The cover story: Lay Zhang — Music is ‘a lifetime career’
This is an era that pursues “popularity” but also reject the “popularity”
Everyone is actively pursuing the great profits brought by the label of “流量* (web popularity/web traffic)”, but pour scorn on those with such label. Under this context, artists who are being labeled as such are feeling absolutely insecure. The bigger the ‘traffic’, the smaller their survival space become. Hard-working, strength, personal values would be pixelated and not recognized by others.
Debuted from an idol group and holds a big fanbase, Lay Zhang also inevitably given the label and had to struggle forward with it in the entertainment industry.
In the music composing-competition variety show “CZR2” that aired April this year, Lay Zhang opened the show with his stunning “Joker”: “I also have my dream/I wanna hit the world stage in full glory/I’m still trying/yet you’re saying I don’t deserve this ambition/disrespect my everything/and mock my everything.” This 90s young man who is persistently pursuing his music dream, has written and sung out all his ambition and unsatisfaction through his music works.
*流量: literally translated into data, or web traffic; is commonly used to label younger artists (流量艺人/traffic artists) who hold huge fanbase and can bring big flow of traffic and profits to their works and events that they take part in. But has also been used in a negative way to refer to artists who hold little to no talent but still have huge supporting fanbase.
Debuted for eight years, besides constantly presenting good works to speak for himself, Lay Zhang has also learned to reconcile with the unfair treatment in this world. “In this chaotic world, I’m blazing my own trail” (lyrics from “Ambush”). Lay Zhang got his first victory with “Ambush” in the fourth competition of “CZR2”.
When being asked once again about “traffic artists”, Lay doesn’t deny that this is a derogatory word, but he thinks it is a more neutral word for him personally. Being popular and being loved by so many people is not a bad thing, but “the more love you receive, the bigger responsibility you hold. I must live up to fans’ love, bringing them and the society positive things. They love me without asking for a return, I have to give it back with good works.” He concluded that “the bigger the traffic, the greater the responsibility”.
But if he were to choose three labels for himself, they would be: music producer, singer, and actor.
Music composing
June 2020, Lay released his 4th solo album “LIT”, it has been almost two years since the release of the 3rd album “NAMANANA”. Before this, Lay has consistently maintained one album release each year.
When we asked why this album took such a long time, Lay said that “From the early arrangement, composing and lyrics to the recording of the songs, filming of the music video, I wanted to present the best of it to everyone.” He stressed that “fine products come with slow works”.
“LIT” reached 1.5 million of copies in 7 minutes and 19 seconds, broke 9 records of QQ music digital sales, scored 8.3/10 at the moment rating opens on Douban. Lay Zhang and “LIT” related topics got over 5 billion views and continue to take over every social media platform trending search. Every single number has proven what Lay said, “Two years are worth it.”
The biggest challenge Lay faced during the production of this album was that he constantly had doubts about himself. He gave an example that the song felt great at once, but after a while it sounded not so good. He would have to fix and adjust it again. This was also one of the reasons why the album took so long. This man who seeks perfection in every work, you might even that he is a bit “stubborn”, refuses to relax and slack even just a little.
For Lay, music composing is a “lifetime career”. Hence, when he reaches a plateau during composing, he wouldn’t force himself to continue. “If I can’t write anything then I’d just stop for a moment and do something else to relax. Then, come back and continue writing.”
Lay also read the comments on the internet after the release of every album. Even though the online world is unreasonably unfriendly toward the so-called “traffic artists”, he will still jot down the “constructive” comments from the netizen. “The effect of the internet on my mindset and music throughout the years is actually making me more determined to be myself. Because no matter how you are, there will also be people who hate you and love you. I might as well just show them the most truthful side. If you don’t like me then be it, but if you like me then I will return it with the sincerest heart.”
Using ‘lotus’ as a metaphor of people
The new album “LIT” has two parts, “Previous Life” and “Present Life” that include 6 songs each. Similar to his previous albums, Lay is highly involved in composing, writing and worked as the album producer himself.
Using music to tell a brand-new story of Xiang Yu is an idea that Lay has been holding in his mind for a very long time. In this album, Lay decided to use “lotus has two sides” to tell the story of warlord of Western Chu. The image of “bingdi lotus*” coincidently matched with the album concept of “Lotus has two sides, there’s only a line between praise and condemnation”.
The 6 tracks that has been released up until now has a heavy focus on the traditional musical style, Lay brings the audience with him to the historical events and character that are filled with cultural heritage. A proud, confident, loyal and moral “past-life self” is portrayed through music.
Lay also hope that his music can have the characters of a generation with a blend of traditional and modern. In his opinion, the 90s kids were brought up with the nurture of traditions, but he also receives a lot of new changes in life, he is almost exposed to new knowledge and elements every single day.
Hence, the start of M-pop musical concept, this was proposed entirely by Lay Zhang himself. M stands for Mix. In his point of view, “Chinese culture is quite different from other cultures, so if we were to bring the most authentic Chinese music out to the world, people might not be able to accept it. So, in order to better promote Chinese music, I think it’s best to combine traditional and modern. Making the “new Chinese music” that foreigners and youngsters can understand.”
*bingdi lotus/bingtou lotus: a pair of lotuses carried on each stalk; a species of lotus native to China.
In this album “LIT”, Lay has also deepened the idea of M-Pop. Every song in the album focuses more on mixing Chinese traditions with the current trends. In addition, Lay has devoted the most energy and the newest ideas he has for music into the production of this album. “I’m trying to do the best I that could in the moment” said Lay.
Moving forward with multi-talents
October 2016, after his 25th birthday, Lay released his first solo album “Lose Control”, the release of this album can be considered as the first milestone of his solo career as a singer. That was the 4th year after his debut, if there is anything especially memorable that year, it’d have to be the first music related award that he received. He was still a rookie in the music industry at that time, with the first recognition he got from this industry.
Four years have passed with a blink of an eye, he has received more music awards that he could count with ten fingers. In 2019, he also held 7 concerts for his “Grand Line” tour, with tickets for the opening show in Shanghai sold out in 8 seconds. Holding a concert as a solo singer for the first time, Lay didn’t invite any guest performer. He sang and danced to over 20 songs for every concert. Performing all by himself with little rest, his body is always filled with passion for music and the performing stage.
Beside music, Lay has also taken parts in several films and television works. Whether it’s the passionate revered opera actor Er Yue Hong in “The Mystic Nine”, Zhuang Rui with his “Golden Eyes”, or the antagonist Xiao Xing from “The Island”, his performances were very notable. Lay has also awarded “Best Supporting Actor” by Hua Ding Award with his performance of Xiao Xing in “The Island”.
Last year on the award stage of Hua Ding, Lay said “I’m very thankful for the recognition Hua Ding has given to young actor and actresses like myself. I was looking at other seniors that were nominated with me, I feel that I still have a long way to go. But I will continue to work hard and present more good works.” His hard-working and humble is seen by everyone in this industry.
This year, Lay has joined the cast of a new drama series by Daylight Entertainment, “Challenges at Midlife”. Everyone says, “Every work by Daylight is high-quality work”. This collaboration with Daylight is an opportunity to learn and grow for Lay, it is also a recognition for his skills. “I believe that this drama will pace a more solid path for me as an actor. Daylight Entertainment is an outstanding team, everyone in the cast are all excellent actors and actresses. I think I have a better understanding about acting with the drama.”
The young man has grown with the speed of light in 4 years. If there’s something remains unchanged, it probably is his perseverance and persistence for music.
Stick to the original intention
With the pandemic broke out at early 2020, Lay wasn’t able to travel around for work like usual. He had more time to rest, more time to himself and more time to purely make music. Just like any other young people, when there’s no work Lay said he like to spend his time sleeping and working out. Other than that, it’d be persistently dedicated to music.
Now that the pandemic is slowly getting stabilized in China, Lay begins to dive back into his work. He has 4 ongoing reality shows, the production and release of his new album “LIT”, and the filming of his new drama “Challenges at Midlife”; his schedule is so packed it seems like he gives himself any break.
When asked how he deal with such heavy workload, Lay said “It is important to first regulate my own mindset, to prevent myself from feeling tired mentally because of the busy workload. And then I will try to adjust my body condition, get some sleep whenever I can.”
Stepping into his 30s next year, Lay has mentioned several times that he can feel the changes in his body stamina. For a dancing-singer performer, the most important thing is the maintenance of his body condition, but the mental maturation never relies on the growth of age. “I’m still how I was before, I have infinite power to march forward”, Lay said. The biggest difference he sees in himself throughout the years is that “I have a clearer vision and plan for my music, I’m also more determined. I think these are positive changes, this give me more power to move toward my goals.”
In the future, Lay said frankly that he’ll still stick to his M-Pop music style, but he’ll also try to make more combination between music and culture from China with the rest of the world.
Original interview by Forbes China July/August Cover story
Translation by XingTweetTRANS
