightforward and easygoing. We worked well together.”
Reflecting on the encounter, Wang of Landlord’s Cats says: “We discussed the songs we chose, and the process was inspiring since Sir Deer offered us a different perspective about our song.”
Sir Deer’s first single, Chunfeng
Shili, which was released in October 2015, received more than 200,000 hits online and comments on the NetEase Cloud Music website and app.
Also, in 2015, the band made its live debut at Beijing’s Jianghu Bar.
Fans dote on the band so much that in 2016 they pitched in to help it produce its first album through crowd-funding — more than 7,000 netizens raised a total of 300,000 yuan to cover the cost of the project.
Since then, Sir Deer, with two albums, has become one of the most popular bands on the country’s live music scene, touring and performing at outdoor music festivals across China.
Unlike other Chinese bands, all six members of Sir Deer, who were born in the 1980s, have regular jobs, so, they rehearse after work and perform on weekends.
Guo, who worked for a year at a local wild animal protection center in his hometown, Zhengzhou, Henan province after graduation in 2006, became an entrepreneur in 2008, starting a company in Beijing. He is also the initiator of School Through Music, an organization that connects Chinese universities through music, which has offices in seven cities and holds events at about 100 universities.
The organization also functions as a promoter for young Chinese singer-songwriters, offering them opportunities to release albums and perform live shows.
Speaking about his band’s experience in the reality show, Guo says: “We (both the bands) became good friends after recording the show.
“While going to live shows is great for the audience, it’s the same feeling for singer-songwriters to collaborate onstage, especially adapting each other’s songs.”
The second season of Music
Friends opened on July 22, featuring Chinese pop singer-songwriter Yu Jiayu and Chinese electronic music producer, singer-songwriter Panta.Q.
So far, the first two shows of the second season have received about 1.4 million views.
Meanwhile, the reality show’s director, Yang Liu, a senior video director at NetEase Cloud Music, says the idea for Music Friends arose through her interactions with Chinese singer-songwriters in 2013 and 2014 for another show, titled
The Backstage, also aired by NetEase, for which she spoke to nearly 100 Chinese musicians.
Recounting those experiences, she says: “I learned about the interaction between singer-songwriters off the stage, and that’s why I wanted to do such a show.
“Most of these singer-songwriters are good friends in real life, so, when they adapt each other’s songs into a new version, the chemistry is unpredictable and exciting.
“The collaboration also gives the songs, both popular hits and lesser known work, another chance.”
Yang also found out that both singer-songwriters and audiences are getting younger and seem to be open to more diverse music styles.
Giving an example, Yang says: “When we watched a live show by Landlord’s Cats at Yugong Yishan, a popular live music venue in Beijing, we didn’t expect to see high school students, who had traveled from cities like Tianjin and Shijiazhuang, to be watching the show.
“Social media gives young talented Chinese musicians a platform to showcase themselves and grab the attention of young fans. It’s a joy to see how music connects singer-songwriters and their audiences.”
It’s a joy to see how music connects singer-songwriters and the audiences.” Yang Liu, director of Music Friends reality show