Was looking specifically for this issue in my inbox because one of the first things I've done since I came back from the mountains was to catch up on The Big Band (*not* the three hour version because that's just ridiculous like you said, but the stages themselves 😂). To a casual listener of bands, it's a pretty good way of discovering new artists. (So far, my personal favourite this year is MaYuan Poets and Vinida's collab 'Tatami')
I've noticed how the song that went viral this year is 大梦 from the band Vareihnaz (瓦伊纳). Like WuTiaoRen last season, they owe part of their popularity to how much they are *unlike* musicians because they are also farmers from Guangxi. They barely understand the professional jargons the judges used when critiquing their songs. Yet their "earthliness" (土) made them accessible and palatable to the audience...Would love to see a discussion of the "technical" bands vs. the people's favourite!
I've not been watching it to be honest, but do keep seeing certain moments bubble up on my WeChat feed, including '大梦'. You make a really interesting point about 瓦伊纳, especially as the winners of the last series were Re-TROS, who felt very much like a "critics' band" and whose main story arc was all about their technical ability / mission to "take Chinese music to a new level" or whatever it was Hua Dong said. Will be interesting to see where they end up -- and who wins of course.
Yes! I remember seeing internet debates and many questioned why Re-TROS won (in my circles of course, the casual listeners as well as fanquan enthusiasts) because they felt too "out of touch", even though their technical ability is objectively admirable.
I wonder, also, if COVID played a part in influencing how the show's being received this year, or even the audience of Chinese rock in general. I saw the Weibo chitchats surrounding the show - many now savour and hail the genre as one of the last remaining symbol of resilience because we all still remember the trauma of 0 COVID too vividly. At times of increasing control, rock (and The Big Band) represents a safe space of release, rebellion and rebirth (another example could be how 崔健's livestreamed concert was so widely watched during lockdown).
It felt like Absolute Purity (and other acts) were edited out from the beginning. Wen Jun is still a legend, regardless. Product advertising and placement on the show is just wild. I picked up my new VW SUV yesterday.
Zhang Yadong - I can’t make my mind up about him. Having the wee keyboard next to his chair is new. Isn’t it? All very curious and professorial. It’s all rather addictive as long as you use the fast scrolling function on the iQIYI app!
Yeah, I feel like they've done that on previous seasons too - the bands they want to reach the 'Hot 5' get a lot more attention and the bands they know they're going to get rid of early are largely cut out. It's a TV show after all: they care about storylines and marketability. Looks like they're setting Nova Heart up to go far too, from what little I've seen of it.
I haven't watched any of the interaction bits properly, but the thing about him having a keyboard rings a bell, so maybe it was there before too? Not sure. Felt like he was quite good in the first series, largely because he seemed to offer the only thing resembling proper insight amid all the silly sound effects, but then he became a bit of a caricature of himself... maybe that's just inevitable on a show like this though
Was looking specifically for this issue in my inbox because one of the first things I've done since I came back from the mountains was to catch up on The Big Band (*not* the three hour version because that's just ridiculous like you said, but the stages themselves 😂). To a casual listener of bands, it's a pretty good way of discovering new artists. (So far, my personal favourite this year is MaYuan Poets and Vinida's collab 'Tatami')
I've noticed how the song that went viral this year is 大梦 from the band Vareihnaz (瓦伊纳). Like WuTiaoRen last season, they owe part of their popularity to how much they are *unlike* musicians because they are also farmers from Guangxi. They barely understand the professional jargons the judges used when critiquing their songs. Yet their "earthliness" (土) made them accessible and palatable to the audience...Would love to see a discussion of the "technical" bands vs. the people's favourite!
Thanks for the thoughtful comment Em.
I've not been watching it to be honest, but do keep seeing certain moments bubble up on my WeChat feed, including '大梦'. You make a really interesting point about 瓦伊纳, especially as the winners of the last series were Re-TROS, who felt very much like a "critics' band" and whose main story arc was all about their technical ability / mission to "take Chinese music to a new level" or whatever it was Hua Dong said. Will be interesting to see where they end up -- and who wins of course.
Yes! I remember seeing internet debates and many questioned why Re-TROS won (in my circles of course, the casual listeners as well as fanquan enthusiasts) because they felt too "out of touch", even though their technical ability is objectively admirable.
I wonder, also, if COVID played a part in influencing how the show's being received this year, or even the audience of Chinese rock in general. I saw the Weibo chitchats surrounding the show - many now savour and hail the genre as one of the last remaining symbol of resilience because we all still remember the trauma of 0 COVID too vividly. At times of increasing control, rock (and The Big Band) represents a safe space of release, rebellion and rebirth (another example could be how 崔健's livestreamed concert was so widely watched during lockdown).
It felt like Absolute Purity (and other acts) were edited out from the beginning. Wen Jun is still a legend, regardless. Product advertising and placement on the show is just wild. I picked up my new VW SUV yesterday.
Zhang Yadong - I can’t make my mind up about him. Having the wee keyboard next to his chair is new. Isn’t it? All very curious and professorial. It’s all rather addictive as long as you use the fast scrolling function on the iQIYI app!
Yeah, I feel like they've done that on previous seasons too - the bands they want to reach the 'Hot 5' get a lot more attention and the bands they know they're going to get rid of early are largely cut out. It's a TV show after all: they care about storylines and marketability. Looks like they're setting Nova Heart up to go far too, from what little I've seen of it.
I haven't watched any of the interaction bits properly, but the thing about him having a keyboard rings a bell, so maybe it was there before too? Not sure. Felt like he was quite good in the first series, largely because he seemed to offer the only thing resembling proper insight amid all the silly sound effects, but then he became a bit of a caricature of himself... maybe that's just inevitable on a show like this though