At this time last year, there was at least one song "Mohe Dance Hall" that was given various stories and emotions. Like the popular "Wild Wolf DISCO" in 2019, it has "intertextuality" cultural references to the Northeast wasteland.
However, when "Evening Stars Are Like Your Eyes, Killing People and Setting Fires" was covered by Yan Chengxu and Qi Wei, the words were "forgotten" and "words changed" twice, which marked its popularity in the music industry. The castration of meaning after being on a bigger stage. Compared with "Wild Wolf DISCO" which was completely domesticated by the Spring Festival Gala, the sharp edges of "Mohe Ballroom" destined it to be difficult to gain recognition from mainstream discourse without major revisions.
Although it has always been rejected by the elite culture as being vulgar, low and vulgar, in the past every year, the "short video music scene" could still deliver one or more divine songs. In 2018 "Music Tailor" Li Yuanjie's "Sorrow of Leaving Others", in 2019 the melodious "Grand Ear", in 2020 the popular Douyin and Kuaishou "Old Dreams", in 2021 swept the summer "Love 105°C" "You", it's hard for people who don't play short videos not to "hear something".
But when it comes to the year-end summary in 2022, trying to recall the songs of the year has become blurry. Is it the drama "Give Me" and "It's Hard to Give Up"? Or is there nothing memorable about "By Your Side"? It can't be "Love You" by Cyndi Wang and "Wall of Heart" by Guo Jing, right? After all, for a song that is more than ten years old to become the song of the year is definitely enough to declare that "The Divine Comedy is dead."
At the same time, in the orthodox music world, Jay Chou, Deng Ziqi, and Lu Han, who all released new songs this year, failed to create myths. "The Greatest Work", I only remember the retro and gorgeous MV, but the melody is forgotten; it is difficult for Deng Ziqi to work hard to build momentum for the live broadcast, the song on the QQ Music Hot Song List turned out to be 2015's "Together No matter how far away" . After a whole year of hard work, the list returned to 7 years ago. I even started to miss the days of complaining about Divine Comedy, because at that time there was someone to blame for the failure of the music industry. Now that the Divine Comedy has disappeared, the last fig leaf is gone. When opening various music charts, the most doubtful and self-doubting question is - is this song hot? Am I ignorant? There must be information cocoon rooms, just look at the aesthetic differences between these platforms: NetEase Cloud users may have never heard of Kuaishou's popular "Bedfellows". "Kuchazi" is on NetEase Cloud's list, and both Qingyin and Douyin want to pretend they don't know it.
If I had to choose one song for my annual single cycle for Douyin in 2022, let it be half of "Love You". What’s even more outrageous is that Yang Kun and Guo Caijie’s “Answer” became popular again on Douyin. What was popular in 2018 was the first part of the chorus, "Love is like a clear blue sky, white clouds, and suddenly a storm." What was popular in 2022 was the second half of the song, "So, forever is long, forever is short, and is always regretful." Each song is popular in its own way, and there is a gap of 4 years, which makes the new song difficult to deal with. The lists of NetEase Cloud and Q Sound are equally nostalgic. Among the top five songs on QQ Music's hot song list, only one, "Give Me", is a new song in 2022. "Mom's Words" is from 2021, "By Your Side" is from 2017, and "Together No matter how far away" is from 2015. TOP1 is "Letting Go" released by Tanya Tanya in 2011.
There is not a single new song in the top 5 of NetEase Cloud’s hot song list. "If You", "By Your Side", "Piece the Memories for You", "Only" and "Everywhere Is You" are all songs from 2017-2020. It is not difficult to see that the hot song lists of online music platforms and short videos are becoming similar.
The only one who still has a sense of an independent kingdom is Kuaishou. In addition to "Together No matter how far away", "Changing the Wind", "Spring Breeze and Autumn Rain", "Bodies in the Bed" and "Quiet" at the top of the list are different from others. Especially "Spring Wind and Autumn Rain" released by Ye Qianwen in 1996, it really has the nostalgic flavor of a golden song.
When listening to "Wild Wolf DISCO", you are no longer an ordinary young man, but the break dance king Sun Honglei under the shining light ball. When listening to "Mohe Ballroom", although you were single, you experienced a poignant love compensation. When you listen to "The Wind Blows", you are a Hong Kong-style beauty traveling all over the world, surrounded by a bunch of young people who can work hard for you. But as an adult who has just gone through the difficult year of 2022, if I scream "Fight, fight, with the most lofty dream", I still feel a little disbelief.