Fang Datong
Karen Mok and Arai Eleven
Karen Mok and Zhang Yixing
Karen Mok and Lee Young-ho
Karen Mok and Lin Junjie
Karen Mok and Brilliance
Lee Kai-sung
Yao Qian
Karen Mok and Li Zhuoxiong (first from right) and Chen Mingdao (first from left).
Karen Mok and Li Zongsheng
Karen Mok and Zhang Yadong
Karen Mok and Wu Bai Photo/Visual China
Back in 1997, a girl from Hong Kong, holding a hot dog in her hand, with a very open mouth, was not a beautiful woman in the mainstream concept at that time, but this was not typical natural and frank, but it was also an unprecedented appearance in the music world - this is the cover of Karen Mok's third solo album "Be Yourself".
Previously, she was a high-achieving graduate of the University of London, and entered the music scene in 1993 with a "Karen Karen Mok"; since then, she has broken her defensive heart with songs such as "He Doesn't Love Me" and "Love in Hiroshima" from the album "Be Yourself", and later "Love" and "Suddenly".
By this year, Karen Mok has been debuting for 25 years. Preciously, after experiencing the era of piracy, the rise of independent singer-songwriters, the popular hip-hop boom, and the Internet celebrity occupying the market, "Karen Mok's hair film" is still a big event that everyone is looking forward to in the current Chinese music scene - on May 31, Karen Mok finally released her thirteenth Chinese album "We Meet in midfield". This new work is based on the concept of "first and second half" and brings together the works of many musicians.
The day after the premiere of the film, Karen Mok accepted an exclusive interview with a reporter from the Beijing News and talked about the many stories behind the birth of the album.
Mentioning these 25 years, Karen Mok said that it can be summarized in two words - "hi boom" and "absolute"! At the same time, she also admitted that her midfield will not rest - in June, Karen Mok's "Stunning" concert will depart from Shanghai and use 18 months to tour to many cities around the world, and the Beijing venue is scheduled to be held at the Workers' Stadium on September 22.
First half music master
01 "As the Light Of The Beginning"
Composer: Lee Wai Sung Lyricist: Yao Qian Arranger: Terence Teo Producer: Lee Kai-sung
In 2003, Karen Mok won three awards at the 14th Taiwan Golden Melody Awards for Best Composer, Best Lyricist and Best Female Singer for her debut album "[i]" released after joining Sony Music and the song "Love" from the album. At that time, the producer of "Love" was Li Weisong. Over the years, although Karen Mok and Li Weisong have occasional contacts, they have never had the opportunity to cooperate again. This time, after receiving Annie Mok's invitation, Li Agreed to it in one bite.
In the lyrics part, Karen Mok invited Yao Qian, who had written "Radio Love Songs" and "Love" for her, and hearing Mo Wenwei's invitation, Yao Qian said: "I like Karen! "I happily agreed." There is a feeling of relatives who have not been seen for many years, and they have been reunited for a long time. Karen Mok said.
02 《and up to》
Composer: Lun Yongliang Lyricist: Li Zhuoxiong Arranger: Liu Huyi Producer: Arai Eleven
Speaking of the initial encounter with her old friend Lun Yongliang, Karen Mok said that it dates back to 1992, the summer vacation when she had just returned from the Uk - the young Karen Mok was invited to be a guest for a concert held by Radio Television Hong Kong, and Lun Yongliang was also one of them. In this public performance, Karen Mok is the song "Lyrics" sung with Lun Yongliang.
And Li Zhuoxiong, who has written countless classic songs for Karen Mok since the Rolling Stones period, has witnessed her various experiences in the past 25 years - watching her from a girl who sings young love to a woman who can withstand challenges and cross the low tide, from the common suffering of "Pull Alive" to the best lyricist of the Golden Melody Award for "Love" and "Not Scattered, Not Seen", Karen Mok's musical career is inseparable from Li Zhuoxiong's participation.
03 "Fly"
Composer: Li Zongsheng Lyricist: Sanmao Arranger: Li Jianqing Producer: Arai Eleven
At the beginning of the new album plan, Karen Mok's first musician was Li Zongsheng, the eldest brother who rarely wrote songs in recent years, and picked out one of the classic songs he had created before- "Fly" sung by Pan Yueyun and handed it to her to interpret, "He felt that maybe this song suited my feelings, and he also mentioned a few at that time, I think it is "Fly". This song can get me into the mood. And consider that it is necessary to highlight the lee guitar made by the big brother. ”
In "Fly", Li Zongsheng's beloved apprentice Li Jianqing, as an arranger and guitar and other instrumental performances, "he is very shy," mentioned the impression of Li Jianqing, Mo Wenwei said with a smile, "but he is very cute, because everyone lives in different places, so more through WeChat, like discussing arranging ah and so on." One day, I saw his WeChat avatar like a cat, chatting and asking him, is that your cat? He said yes, after talking about cats, he suddenly became a lot of talk, so cute, and I am also a cat lover. ”
04 Half the Sky, Half the Earth
Composer: Zhang Yadong Lyricist: Li Zhuoxiong Arranger: Zhang Yadong Producer: Zhang Yadong
In 2009, because of a cover album "Huiwei", it opened the fate of Karen Mok and Zhang Yadong, "When I left Sony, the entire market was experiencing a huge subversion, the CD almost disappeared, everyone was a bit dazed, thinking what to do in the future, how to publish music." But because I'm a very positive person, I don't say 'miserable', I must be calm. At that time, I happened to run into Yadong. A friend suggested, why not make a cover work? For every singer, at a certain stage, they will want to do something new by singing other people's songs. The two of us thought it was particularly funny, and Yadong also had a lot of ideas, and he was very good. So working with him, especially at that stage, I think it's particularly appropriate. Then we didn't stop and immediately started working on the next "Baby". After working together on such creative works twice in a row, I have accumulated a different experience. ”
05 "No Break in Halffield"
Composer: Wu Bai Lyricist: Wu Bai Arranger: Wu Bai Producer: Wu Bai
In 1998, Karen Mok sang "Strong Reason" with Wu Bai, and their distinctive voices and Wu Bai's rock style, which has become a trademark, left a classic for the Chinese music scene of duet love songs. Three years later, Karen Mok released the electronic music album "A Golden Flower", which was composed/arranged/produced by Wu Bai, and also heard her breakthrough in singing skills.
This time, Wu Bai wrote this song "No Break in The Half" for Karen Mok's new album as the last song of the first half. "I don't rest in the middle of the field," Karen Mok said, "I enjoy my work too much, because it's like playing, so why stop?" ”
Second half musical talent
06 "Absolute"
Composer: Fang Datong / Derrick Sepnio Lyrics: Zhou Yaohui / Rap Lyrics: Fergus Chow
Arrangement: Fang Datong/Derrick Sepnio@JTW/Fergus Chow@JTW Producer: Derrick Sepnio@JTW/Fergus Chow@JTW
In fact, Karen Mok and Fang Datong have known each other for a long time, "When he came out, I noticed, and at that time, I felt as if this person understood all kinds of music, very powerful." ”
Later, Karen Mok found out that the two who admired each other had never had a musical cooperation, "so when I invited him, he was very excited." He asked me, what kind of music do you want? Is it fast, slow, or Chinoiserie? Because he can do anything. I told him to be happy, to be fun, to be hi. If you want to do it with him, you must be cool. Because he's a cool guy himself, he'll give me the feeling that he's very stylish. ”
07 《Dancing in the Rain》
Composer: Matzka Lyricist: Matzka Arranger: Ari Producer: Arai Eleven
In this new album with the concept of the first half/second half running through, Arai Eleven, who has been the producer of multiple songs, is the key character of the entire album - from "I Do" and "Fly" in the first half to "Slowly Like You", "Half Life (We Meet Here)" and "Dancing in the Rain" in the second half, Arai Eleven is interspersed with tandem characters, like the referee of this tournament.
Arai, who fully produced the previous album "Not Scattered, Not Seen", not only won the Golden Melody Award for Best Album Producer, but also successfully matched Li Ronghao for Karen Mok, thus having "Slowly Like You" composed by Li Ronghao in this new album. At the same time, because Arai's wife and Matzka's wife are sisters, it is once again because of Arai's connection that there is a combination of Karen Mok and Matzka. Karen Mok admired the reggae soul in Matzka's music and hoped that there would be a song on the new album that could dance along, and without any restrictions, Matzka wrote this "Dancing in the Rain".
08 "Not to Be Continued"
Composer: Zhang Yixing / Li Ronghao Lyricist: Huang Weiwen Arranger: Zhang Yixing Producer: Terry Chan
At the end of the new album, Karen Mok met Zhang Yixing in "The Battle of Tianlai", "That day he came as a guest, I found that this boy in addition to being very attractive on the stage, he is particularly serious about music, he loves to compose and arrange music, I feel that he is not just an idol." In fact, when we first met, we were completely unfamiliar, but I told him that day, are you interested in writing songs for me? He said yes, yes, it was an honor. In fact, I didn't think about it so much, I thought it might be polite, even if I wrote, I don't know what his time is, because they are so busy. Unexpectedly, after a few days, he sent the song over and asked me if this was good? It made me think this boy was so cute. ”
After hearing Zhang Yixing's DEMO, Karen Mok liked it very much, "It's not that you lost the song to me, I just wow good wow good wow, I think there is something different." This album added Zhang Yixing's stuff in, more diversified and more complete. After this song came, I thought, yes, there will be another work by Huang Weiwen, after contacting him, I also told him that this is a song written by Zhang Yixing, and he happily agreed. ”
09 "Slowly Like You"
Composer: Li Ronghao Lyricist: Li Ronghao Arranger: Feng Hanming Producer: Arai Eleven
In the first cooperation list in the second half, Li Ronghao was the first to surprise people. In fact, Lee Young-ho served as a guitarist in the album "Not Scattered, Not Seen" produced by Arai Eleven. This time, he not only served as part of the composer of "Not to Be Continued", but also handed over a song composed by him, "Slowly Like You". For the popularity and popularity of this song on the current network, Karen Mok said, "At that time, as soon as I heard DEMO, I was amazed and thought it would be in the middle, but I didn't expect that everyone would like it so much!" ”
10 Half-Life (We Met Here)
Composer: Brilliance Chenyu Lyricist: Lee Zhuo Xiong Arranger: Ruth Ling Producer: Arai Eleven
The encounter between Karen Mok and "Huahua" Hua Chenyu also originated from the variety show "The Battle of Tianlai". In 2016, after three months together, the two became friends because of their musical affection. Interestingly, in 2015, Hua Chenyu wrote a DEMO called "Karen Mok", "At that time, we all finished filming a whole show, and he didn't say anything about it." He didn't tell me until later when I asked him to sing. Karen Mok said, "The creation of flowers and flowers has its own unique symbols, which is very rare." As a creator, you must have your own characteristics and have your own things. ”
11 "Heart Appreciation"
Composer: Lin Junjie Lyricist: Yao Ruolong Arranger: Terence Teo Producer: Lin Junjie
Karen Mok is from Hong Kong, China, and Lin Junjie is from Singapore, both of them shine from Taiwan, and each won two Golden Melody Awards for Best Female Singer and Best Male Singer. Before the production of this new album began, the encounter between Karen Mok and Lin Junjie was always at major awards ceremonies or backstage, and it was not until this new album that the two "trapeze artists" had the opportunity to meet in music.
Looking back on the recording process, it was really "good things and more grinding", Karen Mok said. Because the recording period needs to accommodate each other's schedules, "so we have to find time to record in the same city." Once, the lyrics were not good, and another time, it was JJ who was sick, but the third time it went well. This song is really good, JJ once weakly asked me, will you really sing this song in the end? If you don't use it, can I get it back? He was actually a little reluctant. However, this song was tailor-made for me, so I will definitely sing it. ”
Beijing News reporter Yang Chang Intern Liu Shujun Artist Fang courtesy of the artist