After Kudo Shizuka's legs warmed up, Zhou Yan took her to Xidan to buy clothes, and then the two went to the Audiovisual World together.
The current Audio and Video World has just opened not long ago. It is located at the southeast corner of the intersection, and its business area is only more than 200 square meters.
Later, when Xidan Audio Video World became popular, it moved to another location, and its business area increased to nearly 2,000 square meters. It can be said to be a landmark store in Yanjing. When it comes to buying records, everyone will think of Audio Video World. .
Most of the singers who could be named at that time also had signings in the audio and video world.
Although the audio and video world is not as big as it was later, it is not small now. When Zhou Yan and the others arrived, there were already many customers in the store.
Compared with other audio and video stores, the design of Xidan Audio and Video World is relatively novel. In addition to rows of shelves, there are also display windows on the wall to display the records in the store.
What can be displayed on the window display are basically hot-selling records. Customers can see them at a glance when they come in.
And there are many listening places in the store. Many people come here to listen to music even if they don’t buy anything.
However, audition seats are hard to grab. Every time Zhou Yan comes, the audition seats are basically full.
Although today is Tuesday, the audition seats are still packed.
If it's a weekend night, there will be more people in the store, and sometimes it's hard to even squeeze in.
There is an information board at the entrance of the store, which contains information about new albums that have just been released. Shizuka Kudo's new album "First Dream" was ranked first because it was just released today.
When you enter the store, you can see the new goods shelves, and the first row on them is "The First Dream".
There are three pieces on display, one CD and two cassettes. I don’t know if some have been sold or if there are only these three.
Zhou Yan hadn't seen the finished record yet. He walked to the shelf and picked up the CD and looked at it.
The cover is a photo of Shizuka Kudo wearing JK and holding a ukulele. In the photo, Shizuka Kudo has a bright smile on her face, and she is a perfect little sweet girl image.
【Neon Kudo Shizuka's new Chinese album】
【The first neon singer Chinese album】
Sakai Noriko's Chinese album has not been released yet, so "The Original "Dream" is indeed the first Chinese-language album by a neon singer.
Many neon singers have sung Chinese songs before and even released Chinese singles, but Shizuka Kudo was indeed the first to release a Chinese album.
Such a good gimmick, Sony, the cooperative record company, naturally couldn't waste it and printed the words directly on the album cover.
In addition to Shizuka Kudo, there is also Zhou Yan’s name on the cover.
[Music master Zhou Yan, personally produced]
Ogi Production asked Zhou Yan to help Kudo Shizuka write songs, not only because of Zhou Yan’s musical talent, but also because of Zhou Yan’s career in China Of course, Zhou Yan's name should be printed on it so that music fans can see it.
Zhou Yan looked at it and saw that there was no trial version, so he couldn't see what was in the album.
The packaging of the tape is similar to that of a CD. The photo of Kudo Shizuka printed on it is the same, but it is scaled down.
Kudo Shizuka hugged Zhou Yan's arm and whispered: "I, do you look good?"
Zhou Yan smiled and nodded, "Yes, she looks good, but she is still a little thin."
"I have grown fast, ten pounds." Shizuka Kudo pouted.
“It can be longer.”
"If I grow twice as long, can you still hold me?"
"Even if you grow twice as long, I can still hold you."
Shizuka Kudo said. He curled his lips and said, "Bragging."
Of course Zhou Yan was not bragging. Shizuka Kudo only weighed more than ninety pounds, and if she doubled in weight, it would be less than two hundred pounds. He could still be hugged by a princess, but it was a little difficult.
At this moment, there seemed to be more and more people in the store. Of course, the two of them couldn't stand next to the shelves all the time. Zhou Yan took Kudo Shizuka's hand and walked inside, preparing to take her to visit the video store. .
Just after taking a few steps, Kudo Shizuka suddenly stopped, and then she walked to one of the shelves with a look of surprise, "Here, there is you..."
Halfway through her words, she did not go down any further. explain.
Zhou Yan went over and took a look. There were his music albums on the shelf. In addition to "Piano Boy" and "Mysterious Country", there was also the original soundtrack of "Yanjing Silence".
Of these three albums, only the cover of "Yanjing Silent" has a live photo of Zhou Yan playing the piano. The other two albums do not have photos of Zhou Yan. Shizuka Kudo also had a photo of her after seeing "Yanjing Silent". noticed.
“I haven’t heard of this album yet.” Shizuka Kudo took “Yanjing Silent” and said, “I want to buy one and listen to it when I go back.”
Zhou Yan said with a smile, "You don't need to buy it. I have a video of this concert at home. I will show it to you when I go back tonight."
Shizuka Kudo put down the album with a smile, "Well, then I won't I bought it. But there are only a few of your albums on the shelf. There are only a few in total.” "Pure music albums in the Mainland are not easy to sell. If you look at the rows of shelves in front of them, there are only a few pure music albums like mine."
Shizuka Kudo looked at several shelves, and she was actually interested in them. I don’t know much about these albums, and I don’t know which ones are pure music and which ones are pop songs, but I can basically guess it by looking at the covers.
The covers of Zhou Yan's albums are obviously different from the covers of ordinary pop song albums. The covers of most pop song albums, like "Initial Dream", have the singer's photo printed on them.
Kudo Shizuka pouted, "In Neon, your albums are always on the front row."
What she said is the truth. In most of Neon's video stores, Zhou Yan's albums are on the front row. They are placed in the most conspicuous position, and there are usually a lot of them because they sell easily.
In the past two years, Zhou Yan’s album sales in Neon have been unmatched by anyone.
Although both albums have been released for a while, their weekly sales are still very high, and they can always enter the single-week sales rankings.
The market in Mainland China is very different from Neon. Here, the best sellers are either rock songs or popular songs from Hong Kong and Taiwan. How can Zhou Yan’s album be placed in such a close position? The current position is already very difficult.
Zhou Yan is used to it, but Shizuka Kudo is a little unhappy. She feels that Zhou Yan's album should be placed in the most conspicuous position.
“Let’s go look at other shelves. This video store has a lot of records, including many foreign language records.”
“Are there any neon ones?”
< br>“Yes.”
“Do you have mine?”
"You can go look for it."
Hearing what Zhou Yan said, Kudo Shizuka was quite curious, so she followed Zhou Yan to the foreign language record area.
The area for foreign language records is not large, with two shelves.
Speaking of which, these two shelves account for a lot in record stores, but for the music industry around the world, these two shelves seem a bit small.
So, the records that can be placed on this shelf are basically the ones that are well-known around the world, and most of them are English records.
People like Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, and the Carpenters in the United States, as well as the Beatles, Queen, and Genesis in the United Kingdom, are basically all popular singers or bands, and their recording talents Show up here.
Over at Neon, singers like Tanimura Shinji and Tamaki Koji are relatively familiar to Chinese people.
Female singers include Momoe Yamaguchi and Akina Nakamori, but there is no Shizuka Kudo.
Not finding herself, Kudo Shizuka muttered, "Ari Akina is here."
The latter sentence, "There is no me," was not uttered.
Kudo Shizuka and Nakamori Akina are a few years apart, but they can be considered singers of the same era. The two are often compared together by fans.
However, the positioning of the two is different. Akina Nakamori is a serious singer, while Shizuka Kudo made her debut as an idol. In terms of music, Shizuka Kudo cannot compare to Akina Nakamori.
Actually, Kudo Shizuka's music career had already declined slightly at the beginning of the year, but she just happened to sing covers of "Stay with Me" and "If Love Has God's Will", which stabilized her music career again.
Kudo Shizuka and Nakamori Akina had a pretty good relationship in private, but when she saw Nakamori Akina's records here but not her own, she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.
Zhou Yan smiled and comforted her, "It's okay, there will be a lot of your records here soon."
"Actually, I don't care either. I really care."
Hearing what Shizuka Kudo said, Zhou Yan smiled. This girl has a pretty tough mouth.
I took Shizuka Kudo to the foreign language album section, and Zhou Yan went to the classical music section.
Compared with the foreign language album section, the classical music section has fewer products.
Not only are there less goods, there are also fewer people.
However, this area has the highest style. There are many vinyl records placed in the display windows on the wall. This thing covers a large area and is very conspicuous.
For audio and video stores, these vinyl records are not like commodities, but more like decorations. They are placed there for customers to see, not to buy.
Under normal circumstances, the best-selling products are naturally tapes, followed by CDs, while few people buy vinyl records.
Not to mention the price of vinyl records, they have too many disadvantages compared to CDs. Firstly, they are large in size and difficult to carry and store. Secondly, they are also difficult to save. This thing is extremely heavy and difficult to move. It's easy to get bumped when moving.
And the vinyl record player is also large and takes up a lot of space, so most people will not buy it at all.
Those who still buy vinyl records now are players who are not short of money. The sound quality of vinyl records may not be better than CDs, but some people like the sound of vinyl records.
It is also because of these reasons that people feel that vinyl is more advanced.
Both "Mysterious Country" and "Piano Boy" have produced vinyl, but their sales in the mainland are average, but sales in Europe are pretty good.
There is also a copy of "Mysterious Country" on this wall. When she saw this album, Shizuka Kudo was very happy.
“This is the place where “Mysterious Kingdom” should appear.”
Zhou Yan joked, "The albums on top are all very difficult to sell."
In addition to "Mysterious Country", there are also "Beethoven's Selections", Collection of music by famous classical musicians such as "Mozart Collection" and "Tchaikovsky Collection".
In China’s classical music market, it is indeed difficult to sell these albums.
Before Kudo Shizuka could speak, a man's voice sounded next to him, "Brother, what you said is wrong, this "Mysterious Country" sold very well."
Zhou Yan turned around and looked at the person who spoke. He was a young man in his thirties, short, fair, wearing glasses, and slightly chubby.
"Oh, really?" Zhou Yan replied with a smile. "Of course, Zhou Yan's music is nothing to say."
Zhou Yan looked at the display window on the wall, "It is somewhat inappropriate to put him together with Beethoven and the others."
What he means is that he is the only living person above.
However, the man thought that Zhou Yan was not qualified, "It is definitely not comparable to Beethoven, but he is very famous now. He is one of the first among the younger generation of composers. You can listen to it if you have time. His music, especially his "Eternal Night" and "Flow·Wind", are of a very high level, but unfortunately they are not included in this album. He has played them in concerts. If you want to listen to them, go buy "Yanjing·Wind". Silent" Live Soundtrack"
Zhou Yan nodded. It seemed that this man was a classical music lover. Most music fans liked "Kite", "Wind" and "Reunion", which are highly listenable songs.
"Eternal Night" and "Flow Wind" will sound very tiring and boring if you don't like listening to classical music.
And the average music fan doesn’t know these two songs.
Kudo Shizuka heard this interestingly and covered her mouth with a smile.
She looked at Zhou Yan, then at the man, and asked, "Have you ever heard of Zhou Yan's concert?"
"No, I also listened to the original soundtrack. I couldn't get tickets for his concert at all." The man glanced at Shizuka Kudo and said curiously, "Girl, your accent sounds like you're not from here."
Kudo Shizuka asked with a smile, "Then, where do you think my accent is from?"
"It's a bit like...from the west of Gansu?" In fact, the man wanted to say that Kudo's accent was like that of Neon Man, But I'm embarrassed to say it. If not, wouldn't it make people unhappy?
But Shizuka Kudo felt that her pronunciation was affirmed, "I am not from Ganxi, I am from Neon."
"Oh, then your Chinese level is okay."< br>
"It's okay, just so-so."
"Oh, by the way, a female singer from Neon released a video today. I just saw it on the new album shelf in front of me. It seems that Zhou Yan helped produce it. "
Kudo Shizuka pretended to be surprised, "Really? I'll go take a look later."
But she still pulled up her scarf while talking. To prevent the other party from recognizing her. When he and Zhou Yan went out, they both disguised themselves. She wore a hat and scarf, and only a small part of her eyes could be seen on her face.
The man nodded and said, "Yes, that female singer seems to have had a scandal with Zhou Yan."
"That's what happened. No wonder Zhou Yan would help her write songs."
The man smiled and waved his hand, "Hey, you can see these news, most of them are fake. There have been scandals with Zhou Yan There are so many female celebrities. Wasn’t the scandal between him and Zhang Manyu spread all over the world? Now it seems that we can’t hear it anymore. There is also a mainland female star named Hong Lai.”
Kudo Shizuka said with jealousy, "Maybe, it's all true?"
The man laughed, "How is that possible? Zhou Yan is alone, how can he be so busy? Let me see, The scandal with a female singer from your country is the most unlikely. They are not in the same country, and they are so far apart. I would rather believe that Zhou Yan and Anita Mui are in a relationship."
"Zhou Yan and Anita Mui are also..."
Zhou Yan on the side heard that the two people were talking more and more nonsense, so he coughed lightly, "I didn't expect that brother, you are quite concerned about gossip news."
The man scratched his head in embarrassment, "It's all a coincidence. As you can see, I’m still paying more attention to the music. Okay, you two continue shopping, I won’t disturb you.”
After that, the man left.
After the man left, Kudo Shizuka gave Zhou Yan a roll of his eyes, "Are what he said true?"
"Some are true and some are false."
"Is it true or not?"
Zhou Yan shrugged and smiled, "Isn't it true for you?"
Listening to what Zhou Yan said, Kudo Shizuka pursed her lips and smiled, "Your scandal , more than me."
"It seems that you have a lot of scandals." Zhou Yan turned around.
“That was all arranged by the company.”
Zhou Yan teased her with a smile, "Is it also arranged by the company?"
Kudo Shizuka stamped her foot, "I won't tell you, I told you."
Then she ran to the new product at the door. I looked at the shelf and found that none of her albums were missing, which proved that no one was buying her albums at the moment.
Seeing such a result, she couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.
Seeing her disappointed expression, Zhou Yan took her hand with a smile, "You have been in the industry for so many years, and your mentality is still so bad. It has only been a while, and it is normal that no one comes to buy it. Let's start with Stop watching, it’s almost dinner time, I’ll take you to dinner.”
"Okay."
Although she was a little disappointed because she didn't see anyone buying her album, she still had to eat, so she followed Zhou Yan to find a restaurant to eat.
But not long after they left, two young men, a man and a woman, entered the video store and went straight to the new product shelves.
Seeing "First Dream" on the shelf, the girl smiled and said, "I just said yes, and I clearly remembered that it was put on the shelves today."
The boy saw Kudo Shizuka's song on the album Photo, raised eyebrows, "So Shizuka Kudo looks like this, no wonder she is having a scandal with Zhou Yan."
The girl looked disgusted and said, "Hey, that's all you pay attention to."
After that, she quickly took a "First Dream" tape from the shelf and ran to the checkout counter, "Boss, check out."
Then she pointed in the direction of the boy and said, "He gives me money."
After saying that, she began to remove the tape's plastic wrap.
After unpacking it, she took out the Walkman from her backpack and put the tape in. Then she didn't rush to play it, but studied the lyrics book first.
She was not a fan of Kudo Shizuka. The reason she bought this album was entirely for Zhou Yan, so she wanted to see if there were any songs written by Zhou Yan in this album.
I read news reports before, and Shizuka Kudo said personally that Zhou Yan helped her write songs, but she didn’t say how many songs he wrote and which ones they were.
There is no need to find a girl. The first song in the lyrics book, the three columns of composer, lyrics, and arrangement all have Zhou Yan's name.
"My dear, Zhou Yan is really nice to Kudo Shizuka."
Zhou Yan has also written pop songs before, but he has never been so comprehensive. Most of them were just composers. , no matter how much, just add an arrangement.
The first song on side A, which is also the title song of the entire album, is "Initial Dream" with the same name as the album.
The girl didn’t turn back the page, she couldn’t wait to press the play button, and then started listening to the lyrics.
The song begins with a very high-spirited violin. If you listen carefully, you can hear the sound of wind mixed with it, but the sound of wind is looming, and the girl is not sure whether she heard it wrong.
Soon, she was sure that she heard correctly, because she heard some waves again.
It should be specially sampled when arranging the music.
In addition to the sound of violins, wind and waves, you can also hear the sounds of some other musical instruments, but you can't tell what specific instruments they are. It's very special.
Perhaps it is not the sound produced by conventional musical instruments at all. Synthetic sounds appear in many of Zhou Yan's songs. These synthetic sounds are made by Zhou Yan himself and do not belong to any conventional musical instrument.
This new century style element actually appears in Zhou Yan’s music.
After the intro ends, the vocals appear.
"If pride is not coldly photographed by the sea of reality
How do you know? You have to work harder
to go far..."
There is no temptation at all in this song. It hits you hard right away and you listen to it right away. Zhesuo's whole attention was grabbed.
At this time, the boy had already paid the bill and came over to the girl, "Why..."
The girl quickly made a silence. The gesture, “Shhh! ”
After saying that, she gave another earphone to the boy.
"Plant tears in your heart
Brave flowers will bloom
You can..."
No matter where you start listening to this song , are all high-spirited and forward-looking, and the melody is not sloppy at all.
The girl originally thought this would be a love song, but after listening to it, she discovered that this song had nothing to do with love, but an inspiring and motivational song.
Although I don’t know what Shizuka Kudo’s original style is, the girl feels that Shizuka Kudo is very suitable to sing this song.
What surprised the girl even more was that Shizuka Kudo's pronunciation was very standard, and there were a few sentences where she couldn't even tell the accent.
Although singing is inherently simpler than speaking, being able to pronounce it to this point is obviously a matter of hard work. Shizuka Kudo can probably speak Chinese.
If you don’t speak Chinese, it will be difficult to achieve this level of pronunciation just by leaning back.
After listening to the song, the girl let out a long sigh of relief, "Zhou Yan's composition is really trustworthy. Both the melody and the arrangement are very nice."
The boy couldn't help but nod, "No. Wrong, this song is a typical major-minor key conversion of the same name. The verse part is in the key of G#, and then the chorus is changed to the key of Ab, and then the chorus is changed to the key of F..."
Girl's translation Rolling his eyes, "It's true."
"What I said is true. The arrangement of this song is indeed very rich, blurring the unique properties of major and minor, and neutralizing The brightness of the major key and the dimness of the minor key also include off-key techniques..."
"Okay, okay, I believe you can't do it yet." The girl lowered her head to look at the lyrics book in her hand. , "Let me see what other songs Zhou Yan wrote for her."
The boy curled his lips and said, "It's great to be able to write a song, don't be too greedy."
"Hey, the first song on side B is also the same."
"Really?" Boy He looked up in surprise.
The girl didn’t lie. The first song on the b-side was actually written by Zhou Yan. The composer, lyrics, and arranger were all Zhou Yan.
"Little hands holding big hands, I don't know what to do, let me listen." (End of Chapter)