介绍:
Heyang: In the beginning of 2016, the latest ear worm called 张士超 has gone viral. Why is it so popular? 2016年刚到，一首《张士超，你到底把我家钥匙放在哪里了》成为了称霸社交媒体的新神曲，为什么这首神曲会这么有人气呢？So just to give everyone a feel of what we are talking about, let&`&s put that earworm out there for you to have a listen.
神曲
Laiming: It is not as bad as I would think of a Shenqu.
Heyang: Why do you hold that prejudice against Shenqu?
Laiming: Because I tend to believe there is certain stigma attached to the word Shenqu in Chinese. There is an element of shock related to the songs.
Heyang: And often it is a little bit more like grassroot originated, so look at the previous examples like 小苹果, Little Apple, or 最炫民族风.
Laiming: Oh...Don&`&t get me started on that.
Heyang: Yeah, so I guess this one is a little bit different, and I happened to had a little chat with Brian right before the show and he seems to have a lot to say about the difference.
Brian: It is different, but before I want to talk about this, I want to say in general, popular culture is not very good. Most books, movies, TV shows, etc, are just not a very good quality. And so when you are dealing a new hit song, it may be popular, but most of the time, it is just not especially good, and often very stupid as we&`&ve heard here.
Heyang: But good, stupid, those are all adjectives subject to interpretation. What is it about this song that do you think has made it gone viral in the first place.
Laiming: I think it must be the element of contrast. We know that this happens after a concert on "A Tale of Two Cities." It is supposed to be a classic, and right after that, as an encore song after that concert, the Chorus came back to the stage as presented a quite original song, and the song depicts a rather simple story about someone who is locked outside his own home because his roommate has misplaced the key. It is a simple narrative, I don&`&t think it is stupid, it is just simple and plain.
Brian: It is quite a tale though, because it talks about how he&`&s got home and no key, his roommate is not there, and he just goes kind of crazy, calls him 26 times as we&`&ve just heard. It is rather out there and over the top in a lot of ways. And not only is we have this simple narrative, it seems very simple but it is paired with this music which is so dramatic. You know, it has the kind of Church, Latin, kind of chorus-sounding thing there, which you&`&d expect for like a hymn in a church, or a very kind of high, formal sort of ceremony. And yet it is Laiming said, it is this contrast with this very ordinary sort of story that&`&s going on.
Laiming: So you don&`&t like that contrast?
Brian: I think it is fantastic!
Heyang: It certainly is something new and I tried to draw up a comparison with some of the previous ear worms, or Shenqu, and it is very different. The only similar part is that they are all popular and it gets stuck in your head once you&`&ve listened to it. And here, there is also Latin lyrics that&`&s been put into a song like this, and it is a completely different flavor.
Laiming: Please don&`&t compared it to 小苹果 or 最炫民族风, at this story, it makes sense. In the first stanza, it describes how this Mr. Jin is so anxious about not having the key, and a second part is, he&`&s looked everywhere for the key, and the third part is a description of his environment, it is cold, it is windy, so he is suffering a lot, and the last part is when he grows so desperate, he thinks: Okay, fine, just enjoy your date with this lovely girl, I&`&ll just go and make my own key.
Brian: Make ten of them.
Laiming: Yeah, so this whole story makes sense. It is at least logically complete. You can&`&t just compared to 小苹果, that&`&s just vulgar.
Heyang: Oh...
Brian: No exactly, like this could work on its own like a fun little poem or whatever. While most of these other Shenqus, if there is no music there, you&`&d be looking at it, thinking: Why am I reading this? The core of it, that little story, is amusing enough on its own.
Laiming: And very descriptive.
Brian: It is, exactly. And they pair it with this with, again, this very dramatic music. But the music changes. Part of it sounds very serious, and then part of it, it is like self-mocking in its seriousness. It is very funny.
Heyang: And I like the contrast like you guys have pointed out. And a lot of poeple have been talking about what kind of songs get popular, what kind of songs can be titled as an ear worm. And this one has earned that title. But as we&`&ve talked about, it is very different. Do you think that we are seeing something changing in popular culture that maybe people have an appetite for something that is considered a little bit more high-brow?
Laiming: I doubt the change will be that dramatic. If we look closer to the story, we&`&ll realize that this has to do with the fact that the song, before it was sung actually, it was forecasted on the Wechat account of this concert. So it may come as a bit of a promotional stunt for this new concert, it conforms with the style of language that you often see on Wechat.
Heyang: With a song like this to be popular, it cannot be done without the help of new media.
