Chapter 342: I'm from Normal University

Chengdu in October 2002 was so hot that even the dogs on the street had to lie on the curb, panting with their tongues out, unwilling to move.

Zhang Jie, who felt he had discovered a great secret in Zhou Yi's album, immediately ducked into the nearest internet cafe, turned on a computer, and skillfully logged into his Tianya account. He first browsed the relevant sections to gauge the public sentiment regarding Zhou Yi's new album—

30% were cursing Zhou Yi as a villain, 40% were fighting, 15% were discussing other singers, and the remaining 15% were just spectating.

Even those who had already listened to and watched the entire "Lianshan" album with doubts in their hearts posted very few replies, which were quickly washed away by other hot threads on the board.

Currently, the most heated topic was the dispute over the musicality versus pop appeal in Zhou Yi's new album.

The incident originated from a post by a thread starter on Tianya who often recommended various niche songs—

"Zhou Lang has exhausted his talent. Writing too many pop ballads has trapped him in his comfort zone. Zhou Yi is wasting his talent."

Zhou Yi, who had just released his new album, directly received the "Zhou Lang has exhausted his talent" evaluation, which resonated with some people and sparked follow-up posts.

"Zhou Yi is simply wasting his talent. He shouldn't write songs like 'Little Dimples', 'Today You Marry Me', or 'Fairy Tale'. They have no musicality at all. It's not that he lacks the ability to write better; the first four songs on Side A are defensible in both arrangement and meaning."

"The fifth song, 'Mom and Dad', at least has well-crafted lyrics, depicting the Chinese-style family with incisive depth."

"Agreed. There are more and more pop ballads in his album. As an old fan who has followed him all along, I am truly heartbroken. Songs like 'Baby' from his English album are also meaningless, unoriginal, and catchy pop trash with no depth or innovation."

"Zhou Yi is becoming more like a music businessman than a musician. Disappointing..."

"Fairy Tale", with its heart-wrenching twist after extreme sweetness, had already made Zhou Yi's popularity on Tianya unprecedentedly high. Suddenly, someone criticizing Zhou Yi for releasing such pop ballad garbage immediately triggered a fierce backlash—

A forum war of words thus began.

What started as a small-scale discussion escalated into a mutual shouting match within just a few hours.

"Wait, bro. We can call Zhou Yi inhumane, but what do you mean by attacking our taste? Do you know that without sales, the 'musicality' you talk about is just a fart?"

"If you want high-brow musicality, go listen to classical music; there's no need to seek validation in pop music. Zhou Yi played Chopin's Nocturnes in the extended MV of 'In the Name of the Father'. You can cut that part out and listen to it separately."

"Zhou Yi isn't without his hidden gems of musicality. Why are you arguing?"

"..."

In an era before blocked keywords and deleted posts, there were no shortage of netizens who began to display their inner hostility just across a network cable.

By the time Zhang Jie looked, this dispute had already shown signs of evolving into a battle of biases.

As a fan of Zhou Yi, Zhang Jie, who had never been this arrogant in his life, thought for a moment and then proceeded to unleash himself online, firing a map-wide attack—

"Everyone who calls Zhou Lang talentless has completely failed to understand the concept Zhou Yi's new album is trying to express!"

"You might understand musicality, but you absolutely do not understand Zhou Yi, let alone the album!

"An album must face the market. If the market response is poor, even if a singer has the strongest musicality, they won't get a chance to release a second record.

"As Guo Tianwang, Zhou Yi would have the opportunity to make mistakes, but why should he take that risk?

"Moreover, in my opinion, even with the pop ballads you despise, Zhou Yi has achieved the musicality you boast about. This album, "Lianshan", is actually an exploration of the social environment and the growth of the human heart.

"In the first song, 'Can You Feel My World', the character Zhou Yi portrays is still a normal person, troubled by a suffocating family environment and accusing his parents' parenting methods;

"By the second song, 'Ghost', Zhou Yi, having entered the social environment, is directly assimilated by the numerous ghosts around him. The fact that Zhou Yi's face turns into a faceless man at the end of the MV is ironclad proof.

"'The Killer' depicts the twisted Zhou Yi gradually stepping into the power struggles of the mafia. Using the killing of the girl who didn't like him as a metaphor for having blood on his hands, it simultaneously shows that his character has been completely twisted: if he can't have it, he will destroy it;

"At the beginning of 'In the Name of the Father', Zhou Yi, whose status has risen, cannot sleep well and has frequent nightmares, so he enters a church, preparing to lay down his sword. But the murder of his family forces him to come out of retirement. He engages in scheming with the mafia daughter until the very end, when he kills everyone and ascends to the position of Godfather, with no way to turn back.

"These four songs actually tell the story of how a normal child gradually collapses under a twisted family environment, growth environment, educational environment, and social environment. What they express is the alienation of people caused by such adverse environments and parenting methods.

"And the fifth song on Side A, which is also the last song, sees Zhou Yi write about a new family, a very Chinese-style family: 'Mom and Dad'.

"From here, Zhou Yi changes his narrative perspective. Starting with a child who grew up in a normal family with a strict father and a kind mother returning home to attend his parents' funeral, he tells the story of a normal person growing up in a normal social environment.

"He experiences the reunion of old classmates in 'Cheers', showing that friendship remains and friends remain;

"He has a lover. From falling in love to getting engaged, these are represented by 'Little Dimples' and 'Today You Marry Me'.

"Then, he suffers another blow after the death of his family at the beginning: his lover also passes away due to leukemia.

"You can see that the blows suffered by the two Zhou Yis on Side A and Side B are almost identical: both lose their families and wives. But because of the different education, family environments, and social backgrounds they received from a young age, their final choices are worlds apart.

"The Mafia Zhou Yi on Side A has blood on his hands and cannot turn back. Burdened with the name of Godfather, he awaits endless revenge from others, and blood and sin begin an infinite cycle;

"The Zhou Yi on Side B sings 'Mr. Lonely' to heal himself. Regarding the 'ghost in the heart', he does not let it run free; instead, relying on his upbringing and reason, he suppresses all negative emotions outwardly.

"If you don't believe me, go carefully examine the lyrics of the song 'Mr. Lonely'. Isn't there a line about 'waking up the ghost in the heart', and this ghost keeps trying to persuade him to lose his reason?

"This is a direct echo to the second song on Side A, 'Ghost'.

"The Zhou Yi on Side A, due to his twisted character, failed to suppress the ghost that was awakened in his heart, resulting in a trail of blood debts and deep sin;

"The Zhou Yi on Side B, due to his normal character, suppressed the ghost that was awakened in his heart. He only comforts himself, telling himself to let it go, that it doesn't matter, and to look forward.

"The direct cause of their significant character differences is the different family and social environments. This is the album concept Zhou Yi wanted to express!

"That is why he uses two female leads, but only one male lead, to represent two different lives!

"The evidence is that there are many elements in the A and B sides of Zhou Yi's album that echo each other..."

After writing this lengthy literary analysis, Zhang Jie appended the evidence he had discovered at the end, pointed out the specific timestamps in each MV, and clicked publish.

Thanks to the map-wide attack in the title, people quickly clicked in—

Some refused to read the long text and immediately started cursing, while others were convinced by the clear presentation of facts and reasoning, leaving comments like "OP is awesome" one after another;

Even more people bluntly asked if he was a shill hired by Warner, which made Zhang Jie furiously type on his keyboard to argue back—

"I am from Sichuan Normal University! Why would I be a shill!"

"No wonder. So you're from a normal university. No wonder your literary analysis is so impressive. Even Zhou Yi himself probably couldn't get full marks on this!"

"You f***ing..."

At this time, Zhang Jie was in the prime of his youth. Unable to vent his frustration in reality because he had to work part-time singing in bars to earn money, he used this momentum to vent all the pent-up dissatisfaction in his heart in one go—

After ranting, he realized something.

On this damn internet, not everyone is willing to present facts and reason or output rationality to you.

They are just asking to be beaten and scolded across the network cable!

So he kept silent about the fact that his major at Sichuan Normal University was actually Tourism and Hotel Management.

(End of Chapter)