PNB Chapter 17 Imitation Creation
Chapter 17 Imitation Creation
Xie Anran's familiarity with various children's songs stemmed entirely from the fact that several of her nephews had recently stayed at her home.
During that time, BabyBus nursery rhymes and children's songs were played on repeat at home every day. Under such exposure, he naturally memorized most of the songs. Although he knew the melodies and lyrics by heart, he still couldn't perfectly replicate them in their original form, since he wasn't a professional music composer.
But things are different now. At this moment, Xie Anran felt a surge of confidence, realizing that she was fully capable of handling the creative process.
As dusk settled and streetlights gradually illuminated the streets, casting a gentle glow across the alleys. Inside, the smoke from cooking fires dissipated, leaving behind the rich, fragrant aroma of food and a warm, inviting atmosphere. Xie Anran sat upright at the dining table, holding a white porcelain rice bowl, slowly and deliberately shoveling rice into her mouth, her expression somewhat dazed, her mind far from the food.
Beside him, Sisi was completely different. The little girl buried her head in her food and ate with great relish. Her little mouth was bulging out, and she looked exceptionally sweet. The contrast between the two was striking: one slow and one fast, one still and one active.
"Anran, why aren't you eating faster? Is the food not to your liking?" Liu Xiaoli noticed Xie Anran's absent-minded look, put down her chopsticks, and asked softly with concern.
"Ah...no, no, Auntie's cooking is especially delicious." Xie Anran suddenly came back to her senses, quickly gathered her chaotic thoughts, and sped up the rice she was eating.
Today, Liu Xiaoli specially catered to Xie Anran's tastes, preparing a table full of light and palatable dishes: soft and flavorful stir-fried pumpkin, tender and boneless steamed mandarin fish, and savory and sweet cabbage and chicken soup. Each dish was carefully prepared, making it an exceptionally lavish meal. A small dish of refreshing pickled vegetables was also placed on the table, specially for Xixi, who prefers stronger flavors, to accompany her rice.
The meal was pleasant and enjoyable. After finishing his meal, Xie Anran moved to the sofa in the living room and sat there, lost in thought, repeatedly considering the preparations for his new album. Xixi sat obediently beside him, slowly sipping her AD calcium milk in one hand and diligently writing her school homework with a pen in the other.
As for why Xie Anran didn't have to do homework, he had already finished it all during his spare time in class, which was both convenient and efficient.
"Anran, how come you can always finish your homework so quickly?" Qianqian stopped writing, raised her round little face, and asked softly with a hint of resentment and envy in her eyes.
"If you pay attention in class and focus on doing the problems, you'll be faster," Xie Anran replied calmly and indifferently.
"Oh, I see! Then I'll listen more attentively in class from now on!" The little girl was never one to back down, so she immediately clenched her tiny fists and cheered herself on with a determined look on her face.
Seeing this, Xie Anran's lips twitched slightly. She didn't say anything more and turned her head to continue immersing herself in her thoughts, pondering the core solution for the children's song album.
When making a children's song album, the most important thing is to match children's aesthetics and age group. Secondly, the melody must be catchy and have a high degree of singability in order to open up the market.
Simple nursery rhymes like "Color Song" alone are not enough to support sales. Currently, the main buyers of cassette tapes are still students, and his target of selling 100,000 genuine copies is quite challenging.
Based on his understanding of the present era, pirated cassette tapes are rampant in the market, and intellectual property rights are completely ignored and rendered meaningless.
Take the popular hit song "Too Softhearted" that swept the country back then as an example. The official sales figures were only a little over a million copies, but the actual number of pirated copies in circulation was as high as tens of millions.
Pirated copies outsell legitimate ones by more than tenfold. In such a market environment, it's incredibly difficult to break into the mainstream with legitimate copies. If even wildly popular songs face this challenge, the situation is even more dire for children's songs, which have a narrower audience.
"Even with top-notch songwriting talent, even if you plagiarize a hit song, making it big in this era is as difficult as climbing to the sky..."
Xie Anran came to a very realistic and painful conclusion. In this era, to gain a foothold in the music industry, one either needs to have connections and resources or sign a harsh contract that is almost like selling oneself. Otherwise, it is as difficult as climbing to the sky if one tries to make a name for oneself on one's own.
This is not the information-rich internet age where communication channels are diverse and everyone can have a voice. Today, we live in an era dominated by print media, where the power of public opinion is firmly controlled by a minority, and ordinary people have no shortcuts to break out of their comfort zones.
Therefore, if his children's songs want to break through the constraints and steadily achieve 100,000 genuine sales, he must find a strong company to carry out sufficient promotion.
"Right now, the only reliable mainstream media outlets are local newspapers and local television stations..." Xie Anran counted on her fingers, carefully considering her options. Ideas intertwined and converged in her mind, and a clear solution gradually took shape.
"Anran, Anran, look, look! Your favorite Saint Seiya has started airing!" Qianqian suddenly tugged at Xie Anran's sleeve, pointed her little finger at the TV screen, and shouted excitedly.
"Oh... Saint Seiya." Xie Anran replied casually, looking at the anime screen, but other images inexplicably popped into her mind. She silently recited lines about clearing defense and drawing aggro, her thoughts drifting far away.
He knew that music dissemination channels were extremely limited in this era, mostly relying on street-side record stores playing music on a loop, TV variety shows promoting it, and campus radio repeatedly playing it on demand.
Xie Anran vaguely remembers that when she was a child, all popular songs were basically popular through two channels: music and video counters in shopping malls and school radio. It wasn't until after the millennium that MTV music television programs came along, playing new song MVs all day long, making one hit song after another popular.
"Radio promotion, campus requests, collaboration with an anime theme song..." Xie Anran's eyes suddenly lit up, and a sudden realization dawned on her: "That's right! How come I didn't think of that!"
"What are you talking about, Anran?" Sisi asked curiously, tilting her head with a puzzled look.
"I've got an idea for what new song to write." Xie Anran blinked, her eyes full of confident smiles.
"Oh? Really? You're writing a new song?" Sisi's eyes widened instantly, her face full of surprise and excitement.
"Hehe! Here's a pen!" Xie Anran raised her hand and made a playful gesture as if asking for paper and pen.
Sisi paused for a moment, then quickly got up from the sofa, ran to get her small schoolbag, and skillfully took out paper and pen and handed them to Xie Anran.
Liu Xiaoli, who was sitting nearby drinking tea and resting, almost spat out her tea when she saw this tacit and amusing scene. The two little ones were getting along better and better, and her own daughter could even instantly understand Xie Anran's little gestures, which was truly hilarious.
Watching her two children huddled around the coffee table, one writing diligently and the other bending over to read, Liu Xiaoli felt a surge of satisfaction, yet also a touch of unspoken helplessness.
She sighed inwardly and murmured to herself: I really hope that when we part ways in the future, Sisi won't be too sad or reluctant to leave.
"Meow like a cat? What's that?"
Sisi lay beside Xie Anran, staring at the song title he had written down, her little face full of doubt, and asked in confusion.
"Do you think Dongdong is cute?" Xie Anran glanced at the calico cat curled up and dozing in the corner and asked softly.
"So cute! Dongdong is the best and cutest!" Qianqian blurted out without thinking, her tone full of joy.
"I also think it's really cute, so I wrote a song specifically for this little cat," Xie Anran explained with a wink and a smile.
"Wow... Anran, you're amazing! Hurry up and write, I want to see the new song!" Qianqian clapped her hands happily and urged her with expectant eyes.
Xie Anran chuckled dryly, knowing full well that this version of "Learn to Meow" was a children's song he had rewritten and adapted specifically for the current era. His original songwriting skills alone wouldn't have been enough to create such a widely popular piece.
But now, reborn, he can not only rearrange the music and write new lyrics, but also adapt it to the aesthetics and market characteristics of the present era. This song is originally a sweet and cute pop song, similar in style to the later hit "The Pig Song," with an inherently catchy quality that makes it extremely easy for everyone to sing along and become a viral sensation.
Moreover... he was planning to adapt and rewrite many hit songs, and there was far more than just this one.