Due to the great success of the song "Kun no Tsunami", when the production of Cao Zhiqiang's second single "Tsunami" was first started, Japan's Warner Company attached great importance to this work.
For this reason, Warner Japan fully adopted Cao Zhiqiang's suggestion. Not only did it successively produce three versions of the song "Tsunami": the official version, the solo version, and the female version, it also spent a lot of money on these three versions of the song. Produced three high-level MTVs.
The official version is a mix of electronic keyboards, violins, guitars, basses, drums and many other instruments, and has a large number of accompaniments for background singing.
MTV, which matches the official remix version, inherits the original storytelling style and tells a short story about secret love.
The plot of the story is very simple. It begins with a young male office worker. After working overtime as usual, he walks home numb and exhausted like a zombie in the night.
On his way home, it suddenly started raining heavily.
Because of the sudden rain, the numb man suddenly woke up. Then in order to take shelter from the rain, he hurriedly went to take shelter under the eaves of a nearby flower shop. As a result, he saw a young girl here who was also taking shelter from the rain.
After seeing each other, the young man was stunned for an instant and opened up his long-lost memories.
It turned out that the young man knew the young girl because he and the young girl were originally from the same town, and the man had a crush on the girl for a long time.
However, because of his timidity and shyness, the man never dared to express his love to the girl, so the girl never knew about it.
In this way, time flew by. The man successfully entered college, went to school in other places, graduated, worked, and lived the ordinary and boring life that everyone lived.
During his work, many people had introduced him to female companions, but he always expressed no interest and kept immersed in his work.
Others thought he was a workaholic, because he himself knew that he wanted to anesthetize himself through work.
Because since he left that small town and that girl, his heart seemed to have been hollowed out. He just studied and worked numbly like a robot every day. He had no hobbies or interests. He just went to and from work numbly. He became a Work tool man.
Until this day, the man took shelter from the rain and met the girl he had always had a crush on again. Although he only took a glance, because he knew the girl so well, he recognized her at first sight.
But she didn't recognize the man, so she didn't do anything unusual.
Soon, the memories ended and the rain stopped. The woman who was taking shelter at the door of the flower shop smiled politely at the man and nodded, and then left quickly.
The man once again stared at the woman's leaving figure and was stunned. He couldn't help but shed tears, but once again he did not dare to speak out of cowardice and inferiority complex.
At this moment, the flower shop owner, who had already noticed something was wrong with the man, took the initiative to give him a bouquet of red roses with a smile, and then said, "Aren't you going to chase him? If you don't chase him, it will be too late!"
Hearing these words, the man wiped his tears fiercely, took the bouquet of bright red roses from the landlady, and then bowed deeply to the landlady, then threw away his briefcase, holding flowers in his hands and crying, crazy He chased after him in the same way.
At the end of MTV, the proprietress stood at the door of the flower shop with a smile, looking at the back of the man holding flowers and chasing after her with tears, but there was no follow-up. The short film ended abruptly, without explaining whether the man caught up with the woman or whether. There is no formal confession, so it is an open ending.
Obviously, this story fits the lyrics very well, and it is also in line with the current trend in Japan.
Because Japan is at its economic peak at this time, there are also many problems, one of which is the large number of numb office workers.
Most of the Japanese in the 1980s had jobs and good incomes, but most of them were overtime workers.
That's right, for Japanese in the 1980s, whether they were blue-collar workers or white-collar employees, working overtime was the norm. They came to and from get off work on time and there were almost no companies that didn't work overtime.
This situation has led to the fast pace of Japanese life, and most of an adult's time is actually tied up with work, and he basically does not have much spare time to play hobbies.
Because of this, Japan's comic industry began to flourish at this time. The reason is that compared to other forms of entertainment, reading comics does not take up much time.
This situation is just like the rise of the Internet after the rise of the domestic Internet. The reason is that the Internet mainly focuses on white texts. The entertainment method is simple and crude, and does not require too much money and time. It is very suitable for ordinary overtime dogs, study dogs, and squatting at home. .
On the surface, this MTV created by Cao Zhiqiang tells the story of secret love and courage, but it actually touches on some of the sore spots in Japanese society. It is easy for people to sympathize with, especially those ordinary office workers who work overtime every day.
The plot that touches people's hearts, the beautiful pictures, the beautiful music, and elements that Japanese people like such as night, street lights, flower shops, rain, memories, childhood sweethearts, etc., when combined, are simply a killer.
At least in this era, this kind of short video mode can definitely express one's heart and make people burst into tears quickly.
Of course, in order to save costs and also for better publicity, the male and female protagonists are still Cao Zhiqiang and Nakamori Akina.
Among them, Cao Zhiqiang plays the male protagonist, that is, the overtime dog who looks like a walking dead.
Akina Nakamori plays the protagonist's childhood sweetheart who has been secretly in love since childhood.
There is also a flower shop owner who specially hired Kurihara Komaki to play the role.
Kurihara Komaki is indeed a household name in China at this time, but in Japan at this time, Kurihara Komaki can only be regarded as a has-been star, and cannot be compared with a star like Yamaguchi Momoe who is still extremely popular. Than.
Just like now, Kurihara Komaki is actually in a semi-retired stage and has no work.
Of course, Kurihara Komaki's family situation is good, and she does not need to rely on work to support herself.
Later, the reason why Kurihara Komaki kept visiting China and frequently engaged in Sino-Japanese cultural exchanges was actually that she did not have enough status in Japan, and she was too quiet and restless, so she wanted to make a breakthrough in this way.
In short, it was Cao Zhiqiang's suggestion to find Komaki Kurihara to play the supporting role of the proprietress. After all, this song and MTV may become part of the Sino-Japanese cooperation in the future and be sold domestically.
You know, Cao Zhiqiang's identity is not just a singer who came to Japan to work. He is also the person in charge of a state-owned enterprise in China and the owner of a record company.
Therefore, if Warner Pioneer cooperates with the audio and video company controlled by Cao Zhiqiang, it will be possible to sell Japanese records domestically. This will open up the market and is a good thing for fame and fortune. Why not do it.
If it weren't for Cao Zhiqiang's important status, no matter how talented he was in music, President Yamamoto of Warner Pioneer would not treat him so favorably.
Since these songs may be sold back to China in the future, it is necessary to hire a Japanese star who is familiar to the Chinese people.
So Kurihara Komaki was proposed by Cao Zhiqiang and was invited by Warner Pioneer people to play a supporting role in MTV.
For Kurihara Komaki, it was also a good try to play a supporting role on MTV. Moreover, she had heard the song "Tsunami" in advance and really liked it, so she readily agreed.
In this way, everyone hit it off immediately, and MTV quickly finished filming. After some necessary post-production, the official filming was completed.
The drama version of MTV is accompanied by the official version of the song, but the solo version is different from the female version.
The so-called solo version means that Cao Zhiqiang is wearing an ordinary white shirt and jeans, sitting in front of the piano, playing the piano and singing at the same time.
The only accompaniment instrument is the piano, and only Cao Zhiqiang sings, so it is also called the solo version, or the piano solo version.
The MTV that goes with it is also very simple. It just shoots the scene of Cao Zhiqiang playing the piano and singing songs live, and it becomes a live version of MTV.
Not to mention Cao Zhiqiang's singing voice, his piano playing skills are also quite strong. After all, they are all produced by the system.
Through this method of filming live performances, we can also take the opportunity to publicize Cao Zhiqiang's versatility and tell everyone that Cao Zhiqiang is not only good at singing and writing songs, but he is also very good at playing the piano.
The solo version of the song and MTV highlight a sense of authenticity and presence, allowing listeners and audiences to intuitively understand Cao Zhiqiang's singing process and show Cao Zhiqiang's strength.
Because the SOLO version seems simple, but it is actually the least simple.
The reason is that the solo version is a piano solo plus a cappella singing, without much accompaniment or mixing, so it has very high requirements for the singer's piano playing skills and singing expressiveness. If the singer's ability is slightly lower, it will be suppressed. Can't live.
This is why powerful singers like to perform real singing on various occasions. The reason is that real singing can reflect their own strength to the greatest extent, while lip-synching can easily overturn.
Regardless of whether they are ancient or modern, the general public likes powerful singers, and they are dismissive of idols who have no real singing ability.
The launch of the solo version is to tell everyone that Morinaka Aizumi is a real powerhouse, so even if he doesn't like to be in the limelight, don't like to appear in the public eye, doesn't like to appear on TV, or hold concerts to interact with fans, this can be recognized. Forgiven.
After all, talented singers must be busy polishing their skills and thinking about good songs, so they don’t have time to show off and put on a show.
Using this kind of reverse operation will deepen everyone's recognition of "Qingquan in the Forest" as a person who is shy, talented, and down-to-earth, and a group of real fans will emerge.
Only the emergence of a large number of true fans is a clear proof of a talented singer.
Finally, there is the female version.
The so-called female version is this song sung by Akina Nakamori. Most of the lyrics are the same, except that the "female" in the lyrics is replaced by a male.
The purpose of this female version is actually very simple. It is mainly to increase the popularity of Akina Nakamori, and by the way, increase the audience of this song, so that women can also relate to it, and try to achieve equality between men and women.
After all, Japanese women in the 1980s were an era of women’s awakening, and women’s consumption power cannot be ignored.
Of course, compared to the female version, MTV also made a trick, that is, the same story is interpreted from different perspectives.
In the female version of MTV, the story is the same as the official version, except that the protagonist becomes a girl and the perspective becomes that of a female voice.
It's just that in this story from a girl's perspective, the girl has actually been secretly in love with the boy, but because the boy has always been excellent and has always been at the top of the class in academic performance, the girl has low self-esteem. Although she has always liked him, she has never dared to speak. Confess.
Later, the girl learned that the boy had been admitted to a prestigious university in Tokyo. She was very disappointed because she failed and did not have the resources to go to university.
After failing the exam, she found a job as a local convenience store salesperson and lived a boring and ordinary life every day.
Because of her good looks, many people advised her to get married early and become a housewife, so that she would not have to work so hard every day.
But the girl always disagreed because she always had him in her heart.
Later, the girl saved enough money and decided to go to Tokyo alone, just because she heard that the boy she had a crush on was now in Tokyo.
After coming to Tokyo, the girl suffered a lot because of her low education. She worked as a porter and a beer promoter. Then she studied by herself while working. Finally, she was admitted to a vocational school, using the work-study method, and finally After graduation, I became a "specialist", which is similar to a domestic college degree.
After graduation, she became a beautician, specializing in providing beauty services to female customers.
After working, she always had many suitors because of her good looks, but she was never tempted or interested, just because she always had the shadow of that boy in her mind. This is why she has been able to come to Tokyo to work hard alone for so many years. And the motivation to persevere.
As a beautician, she often works late. After get off work, she usually goes to the same flower shop to buy a bouquet of flowers.
Even if her income is not very high, and even if the place she lives in is very small, she will still have flowers at home every day, because she remembers that the boy in her heart once said that he likes flowers very much.
However, on this day, because of the sudden rain, she saw him at the door, whom she had not seen for a long time.
She recognized him the moment she saw him, but because of fear and cowardice, she could only pretend not to know him.
But because of fear and cowardice, she forgot the purpose of coming here and bought flowers.
As soon as the rain stopped, the woman left in a hurry, fearing that she would be embarrassed if she continued to stay and could not help but shed tears.
In other words, in this version of MTV, it is the woman who has always had a crush on the man, but the man does not know it, which is exactly the opposite of the male version.
But in fact, if you compare it to the official version, which is the male version of MTV, you will know that this is a story about two people who like each other, but miss each other because they are too timid to confess, but insist on liking each other in their hearts.
This method of performing different interpretations of the same story from different perspectives is an innovation in itself in Japan today. Coupled with the beautiful pictures and beautiful songs, if the time was not too short, this could be regarded as a short film. .
It is precisely because of this kind of innovation, the songs are really good, and the previous results are good, so Warner Pioneer really spent a lot of money this time, paying attention to all aspects, and the quality is outstanding.
For this reason, Warner Pioneer not only produced the ordinary cassette version, vinyl record version and other record versions of the same record with three songs, but also combined the three MTVs and launched the video tape version and the LD version, which is equivalent to a record and a video disk. Go together!
Not only that, a lot of money was spent on the initial publicity, with 130 million yen being directly used as publicity expenses, which can be said to be unprecedented.
Of course, this amount of money is actually nothing to Warner Japan.
Even President Yamamoto said that it doesn’t matter if this work doesn’t make money, as long as it can increase visibility and make everyone aware of Warner’s brand.
With Warner Pioneer spending crazy money on promotion regardless of the cost, the song itself is of excellent quality, and MTV is also very good. In addition, the trend of the previous song has not subsided, and the previous results have boosted it. So the sales performance of this single has started a crazy feast as soon as it was released!
(End of chapter)
